[Xerte] More Questions

Robert Fant rfantster at gmail.com
Mon Jan 19 21:49:18 GMT 2009 

Honestly, the "limitation" is my programming skills.

However, I can generally look at some code, figure some things out and tweak
things to meet my needs.

What I would like to attempt is to create a drag-n-drop activity using the
pageTemplate (wizards / templates), and tweak this code, using the logic
that is created via the wizard.
So, my question was, can I edit the XML file, to have it show (or refer to)
a graphic rather than just that literal text that I placed in there via the
wizard.


Does this make any sense?



Otherwise, does someone have a drag-n-drop.rlo  file that I can download,
open in raw Xerte, and inspect the logic, overall structure.



On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Julian Tenney <
Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:

>  use graphic icons to display graphics. I'm not sure what limitations you
> think you've found?
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk on behalf of Robert Fant
> *Sent:* Mon 19/01/2009 18:43
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>
> This line comes from an original XML file, (the target area):
>
>      <category name="y = 2x+ 1">
>
>      and it displays   y = 2x + 1        exactly like that, which is as
> expected.
>
> My question is;  Instead of the XML file holding a literal text argument,
> can it hold a reference to (lets say) an image?   And, instead of displaying
> this literal text, display the image instead?
>
>       <category name=" <image src=\"http://host.com/image\<http://host.com/image/>">
> ">
>
>
>
> Only being able to display and use text in the activities is extremely
> limiting, especially in mathematics.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 3:51 AM, Julian Tenney <
> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>>  I'm not sure what you're trying to do here, but anything's possible…?
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Robert Fant
>> *Sent:* Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:37 PM
>>
>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>>
>>
>>
>> Not to belabor this but  .  .  .
>>
>> Is is possible that the XML entry could be the address to an image, rather
>> than a literal text string?  Even if I have to edit them by hand.
>>
>> <category name="y = 2x+ 1">
>>
>> If I can get something like this to work (using math symbols in the
>> activities), then I won't have to do any (much) scripting and the templates
>> will work wonderfully.
>>
>> +++++++++++++++
>>
>> Otherwise, are there any other math folks (programmers), on the listserve
>> that have figured this out.   Have any math folks created a Learning
>> Objective file such as this that they'd like to share?
>> I believe that if I can see an example, I can dissect it and transfer the
>> technique to create others.   I just don't understand the application well
>> enough to get started on such a project.
>>
>> As you all can well imagine, this has been an ongoing struggle for
>> mathematicians since the very beginning of the internet.   Fantastic tools
>> are being developed (such as Xerte), that lend themselves very nicely to all
>> topics (except math).   Those pesky symbols are necessary but get in the way
>> of our (online) progress.
>>
>> Thanks for your time, patience, and consideration on this matter.
>>
>> Robert
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 7:40 AM, Julian Tenney <
>> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> It's text only here, but if you use Xerte in it's raw form, it ought to b
>> easy enough to have a dag and drop activity that lets you sort different
>> types of latex into different groups.
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Robert Fant
>> *Sent:* Friday, January 16, 2009 1:20 PM
>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>>
>>
>>
>> Hey Thanks Julian,
>>
>> I apologize for asking such a primitive question.   I don't know how I
>> missed that in my readings.
>> Nonetheless, I got it going and it works just like you said.
>>
>> Hopefully this next question will not be so trivial.
>> I just created a "categorizing" activity, works great.
>> As I understand it, all "item" entries are stored in the XML file.   Is it
>> possible for the items to be LaTeX code/images (or any image type)?   Or are
>> we limited only to text here?
>> I would guess that the answer to this will apply to all of the different
>> activity entries.
>>
>> Again, than you for your patience,
>>
>> Robert
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 1:41 AM, Julian Tenney <
>> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Fire up Xerte. Go to the templates menu, choose the pageTemplates option
>> there. Let it create a new project or you. Once it's done, you should be
>> faced with the wizard screen, and the insert menu in the top left. This
>> allows you to add pages to the project.
>>
>>
>>
>> This is the way to use Xerte if you want to create content quickly,using
>> predefined templates – no need to script anything. You can create cutom
>> pages by loading up flash movies which do things not available in the other
>> page types.
>>
>>
>>
>> The file type for this type of project is .rlt. When Xerte opens an .rlt
>> file it automatically opens the wizard interface. Underneath that is the
>> normal Xerte dev environment – if you close the wizard you will return to
>> it. To fire up the wizard again by doule clicking the Learning Object icon
>> (which now has a little cog wheel on it, indicating this is a data-driven
>> piece).
>>
>>
>>
>> Probably best  not to mess with the underlying .rlt file until you've
>> figured a bit more out – this is quite advanced Xerte.
>>
>>
>>
>> The wizard interface allows you to edit an xml file (template.xml) which
>> contains your content. At runtime this file is loaded up, and the logic in
>> the .rlt uses the data in this file to construct the piece dynamically,
>> based on the data it finds in there.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you've jumped straight into the quiz templates tutorial, and haven't
>> written any code before you'll have a lot of further questions – just shout,
>> but be aware this is quite advanced stuff, and you should defintitely learn
>> some coding first. Work through the getting started bit of the help file,
>> that should help quite a bit,
>>
>>
>>
>> J
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Robert Fant
>> *Sent:* Friday, January 16, 2009 3:12 AM
>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>> *Subject:* [Xerte] More Questions
>>
>>
>>
>> First, thank all of you (*Julian, John, and Patrick*), for your quick,
>> informative responses.
>> I feel much better but have a LONG way to go.
>>
>> I have actually created a couple of pages with some trivial (scrolling)
>> text boxes, math symbols, and a graphic, (must start somewhere, right).
>> Working through the quiz tutorial in the help menu, now.   My programming /
>> scripting skills are minimal, so this is going to be tough.
>>
>> QUESTION(S):   I got on John's online site and saw that one can "Insert"
>> various templates from a drop-down list, (inter-activities, media,
>> navigators, etc.).   I don't seem to have all of this available with the
>> desktop version.   What am I missing?   Do I need to install these
>> templates?   However, as I look through the directory where Xerte is
>> installed, I can see what appears to be folders with a lot of this stuff
>> available.   I'm guessing I just don't understand how to implement any of
>> them.
>> The "template" directory in the help file just *seems* to only disect and
>> explain the various xml files.
>>
>> I suppose this is enough for now.   I've been at this all day.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help and expertise,
>>
>>
>> --
>> Robert Fant
>> Mathematics Instructor
>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>
>> rfantster at gmail.com
>> http://robertfant.com
>> Skype Username:  rfantster
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xerte mailing list
>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Robert Fant
>> Mathematics Instructor
>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>
>> rfantster at gmail.com
>> http://robertfant.com
>> Skype Username:  rfantster
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xerte mailing list
>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Robert Fant
>> Mathematics Instructor
>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>
>> rfantster at gmail.com
>> http://robertfant.com
>> Skype Username:  rfantster
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xerte mailing list
>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Robert Fant
> Mathematics Instructor
> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>
> rfantster at gmail.com
> http://robertfant.com
> Skype Username:  rfantster
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xerte mailing list
> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>
>


-- 
Robert Fant
Mathematics Instructor
Technology Integration Enthusiast

rfantster at gmail.com
http://robertfant.com
Skype Username:  rfantster
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