[Xerte] Re: plain text connector page problem in XOT

Mon Oct 29 12:01:01 GMT 2012

The source of the list of pages in a project is different for Xerte
projects and for XOT or Page Templates projects.

XOT contains the data for all the pages in the project in a single .xml
file so the connector pages access the page ID by

extXML.firstChild.childNodes[i].attributes.pageID

In desktop Xerte pages projects each page has its own separate xml file.
Xerte builds an array rootIcon.pages from which the page data can be
accessed e.g.

rootIcon.pages[i].extXML.firstChild.childNodes[0].attributes.pageID

The building of the array takes place at run time and has not completed by
the time the rootIcon.onInit event is broadcast. So the data is not
available to the xwd file to be able to offer a list of pages.

However in desktop Xerte Julian modified the engine so that on changing the
page title i.e. name attribute in the page's xwd form this value was
transferred to the associated page icon's name attribute written  in the
.rlo file. So in desktop Xerte the source of the page names would have to
be the rlo file.

Is it doable that the engine could be coded so that one solution can work
in the xwd forms for the pages and for the page models, irrespective of
them residing in Xerte or XOT?

Kind regards

Johnathan

Kind regards

Johnathan

On 29 October 2012 11:33, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>wrote:

> I can code it, the engine needs to do it, based on that type in .xwd
>
>
>
> <attName type=”pageList” label=”targetPage” …etc…>
>
>
>
> Then the wizard needs to build the list based on the data on the tree, and
> show the user page titles to choose from. When one is selected it needs to
> generate an ID if one doesn’t exist on the target page, and then link to
> that. I think that would work? I think also the user could screw it up by
> changing the ID later and breaking the link: the generated ID would be
> targ12398637562 or something like that, it would be better to prompt the
> user to create a friendly one if one didn’t exist.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Pat Lockley
> *Sent:* 29 October 2012 10:52
>
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* [Xerte] Re: plain text connector page problem in XOT
>
>
>
> Strikes me it better to offer a choice of valid options than to try to
> validate later on?
>
>
>
> No idea how to code it though
>
>
>
> Of course you could go crazy and connect to pages in other projects....
>
> On 29 Oct 2012, at 10:43, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> Good idea. That would require some work in the engine, and a type in the
> xwd file of ‘pageList’. For attributes labelled as such, the engine would
> then present the drop down, and could generate IDs automagically if they
> didn’t exist…
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [
> mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>]
> *On Behalf Of *Pat Lockley
> *Sent:* 29 October 2012 10:34
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* [Xerte] Re: plain text connector page problem in XOT
>
>
>
> Why not provide a drop down list of pages?
>
> On 29 Oct 2012, at 10:30, Kemp Johnathan <johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
>
> One problem may be that people are failing to locate the documentation
> that supports the Connector pages. Which does not surprise me as at the
> moment the only place I know they are accessible from is either the help
> folder of a desktop Xerte install, or from the SVN.
>
>
>
> It should be possible to check for page ID and then for page "title".
>
> When you say "page title" are you referring to the xml attribute "name" ?
>
> In desktop Xerte there is both a "name" and a "title" attribute but in XOT
> the label "Page Title" is used to refer to the attribute "name". So for
> Xerte use which would you want it to be?
>
>
>
> I am concerned that this approach may instead complicate things. By using
> only Page IDs for connections projects retain a consistency of approach and
> the connections are safe from side effects resulting from the renaming
> (retitling) of a page. Page IDs are free from having to do duty as a page
> title and so can reflect the logical structure of the connections.
>
>
>
> Perhaps an alternative solution is to include an info statement to remind
> people to set a page ID for their destination page.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 29 October 2012 09:35, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> People are missing the need to create a page ID? Is that the root cause of
> the problem here?
>
>
>
> I’ve wondered if the navigation stuff should use either the page title or
> the page ID? I’ve had feedback from people that the ID makes things too
> complicated / is easy to miss etc. If the code looked first for an ID, and
> if found, navigated to that, but if not found, it then checked the page
> titles, and if found, navigated to that, it would catch both situations?
>
>
>
> We have got to keep the ‘keep it simple’ mantra in mind here. Andy is an
> experienced user, and this should be a simple task. This tells me something
> could be improved.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 27 October 2012 10:38
>
>
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* [Xerte] Re: plain text connector page problem in XOT
>
>
>
> In principle it is possible to add this functionality to any page that has
> a text block.
>
>
>
> However this raises the question of when is a connector page not a
> connector page. For you could end up potentially with a list of connector
> pages that duplicated most of the existing pages. I would be personally
> inclined to treat the ability to link from text as in the Plain Text
> Connector Page as something that is not really a "Connector Page" if we
> ever went down the route of making this facility available to all text
> blocks. Almost all the other Connector pages offer facilities to control
> the navigation options of the destination page, a feature not offered when
> making a text based connection.
>
>
>
> I think the concept of connector pages is still in its infancy. There is a
> bit of tidying up that I am working with Julian on, to improve the options
> regarding navigation and setting navigation for destination pages. Then I
> think it will be worth waiting a while and seeing what the take up of the
> Connector pages is and getting a feel for how people use them.
>
>
>
> There is also the major issue of HTML5. Until I am clearer about the
> implications of converting existing Connector pages to HTML5 I am rather
> loathe to expand the range of Connector pages available.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 26 October 2012 16:32, Davidson, Andrew <Andrew.Davidson at warwick.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> Thanks Johnathan – very helpful. Yes, it was a very simple solution – Dave
> showed me that I wasn’t inserting a page id where it was needed. Makes
> sense now but in the instruction I only could see about copying and pasting
> text with the page id – anyway, it’s a great addition for Xerte Online
> Toolkits and I wonder if it will be possible to add this function to other
> page types in XOT such as a page with graphics and text or a page with
> video and text.
>
>
>
> Best
>
>
>
> Andy
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 26 October 2012 16:27
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>
>
> *Subject:* [Xerte] Re: plain text connector page problem in XOT
>
>
>
> You have two ways to use the Page Models in Xerte 2.18 desktop. I hope
> that soon we will be able to improve the File / New menu so that all the
> options for creating a the different project types are listed there.
> However currently...
>
>
>
> If you want a page templates type project i.e. a toolkits style project
> then do
>
>   Pages / Create Template Project from Pages.
>
>
>
> Add pages in the same way as normal for Page Templates or XOT projects.
>
>
>
> If you want to use the new Pages type project that gives full access to
> the page models and also the editing environment then do
>
>
>
> Pages / Create New Page Project
>
>
>
> Add pages by selecting the "Interface" element in the project tree and
> then select the page type that you want to add from the range of page type
> folders that you will find off the Pages Menu.
>
>
>
> As to how to duplicate the problem that Andrew is experiencing, I am not
> sure since I am not sure what the cause of the problem is. It may be as
> simple as not having specified a page ID for the destination page.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
>
>
> On 25 October 2012 17:19, Dave Burnett <d_b_burnett at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Johnathan, how would one go about recreating Andy's situation in 2.18
> desktop?
>
>
>
> Thnx,
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:13:52 +0100
>
> From: johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com
>
> To: xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> Subject: [Xerte] Re: plain text connector page problem in XOT
>
>
>
> The link to your project is not much help as I can't access the values you
> have entered into the form for the page.
>
>
>
> If you take a look at the learning object you should find it has an
> optional property of "Add Author Support". Add this attribute to your
> learning object and ensure the check box is ticked. Then play your project
> once more and try your hyperlink. You should see a message displayed "Page
> ID: somePageID could not be found in this project"
>
>
>
> Where "somePageID" will be the pageID you have specified in your link.
>
>
>
> Then check the destination page to ensure that you have given it an
> optional attribute of "Page ID" and that you have set the Page ID attribute
> to the value you have used in your link.
>
>
>
> That should sort it.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 25 October 2012 15:34, Davidson, Andrew <Andrew.Davidson at warwick.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I am trying to use the plain text connector page in XOT but for some
> reason I can’t get the link to work – http://xerte.warwick.ac.uk/play_116
>
> it highlights as a link on page 3 but does not link back to page 2. Here
> is the code I entered as a hyperlink
>
> asfunction:_level0.engine.fnTextCon,page2
>
> any ideas?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
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