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The central piece of a wims server is a cgi program, usually in the name of
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wims.cgi. It takes all the http calls to the server, then does the following
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work:
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<ol>
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<li>Call the module asked by the user, and process parameters and variables
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according to what is defined in the module.
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<li>Session management.
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<li>Send the result of the process to the user.
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<li>Write to different log files.
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</ol>
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<h4> Modules of wims</h4>
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A wims server is a modular system, with different applications as modules.
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At each new call to wims, the user has to specify which module he want to
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access. <p>
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A wims module may be an interactive course or interactive exercise (of any
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level), a computational tool, a dictionary, a mathematical game, a database,
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or a mixture of the above. <p>
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Wims modules are independent from each other. Each module has its own
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directory, which serves as its address, and contains all the files of this
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module. Different modules have different authors and different maintainers,
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and may follow different copyright policies. <p>
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There is no relation between modules in a same wims site, except hypertext
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links which allows one module to access another in various ways.
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<H4>How to access a wims server</H4>
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Wims is accessed by a request to the main cgi program, for example
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<pre>
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http://wims.unice.fr/wims/wims.cgi
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</pre>
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which usually should be followed by parameters. A call to the main wims.cgi
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program without parameter will bring up the wims homepage of the site. <p>
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Parameters of wims.cgi is a usual http $emph name=value$emphend pair, where the
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$emph name$emphend field may be one of the following:
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<ul>
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<li><font color=green>cmd</font>: the value is the command of the call.
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Valid commands:
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<table border=2 cellspacing=2><tr><td>parameter string<td>meaning
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<tr><td>cmd=intro<td>get introduction page of the module
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<tr><td>cmd=new<td>open new working session
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<tr><td>cmd=renew<td>restart working session
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<tr><td>cmd=reply<td>send reply to the module
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<tr><td>cmd=next<td>get next exercise (in a working session)
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<tr><td>cmd=config<td>set preferences
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<tr><td>cmd=help<td>get contextual help
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<tr><td>cmd=hint<td>get contextual hint
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<tr><td>cmd=resume<td>resume work (e.g. after help)
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<tr><td>cmd=getins<td>get dynamic insertions: internal use<br>
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by the server. Not to be used by modules.
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</table>
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<li><font color=green>module</font>. the value is the name of the module
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which the user wants to access. <br>
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<li><font color=green>session</font>: the value is the number of the current
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session of the user. <br>
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The session number is automatically generated by wims.cgi, and is usually
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automatically contained in the pages sent by the server. Tampering with this
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parameter by the user (e.g. in order to spy into others' work) is not
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allowed and has practically no chance to get through.
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<li><font color=green>lang</font>: the value defines the prefered language
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of the user.
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<li><font color=green>user</font>: the value is the user name (for
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registered users; reserved for internal use).
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<li><font color=green>useropts</font>: the value contains user options for the
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server. The format is coded and may varie from version to version.
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<li><font color=green>worksheet</font>: reserved for internal use, for
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determining user works assigned by worksheets.
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<li><font color=green>special_parm</font>: this parameter is reserved for
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special requests (help, etc).
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<li>Any variables accepted by the module on which the user is working on (or
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wants to work on).
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</ul>
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Example:
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<pre>
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http://wims.unice.fr/~wims/wims.cgi?cmd=new&+module=tool/algebra/factor.en
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</pre>
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calls the wims server at wims.unice.fr, with `new' as the value of `cmd',
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`tool/algebra/factor.en' as the module name.
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<H4>How to use the supervisor-side interface</H4>
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Supervisors of registered classes can maintain their classes and consult
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results of students via the same web address (the main cgi program), just
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by logging in as supervisor. All the options are then available via html
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links and buttons.
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