Metadata

Structure

meta.xml
<task trackingId="244a854f-c562-45b7-b425-198cd00b8380" lang="java" attempts="25" protectedRegions="disabled">
  <name>Appointment</name>
  <evaluator>java@java25</evaluator>
  <evaluatorParams>
    <!-- if assert statements are used in the solution -->
    <param key="jvm.enable_asserts" value="true"/>
  </evaluatorParams>
  <description>Termine</description>
  <submissionModes default="TEXT">
    <submissionMode name="TEXT"/>
    <submissionMode name="FILE"/>
  </submissionModes>
  <files>
    <file public="true" type="template" path="Appointment.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="test" path="AppointmentTest.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="acceptanceTest" path="AppointmentAbnahmeTest.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="include" path="Date.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="include" path="DateTime.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="include" path="Time.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="solution" path="Appointment.java"/>
    <file public="true" type="misc" path="Anhang.pdf"/>
  </files>
  <mimeMappings>
    <!-- not necessary in this example, only included for completeness -->
    <mimeMapping map=".java" to="text/x-java-source"></mimeMapping>
  </mimeMappings>
  <custom>
    <sample>Hello World!</sample>
  </custom>
</task>

XSD

An XSD is available for local validation of meta.xml. It won't catch everything, but it saves you unnecessary round-trips over syntax errors.

meta.xml
<task trackingId="244a854f-c562-45b7-b425-198cd00b8380" lang="java" attempts="25" protectedRegions="disabled">
...
</task>

Attribute	Required	Type	Description
`trackingId`	yes	UUID4	ID used for preserving the link between solutions and the task they were submitted to. Must be unique within a task pool and should never be changed.
`attempts`	no	int	How many times a solution can be submitted for this task. Solutions submitted after the limit was reached are still accepted, but flagged accordingly.
`lang`	yes	string	Identifier for the language that best fits the task. See possible values in Subato under `Verwaltung` -> `Sprachen` (the value outside parentheses is the identifier, the one in parentheses is the display name). If you need additional languages, feel free to add them in Subato.
`protectedRegions`	no	ProtectedRegionMode	See Protected Regions

General

meta.xml
<name>Appointment</name>
<evaluator>java@java25</evaluator>
<evaluatorParams>
  <param key="jvm.enable_asserts" value="true"/>
</evaluatorParams>
<description>Termine</description>

Element	Required	Type	Description
`name`	yes	string	The task's display name.
`description`	no	string	Short description shown in the UI.
`evaluator`	no	string	Reference to the evaluation stack used for solution evaluation (compiling, testing, style). Format: `<evaluator_id>[@(<environment_id>)]`. Available stacks (with a reference to the docs in Eva) are listed in Subato under `Verwaltung` -> `Eva`.
`evaluatorParams`	no	-	Parameters sent along with the evaluation. See the docs in Eva of the chosen evaluator for available parameters. Currently limited to simple key-value pairs with primitive values.

Submission Mode

Configures how solutions can be submitted for this task.

meta.xml
<submissionModes default="TEXT">
  <submissionMode name="TEXT"/>
  <submissionMode name="FILE" extensions="java" archives="true" extract="true"/>
</submissionModes>

Attribute	Required	Type	Description
`submissionModes.default`	no	SubmissionMode	Submission mode selected by default in the UI.
`submissionMode.name`	yes	SubmissionMode
`submissionMode.extensions`	no (default: every extension of defined `template` files)	string	Allowed file extensions (separated with `;`) of submitted files. File extensions are checked for submitted files only. Files nested inside archives are not checked recursively. Extensions can be specified only when `submissionMode.name` = `FILE`.
`submissionMode.archives`	no (default: `true`)	boolean	Whether submitting an archive is allowed. If set to `true`, files with the archive extensions listed in SubmissionMode can be submitted. This can be specified only when `submissionMode.name` = `FILE`.
`submissionMode.extract`	no (default: `true` if `evaluator` is configured, `false` otherwise)	boolean	Whether archives are extracted, e.g. to view solutions directly in the UI. Must be `true` if `evaluator` is configured, since the source files need to be extracted for evaluation. This can only be specified when `submissionMode.name` = `FILE`

Specifying the submissionModes element is optional. If omitted, FILE is always enabled (with default values set for extensions, archives, and extract), and TEXT is enabled when there's exactly one template file. If the default attribute is omitted, it will be resolved to TEXT if enabled, otherwise FILE. If TEXT is configured explicitly and there's no template file, an empty editor is shown and the submitted file is saved as unnamed.txt.

Which mode should I use?

Choose TEXT for smaller tasks (for example, short-answer questions) that can be completed using a web editor. Choose FILE for tasks that require or benefit from editing in an IDE.

File References

Defines metadata for the task's files. Every file placed in the task's directory must be listed here to be picked up by Subato. As there may be tasks that do not need any files, specifying the files elements is optional.

meta.xml
  <files>
    <file public="true" type="template" path="Appointment.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="test" path="AppointmentTest.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="acceptanceTest" path="AppointmentAbnahmeTest.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="include" path="Date.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="include" path="DateTime.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="include" path="Time.java"/>
    <file public="false" type="solution" path="Appointment.java"/>
    <file public="true" type="misc" path="Anhang.pdf"/>
  </files>

Define a file element per file, with these attributes:

Attribute	Required	Type	Description
`type`	no (default: `misc`)	FileType
`path`	yes	string	Relative path to the file, from the `files/<type>` directory. See the docs on file organization.
`public`	no (default: `false`)	boolean	Is the file visible to non-instructors?

You can also give each file a short description to be shown in the UI. For example:

<file public="true" type="template" path="Appointment.java">A description</file>

Mime-Type Mappings

Task-specific mappings from file extensions to mime types (e.g. text/plain). The mime type determines whether a file can be shown in a code editor, which syntax-highlighting rules apply, and whether submitting a given file is allowed.

meta.xml
<mimeMappings>
  <mimeMapping map=".eva" to="text/plain"></mimeMapping>
</mimeMappings>

Attribute	Required	Type	Description
`mimeMapping.map`	yes	string	Filename suffix to match
`mimeMapping.to`	yes	string	Mime type to use if the suffix matches

Specifying these mappings is optional. By default, Subato tries to infer the mime type automatically, but this can fail or produce the wrong result. In particular, when the task involves files with custom domain-specific languages.

Extensibility

Additional elements must live inside the custom element. For example:

meta.xml
<custom>
  <sample>Hello World!</sample>
</custom>

They can't be placed anywhere else, because meta.xml is validated against an XSD 1.0 schema. XSD 1.1 wouldn't have this limitation, but Subato only supports XSD 1.0.

Structure​

Header​

General​

Submission Mode​

File References​

Mime-Type Mappings​

Extensibility​