Mad Blanks
Version
1.4.2 (last update on Mar 2, 2011)
Rating
Compatibility
Votes
Favoured
82
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Views
128622
Date Added
5 December 2006
Mad Blanks is a framework designed to support the development of just about any kind of quiz or test (true/false, multiple choice, personality quiz, fill in the blanks, combinations thereof, and others) and just about any kind of scoring (percentage correct, points per correct question, points per individual response, sliding scales, or use no scoring, if it's not appropriate).
The power and flexibility of Mad Blanks lie in its Score Scripting capability. The Score Script defines/controls the thank you message, score, summary, statistics, etc. that the user sees after submitting the form. Use the included default Score Scripts for basic quizzes or write your own with help from the Mad Blanks support forum. For example, we'll help you figure out how to score your quiz the way you want or make your assessment or exam work.
In your custom Score Script, if you write one, you'll use special tags such as [:percentage_correct:], [:number_of_correct_answers:], and [:number_of_incorrect_answers:], mixed in with other text and HTML, to customize the output your user sees. Use the comparison tag for conditional statements and the arithmetic, sum and product tags for math. Due to this capability, you can use Mad Blanks as a custom online calculator.
For quizzes, you can specify a correct answer for each question and simply use [:percentage_correct:] for a simple score, or assign point values to individual questions (type "A" points) or individual responses within questions (type "B" points). Then you can use tags such as [:total_points_possible_a:] and [:total_points_earned_b:] in your Score Script. There is also an [:email:] tag that allows you to send highly configurable email when a survey/quiz/etc. is submitted containing whatever data you please.
If the extensive Score Scripting capabilities are not enough to do what you want easily, pass the Score Script output to a plugin such as Jumi for further processing.
Mad Blanks includes extensive documentation at www.madblanks.org. Use the quick start tutorial to have a multiple choice quiz operating on your Joomla site using a generic Score Script within 10 minutes. But know that this only scratches the surface of what Mad Blanks can do for you.
There are a ton of settings and more than one Mad Blanks user has pointed out that it requires some study to make full use of its capabilities. If you are unsure if Mad Blanks would be a good fit for your purpose, please use the "How Do I..." board on the Mad Blanks support forum to ask if Mad Blanks could be used for your application.
I really want to thank Chris for this extension. Indeed, as someone else said, it is hard to use and configurate, but in the end I was able to create everithing I needed: survey with custom evaluation script and chart report with resultes! Absolutely excellent.
Without any idea of scripting (neither php nor JS), MadBlanks was my only solution for building a solar calculator. Based on consumers, solar radiation and other parameters, users can determine panel and battery size - and more. I evaluated other Joomla extensions, but nothing was sufficient convenient.
It was actually quite sad to see that there are only purpose made calculators for Joomla available (most are financial), but nothing that allowed to built your own (unless you are a programmer).
Sure, MadBlanks has it's learning curve and might not adhere to some standards, but it got the job done in a nice way. It is much more than a quiz or survey component and I'd like to encourage the developper to extend the math functions even further and to extend the formatting options.
It was actually quite sad to see that there are only purpose made calculators for Joomla available (most are financial), but nothing that allowed to built your own (unless you are a programmer).
Sure, MadBlanks has it's learning curve and might not adhere to some standards, but it got the job done in a nice way. It is much more than a quiz or survey component and I'd like to encourage the developper to extend the math functions even further and to extend the formatting options.
This component is a very very extreme extension and caused me a lot of headache when I tried to modify. The developer absolutely does not know anything about the meaning of "class", "OOP" "design pattern", etc, but he made this extension diligently in spite of all. The source code of this extension is similar when somebody tries to write a book knowing only few letters and therefore he is forced to draw very basic things tortuousliy. Chris, you are a talented guy, please type the "PHP" and "OOP" keywords into the search field of google or youtube and upgrade yourself! Thanx. ;)
Owner's reply
Megant,
I certainly understand the source of your frustration (no pun intended!). I first released Mad Blanks for Joomla! 1.0 in 2006 in the hope that others in the community would find it useful. Before that, I had created and used it for a personal project on a Mambo site (Mambo was the forerunner to Joomla!). Mad Blanks has exceeded its initial mission and purpose.
Megant, please understand that I too personally feel the limitations in the design of Mad Blanks. I would not program a new extension for Joomla! the same way today. It is not as easy to make modifications for my clients as it would be if Mad Blanks had been built with a full OOP (object oriented programming) paradigm, as well as MVC architecture. (MVC, which stands for model-view-controller, was not built-in to Joomla! when I first created Mad Blanks.) The first Mad Blanks versions did not feature Score Scripting or daisy chaining. While these have added greatly to the power of Mad Blanks, they are too unwieldy when the requests start coming in for quizzes, assessments, surveys, and custom calculators with many hundreds or thousands of questions, when all that was possible initially was a 25 question word game. I recognize that it is time for Mad Blanks to evolve.
The good news for end users of Mad Blanks is that even though the workings under the hood (or under the bonnet, as the case may be) are complex, you can still get a basic quiz or survey operational in about ten minutes by following the quick start tutorial. There is an active forum available to help you craft custom Score Scripts to accomplish your form processing needs, and there is a bright future for the ideas Mad Blanks represents. In addition, Mad Blanks is actively maintained and guarded.
Because of my desire to create a next-generation version of a program inspired by the functionality of Mad Blanks, and my desire to do it in the best way possible (including taking advantage of the new functionality in Joomla! 1.6), over the past year I have expanded my personal library to include books such as "Code Complete", "PHP Object-Oriented Solutions", "Object-Oriented Software Construction", "Head First Design Patterns", "Software Project Survival Guide", "Unicode Explained", "Don't Make Me Think", and others. I am in a continual process of learning.
Megant, if you have other reading material to recommend or are interested in helping me review the code for a future Mad Blanks-like program, please contact me via www.madblanks.org
This is a very difficult concept brought to life. A brilliant piece of work that any tutor could use, though I must admit to only having created a variation in the step by step help information supplied. It shows what can be done easily. I did a simple Joomla quiz for a proposed CMS course (only 4 basic questions to date) Can't wait to do more and get my head around the other options. In the UK there is a requirement to add basic key skills of Maths and English to IT courses, this is an ideal way by, engaging IT students in creating them.
This component is certainly the most advanced to produce a survey or quiz on a joomla website !
It's no solution "out-of-the-box" for sure - you have to study the tutorials thoroughly to even produce the most basic quiz - therefore only 4 stars from me, the concept is not self-explanatory.
Anyhow, once you went through all the tutorials and testing it (do it on your local server first !) it's a quite universal method to produce tests.
Especially I like the evaluation at the end of the quiz where the user gets to know which question he/she answered in which way incorrectly !
Keep on the good work - hopefully in the future with less options and clearer user guidance. Thanks a lot !
It's no solution "out-of-the-box" for sure - you have to study the tutorials thoroughly to even produce the most basic quiz - therefore only 4 stars from me, the concept is not self-explanatory.
Anyhow, once you went through all the tutorials and testing it (do it on your local server first !) it's a quite universal method to produce tests.
Especially I like the evaluation at the end of the quiz where the user gets to know which question he/she answered in which way incorrectly !
Keep on the good work - hopefully in the future with less options and clearer user guidance. Thanks a lot !
I have been admittedly lax in writing reviews and sending in donations. Well, Mad Blanks has been such a joy to me that I have finally motivated myself to write this, my first review, and I just sent in my first donation to help support this wonderful extension!
Surveys (and quizzes to a lesser extent) are the life-blood of my website and there is nothing that remotely compares with Mad Blanks! Mad Blanks is user-friendly, very versatile, has extensive documentation, and the support is fantastic! Moreover, Chris, the Mad Blanks creator, is alway improving this already wonderful survey & quiz maker. I am also impressed that he is willing to put in so much work on a donation basis. Kudos, Chris!
Can't say enough good about it. Keep up the good work!
Surveys (and quizzes to a lesser extent) are the life-blood of my website and there is nothing that remotely compares with Mad Blanks! Mad Blanks is user-friendly, very versatile, has extensive documentation, and the support is fantastic! Moreover, Chris, the Mad Blanks creator, is alway improving this already wonderful survey & quiz maker. I am also impressed that he is willing to put in so much work on a donation basis. Kudos, Chris!
Can't say enough good about it. Keep up the good work!
A fully functional quiz component very powerfull and configurable.
Many parameters (a little time needs to learn how to manage it) for a component able to set-up quiz of any kind.
Excellent support and step-by-step guide.
Probably the best extension I never try... and I've tried many.
Many parameters (a little time needs to learn how to manage it) for a component able to set-up quiz of any kind.
Excellent support and step-by-step guide.
Probably the best extension I never try... and I've tried many.
I have used many components, but I rate this as one of the best. Flexibility, ease of use, customization--can't beat this component. We are building a whole online course with this component, and I haven't found anything yet that it can't do. Support has been great with quick, courteous answers. Make a donation to help support this component!
I needed an app to handle a very complicated survey with multiple answers and different results depending on the answers. I decided to give MadBlanks a go because of all of the rave reviews. As others have said, the logic seemed a little overwhelming at first, so I posted to the forum. Chris took the time to not only explain what I didn't understand, but to give several examples of the kind of syntax I needed. Did I mention this is a FREE app? Chris is amazing! This is my first review on Joomla and I have been using it for years. I am definitely "donating" to Chris for his hard work and dedication. Thank you!
This is my second review in the last 2 years. Madblanks and Chris really deserve this. I have 2 types of surveys with very complicated score scripts running on my web site. The extension was very flexible so that I could do what I wanted. Chris gave very detailed answers in the forum whenever I was in need. I have donated Chris 3 times and that has never happened before :-)
I have been using Joomla and Joomla extensions for several years now. THIS IS THE BEST extension that I have encountered. Be sure to read the tutorials and how to's before creating your first survey, quiz or whatever. The documentation is fantastic and the support forums are great. I got an answer from Chris in the forums which set me on the right track.
I don't normally donate to developers (because I'm cheap, I admit it) but I'll be donating to Chris on this one.
I don't normally donate to developers (because I'm cheap, I admit it) but I'll be donating to Chris on this one.
I reviewed the documentation before downloading and installing, so I knew how much work would be involved in setting up and configuring the quizzes. Having developed and written similar programs I had an immediate appreciation for the flexible (and yes complicated) design. With flexibility comes complexity.
I followed the tutorial and was able to have a sample quiz up in two minutes.
Need a follow up tutorial on how to get the quizzes to display in the menu. :-)
nice work, thanks for the module.
I followed the tutorial and was able to have a sample quiz up in two minutes.
Need a follow up tutorial on how to get the quizzes to display in the menu. :-)
nice work, thanks for the module.
This has to be one of the most highly configurable extensions I've ever seen. At first the huge number of options may seem overwhelming, but if you want to do it "your way", the developer seems to have found a way for you to accomplish it without ever leaving the back-end. No searching for files to edit! You do need to spend some time on the site going over the tutorials and FAQs, but when you are done you will have exactly what you want. Every aspect is highly documented on the back-end to make customization as easy as possible. On top of all of this, excellent support is provided in the forum. It is hard to believe that this component (and support) is free. The only thing left on my wish list is SEF support.
There is so much to this component and its companion modules that you need to take some time to truly understand what it is capable of. From simple surveys to soliciting content contributions from site visitors (and displaying them in real-time) and much more -- it's as flexible as your imagination (well almost). Oh, and it's free (although we felt compelled to make a donation). Don't just sit there reading -- download and enjoy!
This has to be by far one of the best extensions around - it is just so versatile! And as for the support - if only my bank and telephone company provided such a high-quality support service as the Mad Blanks developer, then life would be so much sweeter!
Double thumbs-up
Double thumbs-up
Okay, for a newbie, the back end of this looks a little daunting - BUT and it is a big BUT - the support is 100% and that makes all the difference. Setting up the questions for my 'quiz' was easy - especially having gone through the 'how to' examples. Basic scoring is easy as it's already set up for you, but wouldn't you know it, my lot wanting something different. Support didn't just tell me what to do using techie speak that I wouldn't be able to follow - they actually provided the script for me!.
Fantastic, can't rate this high enough. Easy to use, easy to get good results, great support.
Fantastic, can't rate this high enough. Easy to use, easy to get good results, great support.
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