Hello,
As an administrative staff member at the District University, I am responsible for creating schedules for the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, encompassing various academic programs. In our pursuit of streamlining the process of uploading required data to our system, complicated by the unique needs of each program, we have identified a straightforward solution. We have discovered that the most effective approach would be for the system to allow the export and import of sub-activity data.
Upon examining the relevant information within CSV files, we have highlighted the importance of including basic sub-activity details such as:
Professor
Tag
Student
Subject
Duration
ID
Others
Incorporating these fundamental elements would significantly enhance our workflow. I strongly believe that this minor adjustment would resolve numerous challenges and substantially expedite our information upload process.
Thank you for suggestion. It is already on my TODO list, but i must admit with a low priority, since I don't need it myself and there are so many other things on my list.
I am currently not sure about the best variant:
a) a activities.csv file that can import activities and subactivities.
or
b) a subactivities.csv file that can only import subactivities, but not activities.
Both variants have different advantages and disadvantages.
What do you prefer (and why)?
You can also suggest how the file (header) should look like. Since there are several variants how to do that. So maybe it is a nice idea to talk about that here, so we can already see disadvantages and advantages of different variants.
Quote from: Volker Dirr on November 01, 2024, 10:20:28 PMThank you for suggestion. It is already on my TODO list, but i must admit with a low priority, since I don't need it myself and there are so many other things on my list.
I am currently not sure about the best variant:
a) a activities.csv file that can import activities and subactivities.
or
b) a subactivities.csv file that can only import subactivities, but not activities.
Both variants have different advantages and disadvantages.
What do you prefer (and why)?
You can also suggest how the file (header) should look like. Since there are several variants how to do that. So maybe it is a nice idea to talk about that here, so we can already see disadvantages and advantages of different variants.
Thank you for your prompt response, and I'm delighted to know that our suggestion was already on your to-do list. We understand that prioritization is crucial, and we appreciate your willingness to consider our specific needs.
We want to express our sincere gratitude for considering our request. FET has been an invaluable tool for us since we discovered it, and this small modification would represent a significant advancement in the efficiency of our scheduling process. Your dedication to improving the software is truly appreciated, and we look forward to any developments in this regard.
After analyzing the variants you proposed, our team prefers option b) a `subactivities.csv` file that allows importing only subactivities, but not activities. This choice is based on our optimized workflow, which consists of the following steps:
- Initial Activity Import: First, we will import the main activities into the system.
- Subactivity Generation: The system will generate the corresponding subactivities for these activities.
- Subactivity Export: We will export these subactivities to the `subactivities.csv` file.
- Subactivity Modification in Excel: We will modify the subactivities as needed from an online Excel file, enabling real-time collaboration among the team. This is particularly useful for us, as it facilitates coordination and updating of changes.
- Import of Updated Subactivities: Finally, we will import the modified and "tagged" subactivities back into the system.
Our choice stems from having activities with sessions (subactivities) that are not conducted in the same type of space. For instance, a class may have one subactivity in a regular classroom and another in a laboratory. To manage this efficiently, we plan to add
specific tags for each room configuration and apply tag-based restrictions. The ability to modify subactivities in detail is crucial for us.
For this functionality to be effective for us, it would be ideal if the `subactivities.csv` file includes the following fields per subactivity:
- ID
- Subject
- Duration
- Total Duration
- Activity Group ID
- Active
- Activity Tag (for our room management and restrictions)
- Teacher
- Students
- Comments
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
hmm... I must think about that.
There are a few points that will be problematic with your suggestion and I must avoid those problems (by making a better csv file):
a) (Minor problem): What to do for example if the ID was already added in the activity.csv? Adding them separately or try to merge them to the activity?
b) (Very big problem): I can't use the "Activity Group ID" from fet (xml) in csv file. Impossible, because in fet there is a special rule that if the ID is equal to 0 then it will be connected to the main ID. In xml I can see that "connectivity" by the braces. Since there are no braces in a csv file it will be impossible to see it! A solution might be to add an ID that is connected with the sub activity. Sadly there are many variants possible to do that and it will also be a big pain for the user that he must care about that in the excel file manually. I bet users will make a lot of bugs there. So we should think about a better/other variant.
c) (Very big problem): Impossible to see the min n day constraint. It will be a pain to add them all manually later.
d) (Minor problem): I think i should also add a few optional other constraints that are requested by other guys, like a fixed/locked day, time and room.
I've been thinking, and I'm starting to lean towards a simpler solution to avoid all the potential headaches you mentioned. Honestly, what we're really after is an efficient way to tag sub-activities with the csv-excel format. So, here's a reworked proposal: what if we use a single, combined CSV file for both activities and sub-activities? This would sidestep the ID conflicts and connectivity issues you brought up.
Let's just include the essential fields: Subject, Duration, Total Duration, Active, Activity Tag, Teacher, Students, and Comments. Maybe with a structure similar to the csv to import years, groups and subgroups. Does this simplified approach sound like it could work? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this streamlined proposal.
Yes, I also prefer to use just a single file.
Let me think more. Sadly your suggestion is not an easy one.
There is still the question how to do it, since all the fields that you mention are already available.
In my opinion 2 possible approaches are:
a) adding something like an ID. I is not the same ID as in FET (can be, but must not be) and that ID is only used to "connect" 2 lines to an activity. Disadvantage of this variant is, that the min day constraint between 2 lines is not clear.
or
b) add a second field separator. So similar to the "+" for adding several teachers. So maybe adding a "|" to separate sub-activities. The disadvantage of that variant will be, that it is not a very nice solution in Excel, since in Excel it will be in a single cell. So the value in cells might be very long and confusing. And it also mean that using "|" in names is critical and might produce problems.
hmmm...
Hi Volker Dirr,
I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for your collaboration and willingness to address our request for enhancing the sub-activity data export/import functionality. Your dedication to understanding our needs and finding solutions is truly appreciated.
However, after our discussion and conducting further testing, I've made an interesting discovery. Upon manually loading data into the system and then exporting/importing activities, I noticed that the system already has a built-in way to differentiate sub-activities by tags, teachers, and other fields we initially proposed. This functionality is remarkably similar to what we were requesting.
Given this finding, it seems that pursuing our original request is no longer necessary. I'm pleased to inform you that the desired functionality appears to be already integrated into the program, significantly simplifying our workflow.
Once again, thank you for your time.
Hello, Edinson-MAT,
I totally forgot about this! Indeed, we added some code to address different subactivities in CSV import/export some time ago.