[Xerte] Re: xerte desktop 2.18 page templates question

Thu Jan 3 10:06:29 GMT 2013

Hello RonM2,

One further addition to my notes below.

When you open the wizard form for the page you have added manually you will
just see a "pageWizard" entry in the form. Click on the Insert button above
it and use the menu that displays to add a new Page entry for that type of
page.

Then everything should start looking like what you are used to. :-)

Kind regards

Johnathan

PS I will be out for the rest of the day but if you have any further
questions I will try to respond this evening.

On 3 January 2013 09:17, Kemp Johnathan <johnathan.kemp at ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Hello RonM2,
>
> The key to using the new pages in an existing none-pages project is to
> understand the difference between the new pages individual page templates
> and the original pageWizards.
>
> The original pageWizards are zipped files that contain a .rlm model file,
> a .xwd form file and a .xml data file. In addition they contain any swf or
> image files that the page uses e.g. to define buttons, the white panel
> background etc.
>
> When you use a pageWizard the swf and image files get copied into the
> project's common folder, if they are not already in there. The model file
> is used by Xerte to create a page entry in the project tree (it defines the
> structure of the page), then all three files (xwd, rlm and xml) are copied
> into the folder defined by the page's templateData path. In practice the
> copying of the rlm file into the templateData folder is unnecessary as its
> only use is to construct the page structure. A pageWizard automatically
> detects that it is in Xerte by testing for the presence of templateData at
> the project level. If it is not there then it knows it is in Xerte.
>
> The new Pages project model files cannot use this method of detection as
> the Pages projects do have a templateData defined at the project level to
> enable the new project look feature. So a new test is used. The Learning
> Object has a new property "pages" which is set to
>
> true
>
> If this property does not exist then the pages project model will think it
> is in XOT and you will get undefined displayed when you preview.
>
> If you want to use a pages individual template in your existing projects
> you can do so but it may be a bit patchy in how well some of the pages work
> as your project will lack the shared code to support some features like
> narration. In addition the new Pages individual page templates are not
> packaged as discrete zipped files, the model files for all the pages are in
> one folder in your xerte install, the xwd files in another. However they
> now all use the same .xlm file. The swf and image files required by the
> pages are copied in one go to your project's common folder when you create
> a pages project.
>
> Despite these differences with a little care you should find that you can
> get most pages working well in an existing project.
>
> In the first release of the new Xerte 2.18 you could do file / new to
> create a none pages project and still see the individual pages listed under
> the pages menu. I think Tom changed that later as it caused confusion
> because, as you have discovered, adding a pages page to a none pages
> project does not work "out of the box". So it is possible that when you
> open an old project that uses pageWizards you are unable to see a list of
> new Pages page templates under the "Pages" menu.
>
> If you can see a the pages listed under the Pages menu, then add them from
> there, otherwise follow the procedure below. Be aware that it was not
> really intended to use the new Pages page templates in an old Xerte project
> but with a bit of care it should be possible.
>
> *How to use pages page templates in old Xerte projects*
> *
> *
> *General set up that all pages will use
> *
>
> Select your learning object icon and in the properties panel type in a new
> property name of
>
> pages
>
> Then click the add button.
> Set the property value to
>
> true
>
> This will ensure that the new Pages page models know they are in Xerte.
>
> Now copy the contents of a Pages projects "common" folder into your
> existing project's common folder (this will ensure that all the pages you
> add have access to the .swf and images they use). You should be able to
> overwrite any duplication of existing files but if you are unsure then
> don't copy in duplicates.
>
> *Adding a new Pages Page*
>
> To add a new page model (if they are not listing under the "Pages" menu,
> use File / Insert Model then select the model you want to add from your
> Xerte install's pages/models folder e.g. c:\xerte\pages\models
>
> As you would for a pageWizard, create a folder for the page to use and set
> up the templateData property to that folder similar to the example below.
>
> FileLocation + 'pages/page_002/connectorPlainText.xml'
>
> Note the reference to the .xml file, The name of the .xml file must match
> the model name. So in the above case the model file name was
> connectorPlainText.rlm
>
> Do not try to open the wizard for this page yet!
>
> Now in the Xerte install's "pages/wizards/en-GB" folder you will find all
> the wizards.
> e.g. C:\xerte\pages\wizards\en-GB\"
>
> Copy the wizard file for the pages page that you have added to your
> project to the templateData path folder so in the above example you would
> copy connectorPlainText.xwd into your pages/page_002/ folder.
>
> Now for the xml folder.
>
> In a text editor create yourself an file that contains just the following
>
> <pageWizard />
>
> and save it as universalPage.xml (you will use this for every pages page
> you add to an old project)
>
> Copy universalPage.xml into your page's templateData path folder and
> rename it to match the name of your page e.g. in the above example you will
> rename it to plainTextConnector.xml
>
> Everything should now be ready to use your new page, Just double check
> that your templateData value matches the folder you created for the page.
> To open the Wizard double click on the page entry in the project tree.
>
> Let me know how you get on.
>
> Just to be on the safe side you might want to work on a copy of a project
> if it is one that is valuable to you, until you are happy with what you are
> doing.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Johnathan
>
>
> On 3 January 2013 00:32, KnowledgeWare <knowledgeware at kccsoft.com> wrote:
>
>> The new page templates in desktop v2.18 look great and I’m anxious to use
>> them, but have a question about how I can do so in existing RLO’s.
>>
>>
>>
>> When I create a new file in 2.18 the page templates come up as
>> ‘undefined’ unless I create a new ‘Page Project’ which opens ‘Pages.rlo’,
>> then ‘template.rlt’ when I’m building a template page. Do I need to build
>> the course in ‘Pages.rlo’?
>>
>>
>>
>> After working in ‘Pages.rlo’ I’m wondering how I can get some of the
>> template pages back into my original RLO. If I use any of the page
>> templates there they seem to build and get pasted in but preview as
>> ‘undefined’. Even though my older RLO is in the same directory as
>> ‘pages.rlo’ (which runs fine with the templates pages I built) I don’t seem
>> to be able to copy/paste the new pages back into my older RLO although the
>> path to the templates is the same.
>>
>>
>> Sorry I know this must sound very confusing…just wondering…do I have to
>> rebuild the older files in or as ‘Pages.rlo’ then save it to another
>> filename? Right now I don’t see how else I can use the template pages in an
>> existing RLO.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> RonM2
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xerte mailing list
>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>
>>
>
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