File format¶

The domain: .smad-x.json¶

A readable JSON file that versions well in Git:

{
  "Version": 2,
  "Domain": {
    "Name": "contoso.com",
    "Type": "Domain",
    "DistinguishedName": "DC=contoso,DC=com",
    "Children": [ { "Name": "Users", "Type": "Container", "Children": [ ] } ]
  },
  "SitesTopology": { "Sites": [ ], "SiteLinks": [ ] },
  "TierConfigurations": [ ]
}

Versions¶

On load, a version 1 file is converted automatically, and the status bar says so. A file written by a newer version of SMAD-X is refused with a message giving both versions, rather than being half-read.

The lab: .smadx-lab.json¶

A lab holds a statement, a full starting domain (a .smad-x.json document, migrated on load like any file) and objectives. Its structure is described in Creating a lab. The "Exam": true key, written only when set, puts the lab in exam mode.

Format v3 (SMAD-X 0.10) adds:

• Questions, the comprehension questions: Id, Title, Hint, Kind (SingleChoice, MultipleChoice, TrueFalse, Matching, Text), Points, Choices (Id, Text), Prompts for a matching question (Id, Text), Partial;
• the answer key, which only exists in the trainer's copy: Correct on the right choices, Match on each matching item (the Id of its proposal), AcceptedAnswers for a written answer;
• Partial on an objective: partial credit.

The subject is the same file without the answer key and, for an exam, without the hints; a matching question's proposals are shuffled in it. An exam that still holds hints or an answer key is the trainer's copy: SMAD-X refuses to open it.

The submission: .smadx-submission.json¶

A learner's submission ("Format": "smadx-submission") holds their name (Student), the lab id (LabId), the date the starting domain was prepared (StartedOn), the date of the submission (SavedAt), the objectives whose hint was viewed (HintsUsed), the lab received (Lab) and the learner's domain (Work, a .smad-x.json document). It holds no grade: SMAD-X Studio grades it with the trainer's copy of the lab.

ElapsedMinutes gives the time spent on the lab, resumed sessions included; EngineVersion and RulesVersion, the SMAD-X version that wrote the submission and the fingerprint of its audit rules: Studio warns when they differ from its own. These three fields exist since format v2 (SMAD-X 0.9).

Format v3 (SMAD-X 0.10) adds Answers, the answers to the questions by question id (Choices, the ticked choices; Matches, each item and the proposal chosen; or Text), and StudentId, the learner's optional ID.

SessionId identifies the work session, drawn at random when the lab opens: the identifiers (Id) of the objects in the working domain are derived from it. Seal is the seal: the SHA-256, in hexadecimal, of the submission without the Seal key, written as compact JSON. It does not depend on the layout, only on content: the slightest change breaks it.

The trainer's files¶

The PowerShell import script¶

File > Generate AD Import Script... produces a script that reads an AD and writes a .smad-x.json. SMAD-X produces no script that changes a directory. See Import and export.