Developer on Duty - Latest blog entries

Uploading Your Own Page Templates

mattmower@rapidintake.com (Matt Mower) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:30:00 +0000

Because it is standardized on XML and Adobe Flash, you can create your own page templates to help decrease development time and to adapt to requirements that change from project to project. For example, lets say that every course you create comes with an objectives page that looks very similar. The only difference is the content. Instead of having to create that page each time using Flash, Swish, or some other tool, you can create a consistent template for it and create the page multiple times by simply filling out a form. Below is how to add your custom page template Rapid Intake.

First click on the Admin tab at the top left. From there, towards the bottom of the page, under Customization click on "Add or Update Custom Page Template"

A new page will open and from there you will need to click on "Add New Page"

At the next screen follow the directions below to complete the upload of your custom page template.

Page Name: Choose a name for your page.
Action Script Version: You must indicate the version of ActionScript you used to build the course page.
Compatibility: If you intend to use this page with Flash and Mobile courses, check this box. Checking this box will disable the page for any Flash only courses, so if you want to be able to use it with Flash only courses, you will need to upload it again with a slightly different name. Note: In order to use a custom page with a mobile course, you need to have the 'Alternate Mobile Content' tab.
Flash Player Version: Select the Flash player version best suited for playing your course. Note: If the course is using ActionScript 3, you will need to choose Player 10 here for it to work properly.
Page Tags: Select any tags by which you want this custom page to appear in the authoring tool.
Custom Tags: Add any other custom tags by which you want this custom page to appear in the authoring tool.
Form Input: Click on "Choose File" to browse for and select the xml file to upload.
Flash Movie: Click on "Choose File" to browser for and select the .zip or .swf file to upload.
Icon: Click on "Choose File" to browser for and select the .png to upload.
Click on "Save."

Helpful Hints When Trouble Shooting: Clearing Your Cache

mattmower@rapidintake.com (Matt Mower) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:30:00 +0000

At times when creating courses you will come across issues where all is needed to do is clear your browsers cache. Below are the steps on how to do that for Internet Explore, Chrome, and Safari.

Internet Explore:

These steps are relatively the same for versions 8 and 9

With your browser open click on the small gear icon on the Right hand side of the window.

Adding Custom Course Style

mattmower@rapidintake.com (Matt Mower) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:30:00 +0000

One of the great features of the authoring tool is having the ability to add your own custom course style. After you create your style you will need it upload it to your account. This can be done under the "Admin" tab on your account. Once there you will want to look for the option "Add or Update Custom Course Styles" under the Customization Topic. Click on this and it will take you to a page looking like the one below.

Adding an Articulate Storyline course

mattmower@rapidintake.com (Matt Mower) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:30:00 +0000

Because of the way Articulate Story line is set up, there are a few things you need to do to add a course to the Review tool. These steps are as follows:

You will first need to create a new project. Do this by click on the "Add Project" button as seen below.
Then Click on the "Review" Button.
On the next screen you will need name your project and select and assign you team lead and members. When done click on "Go To Next Step".
The next screen will look like the image below. In order to load a Storyline course you will need to select the Adobe Flash option. After doing this, click on the "Go To Next Step" Button.
From this next screen you will now be able to upload your Articulate Storyline file. Click on "Choose File" and browse to your file. It is important to not it does need to be a zipped file, and when zipping be sure not to compress your Storyline file into another folder. All the files need to be at the root level.
After selecting the file that you want to upload, click on the "Go To Next Step" button. This will start the upload of your course.
Once the upload is done you will see another screen that will prompt you to pick the start file for you course. Select which one is your start file and click on "Create My Project". Your course will start to compile and when done you will now be able to review your Articulate Storyline course.

New Content for the AS3 Style

mattmower@rapidintake.com (Matt Mower) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:30:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce that an update for the AS3 style went out last week. It now supports these additional page types:

Image and Audio

Image Link and Audio

Text and Audio

Text Audio and SWF

Text Image Audio

Text Image Link and Audio

Text and Image

Text and Image Link

Text and SWF

Text

Text and Video

Video

Quiz

In addition the LMS communication is vastly improved. It now uses the Rustici SCORM Driver for communication. This offers many advantages and you that will see is that you can now deploy an AS3 style to TinCan. Also, if you are needing AICC support, this would be much more robust for that.

Many fixes and enhancements were made to the player files. For example, you can play AS2 SWFs within the AS3 default page type. The media controller will not be available to control the media, but they will play.

We also included some enhancements to the quiz. One example is that now when you return to a question in an AS3 style, the previous answer you chose will show. This is if the course has not been closed or you are taking it from an LMS. The animations with the drag and drop interactions have been enhanced as well.