2.8.1 -Updates to Python and node, new banner feature

What's Changed

• Use bullseye image for Python, Bump node to 18, fix local mysql (#269) by @ssciolla in #270
• Add customizable, conditional announcement banner (#268) by @ssciolla in #271
• Fixes #272 - Switch Google UA over to GA4 and add configurability by @jonespm in #273

Full Changelog: 2.8.0...2.8.1

v2.8 minor updates plus dependency updates

• frontend maintenance #260
• update of about.html #249
• Python update to 3.7 #252
• Remove the unused library API_UTILS #234
• dependency updates (#248, #247, #253, #251, #257)

2.7.3 Cohort management bug fix release

Update package.json, including bumping jquery; pin to specific patch …

Minor user-facing UI changes, improved front-end code management, cohort management fixes

1. Minor User-facing UI Changes

• Hide some navigation bar functionality from unauthenticated users (#200).
• Make changes to the Class Site visualizations and tables to increase readability (#212).
• Remove extra period in paragraph on the About page (#217).
• Handle instances of the whitespace character "\r" in grader comments (#224).

2. Improved Front-end Code Management

• Use Node Package Manager (npm) to manage front-end (JavaScript and CSS) dependencies and update versions (#225).
• Address moderate security vulnerability by using the latest patched release of Bootstrap 3 (#232).

3. Cohort Management Fixes

• Shorten cohort description field in management application to align with the corresponding field's length in the EDW Oracle warehouse (#211).
• Use tablesorter JavaScript to allow cohorts to be sorted and filtered, replicating functionality used elsewhere in the application for student lists (#214).
• Move buttons on admin-only Manage Cohorts page to the top of page (#227).

Fix curly braces bug and update copyright year in footer

Fixes page error from curly braces bug (#219 ) and updates copyright to 2020 (#222)

Updates to Python, Django, other dependencies; misc. minor bug fixes, text changes, and management features

1. More Helpful Information for Users Without Access

Issues #201, #208
Users who do not have access to Student Explorer see the 'Permission Denied' message. This message has been updated to provide helpful links to the 'About' page for people who do not know what Student Explorer is, and to information about getting access to Student Explorer.

2. "About" Page Content Changes

Issue #199
Content has been adjusted on the 'About' page to clarify which Ann Arbor campus students are shown in Student Explorer and remove some repetitive content that is better housed in documentation.

3. Properly Handling Newline Characters in Assignment Comments

Issue #103
Previously, if a grader added a new line/paragraph in an assignment comment, this would show in the Student Explorer interface as \n instead of as an actual new line. This made comments difficult to read. This release fixes this issue to show newline characters as an actual paragraph break.

5. Minor Bug

Issues #189
When users clicked the 'About' link from the new content for advisors that don't have students to navigate to the 'About' page, the tab did not show as active/highlighted on the navigation bar. This release fixes this issue and it will now show as active.

6. Non-User-Facing Changes

Non-user-facing changes including allowing the error email prefix to be configurable to allow admins to see which environment is sending the email (#190) and upgrading Student Explorer to Django version 2.2 (#198).

Updates to SAML2 and Watchman configuration

2.6.1

Fixes #191 - Add explicit watchman checks (#192)

Efficiency, navigation/redirect enhancements, and permission control

1. More Helpful Information for Users without Cohorts

Issues #139 #140 #165
The home/index (/) page for Student Explorer redirects a user to their "My Students" page with a list of all of their assigned students/cohorts. Historically, if a user did not have and had never had any assigned students/cohorts, the user would be redirected to the page "Advisors" (/advisors/) because the "My Students" page didn't exist until the user had assigned students. The "Advisors" page showed a list of all advisors who have "My Students" pages, primarily for administrative use. This was very confusing, particularly for new users, who didn't understand the purpose of the page, and had no need for it. With this release, all advisors will have a "My Students" page located at /advisors/[advisor uniqname]/. If they don't currently have any assigned students, they will see instructions on how to use Student Explorer without a cohort or how to create a cohort.

Thus, if you are used to seeing this page when you login and/or when you click "My Students":

You will now see this page when you login and/or when you click "My Students":

2. "About" Page

Issue #86
The existing "About" page (/about/) has been built out with more informational content about Student Explorer to help users learn about the purpose and history of the application. "About" is still accessible to users who are not logged in (anyone can see it).

3. Navigation Bar Redesign

Issue #151
The navigation bar at the top of the page has been redesigned.

• The Student Explorer logo in the upper left now directs to the "About" page /about/ (it previously redirected to "My Students" /)
• The search bar has been moved to the left so it is just to the right of the logo to draw more attention to it as a core function of the application
• "Advisors" (/advisors/) has been removed from the navigation bar. The page is still accessible at the direct URL but is not frequently needed by end users so has been removed to avoid confusion about the purpose and use of the page. The page is being maintained primarily for administrators to be able to see each advisor's "My Students" page easily.
• "About" (/about/) has been added to the navigation bar in between "My Students" and "Resources & Support"
• "My Students", "About", and "Resources & Support" are now located on the right side of the navigation bar, just to the left of the user's uniqname--they previously were in the location now occupied by the search bar.

4. Page Load Speed Enhancements

Issues #122 #136 #153 #166 #175 #181
Enhancements to improve page load speed and application efficiency. Users will notice that all pages load slightly faster and subsequent loads will be faster than the first load for 6 hours. This change is being made in preparation for moving the application from an on-premise OpenShift environment to an OpenShift environment hosted on AWS.

5. Streamlined Access/Permission Control

Issue #121
Access to Student Explorer will now be controlled by membership in the Student Explorer Users M-Community group. People in the M-Community group can login to Student Explorer and people who are not in the M-Community group cannot. Previously, access was controlled by having a user account created directly in the application, but users had to be added separately to the M-Community group used for communication. This was duplicative and increased risk of error. The new process will also increase transparency of who has access to Student Explorer.

6. Non-User-Facing Changes

Non-user-facing changes including changes to the README (#150), making the app reloadable for easier development (#154), updating the Django Debug Toolbar (#158), updating mysqlclient (#170), and resolving a test bug (#162).

Release to add timeout for gunicorn back

2.5.5.1

Fixes #141 Gunicorn timeout was removed, need to re-add (#142)

2.5.5 Sort by status

1. #110. Sort by status. You can now sort lists of students by their course status column. The sort functions as "highest intervention need" to "lowest intervention need" and was designed with input from several advisors--thank you to those of you who provided input!
   

2. #130 #134: Remember last sort. When you sort the list of students and then navigate away from the page and then back in a short frame of time, such as when clicking in to each student to investigate their details further, Student Explorer will "remember" the way you sorted the list and continue to display the list sorted in this way until you leave/log out/are idle. Thank you to Cathy Philbin for this suggestion!
   

3. #118 #124: Split name column into first and last name columns and allow sort and filter on each.
   

4. Add a column for uniqname and the ability to sort and filter the list by uniqname.
   

5. #42 #107 #132: non-user-facing changes including upgrade to Python 3, support for VSCode debugger, switch waitport to netcat