18 December 2010

Release 1.8 of PL/SQL Challenge in Production

We have successfully upgraded PL/SQL Challenge to release 1.8, which includes these significant new features and changes:

* Remember Me: a long-requested enhancement, you can check the "Remember me" box before you login. We will then automatically log you in to the PL/SQL Challenge on subsequent visits to the website. If you do not visit the site for seven days, you will be prompted to login again.

* Public Profile: you can now record much more information about yourself and your career as a PL/SQL developer. This information is then made available on a public player profile page - but only if you explicitly approve the publication of that content. All player names on the site are hyperlinked to this page. We also provide you with a public URL so that this profile can be accessed from outside of the PL/SQL Challenge website (such as from your blog).

* Streamlined "Take the Quiz" process: You no longer have to scroll down through assumptions and advice. You can choose to view the information or simply press the Play Now button to get right to the quiz.

* Post-Quiz Survey and Player Notes: after you take the quiz, we now invite you to provide us with feedback on the quality of the quiz. You can also record notes regarding that quiz for future reference. The notes will appear on the Past Quiz page. You can also take the survey at any time after you take the quiz.

* Submit Your Own Quiz Idea: you can now submit your own idea for a quiz directly from the website, both from the "Submit Quiz Idea" on the home page and from several other places on the site as well. If your quiz is accepted, your name will be posted the day the quiz is taken. Get creative and share your expertise with us and players from around the world!

* Reorganization of Rules and Assumptions: the Rules page is gone, long live the Rules page! Most of the content of that page is now available in the FAQ. In addition, rules, assumptions and advice for the quiz is provided on the Take the Quiz page.


Warm regards and happy holidays,
Steven Feuerstein

8 comments:

  1. getting this error logging into the site today
    ORA-06550: line 2, column 25: PLS-00302: component 'AUTHOR_NAME_FOR_QUIZ' must be declared ORA-06550: line 2, column 5: PL/SQL: Statement ignored Error ERR-1904 Unable to compute item default: type = Function Body computation_type= begin return qdb_user_mgr.author_name_for_quiz (:p20_quiz_id); END;.

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  2. I just love the new version of Quiz and all the new features are very impressive, Thanks a lot

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  3. The "author_name_for_quiz" issue should be resolved now. Sorry about that!

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  4. Several players have reported that their custom ranking reports were not carried over from 1.7. We are very sorry about that and are looking into the problem.

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  5. The "Difficulty level" is no more visible on the quiz-page. Is it a bug or a feature?

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  6. We did remove it deliberately. I do not want to give that "extra information" regarding the quiz. You should simply be able to answer the question "on its own merits."

    Cheers, SF

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  7. Hi Steven,

    Is there a deliberate change in the Quiz Results email concurrent with the change in the PL/SQL Challenge? The Average Score is no longer included.

    Regards,
    Piet

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  8. No, not deliberate. We will add it back in for 1.9.

    Sorry about that!

    Steven

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