At U-M, instructors add questions in a separate evaluation ordering system, and that data is imported. The data that will be sent to us will have a 1-1 relationship between a template, evaluation, and eval group. For that reason I don't think we need to copy a template when an evaluation is saved, and having copies in the database makes the tables larger and less efficient to process. It also makes the data somewhat more complex than is required for us.

Proposal is 1) to add a new setting to Gonzalo's EVALSYS configuration page UI

GENERAL SETTINGS
Creating templates/evaluations

Copy template when saving new evaluation

and 2) add a condition that defaults to true to EvalEvaluationSetupServiceImpl.saveEvaluation() in trunk and UM branch

if(copyOf) {

/** OLD WAY / new way is to copy the template when the eval is first saved
// make sure the template is copied if not in partial state, it is ok to have the original template while in partial state
if ( EvalUtils.checkStateAfter(evalState, EvalConstants.EVALUATION_STATE_PARTIAL, false) ) {
**/
if (isNew) {
// copy the template on first time saved - http://jira.sakaiproject.org/jira/browse/EVALSYS-647

UM branch

if(copyOf) {

// make sure the template is copied if not in partial state, it is ok to have the original template while in partial state
if ( EvalUtils.checkStateAfter(evalState, EvalConstants.EVALUATION_STATE_PARTIAL, false) ) {
// this eval is not partial anymore so the template MUST be a hidden copy
if (template.getCopyOf() == null ||
template.isHidden() == false) {
// not a hidden copy so make one
Long copiedTemplateId = authoringService.copyTemplate(template.getId(), null, evaluation.getOwner(), true, true);
EvalTemplate copy = authoringService.getTemplateById(copiedTemplateId);
evaluation.setTemplate(copy);
template = copy; // set the new template to the template variable
// alternative is to throw an exception to force the user to do this, but we may as well handle it
// throw new IllegalStateException("This evaluation ("evaluation.getId()") is being saved "
// + "in a state ("evalState") that is after the partial state with "
// + "a template that has not been copied yet, this is invalid as all evaluations must use copied "
// + "templates, copy the template using the authoringService.copyTemplate method before saving this eval");
}
}
}