[Bromcom] Assessment Template Hack

[RootsSchImp]

If you making/editing a big assessment template in Bromcom it's worth bearing in mind that you have the option of exporting to XML via centralised import/export and editing it with a text editor (I use notepad+).

 

This is especially handy for changing column headings as they are just free text and don't depend on any code.

 

It's also possible to change columns and this is useful if you need to add lots of a similar formula. For example I recently had to make a template to split a combined science grade into its constituent parts so it was a 17 clause nested if then else, repeated twice for each of six terms.

 

I did this by making a template with the formula in the first column, then the other eleven columns I wanted added for data entry.

 

Looking at the XML for the template I then changed column type from 1 (data entry) to 4 (formula). The formula itself is a string that starts formula=... Copy that to a different notepad file (I use regular notepad for this bit) and use find and replace to adjust the five digit column reference numbers (which is what tells the formula what column to look at). Then paste the adjusted formula to the appropriate part of the code.

 

As a time saver it's a gamble because if you make even a tiny mistake you won't be able to reimport the file. But once you get the hang of it it's a big time saver as opposed to going step by step via the front end.