Description
Is your feature request related to a problem?
Some courses are not supplying tests that can be used for the automatic feedback by Artemis but use the manual assessment instead.
This results in confusing Build failed messages that become even more confusing if the error log asks for classes like BubbleSort, which will in most cases be utterly unrelated , and not comprehensible if you do not know that this is part of the java exercise template when creating a programming exercise.
Another issue that I see is that this is a waste of energy. Builds are triggered that would not need to be triggered as they do not contain useful information, even worse - confusing information. I do neither see a benefit for students or course instructors in this scenario.
Describe the solution you'd like
Instructors and Editors should have the option to Disable Automatic Tests for programming exercises. This option should at least be offered when the Manual Assessment Assessment Type is selected.
If Disable Automatic Tests is selected no builds are triggered when a student pushes changes to the repository.
The issue with the misleading information should be resolved as now only No graded result is displayed. However, it might make sense to explicitly set the feedback before the deadline to No graded result when Disable Automatic Tests is chosen. Otherwise, issues might occur when the Automatic Tests are disabled after a few automatic tests have been executed (the configuration might be forgotten and changed as soon as confused students reach out to the instructors/tutors).
Describe alternatives you've considered
Instructors could adjust the build plans and adjust the tests so that no confusing error messages are displayed to students. However, this would be a workaround and is manual work that could be automated within a few clicks in the timeline configuration.
This solution would not resolve the problem that energy is wasted, as still meaningless tests would be run over and over again without adding value as no real feedback will be returned to the students.