[Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms

Dave Burnett d_b_burnett at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 6 12:35:38 GMT 2013



Advantage of pdf?
I would bet we get a lot more contribution if it's dynamic.Maybe something editable in a Xerte app?Folks with svn access can edit?

> From: J.J.Smith at gcu.ac.uk
> To: xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 12:09:21 +0000
> Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms
> 
> Sure Tom, I suppose an alternative would be to funnel everything through help/index.php?language=XX&file=YYY and let it decide which to serve up...
> 
> I'm having to do similar with the api...
> 
> Regards,
> 
> John Smith
> Learning Technologist
> School of Health & Life Sciences
> Glasgow Caledonian University
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Tom Reijnders
> Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 11:05 AM
> To: For Xerte technical developers
> Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms
> 
> It's not too much work to fall back to English if we need to,
> 
> So have a help/<language code> for the help forlder location like we have wizard/<language code> now.
> 
> 
> The thing I have against mod_rewrites is that it's webserver specific.
> 
> So, now we only have to agree on the help file format. .pdf is fine with me...
> 
> Tom
> 
> Citeren "Smith, John" <J.J.Smith at gcu.ac.uk>:
> 
> > Why not just append the language code to the URL (new website) and mod
> > rewrite the url. If there is a language file that matches send that,
> > otherwise send the English one...
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > John Smith
> > Learning Technologist
> > School of Health & Life Sciences
> > Glasgow Caledonian University
> >
> > From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> > [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
> > Julian Tenney
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 10:38 AM
> > To: For Xerte technical developers
> > Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms
> >
> > What about languages? You might want help in several languages. But
> > we can cope with multi lingual wizards, so why not multi lingual help?
> >
> > The form is a bit of a pain because now we have advanced / language
> > options, redrawing the form is a bit of a pain, so thinking
> > differently might be a good idea.
> >
> > From:
> > xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Kemp
> > Johnathan
> > Sent: 06 March 2013 10:02
> > To: For Xerte technical developers
> > Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms
> >
> > Hi Folks,
> >
> > What I would like to be able to achieve is a means of providing a
> > link to a pdf file that the author can access to provide additional
> > information to support the use of the page type. My original need
> > was to support the connector pages and the inventory page with more
> > information about how the page worked and how, in the case of
> > connector pages they could be used in conjunction with other pages.
> > However the help file could provide other stuff such as examples of
> > use or pedagogical information.
> >
> > How that link is made available to the author I don't have a strong
> > view on. It just seemed that the <info> tag already provided the
> > functionality (except for this frustrating glitch). If resolving the
> > glitch was a simple matter then the <info> tag might be a convenient
> > way of doing this without involving much time input. If however the
> > glitch is difficult to pin down then a different approach might be
> > appropriate.
> >
> > By putting the link in the xwd file it keeps everything about the
> > page in one place. However it does have the disadvantage of making
> > it difficult to change the location of the help files.
> >
> > Perhaps an approach that assumed the help file would use the same
> > stem as the model file but have a pdf extension (e.g. quiz.rlm and
> > quiz.pdf), would allow a Xerte or XOT project to define a single
> > folder location for all the help files. The specific help file for a
> > page type would then be accessed by combining the single folder
> > address with the model name and a pdf extension.
> >
> > This would allow help files to be either located on a remote server
> > or on a local server, or even in a desktop Xerte installation folder
> > e.g. Xerte\pages\help\. It would also make it easier to change the
> > locations of the help files as there would be only one path to change.
> >
> > Kind regards
> >
> > Johnathan
> >
> > On 6 March 2013 07:50, Julian Tenney
> > <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>>
> > wrote:
> > Maybe we should tackle this differently: rather than trying to
> > display the <info> on the form, why not pop it up in a message or
> > show it somewhere else?
> >
> > From:
> > xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>] On Behalf Of Kemp
> > Johnathan
> > Sent: 05 March 2013 17:53
> > To: For Xerte technical developers
> >
> > Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms
> >
> > The most recent version of the desktop would ensure you have the
> > latest version of wizard.swf, but if you can see the Show Language
> > Options I think that should be enough to demonstrate the issue.
> >
> > The "here is the help" text is the text contained in the info tag.
> >
> > If you click in the Show Language Options check box you will see
> > that some additional fields are displayed in the form but that there
> > is an expanse of blank grey form before the "here is the help" text
> > is displayed.
> >
> > If you mouse over the grey area above the "here is the help" text
> > you will see the mouse pointer change as it hovers over where the
> > text entry boxes for the hidden language options are positioned.
> >
> > If you click on the Quiz2 page to open its xwd form the effect is
> > clear as none of the fields are flagged as language options so as
> > soon as the form opens you see that the display of labels and fields
> > ends abruptly and then there is again the grey expanse of blank form
> > before the "here is the help" text is displayed. You have noticed,
> > in your second post that the entry below "single answer wrong" is
> > cut short vertically. There are also more fields below this which
> > are not displaying at all.
> >
> > If you edit the quiz.xwd file in the page002 folder to remove the
> > "info" tag then all the fields defined in the form are displayed
> > correctly. So it is the "info" tag that is causing the display issue.
> >
> > Kind regards
> >
> > Johnathan
> >
> > On 5 March 2013 10:43, Dave Burnett
> > <d_b_burnett at hotmail.com<mailto:d_b_burnett at hotmail.com>> wrote:
> > What version of desktop is required?
> > The only language related object I have showing is "Show Language
> > Options" in the bottom bar.
> >
> > (I do see  "Here is the help" in blue  near the bottom).
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2013 10:23:23 +0000
> > From: johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com<mailto:johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com>
> > To: xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
> > Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: use of info tag in xwd forms
> >
> > If you include the info tag in an xwd form it can result in the none
> > display of the last entries in the form.
> >
> > The info tag displays at the bottom of the form with a blank area of
> > form above it where the missing fields and field labels should be
> > displayed.
> >
> > If you move the mouse pointer over the blank area of the form then
> > the mouse pointer will change indicating that the fields are there -
> > you just can't see them.
> >
> > The easiest way to explain what is happening is for you to see it
> > for yourself.
> >
> > I have attached a simple demo. The demo is a standard Xerte project
> > (not a "Pages" type project - I have manually set up the xwd links
> > for the pages) in which I have set up two copies of the Quiz page.
> >
> > 1.      Open this project in Xerte
> > 2.      Double click on the Quiz page to open the xwd form
> > 3.      Click on the language tab to display the language fields
> > 4.      Scroll down the form - you will see the blank area where the
> > hidden language fields should appear and the blue info comment at
> > the bottom.
> > 5.      The language tag is not significant to this issue.
> > 6.      Double click on the Quiz2 page, you will see the same effect
> > without the use of the language tag (I deleted them from this pages
> > xwd file)
> > I don't know if the cause is to do with layers or visibility
> > settings. I don't know what happens when the info tag is actioned in
> > the code.
> >
> > I hope this makes the effect clear (if not the cause :-( )
> >
> > Kind regards
> >
> > Johnathan
> >
> >
> >
> > On 5 March 2013 09:40, Julian Tenney
> > <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>>
> > wrote:
> >
> > What's the problem in a nutshell?
> >
> >
> >
> > From:
> > xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>] On Behalf Of Kemp
> > Johnathan
> > Sent: 04 March 2013 22:18
> > To: Xerte Developers Discussion List
> > Subject: [Xerte-dev] use of info tag in xwd forms
> >
> >
> >
> > On the 4th December I posted to the developer list an issue with the
> > xwd forms relating to the use of the "info" tag.
> >
> >
> >
> > The inclusion of an info tag in the xwd form can result in space
> > being allocated above the info tag for the display of the last few
> > properties in the xwd form definition, but the properties are not
> > visible in the form. You can however confirm their "presence" as the
> > mouse pointer responds to them if moved over the input fields.
> >
> >
> >
> > You can test this out in Xerte (or XOT) by creating a page using one
> > of the Connector page types. The info tag has been used in these
> > pages to link to a pdf help file that is hosted on the Xerte
> > community web site, but the "language" flagged form properties are
> > no longer all editable, due to the presence of the info tag.
> >
> >
> >
> > This is a pity as the info tag could be used to provide a link to an
> > external document that gives the Author useful additional
> > information to assist them in making the best use of that page type.
> > e.g.
> >
> > *         Information about what the page is designed to do
> >
> > *         Instructions on what the properties in the form are to
> > help in completing the form created by the xwd file;
> >
> > *         examples of actual uses of that page type in real projects.
> >
> > *         examples of combining this page type with other page types
> > to achieve a particular pedagogical approach
> >
> > *         guidance as to how accessible the page is with respect to
> > particular types of user, or what features the page has as optional
> > properties to provide additional accessibility
> >
> > However at present if the "info" tag is used then the ability to
> > edit the language flagged elements of the page is compromised.
> >
> >
> >
> > Is this something that is intended to be addressed before the next
> > release of Xerte / XOT?
> >
> >
> >
> > Sorry to be a nuisance, but it seems such a potentially useful
> > feature it seems a shame not to be able to use it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Kind regards
> >
> >
> >
> > Johnathan
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
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> 
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> Glasgow Caledonian University is a registered Scottish charity, number SC021474
> 
> Winner: Times Higher Education’s Widening Participation Initiative of the Year 2009 and Herald Society’s Education Initiative of the Year 2009.
> http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bycategory/theuniversity/1/name,6219,en.html
> 
> Winner: Times Higher Education’s Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers of the Year 2010, GCU as a lead with Universities Scotland partners.
> http://www.gcu.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bycategory/theuniversity/1/name,15691,en.html
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