LON-CAPA ensures every row in a spreadsheet is uniquely and persistently
assigned a row number. Once a row number is used, it cannot be reused.
The following sections describe the consequences
of this and answer "why are the rows of the spreadsheet out of order?."
Assessment Spreadsheet
Every parameter associated with an assessment has a unique row in the
assessment level spreadsheet. As new parameters are encountered they
are assigned the next available row number. Adding a parameter to an
assessment thus results in the new parameter appearing at the bottom of
the spreadsheet. Since the default spreadsheet definition must cover all
of the assessments in the course, there are likely to be a large number of
parameters available.
Student Spreadsheet
The student level spreadsheet displays information about each assessment
in the course. The row numbers are initially assigned based on the order
in which assessments appear in the course. If a new assessment is
added at a later time, it will be assigned the next higher row number.
Regardless of the row number, the assessment will appear in the proper place
in the course structure.
Course Spreadsheet
The rows of the course spreadsheet are assigned to students when they are encountered processing the class list. Each student is assigned a row number the first time they are present in the course. The rows are listed alphabetized by the students full name and the row numbers are assigned in this order. If a student is later added, they will appear in the proper place alphabetically in the spreadsheet but their row number will not be in sequence.