Introducing YAML format

EduTools 2.7 provides a completely reworked solution for storing course configuration files.

Previously, all course metadata was stored in XML format. Now you can see all the information about your course conveniently stored in YAML format. We worked hard to make this possible and we hope that you will enjoy using this feature.

YAML has a number of advantages such as:

Simple and understandable structure of configuration files. Configuring course properties becomes effortless.
Easy to store in a VCS, with a clearer diff.
Edit configuration files with ease: invalid values are highlighted and available value options are suggested via completion.
No extra delimiter. This makes the document more lightweight and much more readable.

course-info.yaml

course-info.yaml is a configuration file that contains basic information about a course.

It has the following structure:

name	description	value	example
title	Title of the course	string	Java Basics, Kotlin for beginners
language	The language used for course materials	Any supported language	English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, and so on.
summary	A summary describing what the course is about	string	Let’s learn some basics of Java programming language
programming_language	Programming language of the course	Any supported programming language	Java, Kotlin, Python, Scala, JavaScript, or Rust
programming_language_version	A version of the programming language (optional)	The version of the programming language	3.8 (for Python)
environment	Additional information about the course environment	string	sbt (for Scala courses)
content	Directory names of lessons or sections included in the course	List of directory names	`- Introduction - First steps - Basics - Test`
solutions_hidden	Hide "Peek Solution..."	boolean	`: true`

section-info.yaml

section-info.yaml is a course configuration file that specifies the structure of sections:

name	description	value	example
content	Directory names of the lessons included in the section	List of directory names	`- Introduction - First steps - Basics - Test`

lesson-info.yaml

lesson-info.yaml is a course configuration file that manages the parameters of lessons:

name	description	value	example
type	Lesson type	“lesson” (optional), “framework”	`type:` `type:`
content	Directory names of tasks included in the section	List of directory names	`- Introduction - First steps - Basics - Test`

The type parameter has two possible values: lesson and framework. These values determine the type of lesson.

Change the value to ‘lesson’ or ‘framework’ if you want to convert your framework lesson to a simple one or vice versa.

task-info.yaml

task-info.yaml is a configuration file that describes the properties of a task:

name	description	value	example
type	Task type	“edu”, “theory”, “output”, “ide”, “code”, “choice”	`edu` `theory` `code`
custom_name (optional)	Custom name for the task if it differs from its directory name. Useful when you need to use a symbol that is not allowed in directory names, for example, “:”.	string	Hello, World!
files	Files included in the task	List of file paths relative to task directory. Also contains the file’s name, visible fields, and placeholders’ parameters.	`src/Task.java`
visible	Indicates whether the file is shown to the learner	boolean	`true` `false`
feedback_link (optional)	Custom link for learners to leave their feedback about the task	string	Google Forms link: https://forms.gle/FNKFJTup5ACGfmMi5
placeholders	Answer placeholders. See this table to learn about the parameters.	array	`162 51 type_here`
solution_hidden	Hide Peek solution... for the particular task	boolean	`true` `false`

The type may have one of six possible values: edu, theory, output, ide, code, or choice. These values determine the type of task.

edu - a task that has local tests.
theory - a task that doesn't require tests but might contain a code sample.
output - a task that is validated by the provided output of the program.
ide - a task that helps to learn IDE functionality.
code - tasks that work with a remote checker (specific to Stepik only).
choice - quiz tasks, tasks with multiple answer choices (for their parameters see this table).

Multiple-choice tasks

The specific parameters of multiple-choice tasks are described in the table below:

name	description	value	example
is_multiple_choice	Indicates whether the multiple-choice task allows multiple correct answers	boolean	`false` `true`
message_correct (optional)	Custom message to be shown to a learner if they choose the correct solution	string	“Great job!” or “Fantastic!”
message_incorrect (optional)	Custom message to be shown to a learner if they choose an incorrect solution	string	“Review how to define a function to solve this task”
options	The list of options. See this table to learn about the parameters.	string	`1 true 2 false`

Options

Options have the following parameters:

name	description	value	example
text	The text of the option	string	`1 true 2 false`
is_correct	If the option is a part of the correct answer	boolean	`true` `false`

Placeholders

The specific parameters of placeholders are described in the table below:

name	description	value	example
offset	Placeholder start offset	number	162
length	Placeholder length	number	51
placeholder_text	Text to be shown to the learner as a placeholder	string	type_here
dependency (optional)	Dependency on another placeholder. See this table to learn about the parameters.	string	`Introduction to Java Getting started Hello World src/Task.java 1 false`

Dependency

Dependencies have the following parameters:

name	description	value	example
section	Section directory name if the placeholder dependency is inside a section	string	Introduction to Java
lesson	Lesson directory name	string	Getting started
task	Task directory name	string	Hello World
file	File path relative to the directory of the task	string	src/Task.java
placeholder	Placeholder index starting from 0	number	1
is_visible	Indicates whether the placeholder is shown in place of a dependency	boolean	`true` `false`

Last modified: 08 May 2020