CREATE A QUIZ

Version 1.2


Description:

CREATE A QUIZ is a simple yet comprehensive program
that can be used to create and take multiple-choice and
fill-in-the-blank quizzes. This one program can be used
by both the teacher and student.

Teachers can create on-screen quizzes that can be used
by students, or create hardcopy quizzes if a printer is
available.


Special features:

A) Pop-up menus, mouse support, full line text editing
capabilities make using CREATE A QUIZ simple and fun.

B) Both multiple-choice and fill-in-the blank
questions can be used in the same quiz.

C) Quizzes and/or questions can be printed out in
several formats to meet the needs of both teacher and
student. The solutions to each question can be suppressed
or displayed on a printout. Students can receive an echo
printout of each question they take on- screen. Teachers
can review their database of questions by printing out all
the questions or by defining a range (from # to #) to
print.

D) Several command line instructions allow the program
to be "fine-tuned" by a teacher to meet the needs of a
student. These command line instructions can force a
student to answer "x" number of questions before they are
permitted to exit the program. Or the teacher can set up a
time limit for the student where after "x" number of
minutes have elapsed the program will quit.

E) Progress charts are kept for each quiz that will
record the best 10 students' quiz results. This is an
excellent way for a teacher to track the progress of a
student. A separate progress chart is maintained for each
quiz created.

F) Up to 9 students can participate in the same quiz
at a time. Great for contests!

G) Display ASCII text files prior to each question. A
full screen display of a pre-defined ASCII text file can be
displayed and scrolled prior to a question, and then after
the user has read the text file, they will be confronted
with a question dealing with that text.

H) Businesses and organizations can use a command line
instruction that will turn CREATE A QUIZ into a stand-alone
display for customers or prospects. This can make a great
advertising tool and counter display, testing a prospect's
knowledge of your product. The program will even prompt
each user for his name, address and phone number that can
be retrieved later for follow- ups.

I) The quizzes that are created can be password
protected and encrypted to prevent students from altering a
teacher's questions.


Requirements:

No special requirements are necessary for most
computers. A DOS version of 3.0 or higher is necessary
(although it is possible that some 2.x versions will
work, but not guaranteed). The program can be used on
both monochrome and color monitors. A printer is the
only option that is required IF you wish to create quiz
printouts.


To start:

To start the program type ---> QUIZ then press the
[ENTER] or [RETURN] key at the DOS prompt. The program
will load itself into memory in seconds. After an
opening screen or two, a Main Menu will appear.


Menus:

Selections from the Main Menu (or any menu) can be made
by moving the highlighted bar to the selection of your
choice, then pressing the [ENTER] or [RETURN] key.
Selections also can be made by pressing the corresponding
first letter for each option in the menu list. If you
press the [ESC] key instead, the user will be taken to the
previous menu (if any).


To create a quiz:

From the Main Menu the user can create a NEW quiz by
choosing the "Create a quiz" selection. The user will then
be prompted for a filename, under which all questions will
be stored to disk. The filename entered will automatically
receive the extension ".QZ". Do NOT enter the ".QZ"
extension! Pressing the [ESC] key at this filename prompt
will take the user back to the Main Menu.

After a new filename has been entered, the user must
give the quiz a title and description, and may elect to
enter their name as the quiz creator.

Once this preliminary information has been entered the
user will be prompted to enter a question. Questions can
be up to four lines in length. You can move from one
question line to another by using the cursor control keys
(the keys with the up and down arrows), or by using the
[ENTER] key.

To move to the answer field, press the [F10] function
key. This key will cause the input prompt to leave the
question field, allowing the user to enter possible answers
to the previous question. Should the user need to jump
back to the previous question to make any necessary changes
then press the [F9] function key. Pressing the [F10]
function key from the answer field will instruct the
program to continue to the next step (if any).


Multiple choice questions:

The multiple choice question format is the default
format when you enter questions. Each multiple choice
question can have up to 5 possible answer choices and as
few as 2. After entering the desired number of answer
choices, the quiz creator must verify which of the possible
answers is in fact the correct answer. This verification
step will display the question and possible answers in a
play screen. After verifying the correct solution, the
user can enter a reference note. Such notes will be display-
ed after a student takes the quiz at play time.


Fill-in-the-blank questions:

Fill-in-the-blank questions are different from multiple
choice questions in that only one possible answer can be
entered. The way CREATE A QUIZ distinguishes between a
multiple choice question and a fill-in-the-blank question
is that the latter has an UNDERSCORE "_" character (ASCII
95) somewhere in the question. This underscore character
is NOT to be confused with a "dash" or "hyphen". If an
underscore character exists ANYWHERE in the question, then
that question automatically becomes a fill-in-the-blank
question, and will as a result accept only one answer when
the time comes to input an answer when creating the quiz.
You can enter one "_" underscore by itself or a string of
underscores (e.g., "______"). The result is the same - one
word will be prompted for during the quiz.

The following are acceptable in creating a fill-in-
the-blank question:

George _ was the first president of the United
States.

George Washington was the first _____ of the United
States.

Name the first president of the United States?: __

Keep in mind the difference in formats between
multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions:

"DECEMBER 25 IS:" This will result in a multiple-
choice question.

"DECEMBER 25 IS _" This will result in a fill-in-
the-blank question.

You can enter alternate or multiple answers for
fill-in-the-blank questions by separating each acceptable
answer with a comma ",". For instance, if a fill-in-the-
blank question prompts: "How much is 50 cents added to 50
cents? _", the quiz creator can anticipate several possible
answers by entering "$1, $1.00, 1 buck, 4 quarters" in the
answer field. Note that each solution is separated by a
comma ",". When a student in confronted with this question
on the screen during an interactive quiz, the student will
receive a "correct" response if they enter any of the 4
answers:

$1 $1.00 1 buck 4 quarters


References:

If you would like to have a reference note appear after
each question during an interactive on-screen test, enter
your notes at the "Reference:" prompt line.

If you (the teacher) would like to display an ASCII
text file prior to a particular question during an
on-screen quiz, then enter a filename (and path, if needed)
with a pair of {} brackets. For instance, {MY_TEST.ASC} is
valid, as is {DATA\HISTORY.92}. If you would like to have
the displayed ASCII text start at a particular line number,
enter a comma followed by the line number. For example, if
you wish to have the text file {MY_TEST.ASC} pop-up on line
8, enter {MY_TEST.ASC,8}. We have included a fine example
of this extended reference useage in a quiz file on this
disk. Retrieve the file "COMMANDS.QZ" and take a good look
at it. Better yet, try taking this test!


Edit a quiz:

If the user wishes to modify, change, or add a
question to an existing .QZ quiz file, then select the
"Edit a quiz" option from the Main Menu. This feature will
permit the user to change any question or answer that had
been previously entered. If the user has dozens or
hundreds of questions in a .QZ file, and wishes to edit
just one question, but is uncertain as to its position in
the file, the user can "list" all the questions in the file
quickly by pressing the [L] key. A pop-up menu list will
appear that will list all the questions in sequential
order. If more questions exist than can appear in the
menu, use the cursor control keys to scroll down the menu
list. Once the question is located in the menu, press
[ENTER] and that question and its corresponding answers
will be displayed in their entirety. Press the [C] key to
make any necessary "changes".

Note: Once a question has been entered as a "fill-in-
the-blank" type question, it is possible from within the
program to convert it to a multiple-choice question. To
make the switch, remove the "_" underscore character. This
will allow the user to add the usual five possible answer
choices. You can also make the switch from an existing
multiple-choice to a fill-in-the-blank question by simply
inserting an "_" underscore character anywhere in the
question itself.


Quiz printouts:

There are two ways to obtain printed quizzes using
CREATE A QUIZ:

1) Before taking an actual quiz, the user can select
the "Print quiz:" choice from the "Take/use a quiz" sub-
menu. Once the "Print quiz:" option is toggled "ON", all
questions that are displayed on the screen during the
course of the quiz will also be echoed to a printer
attached to port LPT1: The solutions to these printed
quizzes will appear after every two pages of questions.

2) From the "Create a quiz" and "Edit a quiz"
selections from the Main Menu, the user can press the [P]
key to print a range of questions. The quiz creator can
then enter the beginning question number and the ending
question number. This range will then be sent to the
printer. The quiz creator also has the option of
displaying the correct answer on these printouts, or to
suppress the correct answer. Correct answers are marked by
an asterisk symbol "*".


Repeat errors:

Before taking a quiz, the user can select the "Repeat
errors:" option from the "Take/use a quiz" sub- menu. When
the "Repeat errors:" option is toggled "ON", then questions
that have been answered incorrectly will be saved into
memory and recalled at random during the remainder of the
quiz session.


Scoreboard:

When a user has finished with a quiz and wishes to
exit to DOS, their score will be entered into a scoreboard
file and then displayed on the screen in a "Top-Ten" chart
if they have one of the ten best records for that quiz.
Each quiz that you create has its own scoreboard ".SCB"
file. For example, if you have a student using a quiz
named "MUSIC.QZ" then the student's quiz results will be
kept in "MUSIC.SCB" as he finishes the quiz.


Command line options:

The "command line" refers to what was typed at the DOS
prompt before loading CREATE A QUIZ into memory. For
example, if your CREATE A QUIZ disk is located in drive A:,
your screen should display "A>QUIZ" before you press the
[ENTER] key to begin the program. "A>QUIZ" can be referred
to as the "command line".

Additional text can be appended to the command line
after the key word "QUIZ" that will instruct CREATE A QUIZ
to perform certain functions not available through the menu
selections.

QUIZ filename.QZ

If a name of an existing .QZ file is added on the
command line after the key word "QUIZ", then that .QZ file
will be automatically read and used to quiz the user/
student. In such cases the "Main Menu" will be skipped,
and the student will be greeted with a prompt to enter his
name, followed by the quiz. In the above example replace
the word "filename" with the actual name of the quiz you
wish to use. If your quiz is called "MATH.QZ" then you
must enter "QUIZ MATH.QZ" on the command line before
running the program. An example of this command line
option in action can be seen by using or viewing the
"QUIZ1.BAT" file on this disk.

QUIZ filename.QZ RESTRICT

The additional word "RESTRICT" on the command line
will prevent the student/user from reaching the "Main
Menu". This is useful if you have given the program disk
to a student and have created a batch file to force the
student to use a particular quiz, but you do not want the
student to gain access to the "Main Menu" where he may be
able to change your questions or answers, or peek and
cheat.

QUIZ STOPAT=x

The above "STOPAT=" command line option can be used to
force CREATE A QUIZ to stop and return to DOS after "x"
number of random questions have been attempted by the
student. You can replace the "x" with any positive number
that you wish. For instance, "QUIZ STOPAT=2", "quiz
stopat=150", "QUIZ stopat=90" are all acceptable command
line instructions. Do NOT forget to separate the key word
"QUIZ" and the "STOPAT=" option with a space! If the user
wishes to see an example of a .BAT file with this option at
work then see the "QUIZ2.BAT" file on this disk.

QUIZ STARTAT=10 STOPAT=20

The above combination of "STARTAT=" and "STOPAT="
commands instruct CREATE A QUIZ to start at a specific
question number and to display subsequent questions
sequentially (10, 11, 12,...19, 20). Once the number
designated by "STOPAT=" is reached, the program will exit
to DOS. If you use "STARTAT=" without a "STOPAT="
statement, CREATE A QUIZ will still proceed with questions
sequentially until the very last question is reach, and
then will terminate to DOS.

QUIZ TIMEOUT=x

The above "TIMEOUT=" command line option can be used
to force CREATE A QUIZ to stop and return to DOS after "x"
number of minutes have elapsed since the first question was
attempted by the student. You can replace the "x" with any
positive number that you wish. For instance, "QUIZ
TIMEOUT=5" will cause the program to end after 5 minutes of
play have elapsed. An example of this command line option
in action can be seen in the "QUIZ3.BAT" file on this disk.

Command line instructions can be combined or placed in
any order. In other words, the following command line
instructions are all acceptable:

QUIZ TIMEOUT=10 STOPAT=100

The command line instructions above will cause the
program to end after 10 minutes of play have elapsed or 100
random questions have been attempted, whichever comes first.

QUIZ filename.QZ DISPLAY

The above command line instructions force CREATE A QUIZ
into a continuous loop using "filename.QZ". When a player
is prompted for his name, the program will insist that the
user input his FULL name, AND address, city, state, zip and
phone number before they can participate in the quiz
specified by "filename.QZ". This "DISPLAY" command line
instruction (with .QZ file) turns CREATE A QUIZ into an
excellent sales or promotional tool for businesses and
organizations. For example, a company that specializes in
selling and installing home water filters can create a
"WATER.QZ" file that presents several questions that tests
a prospective client's knowledge of tap water, chlorine,
heavy metals, cost comparisons, etc. If CREATE A QUIZ has
been started with the "WATER.QZ DISPLAY" command line
instructions, then WATER.QZ will be presented to each
client that approaches the company's computer display.
Each user's name and address are stored in a file called
"USER.LST". The "USER.LST" file can later be retrieved and
used to print out mailing labels or possible client list.
Should you wonder how to stop CREATE A QUIZ from looping
into eternity in the "DISPLAY" mode, enter "GOODBYE" when
the input window prompts for a user's full name. Of course
you could reboot your computer, but that's not very
graceful...


Disclaimer:

The author makes no warranties, expressed or implied,
as to the quality of performance of this program. The
author will not be held liable for any direct, indirect,
incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use
of CREATE A QUIZ. Your use of the program constitutes your
agreement to this disclaimer and your release of the author
from any form of liability or litigation.


Shareware and distribution:

CREATE A QUIZ is being distributed as shareware.
Shareware is a "try before you buy" software marketing
concept that allows the user to obtain fully functional
copies of programs for evaluation. The distribution and
copying fee that you may have paid to obtain this disk
does not cover the cost of the software contained on this
disk. Shareware programs such as the one that you are
about to try require separate payment to the author if it
is found to be a useful product and if it is used beyond a
reasonable evaluation period.

Individuals can make copies of this program and pass
them on to friends and acquaintances as long as the program
is NOT sold and the concept of shareware is made known to
them. Commercial distributors and vendors should contact
the author BEFORE distributing CREATE A QUIZ publicly.
Contact the author with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Distributors and vendors who wish to receive the latest
unregistered version of CREATE A QUIZ can do so by
contacting the author AND SUBMITTING A COPY OF THEIR
PRODUCT CATALOG.


Site licenses:

Businesses, groups and schools must obtain a site
license for CREATE A QUIZ. Teachers who plan on making
more than one copy of their registered version of CREATE A
QUIZ must likewise obtain a site license. Contact the
author for more details. We also have a student's version
of CREATE A QUIZ that can provide a teacher with a very
inexpensive way of distributing (or even selling) their
on-screen quizzes.


Program Author:

Philip Kapusta P.O. Box 5423 Falmouth, Va. 22403 USA


Other programs:

If you are interested in other programs written by the
author, a demo disk and catalog is available. Most of our
programs are family or Bible oriented and very affordable.
Mail six U.S. first class postage stamps to cover materials
and shipping to the above address, and request a demo disk
and catalog, and specify disk size format desired.


Your feedback:

We welcome all feedback - positive and negative. We
will consider your suggestions for future program
enhancements. If you desire a reply, enclose a self-
addressed stamped envelope when writing.