[Xerte] Xerte 2: MVC approach to displayed text

[Kemp Johnathan]

Recently someone posted for help in locating where some text strings were
contained in pages as they wanted to convert the page for use in a language
other than English.

Would it be a good idea to establish a standard by which all displayed text
in a Xerte Page model was entered via the page's wizard?
Currently pages like the quiz page have embedded in the code in the .rlm
file statements like
fb = 'The quiz is complete.
tooltip="Next Question"
fb += '<br><br>You scored '

If all such text was replaced with data calls to an external xml source then
these strings could be readily modified using an xwd defined form. This
could open up Xerte more readily for use internationally.

I have been doing some testing recently with Page Wizards and have found
that I can add a language block to the xwd and xml files e.g.

*xwd content*

<wizard>

<!--DIALOG
INTERACTION------------------------------------------------------------------->
<dialog hint="An interaction comprising a sequence of text-entry
interactions forming a short dialog.">

<text type="TextArea" height="100" label="Text"/>
<attempts type="ComboBox" width="100" options="1,2,3,4" label="Attempts
before hint"/>

<narration type="media" label="Narration" optional="true"/>

<newNodes>
<dialogStep><![CDATA[<dialogStep name="question" question="Write your
question here." answer="Enter Answer" hint="Enter a hint"/>]]></dialogStep>
</newNodes>

</dialog>
<dialogLang>
<tryAgain type="TextInput" label="Try Again Prompt"/>
<continue type="TextInput" label="Continue Prompt"/>
<showAnswer type="TextInput" label="Reveal Prompt"/>
</dialogLang>

<dialogStep menuItem="Question" icon="icComment" remove="true" max="12">

<question type="TextArea" height="100" label="Question"/>
<answer type="TextInput" label="Answer"/>
<commentary type="TextArea" height="100" label="Commentary"/>
<hint type="TextInput" label="Hint"/>

</dialogStep>

</wizard>

*XML content*

<learningObject>
<dialogLang tryAgain="Try Again" continue="Press Enter to continue"
showAnswer="The correct answer has been revealed" />
<dialog linkID="" text="Enter text for the page here" attempts="2">
<dialogStep name="question" question="Write your question here. 1"
answer="Enter Answer 1" hint="Enter a hint 1" />
<dialogStep name="question" question="Write your question here. 2"
answer="Enter Answer 2" hint="Enter a hint 2" />
</dialog>
</learningObject>

*Rlm examples*

The model file can then access the language strings defined in the wizard by
calls to the xml data

pageIcon.templateData.learningObject[0].dialogLang[0].showAnswer

(With forthcoming changes to the Page Wizards this will soon be reduced to
pageIcon.templateData.dialogLang[0].showAnswer  )

I have tested this and it works.

This approach has the distinct advantage of providing a separate page in the
wizard form, for the language strings, thus avoiding having forms that are
significantly longer than the window in which they are displayed. It also
separates the display related text from the content related text.

However it requires separate blocks outside of the <dialog></dialog> tags
which may not prove compatible with pageTemplates.

*Can anyone more aufait with pageTemplates or On-line toolkits see any
problems with this approach in terms of it being transferred to
pageTemplates /  On-line toolkits, or can you think of a better way that
would be more compatible with the way the xml and xwd data is organised in
the pageTemplates environment?*

As a result of other recent development work I have carried out on the Page
Wizards I believe a single .rlm file that could be used both within Page
Wizards and  pageTemplates (and presumably therefore On-line toolkits) is
now achievable. I would like therefore to consider the implementation of
better support for language support in a context that considers both Page
Wizards and pageTemplates based pages.

Kind regards

Johnathan
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