Protocol for WIMS direct connection with other web servers

WIMS direct communication with another web server is two-directional. It can receive http/https requests from the other server, and/or send http/https requests to the other. The connectable server must be declared in a file within the directory WIMS_HOME/log/classes/.connections/.

Requests sent to WIMS should obey the format described below. Results of such requests can be formatted according to the need of the connecting software.

Outgoing requests sent by WIMS can be formatted according to the specification of the receiving software, while the result of the request should be formatted according to the need of WIMS, as described below.

Request format

A request from a connecting server is an http/https request sent to the main cgi program of the WIMS server, followed by parameter definitions as in a usual http protocol.

All requests must contain the following common parameters:

Name	Value
module	adm/raw
ident	sender identifier (a word, according to the definition in `WIMS_HOME/log/classes/.connections/`)
passwd	sender password (as defined in `WIMS_HOME/log/classes/.connections/`)
code	a random word. This word will be sent back to the sender, in order to allow it to check whether the result is from the good request.
job	type of request, see below.

And the following parameters may be added according to the type of the request.

Name	Value
qclass	identifier of the class on the receiving server. It should be an integer.
qprogram
quser	user identifier in the receiving server (when the request concerns a particular user).
qsheet	sheet identifier in the receiving server (when the request concerns a particular sheet).
rclass	identifier of the class on the sending server.
format	Format of the data.
option	Different meaning according to request.
data1	Different meaning according to request.

For example, the following request checks whether the class 12345 exists on the WIMS server wims.unice.fr, sent by a connecting server called friend1 (by wims.unice.fr), with password abcde.

https://wims.unice.fr/wims/wims.cgi?module=adm/raw&ident=friend1&passwd=abcde&code=afdqreaf1r783&job=checkclass&qclass=12345&rclass=myclass

Note that for this check to return OK, the class 12345 on wims.unice.fr must have declared friend1/myclass as connectable. This can be done on an existing class by adding friend1/myclass to the class_connections parameter in the class 12345 .def file.

Query output

The query output (that is, the result of the http query) is always of text/plain type (even if sometimes the output is a binary file).

WIMS OUTPUT TYPE : (old fashioned way, non-recommended) The first line of the output content is a status line, which is either a word OK followed by the random code contained in the request, or the word ERROR. If the first line is not as such, then there is a serious error in the request or a bug in the server software. In case the status is OK, the remaining of the output content is the content of the data. Otherwise the second line contains the nature of the error.

JSON OUTPUT TYPE : (recommended) output values are returned json formatted. (see http://json.org for more details)

Types of the requests.

A request to WIMS can have the following types (defined by the parameter 'job')

job=help

Show this text.

job=checkident

Check whether the connection is accepted.

job=checkclass

Check whether the class accepts connection.

job=checkuser

Check whether the user exists.

job=checksheet

Check whether the sheet exists.

job=addclass

Add a class on the receiving server.

For this request, data1 should be a multi-line text defining the properties of the new class. Each line contains a definition in the format name=value. (This text must be reformatted for http query string) The following names may be present in the definitions:

mandatory:
- description = name of the class
- institution = name of the institution
- supervisor = full name of the supervisor
- email = contact email address
- password = password for user registration
- lang = class language (en, fr, es, it, etc)
optional:
- expiration = class expiration date (yyyymmdd) (optional, defaults to one year later)
- limit = limit of number of participants (optional, defaults to 30)
- level = level of the class (optional, defaults to H4) Valid levels: E1, E2, ..., E6, H1, ..., H6, U1, ..., U5, G, R
- secure = secure hosts
- bgcolor = page background color
- refcolor = menu background color
- css = css file (must be existing css on the WIMS server)

data2 should be a multi-line text defining the supervisor account, in the same format as for data1. The following names may be present in the definitions:

mandatory:
- lastname = last name of the supervisor user
- firstname = first name of the supervisor user
- password = supervisor user's password, non-crypted.
optional
- email = supervisor email address
- comments = any comments
- regnum = registration number
- photourl = url of a user picture
- participate = list classes (if in a class group) where user participates
- courses =
- classes =
- supervise =
- supervisable =
- external_auth =
- agreecgu = Boolean indicating if user accepted CGU
- regprop[1..5] = custom properties

job=adduser

Add a user to the specified class.

data1 should be a multi-line text defining the user account. The following names may be present in the definitions:

mandatory:
- lastname = user's lastname
- firstname = user's firstname
- password = user's password, non-crypted.
optional
- email = email address
- comments = any comments
- regnum = registration number
- photourl = url of user’s photo
- participate = list classes where user participates (only for group and portal)
- courses = special for portal
- classes = special for portal
- supervise = List classes where teacher are administator (only for group and portal)
- supervisable = yes/no ; give right to the user to supervise a class (only for group and portal)
- external_auth = login for external_auth (by cas or shiboleth for example). Not useful for Moodle
- agreecgu = if yes, the user will not be asked when he enters for the first time to agree the cgu
- regprop[1..5] = custom variables, upon to you (i.e : you can set here an external group for example)

job=modclass

Modify the properties of a class.

data1 should be a multi-line text containing the properties to be redefined. Only modified properties need to be present in data1.

job=moduser

Modify the properties of a user. As modclass.

job=delclass

Delete a class.

job=deluser

Delete a user.

job=recuser

Recover a deleted user.

job=getclass

Get the properties of a class.

Optionally, the query parameter 'option' may contain the names of fields queried. In this case, only the queried properties are returned.

Note: definitions for portals have beed added to output variables but are not yet in addclass:

typename            =
programs            =
courses             =
classes             =
levels              =
icourses            =
subclasses          =

job=getsheet

Get the properties of a sheet (of a class).

Optionally, the query parameter 'option' may contain the names of fields queried. In this case, only the queried properties are returned.

OUTPUT variables:

queryclass          : the requested class
querysheet          : the requested sheet
sheet_properties    : list of properties of the requested sheet
                      (sheet status,expiration date,title,description)
exocnt              : number of exercices included
exotitlelist        : list of the exercices included (module:params)

job=listsheets

List all the sheets of a class.

OUTPUT variables:

queryclass       : the requested class
nbsheet          : number of sheets in this class
sheettitlelist   : list of the sheets with the format "sheet_id:title"

job=listclasses

List all the classes with connection between the `rclass` and `ident/rclass`.

Optionally, the query parameter 'option' contains the name of fields related to classes asked: e.g. : option=description,supervisor

job=getclassesuser

List all the classes with connection between the rclass and `ident/rclass` where the user exists.

Optionally, the query parameter 'option' may contain the names of fields queried. In this case, only the queried properties of the classes are returned.

job=getuser

Get the properties of a user (of a class).

Optionally, the query parameter 'option' may contain the names of fields to be queried. In this case, only the queried properties are returned. The output format is as for 'getclass'.

job=getcsv

Get data of the class, under the form of a csv/tsv spreatsheet file.

The query parameter 'format' may be used to specify the desired output format (csv or tsv, defaults to csv). The query parameter 'option' should contain a list of desired data columns. The following names can be included in 'option', with their respective meanings:

login : user identifiers
password : user passwords (uncrypted)
name : user names (last name and first name)
lastname : user family names
firstname : user given names
email : user email addresses
regnum : user registration numbers
allscore : all score fields (averages and details)
averages : score averages (average0, average1, average2)
average0 : global score average (as computed by WIMS)
average1 : average of scores automatically attributed by WIMS
average2 : average of teacher-entered scores
exams : exam1+exam2+...
exam1, exam2, ...: scores of each exam
sheets : sheet1+sheet2+...
sheet1, sheet2, ...: scores of each worksheet
manuals : manual1+manual2+...

manual1, manual2, ...: first, second, ... teacher-entered scores.

The output content (below the status line in WIMS format) is a csv/tsv
spreadsheet table. The first row of the table contains
the names of the fields. The second row gives short
descriptions of each field. The third row is blank.
The rest is the table content, with one row for each user.

job=lightpopup

Presents an exercise without the top, bottom, and left menu

The syntax is job=lightpopup&emod=MODULE where MODULE is an exercise module with its parameters.

option:

about : show "about" which gives author information about the exercise (default)
noabout : the "about" will not appear.

SAMPLES REQUESTS:

H3/analysis/oeflinf.fr intro in lightpopup mode:
- http://127.0.0.1/wims/wims.cgi?module=adm/raw&job=lightpopup&emod=H3%2Fanalysis%2Foeflinf.fr
"antecedant" exercice from H3/analysis/oeflinf.fr module in lightpopup mode:
- http://127.0.0.1/wims/wims.cgi?module=adm/raw&job=lightpopup&emod=H3%2Fanalysis%2Foeflinf.fr&parm=cmd=new;exo=antecedant;qnum=1;qcmlevel=3&option=noabout

job=putcsv

Put data into the class.

The data to put is sent as the value of the query parameter data1, in the same format as for the query getcsv above. And with the following particularities: Field login must be present. The second row (short descriptions) is not necessary. WIMS-attributed scores cannot be uploaded, and will be ignored. If all the necessary fields corresponding to user properties (lastname, firstname, password, etc.) are present, non-existent users will be added to the class. This can be used to install the whole user accounts of the class with one request.

job=getlog

Get the detailed activity registry of a user.

job=gettime

Get the current time of the server

Can be used for synchronization purposes.

job=update

Ask WIMS to update data in a class.

Upon reception of this request, WIMS server will issue queries back to the remote server, in order to get the up-to-date information and update the class. The query parameter 'option' contains the nature of the update request. It may be one of the following:

* class       : update class properties (corresponding to modclass)
* user        : update properties of a user (moduser)
* scores      : teacher-entered scores (putcsv)

job=authuser

Get an authentification for a user.

User's password is not required. Accepts the query parameter option=hashlogin: If called with option=hashlogin, quser should be the external identification of user and the function hashlogin is called to convert such id to a WIMS login. If the user exists in class, it returns a session number as above. If the user does not exists, the WIMS login is returned in the error message.

OUTPUT :

* wims_session    : a session number under which the user can connect
                      with no need of further authentification
* home_url        : a complete URL to connect as authentified.

job=addsheet

Add a new sheet to the specified class `qclass`.

data1 may be defined as a multi-line text defining the sheet defs The following names may be present in the definitions:

(optional)

* title       = name of the sheet (defaults to "sheet n#")
* description = description of the sheet (defaults to "sheet n#")
* expiration  = expiration date (yyyymmdd) defaults to one year later
* sheetmode   = the mode of the sheet:
    * 0 : pending (default)
    * 1 : active
    * 2 : expired
    * 3 : expired + hidden
* weight      = weight of the sheet in class score
* formula     = How the score is calculated for this sheet (0 to 6)
* indicator   = what indicator will be used in the score formula (0 to 2)
* contents    = the contents for the multi-line file to be created.
                  The semicolons (;) in this parameter will be
                  interpreted as new lines. Equal characters (=) must
                  be replaced by the character AT (@).
                  There is no check made, so the integrity of the
                  contents is up to you only! (defaults to "")

OUTPUT :

* queryclass  : the requested class
* sheet_id    : id of the new created sheet

job=addexam

Add a new exam to the specified class `qclass`.

data1 may be defined as a multi-line text defining the sheet defs, with the same parameters as in addsheet (see above), plus these additional optional parameters:

duration = exam duration
attempts = number of authorized attempts
cut_hours = Cut hours (format : yyyymmdd.hh:mm (separate several hours by spaces).
opening = Opening Restrictions (IP ranges / Schedules) opening can set a time restriction for recording notes by adding the words > yyyymmdd.hh:mm (start) and/or < yyyymmdd.hh:mm (end). Dates and times must be in server local time and must be separated by spaces.

job=addexo

Add the source file (data1) of an exercise directly to the class, under the name `qexo`

job=putexo

Add content (an existing exercise) to the sheet `qsheet` of the `qclass` class

data1 may be defined as a multi-line text defining the exo defs, according to these parameters:

mandatory
- module = the module where comes the erexercice from
optional
- params = list of parameters to add to the module
- points = number of requested points
- weight = Weight of the exercise
- title = title of the exercise in the sheet
- description = description of the exercise in the sheet

job=modsheet

Modify an existing sheet in the specified class.

data1 may be defined as a multi-line text defining the sheet defs (cf addsheet)

job=listexos

Lists all exercices presents in class `qclass`

job=movexo

Moves exercice `qexo` from class `qclass` to class `data1`

Condition : Both 2 classes must be linked by rclass

option: you can use copy to copy file instead of moving it.

job=movexos

Moves ALL exercice from class `qclass` to class `data1`

Condition: Both 2 classes must be linked by rclass

option: you can use copy to copy files instead of moving them.

job=sharecontent

Declare neighbour classes, allowing class "qclass" to share content with class "data1"

Condition: Both 2 classes must be linked by rclass

The option parameter can be used to declare which type of content to share (currently, only the "exo" content type is supported)

job=linksheet

Add all exercices from sheet `qsheet` to exam `qexam`

job=getscore

Get all scores from user `quser` (optionaly, you can filter with sheet `qsheet`)

job=getsheetscores

Get all scores from sheet `qsheet` - JSON OUTPUT only

job=getexamscores

Get all scores from exam `qexam`   - JSON OUTPUT only