QTI interchange

Examplary supports importing and exporting questions in QTI 3.0 format.

By default, custom question types are exported as Portable Custom Interactions (PCI), which bundles your React component inside a QTI-compatible container. This works without any extra configuration.

If your question type maps cleanly to one of the standard QTI interaction types, you can define a native mapping via the export.qti3 field in your question-type.json. This generates standard QTI XML instead of a PCI wrapper, and is more interoperable with other LMS systems that support native QTI interaction types.

Basic structure

The QTI 3.0 configuration lives under the export.qti3 key:

{
  "export": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "ChoiceInteraction",
        "options": { ... }
      }
    }
  }
}

JSONata expressions

Values inside interaction.options can be either literals or JSONata expressions:

• Literal value — any string, number, or boolean is passed through as-is: "shuffle": true
• JSONata expression — a string starting with = is evaluated as a JSONata expression: "shuffle": "=$.question.settings.shuffleOptions"

Expressions are evaluated at export time against a root context object ($) containing:

• $.question — the full question object (id, title, description, settings, scoring, etc.)
• $.questionType — the question type definition from your question-type.json
• $.exam — the parent exam object

// Example root context (the $.question part):
{
  "id": "q_abc123",
  "title": "What is the capital of France?",
  "description": "Select the correct answer.",
  "settings": {
    "options": [
      { "text": "London", "correct": false },
      { "text": "Paris", "correct": true },
      { "text": "Berlin", "correct": false }
    ],
    "shuffleOptions": true,
    "maxSelections": 1
  }
}

Access properties using $.question.settings.shuffleOptions, $.question.description, etc.

Common JSONata patterns

The examples below show expression bodies (the part after the = prefix). When placing these inside question-type.json string values, use single quotes for string literals to avoid having to escape double quotes.

// Simple property access
$.question.settings.shuffleOptions           // → true
 
// Conditional (ternary) — use single quotes for string literals inside JSON
$.question.settings.maxSelections = 1 ? 'single' : 'multiple'  // → "single" or "multiple"
 
// String concatenation — single quotes avoid JSON escaping
'choice_' & $string($idx)                   // → "choice_0", "choice_1", etc.
 
// Map array to new structure
$map($.question.settings.options, function($opt, $idx) {
  { 'identifier': 'choice_' & $string($idx), 'content': $opt.text }
})
 
// Filter array by condition
$.question.settings.options[correct = true]  // → items where correct is true
 
// Get identifiers for items matching a condition (position binding)
$.question.settings.options#$i[correct = true].('choice_' & $string($i))  // → ["choice_1"]

Export configuration

The interaction.options record defines the properties passed to the QTI interaction element. The property names and their expected values depend on the specific interaction type — refer to the QTI 3.0 specification for the full list of attributes each interaction supports.

Example: multiple choice

{
  "export": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "ChoiceInteraction",
        "options": {
          "shuffle": "=$.question.settings.shuffleOptions",
          "maxChoices": "=$.question.settings.maxSelections",
          "prompt": "=$.question.description",
          "choices": "=$map($.question.settings.options, function($opt, $idx) { { 'identifier': 'choice_' & $string($idx), 'content': $opt.text } })",
          "correctResponse": "=$.question.settings.options#$i[correct = true].('choice_' & $string($i))"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Example: essay / extended text

{
  "export": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "ExtendedTextInteraction",
        "options": {
          "prompt": "=$.question.description",
          "expectedLength": "=$.question.settings.maxWords * 6"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Example: ordering

This example assumes each item has a correctPosition field (1-based) that indicates its position in the correct order. choices uses source-order indices as identifiers; correctResponse sorts by correctPosition and maps back to those identifiers.

{
  "export": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "OrderInteraction",
        "options": {
          "shuffle": "=$.question.settings.shuffleItems",
          "prompt": "=$.question.description",
          "choices": "=$map($.question.settings.items, function($item, $idx) { { 'identifier': 'item_' & $string($idx), 'content': $item.text } })",
          "correctResponse": "=$sort($.question.settings.items#$i, function($a, $b) { $a.correctPosition < $b.correctPosition }).('item_' & $string($i))"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Text with gaps

For a question type built around a text with blanks (cloze), use export.qti3.gaps instead of interaction. The text is exported as one item with a TextEntryInteraction for each gap, and each gap is scored separately.

{
  "export": {
    "qti3": {
      "gaps": {
        "text": "=$.question.settings.text",
        "answers": "=$.question.settings.answers",
        "caseInsensitive": "=$.question.settings.caseInsensitive"
      }
    }
  }
}

interaction and gaps are alternatives; a question type with gaps is not exported as a PCI.

Supported interaction types

The following QTI 3.0 interaction types are supported. The type value must match exactly (PascalCase):

Import configuration

When a QTI file is imported into Examplary, questions with standard interaction types are matched to your question types using the import.qti3 field in your question-type.json. This tells Examplary how to reconstruct your question type's settings from the incoming QTI data.

The import configuration lives under the import.qti3 key:

{
  "import": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "ChoiceInteraction"
      },
      "condition": "=$.interaction.maxChoices = 1",
      "settings": {
        "shuffleOptions": "=$.interaction.shuffle",
        "options": "=$map($.interaction.choices, function($c) { { 'text': $c.content, 'correct': $c.identifier in $.correctResponse } })",
        "maxSelections": "=$.interaction.maxChoices"
      }
    }
  }
}

Import context

Expressions in condition and settings are evaluated against a root context object ($) containing:

Importing text with gaps

To import QTI items with gaps in a text (several text entries, dropdowns, word bank gaps, or one text entry inside a line of text), set import.qti3.gaps to true instead of interaction. The first question type that is not deprecated and has gaps set handles all such items.

{
  "import": {
    "qti3": {
      "gaps": true,
      "settings": {
        "text": "=$.text",
        "answers": "=$.answers",
        "caseInsensitive": "=$.caseInsensitive",
        "anyOrder": "=$.anyOrder"
      }
    }
  }
}

The settings expressions are evaluated against { text, answers, choices, caseInsensitive, anyOrder, points }, where each gap in text is marked as ___ and answers holds the correct answer per gap, in order. choices lists the options per gap when any gap offers them (dropdowns and word banks), and is an empty list for plain text entries. anyOrder is true when every gap accepts every answer.

Importing selectable text

To import QTI items with selectable text (hottext), set import.qti3.hottext to true instead of interaction. The settings expressions are evaluated against { text, answers, maxChoices, selectableHidden, points }:

Example: single vs multiple choice

If you have two question types that both use ChoiceInteraction — one for single-choice and one for multiple-choice — use condition to tell them apart:

{
  "import": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "ChoiceInteraction"
      },
      "condition": "=$.interaction.maxChoices = 1",
      "settings": {
        "options": "=$map($.interaction.choices, function($c) { { 'text': $c.content, 'correct': $c.identifier in $.correctResponse } })",
        "shuffleOptions": "=$.interaction.shuffle"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "import": {
    "qti3": {
      "interaction": {
        "type": "ChoiceInteraction"
      },
      "condition": "=$.interaction.maxChoices > 1",
      "settings": {
        "options": "=$map($.interaction.choices, function($c) { { 'text': $c.content, 'correct': $c.identifier in $.correctResponse } })",
        "maxSelections": "=$.interaction.maxChoices",
        "shuffleOptions": "=$.interaction.shuffle"
      }
    }
  }
}

When multiple question types define a condition for the same interaction type, Examplary evaluates them in order and selects the first match. If no condition is defined, the mapping always matches that interaction type.

Deprecated question types are excluded from this generic interaction-type matching step: their import.qti3 mapping is skipped, even if its interaction.type/condition would otherwise match. Matching continues to the next non-deprecated type whose mapping matches, or falls back to a built-in type if none does.

Testing your configuration

Testing export

1. Create a test exam with your custom question type
2. Export the exam to QTI format from the Examplary UI
3. Verify the generated XML matches your expectations

Testing import

1. Obtain a QTI file containing the interaction type your mapping targets
2. Import the QTI file into an exam from the Examplary UI
3. Verify the question settings were reconstructed correctly from the imported data

Troubleshooting

Expression returns undefined

Make sure the path exists in your data. Use the conditional operator to provide defaults:

$.question.settings.shuffleOptions != null ? $.question.settings.shuffleOptions : true

Literal strings in expressions

Inside a =-prefixed expression, use single quotes for string literals — this avoids having to escape double quotes within the JSON string value:

{ "cardinality": "='single'" }

Single quotes inside an expression also work inline within larger expressions:

{ "cardinality": "=$.question.settings.maxSelections = 1 ? 'single' : 'multiple'" }

Array indexing issues

Remember that JSONata arrays are zero-indexed. Use the #$i position binding to get the index of items in an array:

// Get all items matching a condition with their original indices
$.question.settings.options#$i[correct = true].('choice_' & $string($i))
// → ["choice_1"] for the example above where Paris (index 1) is correct

Learn more

• QTI 3.0 Specification
• JSONata Documentation
• JSONata Exerciser
• Importing QTI files