Using an alternative exchange

By default, the exchange assumes all users are unique on the host, and uses folders and file-copys to manage the distribution of files.

nbgrader will, however, allow alternative mechanisms for distribution.

The default exchange

The exchange package is organised as follows:

exchange/
├── abc/
│   ├── collect.py
│   ├── ...
│   └── submit.py
├── default/
│   ├── collect.py
│   ├── ...
│   └── submit.py
└── exchange_factory.py

The exchange.abc package contains all the Abstract Base Classes that custom exchange packages need to implement. The exchange.default package is a default filesystem based implementation. The exchange_factory.py file contains the defintion for the ExchangeFactory class that is used to create instances of the exchange classes.

The nbgrader exchange uses the followng classes:

Exchange
ExchangeError
ExchangeCollect
ExchangeFetch
ExchangeFetchAssignment
ExchangeFetchFeedback
ExchangeList
ExchangeRelease
ExchangeReleaseAssignment
ExchangeReleaseFeedback
ExchangeSubmit

Of these ExchangeFetch and ExchangeRelease have both been deprecated and not configurable through the ExchangeFactory class.

Configuring a custom exchange

To configure a custom exchange, you simply set the relevant field in the ExchangeFactory class through traitlets configuration service.

For example, if we have installed a package called nbexchange, we add the following to the nbgrader_config.py file:

## A plugin for collecting assignments.
c.ExchangeFactory.collect = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeCollect'
## A plugin for exchange.
c.ExchangeFactory.exchange = 'nbexchange.plugin.Exchange'
## A plugin for fetching assignments.
c.ExchangeFactory.fetch_assignment = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeFetchAssignment'
## A plugin for fetching feedback.
c.ExchangeFactory.fetch_feedback = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeFetchFeedback'
## A plugin for listing exchange files.
c.ExchangeFactory.list = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeList'
## A plugin for releasing assignments.
c.ExchangeFactory.release_assignment = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeReleaseAssignment'
## A plugin for releasing feedback.
c.ExchangeFactory.release_feedback = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeReleaseFeedback'
## A plugin for submitting assignments.
c.ExchangeFactory.submit = 'nbexchange.plugin.ExchangeSubmit'

The fields in the ExchangeFactory are:

  • exchange - The base Exchange class that all other classes inherit from

  • fetch_assignment - The ExchangeFetchAssignment class

  • fetch_feedback - The ExchangeFetchFeedback class

  • release_assignment - The ExchangeReleaseAssignment class

  • release_feedback - The ExchangeReleaseFeedback class

  • list - The ExchangeList class

  • submit - The ExchangeSubmit class

  • collect - The ExchangeCollect class