/markdown-quiz-app

A simple, lightweight quiz application built with Node.js that allows candidates to take quizzes based on a markdown file of questions and answers.

Primary LanguageJavaScript

Markdown Quiz Application

A simple, lightweight quiz application built with Node.js that allows candidates to take quizzes based on a markdown file of questions and answers. The application supports multiple-choice (radio buttons), multiple-answer (checkboxes), and text input (case-insensitive) question formats. It also provides user login, quiz results, and answer review functionality.

Table of Contents

Key Features

  • Multiple Question Types: Supports single answer (radio buttons), multiple answer (checkboxes), and text input questions.
  • User Authentication: Simple login functionality to allow candidates to access quizzes.
  • Quiz Progress & Results: Displays quiz score upon completion with correct/incorrect answer feedback.
  • Markdown Support: Quiz questions are read from a markdown file, making quiz creation easy and scalable.
  • Results Persistence: Users can review their previous scores after completing the quiz.

Advantages

  1. Flexibility: The markdown-driven quiz setup allows easy modification of questions and answers without changing the code.
  2. User-Friendly: Intuitive interface for candidates to take quizzes, login, and view results.
  3. Scalable: The markdown structure ensures scalability for quizzes with different question types.
  4. Customizable: You can easily modify the types of questions, add new question types, or integrate additional functionality.
  5. Easy Hosting: Front-end can be deployed on GitHub Pages, while the back-end can be hosted on platforms like Heroku or Render for free.

Tools and Technologies

  • Node.js: JavaScript runtime used to build the backend logic of the application.
  • Express.js: Web framework for handling routes and HTTP requests.
  • Sessions & Cookies: Used for maintaining user sessions and ensuring quiz state.
  • Markdown: Simplifies quiz creation and management by storing questions in a plain text file.
  • Bootstrap: Provides styling and responsive design for the UI.
  • Render: For deploying the back-end (Node.js server).

How to Use the Application

1. Clone the Repository

To get started, clone the repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/osandadeshan/markdown-quiz-app.git
cd markdown-quiz-app

2. Install Dependencies

Make sure you have Node.js installed, then install the required dependencies by running:

npm install

3. Set Up the Application

Ensure you have a .env file in the root directory of the project for environment variables such as:

SESSION_SECRET=your_random_secret_key

Update the markdown file with your quiz content in the questions.md file.

4. Run the Application

To run the application in production mode, run:

npm start

To run the application in development mode using Nodemon, run:

npm run dev

5. Access the Application

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser to interact with the quiz application.

Sample Application

A sample version of the application is deployed on Render. You can try it out here.

Project Structure

├── node_modules        # Dependencies installed via npm
├── public              # Static files like HTML, CSS
│   ├── views
│   │   ├── login.html  # Login page
│   │   ├── styles.css  # CSS for styling
├── quizzes             # Markdown files containing quizzes
│   ├── quiz.md         # Example quiz markdown file
│   ├── maxsoft.md      # Another quiz file
├── .env                # Environment variables (session secret, etc.)
├── app.js              # Main application logic
├── package-lock.json   # Dependency lock file
├── package.json        # Project configuration and scripts
├── README.md           # Project documentation
└── users.json          # Users' login credentials

Future Enhancements

  • Enhanced Authentication: Enhance the security of the login mechanism for candidates by allowing them to log in using their registered email addresses from our users.json file.
  • Add Timer Feature: Implement a quiz timer for competitive scenarios.
  • Add Admin Dashboard: Enable admin users to upload new markdown quiz files through a UI.
  • Improve Results Page: Show more statistics such as time taken and comparison with other users.

Contributions

We welcome contributions to this project! To contribute:

  1. Fork the repository.
  2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature-branch).
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add feature').
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature-branch).
  5. Create a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute this software under the terms of the license.

MIT License MIT License

Contact

For any inquiries or issues, feel free to open an issue on the repository or contact me at:

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Node.js, Express.js, Bootstrap, and the open-source community for making this project possible.