Code.org CurriculumBuilder

An internal tool designed for Code.org curricula

The Curriculum Builder service on heroku was shut down in Oct 2022 and deleted in Aug 2023.

The info below is now obsolete, but the repo remains archived and viewable in readonly mode.

How to use CurriculumBuilder

• Go to the #curriculumbuilder-dev channel for support

How to install Curriculum Builder locally

Install the dependencies for your specific operating system, then follow the rest of the Common Setup Steps.

Install Mac OS dependencies

Only follow these steps if you are on Mac OS.

1. install mac os x dependencies

brew install openssl postgres heroku/brew/heroku Caskroom/cask/wkhtmltopdf

2. start postgresql

  brew services start postgresql

3. make sure you have python 2.7

python -V # -> Python 2.7.10

if you don't, try installing it viabrew install python@2, and then run python -V again to make sure you now have version 2.7 installed. If you don't, stop here and try to get yourself onto this version of python before proceeding.

Troubleshooting

If you run into problems with pycurl later, there are two potential errors you can get which look very similar:

• ImportError: pycurl: libcurl link-time ssl backend (openssl) is different from compile-time ssl backend (none/other)

  solution: https://cscheng.info/2018/01/26/installing-pycurl-on-macos-high-sierra.html

• ImportError: pycurl: libcurl link-time ssl backend (none/other) is different from compile-time ssl backend (openssl)

  solution: https://gist.github.com/webinista/b4b6a4cf8f158431b2c5134630c2cbfe#gistcomment-3057612

Problem with building psycopg2:

• Error: ld: library not found for -lssl. It means you need to install openssl and make it discoverable by installing it to a right directory or adding its installed directory to the $LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

  brew install openssl
  export LIBRARY_PATH=$LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/
  

Install Ubuntu 16 dependencies

Only follow these steps if you are on Ubuntu / Linux.

1. install Ubuntu dependencies

sudo apt-get install python-pip postgresql wkhtmltopdf libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev libpq-dev python-dev
sudo snap install --classic heroku

Potentially use these alternate installation instructions for python-pip.

2. check versions

python -V # --> 2.7.x (not 3.x)
psql -V # --> 11 or higher

If you do not have the right versions, stop here and try to fix them before proceeding.

3. configure postgresql

sudo service postgresql start
sudo -u postgres createuser -s $(whoami)

Common Setup Steps

Follow these steps whether you are on Mac OS or Ubuntu / Linux.

1. clone repo

git clone https://github.com/code-dot-org/curriculumbuilder.git
cd curriculumbuilder

2. set up virtualenv (https://docs.python-guide.org/dev/virtualenvs/#lower-level-virtualenv)

pip install virtualenv
mkdir ~/.virtualenvs
virtualenv ~/.virtualenvs/cb
source ~/.virtualenvs/cb/bin/activate

3. install python dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. copy the db

heroku login # need a code.org login for heroku.com from an engineer or the accounts team
heroku pg:pull DATABASE_URL curriculumbuilder -a curriculumbuilder

5. set up local_settings.py

cp curriculumBuilder/local_settings.py.example curriculumBuilder/local_settings.py

6. run the tests

npm install
./manage.py test

7. run the server

source ~/.virtualenvs/cb/bin/activate # must be run once per shell window
debug=true python manage.py runserver_plus

http://localhost:8000

measure test coverage

If you want to measure test coverage, here is how to do it:

pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=curriculumBuilder.settings debug=true coverage run ./manage.py test
coverage report

If you run this often, it may be worth appending the --keepdb flag to make it run faster.

I18n sync

Follow the I18n setup instructions to run the sync on your local machine

How does the deploy work on CurriculumBuilder

CurriculumBuilder is actually two separate websites:

• codecurricula.com - where curriculum writers edit the curriculum
• curriculum.code.org - where teachers access the curriculum

When you add a feature to CurriculumBuilder by merging a commit your change will automatically be deployed to codecurricula.com. You can watch the #curriculumbuilder channel to see when it gets deployed.

In order for your change to show up on curriculum.code.org all of the impacted curriculum must be republished. Developers should ask the curriculum team to republish their curriculum so that we don't accidentally ship a change to the curriculum that was not ready to go out.

Updating your local database schema

To update your local database schema use the following command:

./manage.py migrate

Updating your local database contents

dropdb curriculumbuilder
heroku pg:pull DATABASE_URL curriculumbuilder -a curriculumbuilder

NOTE: avoid using commands that include the DATABASE_URL flag, apart from pg:pull. This flag allows users to directly manipulate the production database from the command line and should be used with caution.

Creating a new user

If you have an account and are a superuser, you can create new CurriculumBuilder users by doing the following:

1. Log in at codecurricula.com/admin. Choose the "admin" interface.
2. Choose the "Users" option in the left-hand navigation menu, or go to codecurricula.com/admin/auth/user/. Here, you can view, update, and create users.
3. Use the "Add user" button to create a new user.
4. Set the user's permissions:

• All users need to have www.codecurricula.com added to their site permissions.
• All staff members will need "staff status" set to true.
• Curriculum writers need to be added to the "author" group.

5. If you need this new user for local development purposes, update your local database contents.

Just want to query the database?

If you just want to create a local copy of the Curriculum Builder database without running the whole server locally, simply install and configure postgresql, then copy the db (step 4 of the common setup steps), then run

psql curriculumbuilder

to launch a query interface against the database copy.