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- Help files for Domain configuration (new file names better for online manual).

    1: \label{Domain_Configuration_Cataloging_Courses}
    2: LON-CAPA courses can be both self-cataloging, and also manually cataloged.
    3: 
    4: Self-cataloging uses the institutional course code assigned to the
    5: course when it is first created, or when the course is modified by
    6: a Domain Coordinator via \char`\"{}Modify a course\char`\"{}. If a
    7: course has no institutional code it will not appear in the category:
    8: Official courses (with institutional codes).
    9: 
   10: A hierarchy of categories and sub-categories can be defined which
   11: are independent of institutional course codes. These categories might
   12: be used to catalog courses in the domain to which the \char`\"{}official
   13: courses\char`\"{} designation does not apply, or they might be used
   14: to provide alternative ways of cataloging official courses.
   15: 
   16: Besides definition of the hierarchy of categories and sub-categories,
   17: the \char`\"{}cataloging of courses\char`\"{} screen provides two
   18: options to be set for the domain by a Domain Coordinator, which control:
   19: 
   20: \begin{itemize}
   21: \item Who may hide a course from the course catalog, if the course would
   22: ordinarily appear by virtue of having an institutional course code,
   23: or having been assigned to a custom category/sub-category.
   24: \item Who may assign a custom category/subcategory to a course
   25: \end{itemize}
   26: In both cases, the choice is between a Domain Coordinator and a Course
   27: Coordinator. For the former, hiding of courses and assignment of categories
   28: will be via \char`\"{}Modify Course\char`\"{}, while for the latter
   29: these operations will be via \char`\"{}Modify Parameters\char`\"{}
   30: (\char`\"{}Set Course Environment\char`\"{} option in sub-menu).
   31: 
   32: Definition of custom categories is by the Domain Coordinator. The
   33: \char`\"{}Cataloging of courses\char`\"{} interface allows custom
   34: categories and sub-categories to be defined and reordered. There is
   35: one category listed at the top level in the hierarchy which behaves
   36: differently to the others - the category: \char`\"{}Official courses
   37: (with institutional codes)\char`\"{}. This is the category which is
   38: used for self-cataloged courses: the option is to either display or
   39: not display.
   40: 
   41: Although sub-categories can not be defined via this interface for
   42: this \char`\"{}system\char`\"{} category (unlike the other \char`\"{}custom\char`\"{}
   43: categories), customization of two routines in localenroll.pm - \&instcode\_defaults()
   44: and \&instcode\_format() are used to automatically generate linked
   45: select boxes which will be displayed when the course catalog is shown
   46: to allow users to include limits to their searches for official courses.
   47: If these routines have not been customized, the catalog for official
   48: courses will display all courses with institutional codes, which have
   49: not been specifically hidden.
   50: 
   51: When \&instcode\_format() has been customized it will populate perl
   52: structures (hashes and arrays) which LON-CAPA will use to generate
   53: the Javascript code embedded in the course catalog page which is used
   54: in the functioning of the linked select boxes. The contents of the
   55: hashes and arrays are determined from the complete list of institutional
   56: course codes used in the domain. For example at MSU, the following
   57: linked select boxes are displayed for the official courses catalog:
   58: Year, Semester, Department, Number.
   59: 
   60: The course catalog is useful in domains where Course Coordinators
   61: have opted to allow self-enrollment in their courses. In such cases,
   62: students can include a flag to only display courses allowing self
   63: enrollment when they display courses from the catalog. Course Coordinators
   64: will be advised, when enabling self-enrollment, if a courses is currently
   65: unlisted in the course catalog (and therefore difficult for students
   66: to locate), and the action to take to rectify the reason why there
   67: is no listing, which could be because: 
   68: 
   69: \begin{itemize}
   70: \item the course is hidden 
   71: \item the course has no institutional code 
   72: \item the course has not been assigned to any custom categories 
   73: \item the course has an institutional code, but display of the official
   74: courses catalog is disabled 
   75: \end{itemize}