This script generates a proposed schedule based the teaching matrix file.
Time Column Name: This is the name of the column, in the teaching matrix spreadsheet, in which the schedules
are listed for a course. Each cell of this column must have one or more lines that represent time entries that
should show up in the schedule for a course. Each line should begin with the days in which that entry will repeat
for that course (a subset of MTWRF) and the time that should be scheduled for that course on those days. Time must
be written in the 24h format as HH:MM - HH:MM. A valid entry example with a single line is:
MWF 14:00 - 15:00
But a course can also have multiple entries, one per line, as follows:
MW 14:00 - 15:00
T 10:00 - 11:00
F 9:00 - 10:00
Courses Column Name: This is the name of the column, in the teaching matrix spreadsheet, in which the course
names are listed, as they should be displayed in the schedule.
Terms Column Name: This is the name of the column, in the teaching matrix spreadsheet, in which the course
names are listed, as they should be displayed in the schedule. Terms should be written as "FA", "WI", "SP", and
"SU", and must be separated with a '/'. Thus, if a course is offered in the Fall and Winter, the entry mus be
"FA/WI". What determines the term are the first two letters of the word, so you cna use more characters for comments.
For example, an entry called "FA?/WI/SP?" would be interpreted by the model as just "FA/WI/SP", since only the first
two letters matter for each term.
Sheet Name: This is the name of the sheet, in the teaching matrix spreadsheet, in which the schedules are
listed.
Ignore Line Special Character: If used, this is a character that tells the program to ignore a line
among times a course is offered. If the schedule for a course is "*MW 13:00 - 14:00", that course will be ignored
when generating the schedule if '*' is the "ignore line special character".
You can also ignore specific lines. if the times for a course are listed as:
M 14:00 - 15:00
* W 10:00 - 11:00
F 9:00 - 10:00
Then, only the "W 10:00 - 11:00" entry will be ignored. This character can be used to introduce comments in
the spreadsheet that the schedule generator shouldn't take into account, like "* TBD", since a pure "TBD" would
generate an error.
Add Comment Special Character: This character allows the user to introduce comments in a time entry that
will show up in a schedule. If '|' is the "Add Comment Special Character" and class BE 001 has the following entries
in its proposed times:
MW 14:00 - 15:00 | lecture
F 10:00 - 11:00 | recitation
Then, in the schedule, the events on MW 14:00 - 15:00 will have the name: "BE 001 - lecture" and the event on
F 10:00 - 11:00 will have the name "BE 001 - recitation". You can also use it to name different class sections,
for example.
Ignore comments: If this is checked, the comments after the "Add Comment Special Character" will not
be displayed in the schedule. Might be useful if the comments are taking too much space.
Teaching Matrix File: The Teaching Matrix spreadsheet. Must be a xlsx file.