[Xerte] tutor

Fri Mar 20 08:38:56 GMT 2009

Yes, you need a good AS2.0 reference as well as the Xerte helpfile. In
the Xerte helpfile are details of all the additional properties, methods
and events that Xerte adds to the Flash language. I've not attempted to
document the AS language itself as that has been more than adequately
done elsewhere. I tend to use the Flash help system, but there are
online versions of it as Paul has pointed out. Somewhere you can
download a .chm of it I think so you can have a local help system. If
there is an open source version of that I'd be happy to inlude it in the
Xerte help menu,

J

-----Original Message-----
From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Paul Swanson
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:20 PM
To: knowledgeware at kccsoft.com; Xerte discussion list
Subject: RE: [Xerte] tutor

I believe 2pm GMT is 7am PDT (when on Daylight Savings Time, it's
GMT-7).

Xerte is AS2/Flash8. I use the following site for the AS2 Language
Reference:
http://flash-reference.icod.de/

That is a reference manual, not a tutorial. It won't teach you AS, but
it gives you a description of the properties, methods and events
available in AS2.

Don't be too intimidated by ActionScript. It is very close syntactically
to JavaScript. And for the most part, I get by with the following:

// navigation
myFrameworkOrDecisionIconID.nextPage(); // navigates to next page in
framework or decision
myFrameworkOrDecisionIconID.prevPage(); // navigates to previous page in
framework or decision
myFrameworkOrDecisionIconID.exit(); // exits framework or decision
rootIcon.navigate('lesson1'); // where 'lesson1' is the id of a page
// drop shadow
myGraphicOrTextID.dropShadow(2,45,0x000000,.5); // size, angle, color,
alpha (Range: 0-1)
// and, for drawing arrows
myGraphicID.lineStyle(2,0xff0000,100); // line width, color, alpha
(Range: 0-100)
myGraphicID.beginFill(0xff0000,100);  // color, alpha
myGraphicID.arrowTo(550,100,600,150); // startX, startY, endX, endY
myGraphicID.dropShadow(2,45,0x000000,.8);
// text
myTextIconID.setText('<p>This is a paragraph.</p>');
// graphics
myGraphicIconID._alpha=0; // hide a graphic by making it fully
transparent
myGraphicIconID.fade('in', 1); // fade in a graphic over 1 second

Of course, there is a lot more you can do, but that short list should
cover much of what you are likely to need to do.

Paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-
> bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of ron at kccsoft.com
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 10:43 AM
> To: 'Xerte discussion list'
> Subject: RE: [Xerte] tutor
> 
> April 3 Friday 2pm (Nottingham time) works but my personal preference
> is 3
> or 4pm (2 = 6am here - Pacific time).
> 
> I suspect the learning will break down into two areas: Xerte icons
> (which aw
> people are roughly familiar with) and actionscript.
> 
> Should these two areas be separated for learning purposes?
> 
> I suspect Xerte is like AW in this regard... you can do lots with the
> icons
> but unless all you do is page turners you are going to do 95% of
> everything
> with scripting, so scripting is where you should focus IMHO.
> 
> Julian - I agree with what you are saying below but the question for
> someone
> like me is where to start with actionscript? 2 or 3? How much or how
> little?
> I've personally found most AS learning very frustrating, how to
animate
> a
> cartoon, etc. Can you tell us what in your opinion is the best
resource
> for
> learning AS relevant to Xerte? I mean focusing on actual AS that is
> immediately usable that we can see results from instead of trying to
> buy the
> 600 page Flash books and working through the irrelevant tutorials in
> them?
> I'd rather learn one or two basic things that are immediately usable
> rather
> than try to master an entire new language.
> 
> I'm not clear either on what version of Flash I need to work with...
> I've
> got 2004 but someone was saying the other day that won't cut it?
> 
> Thanks
> RonM2
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Julian
> Tenney
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:54 AM
> To: Xerte discussion list
> Subject: RE: [Xerte] tutor
> 
> You will have to grapple with some scripting to build interactions in
> Xerte. It is just the way it is and always will be. You can build some
> simple interactions without scripting, but scripting is where the
power
> lies. If you want to create rich interactivity of your own design,
> scripting is the way to do it. If you really do not want to script,
> then
> you will probably have a better time using the Page Templates
template.
> 
> You should learn some script. It is not hard to learn. A little script
> goes a long way in Xerte because of all the classes behind the scenes
> that are doing most of the heavy lifting. The scripting language in
> Xerte is very simple, and forgiving for new scripters.
> 
> J
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Gregory P
> Sweet
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 1:45 PM
> To: Xerte discussion list
> Subject: Re: [Xerte] tutor
> 
> I second what Hal says: Show me how to create interactions without
> scripting.
> 
> -Greg
> 
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk wrote on 03/18/2009 07:37:45 PM:
> 
> > What would be useful for me as a very new user would be a basic run
> > through the icons to create interactions without resorting to
> > scripting. The navigation would also be useful to know more about,
> > without using a linear structure. I guess there will need to be a
> > fair amount of differentiation within any tutorial to accommodate
> > the very different levels of competence with Xerte.
> > --
> > Hal MacLean
> > Director of Learning
> > +44 (0)7957 538915
> >
> > www.cleveratom.co.uk
> > +44 (0)845 868 9020
> >
> > Cleveratom Limited,
> > Fenchurch House,
> > 93 Springfield Road, Chelmsford,
> > Essex, CM2 6JL.
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Cleveratom Limited is a company registered
> > in England and Wales with company
> > number 6008130. Registered address is
> > Shalford Court, 95 Springfield Road
> > Chelmsford, CM2 6JL.
> > __________________________________
> >
> 
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