Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am trying to program a simple quiz maker. I have run into some questions regarding the output. The fifth question does not print. Also, can anyone give me ideas on how I should go about using an if/then statement to grade the test. Thanks. Attached is the code I have thus far: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use CGI qw(:standard);                                              
print header, start_html("Quiz Maker"),                    
    h1("Quiz Maker");                                        
if (param()) {                                
    my $who = param("firstname");
    my $who2 = param("lastname");
    my $email = param("email");
    my $firstquestion = param("FirstQuestion");
    my $secondquestion = param("SecondQuestion");
    my $thirdquestion = param("ThirdQuestion");
    my $fourthquestion = param("FourthQuestion");
    my $fifthquestion = param("FirsthQuestion");
    my $answerfirstquestion = param("AnswerFirstQuestion");
    my $answersecondquestion = param("AnswerSecondQuestion");
    my $answerthirdquestion = param("AnswerThirdQuestion");
    my $answerfourthquestion = param("AnswerFourthQuestion");
    my $answerfifthquestion = param("AnswerFifthQuestion");
    my $useranswerfirstquestion = param("UserAnswerFirstQuestion");
    my $useranswersecondquestion = param("UserAnswerSecondQuestion");
    my $useranswerthirdquestion = param("UserAnswerThirdQuestion");
    my $useranswerfourthquestion = param("UserAnswerFourthQuestion");
    my $useranswerfifthquestion = param("UserAnswerFifthQuestion");
    my $choicesfirstquestion = param("ChoicesFirstQuestion");
    my $choicessecondquestion = param("ChoicesSecondQuestion");
    my $choicesthirdquestion = param("ChoicesThirdQuestion");
    my $choicesfourthquestion = param("ChoicesFourthQuestion");
    my $choicesfifthquestion = param("ChoicesFifthQuestion");
    
    print p("Thank You. Here is your quiz:");                
    print p("Name: $who $who2");                                
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("Question #1: $firstquestion");                 
    print p("Answer:", textfield("UserAnswerFirstQuestion")); 
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("Question #2: $secondquestion");                         
    print p("Answer:", textfield("UserAnswerSecondQuestion"));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("Question #3: $thirdquestion");                        
    print p("Answer:", textfield("UserAnswerThirdQuestion"));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("Question #4: $fourthquestion");           
    print p("Answer:", textfield("UserAnswerFourthQuestion"));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("Question #5: $fifthquestion");
        print p("Answer:", textfield("UserAnswerFifthQuestion"));

} else {
    
    print hr(), start_form();                                   
    print p("What's your first name?", textfield("firstname"));
    print p("What's your last name?", textfield("lastname"));
    print p("Enter your e- mail address", textfield("email"));
    
    print hr(), start_form();    
    print p("What is your first question", textfield("FirstQuestion"))
+;
    print p("Please enter the answer", textfield("AnswerFirstQuestion"
+));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("What is your second question", textfield("SecondQuestion"
+));
    print p("Please enter the answer", textfield("AnswerSecondQuestion
+"));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("What is your third question", textfield("ThirdQuestion"))
+;
    print p("Please enter the answer", textfield("AnswerThirdQuestion"
+));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("What is your fourth question", textfield("FourthQuestion"
+));
    print p("Please enter the answer", textfield("AnswerFourthQuestion
+"));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("What is your fifth question", textfield("FifthQuestion"))
+;
    print p("Please enter the answer", textfield("AnswerFifthQuestion"
+));
    
    print hr(), start_form();
    print p(submit("Submit"), reset("Reset"));                  
    print end_form(), hr();
}
print end_html

[download]

Edit by tye, add READMORE

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Simple Quiz Maker
by davido (Cardinal) on Dec 05, 2003 at 04:05 UTC
    Here's your most immediate problem: 

    my $fifthquestion = param("FirsthQuestion");

    [download]

    I would recommend less cutting/pasting, and more Perlish idioms, as they tend to reduce the probability of this type of error. The problem is that to learn the "Perl Way" (which isn't just a single way), is to learn Perl. But as you learn Perl, your scripting will mature, and you'll be able to accomplish more.

    A great place to start is Learning Perl, an O'Reilly & Associates book. :) And of course hanging out here awhile helps too. It's not as hard as it might seem at first, and on the other hand, it's a quest never completed. *smile*

    Good luck!


    Dave

[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Simple Quiz Maker
by Roger (Parson) on Dec 05, 2003 at 06:30 UTC
    Make a list of which (first ...) and WHICH (First ...) so that you generate the CGI parameter names on the fly. Store questions and answers in arrays. I have rewritten part of your code to show you how this is done.
    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use CGI qw(:standard);

my @which = qw/ first second third fourth fifth /;
my @WHICH = qw/ First Second Third Fourth Fifth /;

print header, start_html("Quiz Maker"), h1("Quiz Maker");

if (param()) {
    my $who = param("firstname");
    my $who2 = param("lastname");
    my $email = param("email");

    my @questions = map { param("$WHICH[$_]Question") } 0..4;
    my @answers = map { param("Answer$WHICH[$_]Question") } 0..4;
    #my @user_answers = ...     # you get the picture
    #my @choices = ...

    print p("Thank You. Here is your quiz:");
    print p("Name: $who $who2");

    for (0..4) {
        print hr(), start_form();
        print p("Question #". $_+1 .": $questions[$_]");
        print p("Answer:", textfield("UserAnswer$WHICH[$_]Question"));
    }

} else {

    print hr(), start_form();
    print p("What's your first name?", textfield("firstname"));
    print p("What's your last name?", textfield("lastname"));
    print p("Enter your e- mail address", textfield("email"));

    for (0..4) {
        print hr(), start_form();
        print p("What is your $which[$_] question", textfield("$WHICH[
+$_]Question"));
        print p("Please enter the answer", textfield("Answer$WHICH[$_]
+Question"));
    }

    print hr(), start_form();
    print p(submit("Submit"), reset("Reset"));
    print end_form(), hr();
}

print end_html;

    [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Simple Quiz Maker
by duff (Parson) on Dec 05, 2003 at 04:52 UTC
[reply]
Re: Simple Quiz Maker
by Anonymous Monk on Dec 05, 2003 at 04:11 UTC
    Thanks for the help. Can anyone give me ideas on how to use an if/else statement to correct the quiz?
[reply]
      I ran your program and it seems that Roger has answered your if/else statement question, if that's what you meant.

      Your other problem is a typo which could have been averted using the Vars() method provided by CGI.pm - here's how you'd do that: 
      my $q = CGI->new;

my $form_variables = $q->Vars;

print $form_variables->{FirstQuestion}; # etc...

      [download]
      I'd have a read through the CGI.pm manpage if I were you.

      As a rule, if you find yourself copy-and-pasting lumps of code inline you can be certain that you are doing something wrong. In this example, your program would be improved by generalising the repeated print statements into a subroutine that took as its arguments a question/answer pair.

      As a general observation, the HTML you are outputting isn't up to much either. Consider closing tags on all those forms at least.

      MB
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re: Simple Quiz Maker
by Anonymous Monk on Dec 05, 2003 at 08:42 UTC
    Another problem I have run into is that the textfields do not show up (lines 37, 41, 45, 49, 53). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
[reply]
      Lots of start_forms but only one end_form? The start/end form tags should be matched, ie remove all but the first start_form.

      rdfield

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom