Description:

When using the Assignment activity with the "Submission settings > Attempts reopened" set to "Automatically until pass" or "Automatic", an empty new submission attempt is created when a teacher enters a grade for a student who has not submitted anything.

This behavior may confuse users, as it appears to record a new submission attempt even though the student did not submit anything.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create an assignment with:

• Attempts reopened = "Automatically until pass" (or "Automatic")
• Maximum number of attempts = 2 or more, or "Unlimited"

2. As a teacher, input a grade for a student who has never submitted anything.

3. Observe that a new submission attempt is created (even though no student submission exists).

4. Alternatively, upload a feedback file for a student with no submission, and observe that a new (empty) attempt is also created.

(Also reproducible with grading worksheet upload if the grade field is changed.)
 

Expected behavior:

If a student has never submitted anything, entering a grade should not trigger a new submission attempt, or at least it should be configurable whether to reopen attempts based on actual student submission activity.

Actual behavior:

Grading a student with no submission causes a new (empty) submission attempt to be created, increasing the submission count unnecessarily.

Impact:

• Instructors may unintentionally generate multiple empty submissions.

• Submission count increases even when the student has never submitted any files or texts.

• May interfere with workflows that rely on accurate submission tracking.

Suggested solution:

• Prevent new attempts from being opened unless the student submitted something.

• Or, provide a setting to toggle whether grading alone should reopen a new attempt.