FIRST THINGS FIRST
SHELL ACCESS
First of all, you need to make sure you have easy access to the WeBWorK server. See your system administrator and
make sure they put you in the correct groups so that you have the correct permissions to create and manage your course.
$PATH
Secondly, make sure to set your path so that it includes /ww/webwork/system/scripts/. This way you can
run the necessary WeBWorK command line scripts without typing their full path names. Actually at this point, most
things involved in running a WeBWorK course can be done over the web, so there is not too much need to run command
line scripts. Go to the professor page to see all the web based routines. To see what your PATH is and make sure
that it is complete, enter the command
echo $PATH.
You will probably use the following script quite a bit. (For a full list of commands with descriptions, some of
which are only used when setting up a course, see Command line scripts) .
l2hPrecreateSet.pl
This script is used to pre-create latex2html output for each student for a single problem so that WeBWorK
doesn't have to run latex2html in processProblems. This is useful so that all the latex2html images are already
in existence before busy system hours. This minimizes image errors, and makes for happy students.
USING THE PERL SCRIPTS:
If you forget the correct syntax for a script, you just type the script name without any parameters. An error
message will be output giving the correct syntax. E.g.
l2hPrecreateSet.pl
Syntax is: l2hPrecreateSet.pl course_name set_definition_filename or
l2hPrecreateSet.pl course_name set_definition_filename lowerLimit or
l2hPrecreateSet.pl course_name set_definition_filename lowerLimit upperLimit
(e.g. l2hPrecreateSet.pl demoCourse set1.def or
(e.g. l2hPrecreateSet.pl demoCourse set1.def 30000 or
(e.g. l2hPrecreateSet.pl demoCourse set1.def 30000 60000
Problems are pre created for all psvn's between lower and upper limits if the limits are given.
COURSE ORGANIZATION
We will use the WeBWorK course mth141 as an example throughout this setup process. This is our base
course directory.
During setup, it is recommended that you make two copies of your course. One is called your "private" course
and one is called your "public" course. This is denoted, for example, as mth141priv for your private
course, and mth141 for your public course.
The public course (mth141) is the course the
students use. The private course (mth141priv) is generally for your benefit if you want to test out
new problems, write up exams, create new problem sets, or work out bugs.
Also, the private course is generally set up so that there are no practice users. Playing around in the private
course is a good way to get to know the system without interfering with the students and their work.
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