Program Submission Instructions

Fall 2013

We will not accept email submissions. If you email a TA or Professor Patt your Programming Assignment, the TA/Professor Patt will delete your email and ignore your submission. You will receive a zero on the Programming Assignment. Learn how to submit your program early so this does not happen to you.

You must ensure you name your programs exactly as described for each Programming Assignment. Otherwise, you will receive a zero on the Programming Assignment.

To submit your programs for this class, you will be using a version control tool called Subversion, or SVN for short. TortoiseSVN is a tool for Windows systems that allows you to submit your programs to the Subversion repository where the instructors will be able to view and grade your submission.

There are two options for submission available to you. You can either download and install TortoiseSVN on your Windows machine, or or you can use the Windows machines in ENS 507 (open Mon-Fri 9am to 9pm) and ENS 307 (open 24 hours a day), which have TortoiseSVN already installed for you.

There are four steps outlined below: installing TortoiseSVN, setting up your submission directory, updating your submission directory, and submitting your program. Installing TortoiseSVN (only necessary if using your own Windows machine) only needs to be done once. Setting up your submission directory only needs to be done once. Both updating your submission directory and submitting your program need to be done for every programming assignment you submit.

To collect your grade report for each lab, follow the "Updating Your Submission Directory" step. Once grades are available, a result file will appear in the appropriate Project directory (e.g., project1) when you follow these steps.

Finally, if you encounter issues during submission, you may attempt the following three steps in sequence:

  1. Backup your files/programs. You can do this by copying your files/programs into another directory, which you should not delete.

  2. Delete your entire submission directory

  3. Repeat the steps below beginning with setting up your submission directory.

Remember: You are responsible for the security of your files. Do NOT allow anyone to access your files! If someone cheats by accessing your files because they were not properly secured, both parties will be found guilty of cheating and suffer the same consequences.

Having problems submitting? Contact a TA in person during office hours.

Installing TortoiseSVN

  1. Navigate to http://tortoisesvn.net/downloads.html.

  2. Download the version of TortoiseSVN appropriate for your personal computer by clicking on either "TortoiseSVN 32-Bit" or "TortoiseSVN 64-Bit". Do not click on any other link on this page. Only use the green buttons labeled "TortoiseSVN 32-Bit" or "TortoiseSVN 64-Bit". You can check which version you need by checking your computer properties page (right click on "Computer", select "Properties"). Under "System Type", if it says "32-bit Operating System", you should download "TortoiseSVN 32-Bit". If it says "64-bit Operating System", you should download "TortoiseSVN 64-Bit". Ask a TA is you're not sure which one you should install.

  3. Run the installer file you downloaded in step 2.

  4. Click Next.

  5. Select "I accept the terms in the License Agreement".

  6. Click Next.

  7. Accept the default settings on this page by clicking Next.

  8. Click Install.

  9. If Windows asks for permission to install TortoiseSVN, click Yes.

  10. Wait for TortoiseSVN to finish installing, and click Finish.

  11. If TortoiseSVN asks you to restart your computer, click Yes (this will immediately restart your computer. Save your work beforehand).

Setting Up Your Submission Directory

  1. For this step, you will need to know your submission username and password. Your submission username is your UTEID (all lowercase). You can find your password in BlackBoard. Check out the grades section of BlackBoard for EE306, and look for your Program Submission Password. The sample below uses "fakestudent" as the UTEID. Replace all instances of "fakestudent" with your own UTEID in order to submit your program.

  2. Create a directory on the machine you are using where you can work on and submit EE306 labs. For example, you may call it "EE306_Labs".

  3. Enter this directory and right click on empty white space. Click on the option labeled "SVN Checkout...".


  4. In the "Checkout" window that pops up, enter the following text:
    https://vandross.ece.utexas.edu/ee306/fa2013/students/< your_uteid >
    Into the "URL of repository:" field. The figure below shows the link for the UT EID: "fakestudent". Replace the word "fakestudent" with your UT EID


  5. Click "OK", and wait for the "Authentication" window to pop up (this can take a while). Enter your UTEID and password (this is not your UTEID password! Check BlackBoard for your submission password) into the window. Click the "Save authentication" box.

    Note: The password that shows up on Blackboard has a "/0" appended to it. These two characters are NOT a part of your password. Do not include those when you type your password.     Here is a screenshot to show what we mean.


  6. Click "OK". You should see an indicator that mentions the process is "Completed. At Revision: ...". Click "OK" once this happens.


Updating Your Submission Directory

  1. Enter the directory you created in "Setting Up Your Submission Directory". (e.g., EE306_Labs). Right click on empty white space. Click on the option labeled "SVN Update".


  2. Wait for the message "Completed. At Revision: ...". Click "OK" once this happens.


Submitting Your Program

  1. Enter your submission directory. (e.g. "EE306_Labs").

  2. Navigate to the appropriate project directory (e.g., "project1").

  3. You should see file(s) in the project directory with the appropriate name for whichever programming assignment you are submitting (e.g., "count.bin"). These files will generally be empty. They may or may not contain useful code to help you get started, depending on which programming assignment you are working on.


  4. You have two options: you can delete these helper files, and copy your files of the exact same name into this directory, or you may open these files, and write your program into the given files. Be sure to save the programs when you are done.

  5. In the project directory, right click on empty white space. Select "SVN Commit...".


  6. A window labeled "Commit" should appear. Click "OK".


  7. You should see a message "Completed. At Revision: ...". Click "OK" once this happens.


  8. Congratulations! You've submitted your program. A few more notes: you can resubmit your program as many times as you want up until the deadline. We will ignore any submissions you make beyond the deadline, so be sure to finish your lab on time.

  9. Note: If you see folders called ".svn", do not modify/delete them.

Verifying Your Submission

Make sure you perform the following additional steps to verify your submission.

  1. In your browser, navigate to:
    https://vandross.ece.utexas.edu/ee306/fa2013/students/your_uteid

  2. Enter your submission username and password. This is not your UTEID password! Remember, check BlackBoard for your submission password. Note that the password on Blackboard has the characters "/0" appended to it. You need to remove those when you type in your password. The screenshot here shows what we mean.

  3. Click on the project directory you wish to verify submission for. Here, you can see the latest files you have submitted.


  4. Click on the file link to see its contents.




  5. Try refreshing your browser if it appears that the file on the website is not updating.

Note: If you are familiar with command-line based subversion tools, feel free to use these at your own risk. We are not responsible if you fail to correctly submit your program with these tools.