[Xerte-dev] Re: page type tweaks & possibly new page types for Maths project...

Wed Mar 20 09:51:26 GMT 2013

Johnathan just beat me to it with a much more comprehensive explanation than I was going to give on xwds :)

Ron - I don't think it would be a problem to add extra things to the HTML5 models now if you wanted to, there are only a handful of page types haven't been done yet anyway so within the next couple of weeks Flash and HTML5 should have the same templates available anyway.  There are already a couple of options I've added to wizards here and there that only apply to the HTML5 models.

I'm happy to add the image options to the existing drag and drop pages in HTML5 for you but it will have to wait a few weeks until the other stuff is finished - John's welcome to look at it before then if he wants. I wouldn't have thought we'd add the option into the Flash versions too now though.

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Kemp Johnathan
Sent: 20 March 2013 09:35
To: For Xerte technical developers
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: page type tweaks & possibly new page types for Maths project...

don't have any experience of altering page type functionality or adding page types to the wizard but if someone else can do that (or point me in the general direction of how to)

In XOT and pageTemplates type projects there is a single xwd file that contains the details for the wizard forms for all the available pages.

In Xerte each page type has its own xwd file to define the wizard form for that page type. Tom wrote a script that builds the single xwd file that XOT uses from the individual page xwds.

So part of the process of adding a new page type is to create an xwd file for that page. You can find all the individual xwd files in the xerte svn in the

runtime / pages / wizards / en-GB folder

or in a Xerte install in the xerte installation folder \ pages \ wizards \ en-GB folder.

If you open up a few of the xwd files you will soon see how they relate to the wizard forms that they create and to the xerte / XOT menu system.

Before modularisation Xerte did not have individual page templates so there was no problem with several pages having an element with the same name e.g. the mcq page and the quiz page both have an <option> element - see the newNodes section for each of these page types. In the XOT xwd file the option element is defined once for all page types that use it. However in the individual page xwds the option element is defined in each xwd file that uses it. So it was important at the time to make sure that each individual page xwd that had an option element defined it with the same attributes.

This is a legacy thing. For new page types it is better to ensure that all the elements they use are unique to that page type. This will avoid any risk of having the same element name used in two different page xwds but defined with different attributes in each page type. This would work fine in Xerte but could cause problems once the individual xwds are combined into a single xwd for use in XOT.

Incidentally whilst you want to keep element names unique, it is OK for the attribute names to duplicate. If you compare the xwd files mcq.xwd and cMcq.xwd (The multiple choice question wizard and the multiple choice question connector page wizard) you will get a feel for what I am saying here. I built the multiple choice connector page off the multiple choice page.

If you want to add new attributes to an existing page you have to be careful.

Each page at the start of the xwd file has a newNodes section that is used to build the initial xml data for the page.. There needs to be an entry in this for each attribute of the element that is not optional. If you add a new non-optional element to an existing page, then I believe that this can cause problems for XOT projects that have used this page before the new element was introduced, as their xml data will be missing this attribute. The safest way to add new attributes to an existing page definition is to make them optional, as this will avoid the above issue.

Its the HTML5 / jQuery stuff I am trying to get up to speed on. But if I can help you to get your head around the xwd side of things please ask away :-)

Kind regards

Johnathan

On 18 March 2013 12:07, Smith, John <J.J.Smith at gcu.ac.uk<mailto:J.J.Smith at gcu.ac.uk>> wrote:
Hi Ron

Sorry meant to respond earlier - don't have any experience of altering page type functionality or adding page types to the wizard but if someone else can do that (or point me in the general direction of how to) then I'll be happy to work on the html side of it... Id rather know how to do the full thing though as we have some ideas for page types also...

As far as adding options to the wizard then i was going to ask the same question - i was assuming that as long as it doesn't break old LOs then it would be ok??

Regards

John Smith
Learning Technologist
School of Health and Life Sciences

Sent from Samsung Galaxy SII

Ron Mitchell <ronm at mitchellmedia.co.uk<mailto:ronm at mitchellmedia.co.uk>> wrote:

Hi all
my messages seem to be taking an age to get through to this list again not sure why but anyway I'm hoping this gets through relatively quickly...

On behalf of JISC Techdis I've recently been supporting a Maths project and those involved have been testing if XOT is suitable for what they want to achieve. There is a mix of experience amongst the group but no real developer skills etc

Prior to going on holiday last week I sent them some possible solutions to interactions they were trying to achieve most of which involve wishing to drag images to images etc I showed them how/where they could add img src etc to load images where the page type only has text options but obviously this is not ideal and doesn't fully suit their needs. Here's some examples of this:

possible drag and drop solutions
http://vle.jisctechdis.ac.uk/xerte/play_html5_221

Patterns
http://vle.jisctechdis.ac.uk/xerte/play_html5_237

Timings
http://vle.jisctechdis.ac.uk/xerte/play_html5_241

The more recent example I received from them was the need for a coin interaction attached and in advance of a f2f meeting yesterday I created a quick demo of this via Xerte and uploaded as an rlm to xot:

coins interaction
http://vle.jisctechdis.ac.uk/xerte/play_262
Obviously that's Flash only, isn't a page type, isn't editable in xot etc which brings me to the real point of this message:

The result of the f2f meeting yesterday is that they ideally want some additional functionality developed and I think this is likely to fall into two categories:
1. Adding additional options for adding images to existing page types e.g. those that involve dragging and dropping
2. Creating 1 or more new page types tat allow creation of interactions similar to the coins example
The end results must work via HTML 5 if not both Flash and HTML 5

I've said that I would discuss all this via the dev list first of all to see what you think about changes to existing page types and also new page types and just as importantly to check if any or all are interested in working on this?

This isn't the first time the wish for drag and drop image to image etc has cropped up and could result in additions to benefit all. BUT they need to have developed and tested pilot content by June so it's a very short timescale and although I'm involved I don't think I have the time or skills to help them with this without extra help. They will pay for development but the first step is to identify if anyone is interested in helping with this and then at some point we will need to estimate time and costs etc.

What are your thoughts?
First point relevant to us all is would we agree to include additions to current page types or new page types when there isn't yet parity between existing Flash and HTML 5 etc? It's a non-starter if we don't.
Second point who's willing and able to help?

Contact me on or off list if you are interested.

Cheers
Ron

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
_______________________________________________
Xerte-dev mailing list
Xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:Xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte-dev

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte-dev/attachments/20130320/cd51972a/attachment-0001.html>