[Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)

[Kemp Johnathan]

As I see it the main problem that we are seeking a solution for is that
there are more data items at a particular level in a page definition than
there is space to display the controls in the form window.

This perhaps raises a few questions

   1. How many separate data items are we likely to need to be able to deal
   with in a single page of a form?
   2. How many meaningful sections could the data be organised into?
   3. Can we come up with a set of titles for these sections that would
   make sense for most people for most forms?

Regarding question 1. The best current guide to this may be which is the
largest page form we have thus far, but if we can build in an overhead to
cope with even bigger forms then so much the better. This becomes less of
an issue the more sections you have available in which to organise your
form controls.

Regarding question 2. Thus far most forms have managed without the need for
sections. Only recently it seems have forms threatened to get larger than
their display space as a result of internationalisation and the increasing
sophistication of the pages being created. I am wary of a solution that has
a built in maximum number of sections if we are talking about a maximum of
three, which appears to be the restriction imposed by having check boxes
along the bottom of the form. It may be that a maximum of 5 or 6 would
provide for all our current needs with room to spare, though it would not
surprise me that we ended up with more being requested once the feature was
available.

Regarding question 3. Candidates thus far appear to be "Advanced" and
"Display text", perhaps "Optional data" would be useful as well.
"Presentation" might be another. This raises the possibility of moving some
optional fields into a none optional section. There are several pages that
have around 6 optional properties excluding those relating to narration,
that might be managed in a more user friendly way by offering them all up
together in a single section.

So to sum up.

   - Dividers improve the visual presentation, but I think the key issue is
   about managing how many fields display in a form at the same time, so I
   think we need the ability to display / hide a specific section.
   - I am not sure if 3 sections will be enough. Could you use a menu for
   the sections instead of check boxes, so that you selected which section to
   open and it closed the other sections at the same time?
   - I recognise the need to have consistency over the naming of the
   sections, in the same way as you have consistency over the menus, so that
   individual page templates can be used to build a templates.xwd file.
   - It would make sense to deal with this now in a way that won't need
   revisiting later as internationalisation will result in multiple copies of
   the xwd files. The nightmare scenario would be to realise after the xwds
   have been translated into several languages that the section solution needs
   reworking.
   - If we end up with some limitations then we will still have improved
   functionality over the current forms. So I think it is a case of achieving
   the best balance of functionality against the time available to implement
   the solution and then sticking with it, and implementing it in the set of
   xwds that get used for internationalisation.

Kind regards

Johnathan

On 3 February 2012 10:08, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>wrote:

> Add advanced=”true” to a node to have to it not display unless the
> checkbox is ticked: this is the node I was testing with:
>
> <zoom type="TextInput" label="Zoom" advanced="true" divider="true"/>
>
>
>
> Here it is on a mapping page I’m working on. I think ‘advanced’ will do
> for now, but could see a scenario where we have more than one sort of
> ‘advanced’, i.e. truly advanced options, say for a map, that do stuff
> people wouldn’t normally want to do; and display text, which exposes the
> stuff you’re dealing with. It could work the same way (the .xwd format is
> entirely my own devising, nothing to do with flash).
>
>
>
> So, we could define sections as we do for menus in the root node of the
> xwd. Then the wizard would create a checkbox for those sections (or other
> interface thing). When the form is drawn, the logic just says ‘ah, this is
> advanced – should I show it or not?’
>
>
>
> It would be more flexible if the xwd author could define the section
> names, sections=”advanced,display text” for example. Then a checkbox can be
> created for each section. Easy enough I think. You would define sections
> for the whole xwd though, so maybe there are issues if you later try to
> build a big toolkits xwd from lots of small ones that define lots of
> sections…? I’m going to have a go at setting it this way, even if we only
> end up using one section. The label for the checkbox would be ‘Show ‘ +
> sectionName. There’s only really enough space for maybe three checkboxes:
> I’m not sure how else to do the interface thing…
>
>
>
> Or shall we just stick with advanced, and use dividers to split up
> different sections visually?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 03 February 2012 09:30
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> I'm sorry I was unavailable yesterday afternoon and evening and was not
> able to respond to you sooner.
>
>
>
> I have taken a quick look at the new wizard swf file and it works in that
> it displays the "advanced" check box at the bottom of the form. However as
> yet I have not been able to get it to hide and show a section of the form,
> so I must be doing something wrong somewhere.
>
>
>
> I haven’t done ‘n’ sections (yet)
>
>
>
> I was thinking about the use of the "advanced" tick box last night in bed
> and I found myself wondering how this would work when you had several
> sections in a single form. I presume it would be a case of opening all
> hidden sections at the same time, or hiding them all at the same time.
>
>
>
> I have no idea whether the xwd file operation is predominantly bespoke or
> based on pre-existing functionality offered by flash, so I don't know how
> feasible my thoughts would be to put into practice. What I had imagined was
> the xwd form might work something as follows.
>
>
>
> Just as you have the info tag that does not output anything to the xml
> file I imagined a tag perhaps called section which might be applied to the
> customHotspots as follows
>
>
>
> <customHotspots menu="Interactivity" menuItem="Interactive Diagram"
> hint="A more complex hotspot based-diagram" icon="icCustomHotspot"
> menu="Interactivity" thumb="" type="drawing" label="Edit Diagram"
> remove="true">
> <name label="Name" type="TextInput"/>
>
> <section label="Page Information" open="true">
> <text label="Page Text" type="TextArea" height="200"/>
> <highlightColour label="Highlight Colour" type="ColourPicker"
> defaultValue="0xFFFF00"/>
> <lineWidth label="Highlight Width" type="NumericStepper" min="0" max="5"
> step="1" defaultValue="1"/>
> <interactivity label="Interactivity" options="Hotspots,Labels,Show Me,MCQ"
> type="ComboBox" data="Hotspots,Labels,Show Me,MCQ" defaultValue="Hotspots"
> width="100"/>
> <showShapes label="Show Shapes" type="CheckBox" defaultValue="true"/>
>
> </section>
>
> <section label="Display Text" open="false">
> <hotspotsTxt label="Hotspots text" type="textInput" />
> <labelsTxt label="Labels text" type="textInput" />
> <showMeTxt label="Show Me text" type="textInput" />
> <regionsTxt label="Show Regions text" type="textInput" />
> <nextTxt label="Next Button Label" type="textInput" />
> <priorTxt label="Prior Button Label" type="textInput" />
> </section>
> <narrationNavigate label="Navigate on narration" type="CheckBox"
> defaultValue="false" optional="true"/>
> <playNarration label="Auto-play narration" type="CheckBox"
> defaultValue="false" optional="true"/>
> <narration label="Narration" type="media" optional="true"/>
> <pageID label="Page ID" defaultValue="Enter a unique ID so that Routed
> Pages can find this page" type="TextInput" optional="true" />
>
> </customHotspots>
>
>
>
> A section tag would display the label value. If the open value was true
> the controls contained in the section would be displayed and a minus button
> displayed next to the section label.
>
> If the open value was false then the section label would be displayed with
> a plus button next to it but none of the contained controls would be
> displayed.
>
> The buttons would serve to toggle the individual sections open and closed.
>
>
>
> I have no idea if this is feasible, but it does give a fairly clear idea
> of the functionality I was thinking off. I guess the optional properties
> would continue to appear at the top of the form under the name property.
>
> If this was implemented the form creator would have to be careful to
> ensure that the listing of the data items in the new node entry was in the
> same order as the listing of the controls in the main data definition, so
> that controls from one section could not be mixed in with the controls from
> another section.
>
>
>
> What do you think?
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2 February 2012 15:48, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> OK, in the attached wizard, there is a check box along the bottom ‘show
> advanced’ which toggles the advanced controls.
>
>
>
> I haven’t done ‘n’ sections (yet)
>
>
>
> Then in the xwd you can do advanced=”true”.
>
>
>
> If you do divider=”true” on the first control, you’ll split the form into
> sections,
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 02 February 2012 13:39
>
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> No, but could do it easily: just in the same option=”true” works, so could
> displayText=”true” and by default not show those controls; then the users
> selects ‘show display text’ box, flip the flag and rebuild the form.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 02 February 2012 13:24
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> Is the functionality you are referring to currently available in for use
> in xwd files?
>
>
>
> I am unaware that you can display fields in an xwd form based on the value
> of a field in the form.
>
>
>
> It would be useful to be able to break a form up into sections and be able
> to hide or display each section, in a similar way to being able to expand
> or collapse the structure of a page in the project tree.
>
>
>
> If any of this functionality is currently available to xwd forms, do you
> have any examples that would point me in the right direction?
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 2 February 2012 12:21, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> a)      Yes.
>
>
>
> Maybe we should have an option in the wizad to display the display text
> fields?
>
>
>
> Then in the xwd we can say ‘isDisplaytext’ and in the wizard check before
> adding the control?’ Have it toggleable by the user?
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 02 February 2012 11:23
>
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> Assuming the approach you refer to above could be made to work, what would
> be the preference for the Xerte project?
>
>
>
> a) The page as it operates now, offering backward compatibility with
> existing toolkit projects customHotspot pages, but at a cost of having a
> rather long form with all the display text strings listed at the bottom of
> the form so that the author can edit them.
>
>
>
> b) A redesigned form that kept the display text in a separate sub form,
> but at a cost of losing backward compatibility with existing toolkit
> project based customHotspot pages, due to structural changes in the pages
> xml data.
>
>
>
> I'm guessing option a) but its not my call to make.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 2 February 2012 08:34, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> Hmm. Not sure. That’s a bit tricky. The CDATA is needed – it’s there as a
> placeholder to force the node to be a text node; without it, you can push
> xml into the nodeValue, and the custom hotspots is xml data. It can’t be
> stored as an attribute because of the formatting.
>
>
>
> The answer is to re-jig the nodes slightly, but this might break existing
> stuff…
>
>
>
> <node>
>
>   <payload>CDATA</payload> //a text node for the xml describing the
> drawing.
>
>   <children/> //children get added to this, not the page
>
> </node>
>
>
>
> …and I’m not sure how that’s going to work in the wizard.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 01 February 2012 19:32
>
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> Thank you for figuring out what was wrong with the mcq part of the page.
>
>
>
> If you check your model file you will find a couple of references to
> "hotspotImage" that should be "customHotspots".
>
>
>
> The format of the xwd newNode line with the inclusion of CDATA (shown in
> blue) to receive the drawing information is different to most other xwd
> files
>
>
>
> <newNodes>
> <customHotspots><![CDATA[<customHotspots name="Enter Page Title"
> text="Enter text for the page here" highlightColour="0xFFFF00"
> lineWidth="1" interactivity="Hotspots" showShapes="true">CDATA
> </customHotspots>]]></customHotspots>
> </newNodes>
>
>
>
> Compared for example to the quiz page equivalent in which there is no
> CDATA entry between the main block and the ending </quiz> tag.
>
>
>
> <newNodes>
> <quiz><![CDATA[<quiz name="Enter Quiz Title" order="random"
> numQuestions="All" align="left" panelWidth="Medium" instructions="Provide
> instructions here" judge="true" feedback="Provide feedback here"/>]]></quiz>
> </newNodes>
>
>
>
> I have performed tests, trying to remove the CDATA but it appears
> essential for holding the drawing data.
>
>
>
> However this in itself appears to be creating an issue in that the
> presence of the CDATA entry prevents the addition of any child data items
> to the page.
>
>
>
> I have tried adding a child item and what happens in the display of the
> xwd form is that the child item is preceded in the page structure display
> at the left of the form by a prior entry which lists as
>
>
>
> [type Function][type Function]
>
>
>
> The child entry is displayed below this and the child data is displayed in
> the form's right-hand panel. However on closing the form the information
> for the child item is lost. If you re-order the sequence so that the child
> item is above the [type Function][type Function] entry, then on closing the
> form the child data is saved but the drawing data is lost.
>
>
>
> Do you know of any way we could get around this so that a child item can
> be added?
>
>
>
> The page contains quite a number of display text that is built into the
> model. e.g. "question 1 of 3", "Explore the diagram, click on the various
> parts to learn more".
>
> To internationalise the page I need to put this text in an author
> modifiable format in the xwd form. I would prefer to have a newNode item
> that could present a form for this data. There are to many entries to add
> them to the main form without producing a very lengthy form. I know I can
> just add the data items to the newNode line for the page but I want also to
> allow the Author to be able to change the default values. I cannot make
> them simply optional properties as they will all display in the main form
> as soon as I include the default values in the newNodes line that creates
> the page. Further I don't want the author to be able to delete the values.
>
>
>
> Anyone any ideas how a child node could be added to this page?
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 1 February 2012 14:05, Fay Cross <Fay.Cross at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> Thanks, I’ll add in a brief instruction for this page
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 01 February 2012 13:04
>
>
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> Add info using <info><![CDATA[Here is page of some stuff]]></info> in the
> xwd.
>
>
>
> It shows in blue text at the bottom of the wizard.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Fay Cross
> *Sent:* 01 February 2012 11:51
> *To:* For Xerte technical developers
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> There was a bug – it only worked if you had at least 4 things in the
> diagram.  It’s fixed in the attached version.
>
>
>
> On a different point, I hadn’t looked at this page type before and it took
> me a ridiculously long time to work out how to add the text to go with each
> part of the diagram.  I was convinced there was a new nodes bit missing
> until I found where to put it.  Am I just being a bit slow this morning and
> is it clear to everyone else? Or do you think it needs to have some
> instructions with it – can you add explanatory text to a page in the wizard?
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 30 January 2012 13:24
> *To:* Xerte Developers Discussion List
> *Subject:* [Xerte-dev] Re: Interactive Diagram Page (customHotspots.rlm)
>
>
>
> I am about to start extracting the language strings from the rlm file but
> find during prior testing that if I select the mcq option that the page
> just stops responding on preview.
>
>
>
> Is this a known bug? What is supposed to happen?
>
>
>
> I have tested this both in a Page Templates project and in an individual
> page template project using the customHotspots.rlm file and an xwd derived
> from the contents in templates.xwd.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
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>  This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and
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> error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. Please do not
> use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any
> attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do
> not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham.
>
> This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an
> attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your
> computer system: you are advised to perform your own checks. Email
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> any attachment.  Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this
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