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

Tom Reijnders reijnders at tor.nl
Wed Mar 6 11:05:21 GMT 2013


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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