Need some ideas for teacher's gradebook

[mystica]

Hey all,

I was thinking about trying to use ams to develop a teacher's gradebook for personal use in the classroom ... but after sitting here thinking about how I might go about this, am really at a loss as to how to even get started for something like this.

I've seen examples of stuff for this kind of thing developed in Excel, and even whole database applications packed into full free-standing software packages.

But none is what I'm really looking for. I don't want to overcomplicate things, and am just looking for a really basic and simple kind of setup, that will allow me to enter, store and display lists of student-names, together with grades/results for each exam. And maybe with some kind of database-style link to details about each student.

I don't have a damm clue about SQLite, so was looking at the Grid-Object for a while but this doesn't seem to be of much use for this task. I was also thinking about burying my head in MS-Access for a while to learn how to build with that, but it just looks so damm complicated.

Does anyone have some other ideas for how I might get started on this type of project?

PS.
Some visual inspiration might be helpful, too ... because I'm feeling decidedly un-imaginative at the moment.

[RizlaUK]

mmm, a teacher that dont know where to start....god help us

jk, check PM

[mystica]

mmm, a teacher that dont know where to start....god help us

LOL!
Now, that's just plain mean.

[JDog37]

Hey mystica!!! How the he(double hockey stick)are ya!? LMAO, Give me a few color ideas and or some ideas on how you want it to look and I might be able to help with graphics?

[mystica]

Hey mystica!!! How the he(double hockey stick)are ya!? LMAO, Give me a few color ideas and or some ideas on how you want it to look and I might be able to help with graphics?

Open to anything at this stage, JD. Just needs be easy to interpret, visually-speaking.

[infinityscape]

you could use XML to store the students information, grades etc. i use XML all the time now is its very easy to make and very flexible and also provides a database without actually needing a database.

[mystica]

you could use XML to store the students information, grades etc. i use XML all the time now is its very easy to make and very flexible and also provides a database without actually needing a database.

I'm not too familar on working with the XML functions but will definitely look into it. Gotta be easier to understand then sqlite.

[JDog37]

Ideas are starting this way.. Give me more Ideas!! Now of course there will be sub cat... But this is a start.

Joe

[mystica]

Looks really good, JD! Nicely done.
More ideas you ask? Okay ... well the inside needs to contain some kind of grid/column arrangement. (ie. student-names down the left, results of each exam adjacent each name, across the page).

example:



The real problem is how to display such an arrangement, so that the cells are editable and storeable. Is why I was looking at the ams grid-object originally. Guess it needs sqlite or xml working in tandem to do this though, and this where I'm getting thrown, 'cause I know stuff all about these two functions.

[JDog37]

How do I populate the grid object?? I never used it before.. I have a excel file like you were saying names on the left, and classes across the top, but I dont know how to populate the grid object at all.. lol. I put the excel file in the docs folder, but how to use??

Joe

[mystica]

Heh-heh, yeah ... that's the problem. I know stuff-all (ie. nothing) about grids, xml and sqlite which are the very things I need for this project. And the documentation is either too scant to be of much use, or too difficult to make sense out of.

[JDog37]

I wonder if you can do it out of a listbox, and check boxes... or something?

[mystica]

I wonder if you can do it out of a listbox, and check boxes... or something?

I'm sure you can, but it wouldn't be very effecient.
I saw this example yesterday: registro (original thread: http://www.indigorose.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28867),
which is sort of like what I'm after, but way more complex than what I had in mind.

[RizlaUK]

which is sort of like what I'm after, but way more complex than what I had in mind.

just how non complex do you want it

iv been working hard on this database setup, in fact i think iv gone a little overboard, this is turning into a full scale school management system

[mystica]

Far out, man! That looks friggin' awesome!
Yes please!