CS 211 Configuring Web-CAT

Web-CAT

Web-CAT is an online, automated grading system that we will be trying out this semester (unless it becomes too much of a pain and we have to abandon it). The idea is that you can submit your work at any time and you will get (near) instant feedback on the correctness of your submission. I will then come in and add some extra points based on my reading of your code (a little bit of style and a little bit of adding points back for partial solutions — though hopefully I won't have to do much of that).

Installing the Eclipse plugin

One of the nice things about working with Eclipse is that there are plugins for doing just about anything. This includes working with Web-CAT. Once you have installed the Eclipse plugin, you will be able to submit your assignments directly from within Eclipse (note that the lab machines already have this installed). To install the plugin:

1. Open Eclipse and select Install new Software from the Help menu
2. Click the Add button in the top right of the dialog box that appears.
3. In the Name field, type Web-CAT.
4. In the Location field, type http://web-cat.cs.vt.edu/eclipse.
5. Click OK
6. Expand the Web-CAT/Virginia Tech Computer Science item. Check the Web-CAT Eclipse Java Feature item.
7. Click Next.
8. Click Next again.
9. Accept the licence terms and click Finish.
10. You may get a warning about installing unsigned code during the installation. Click OK to continue the installation.
11. When Eclipse asks you to restart, click OK.

The plugin actually installs a collection of useful tools. We can now submit to Web-CAT automatically, check the coverage of our tests and check for style issues. Submission and code coverage are available directly from the toolbar, while the other additions can be found in the pop-up context menu.

Configuring Submissions

In order to submit code, you need to know where to send it.

1. Open Eclipse and select Preferences from the Eclipse menu (potentially different on Windows).
2. Select the Electronic Submission preference tab.
3. For Assignment definition URL enter http://cl8-95.mtholyoke.edu/Web-CAT/WebObjects/Web-CAT.woa/wa/assignments/eclipse (this is a special page that tells Eclipse what assignments are available — you can visit it in your web browser, though it won't be that interesting).
4. Enter you Web-CAT username for Default username.
5. Click Apply
6. Click OK

Now, when you click submit, you will get a dialog box that asks you to select the assignment you are submitting and for your login credentials. Once you have entered your password, Eclipse will remember it. When you submit your work, a new tab will open with a view of the submission web page so you can see your results. Do be patient with this page, it can take a while for the tests to be run and your report generated. Submit as many times as you want up to four days after the deadline, after which you will need to talk to me.