WebWork Authoring Tips

WebWork Text Display Languages

• Original way using TEXT(EV3())

  Example:

  TEXT(EV3(<<'END_TEXT'));
      The material in this section is collected into a string which is then passed to the EV3 (evaluation 3 ) routine which handles      processing of the sections in curly braces, then does interpolation, and finally processes the LaTeX commands.
  END_TEXT
  

  Remark:

  1. In the example two pg macros were used TEXT() and EV3(). Both macros are defined in PGbasicmacros.pl . (See the document on text macros) for more information)

  2. The expression <<'END_TEXT' is a string holder which holds strings end up to the indicator END_TEXT. The ending indicator has to be adjusted to the left.

  3. The single quotes about a END_TEXT indicates that no interpolation takes place. Using double quotes or no quotes allows interpolation. (See Basic Perl syntax for more information.)

• A more commonly seen method uses BEGIN_TEXT/END_TEXT which will be translated into the construction in the above example by PGtranslator.pm.

  Example:

  BEGIN_TEXT
      Find a the sum of 1+1:
      \{ans_rule(20)\}
  END_TEXT
  

• Supported by PGML.pl, the usage BEGIN\_PGML/END\_PGML provides a markdown alike formats for text. (For more information see Introduction to PGML.)

  Example:

  BEGIN_TEXT
      If [: x = [$a] :], then the value of [: x^2 :] is [___________]
  END_TEXT
  

Hyperlinks

It should be helpful to insert video link or example to WebWork Questions. There are several formating macros in PGbasicmacros.pl that can do the job

One basic macro is

htmlLink("link", "display name", "option")

Examples:

• Link to a local file example.pdf. Upload the local file example.pdf to the same folder as where the question pg file is. The option TARGET=’\_blank’ tells the function to open the file in a new windows.

  htmlLink(alias("example.pdf"), "Click the link to see an example.", "TARGET='_blank'")
  

• Link to a webpage address which contains no special characters.

  htmlLink( "http://webwork.maa.org/", "QCC-CUNY", "TARGET='_blank'")
  

• Link to a webpage using javascript.

  First include the following customized function in the header (before BEGIN_TEXT after loadMacros()).

  HEADER_TEXT(<<EOF);
  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
  function windowpopup() {
      var url = 'http://webwork.maa.org/';
      var opt = "height=625,width=600,location=no,menubar=no," +
              "status=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes," +
              "toolbar=no,";
      window.open(url,'newwindow',opt).focus();
  }
  </script>
  EOF
  

  Then we call the function by

  htmlLink( "javascript:windowpopup();", "QCC-CUNY", "TARGET='_blank'")
  

  An alternative solution is to move var url = "http://webwork.maa.org/"; from the definition of windowpopup() to htmlLink()

  htmlLink( "javascript:var url = 'http://webwork.maa.org/';windowpopup();", "QCC-CUNY", "TARGET='_blank'")
  

  For more details, please check the MAA webpage on htmlLink.

Remark:

• It depends on which language you use to display text, the function should be placed in different environment.

  • In BEGIN\_TEXT … END\_TEXT, the function should be placed as

    \{ htmlLink("link", "display name", "option") s\}
    

  There must be a blank space after \{ or \}.

  • In BEGIN\_PGML … END\_PGML, the function should be placed as

    [@ htmlLink("link", "display name", "option") @]*
    

  Here [@ command @]* tells the system to not escape HTML special characters.

• Use [| protect_underbar() |] whenever underscore appears in a string outside of math mode. (See )

  Example:

  htmlLink( protect_underbar("http://webwork.maa.org/pod/pg_TRUNK/macros/PGbasicmacros.pl.html"), display name"))