Problem

You want to set up Eclipse so that students can submit directly to Web-CAT from within Eclipse using the EclipsePlugins/SubmissionPlugin.

Solution

Web-CAT is configured to allow Eclipse submissions by default and to publish this information in a way that's visible to the plugin, so the only step required is to configure the plugin within Eclipse.

Configure Eclipse

The Eclipse submission plug-in reads which assignments are available from a URL. This URL can point to a hand-written text file managed by an instructor, or to a dynamically generated file (or even a dynamically generated file that includes hand-written content from multiple sources!).

Normally, however, instructors who are using Web-CAT just want Eclipse to read the assignment information directly from Web-CAT. To configure Eclipse, use the Eclipse preferences dialog.

Within Eclipse, select the Window->Preferences... menu command.

Select Electronic Submission from the tree on the left.

Enter your Web-CAT server's URL in the Assignment definition URL box. The URL will be similar to this one, from Virginia Tech's main Web-CAT server:

http://web-cat.cs.vt.edu/Web-CAT/WebObjects/Web-CAT.woa/wa/assignments/eclipse

To find the URL for your own institution, replace the initial part of the url, "http...Web-CAT.woa" with the corresponding URL that your Web-CAT server uses for its pages.

If desired, enter your Web-CAT user name in the Default username box.

Click "OK".

Discussion

If you are sharing one of the VT Web-CAT servers with others, you can limit the assignments visible to your students by adding a parameter to the URL. For example, adding "?institution=Dickinson" to the end of the URL will limit the display to only assignments associated with Dickinson College (or use VT for Virginia Tech, etc). For more details, ContactYourAdministrator.

Other parameters can also be added to the URL to limit display to a single course or a single course offering, or to display staff-accessible assignments rather than just those visible to students.

Contributors

-- JohnClements 2012-03-30 08:27:00
-- StephenEdwards 2007-06-21 02:03:27
-- AmyWells 2007-03-22 16:42:41

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