Wednesday, October 31, 2007

GradeL 0.8.14 Released

This release includes several improvements and bugs fixes. I think that the weighted grades are finally under control. If you use weighted grades, please keep in mind that the extra credit is added on after the regular weighted grade is calculated. The extra credit will not exceed the weight you assign. For example, if a student earns all possible extra credit points and the weight is 0.03, then that students get 3% added to his marking period grade.

The rest of the changes are listed here:

gradel-0.8.14 - 31 Oct 2007

Bug Fixes:

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- Adjusted some text labels on forms so that text shows correctly.
- Header labels positioned correctly in both grade mode and attendance mode.
- Long assignment names no longer over-write points in Progress Report screen view and printout.
- Moving and sorting assignments now check validity prior to action.
- Weighted grades tweaked again. They seem to calculate correctly now.
Extra credit is added on after grade calculation per its weight.
- Attendance spreadsheet no longer crashes program when no days have been added.

Improved & Updated Features
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- Improved appearance on many dialogs.
- Absences and tardies now included with progress reports.
- Student number now shows in attendance mode as well as grade mode when selected in Preferences.
- Recent Files selection added to File menu and start up dialog window.

As usual, you can download GradeL here.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Report Card Time!

Well, if your school calendar is anything like mine, report card time is fast approaching. Some bug reports have started trickling in, especially in reference to weighted grades and manipulating assignments. I plan to address these issues as soon as possible so that teachers aren't left in a bind as deadlines approach.

This is also a good time to remind everyone that GradeL is still in development. Some features seem to be pretty solid, especially the straight points grading system. However, some parts are still unstable. Users are advised to keep backup records to avoid disasters. Many users have stated that they are running GradeL side by side with various Windows programs as a trial run - not a bad idea!

I would like to see that GradeL advance to a point where it is stable and useful as an option for teachers looking for a desktop gradebook app that runs on Linux. Keep you fingers crossed! ;)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Release of GradeL 0.8.13

GradeL 0.8.13 has been released. This release includes many of the fixes and enhancements discussed in recent postings. Additionally, a new Assignment Management dialog has been added that allows sorting, moving, adding, editing, and viewing grade distributions of assignments.

Here is a screenshot of the Assignment Management window:



This release also includes a binary deb package for easy installation on Ubuntu or Debian. For more details, see the ChangeLog or download GradeL today.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Saving Preferences

I've had various feature requests recently, but the two most requested are the weighted category fixed discussed in my last post, and the ability to save settings. I'm happy to report that the next release will automatically save preferences, grid size, and window location. Hopefully, I'll get 0.8.13 release soon. No firm date yet.

Monday, October 15, 2007

More Work on Weighted Categories

I think I have solved the problem of calculating weighted category grades when a category is not used. For example, at the beginning of the year, you may not have given a test yet and want to report an accurate grade for your students. The fix will be included in the next release of GradeL. Stay tuned...

Mailing List and New Bugs

I have several people emailing me individually with bug reports, questions, and comments. This communication is vital to the development of GradeL. I think it would benefit all GradeL users to be able to read and/or participate in these discussions as well, so I have set up a mailing list through SourceForge for GradeL users. The list should be ready shortly. Please use the list or the forum for questions related to GradeL.

As for new bugs, it seems that the Category Weights are giving some users the business. I have found a work-around that solves the problem, although I'd like to eliminate it all together. The Seating Chart feature still needs tweaking as well. The changes I implemented seem to have created other problems. Both of these issues will be addressed in the upcoming 0.8.13 release.

I have already implemented the sorting of assignments by date and plan to address the saving of preferences between sessions too. Stay tuned...

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Building a GradeL deb Package

Well, I finally read up on creating basic deb packages so I can build debs for each new release. Turns out it isn't that big of a deal. I used this How-To as a reference.

I successfully created a deb for the latest development snapshot of GradeL and installed it on an Ubuntu Fiesty box. I even removed all traces of Gambas to test that the dependencies would be resolved. I'm happy to report that everything worked like a charm.

So, the plan will be to release both the source tarball (as usual) and the binary deb for easy installation on distros like Debian and Ubuntu. Look for a deb with the next release!

Errors in compile.sh and install.sh

There are a couple of typos in the compile.sh and install.sh scripts that will produce error messages in the terminal when you execute them. They are not fatal, just typos. This will be fixed in the next release.

Keep the bug reports coming!