combox quiz

[texbala]

am not sure about components... but i thought one should be able to download as an extension and use it for quiz - inputing a text file with this and this format and then entering the answers in the array in the components panel. (They needn't see the code unless they want to)

am i clear??

[CyanBlue]

Well... I guess you can do that... But the problem is that there are many types of quiz such as multiple choice, fill in the blank and so on... If you can cover all of those within the component, and you sure can create one like 'quiz component' or sort, but it is abit too soon to go onto the component part... What do you think???

[texbala]

i guess that type of component is already in Flash template Quiz component (subquark pointed it out)...

i don't think we need to go into component... just a tutorial with easy re-usability of code should suffice...

i have to study a lot b4 talking abt. components!!

[subquark]

Wow! This is a hot topic (well, among the three of us). If you guys like, I'd be glad to contribute to the writing of a tutorial. With my background as a current adjunct college professor at Miami-Dade Community College (in May to become a four year college) with an enrollment of 170,000 and my past experience as a high school science teacher, I think I could write the tutorial in such a way as to be relevant for teachers to use this. And texbala, if you could create this super-component, it may be something you could sell at a nominal fee (or at least look really good on your resume).

My motives: it is very interesting, there is a strong need for it, I think non-flash teachers could benefit (and would want to) from it and it would be good for my experience.

So what do you think? I would be glad to host the component download from my site and would enjoy creating not only a tutorial for this forum, but also a robust tutorial for the non-flash teacher (I have presented the virtues of flash and flashcom to the "Technology Center" at the college to about a hundred professors and administrators, it was well received).

We (or I) could create a few templates that could be downloaded for the non-flash user to make it very easy to use. Your coding with the external files make this a very easy approach to use and re-use.

The multiple choice of the combo box is ideal for reveiwing the vocabulary of a chapter and allows for many questions on one "page", this may even be something that textbook publishers would like (I do some freelance for an elearning firm in Boston that creates a lot on online an CD based resources for textbook publishers).

I like to stay busy so this is no big deal for me (c'mon, I work as a geologist by day, adjunct professor at night in multimedia auditoriums with up to 103 students) and then do flash the remaining time), I have no life . . . boohoo.

let me know . . .

ps - see, today I'm more Canadian than French . . .

[texbala]

hey buddies...

the raw file is attached.. hope everything is working without bugs - and am excited about this. The funny part is I ddin't realize till it was programmed that we can have multiple answers for one question.. this is cool. I started to love Flash more

Regarding the component, am not sure how to proceed. Yes, I would like to make one (atleast if not for monetary purposes, atleast I can learn more about components). I will start working on it, but i need some time.. have to do some pretty decent job search as my visa is getting expired next month REg. templates.. that is a good idea.. and I have always been thinking about it (infact I created a couple of templates in Fireworks/ Dreamweaver and planned to start a company and everything faded later on for various reasons )... hope you are referring like the template that is similar to that comes in Flash MX (quiz templates)

am designing the background now... pls. check out the file at the link www4.ncsu.edu/~bjagann/forum/tutorial_final.zip (also check out whether you know the answers for those questions - anyway many are from MM website)

Reg. the tutorial: I was thinking y'day night that we can divide it into 3 divisions as (1)loading answers(populating the combobox); (2) loading questions; (3) checking the answers?? anything else??

subQuark... you are welcome to write the tutorial.. you are really a busy man!!

CyanBlue... pls. check any irreguarilites in the code other than what you did??

PS: how do u say that u r more canadian now??

[CyanBlue]

Hm... Very interesting thing has happened while I was offline...

subquark... You are a college professor who teaches multimedia at the school and you also a geologist as well??? Wow... What a combination... I'd love to have that sort of vast knowledge of the world, but I am somewhat limited in that yet...

So... I guess everybody are in favor of the tutorial... I have downloaded texbala's file and did some update on that... I did as much as I could to standardize the file so that it could be used for the proper tutorial if any of you guys are interested in writing... I also got rid of several routines in that file to optimize the ActionScript for dynamic arrangement... This includes reducing the data text file to one, and dynamically generating and updating the content according to the number of the questions... Now, it is not limited to just nine questions, but it totally depends on the number of question and answer pairs... See it for yourselves...

Component... I am not that knowledgable in this field yet... I will need to read some more materials and do some research... But I hope it won't be too much of trouble...

Templates... I am abit more for the creating an application that dynamically generate the text file, which holds the questions and answers, and the SWF file so that the user can just type the questions and answers to prepare the Flash movie, when done, I can just call PHP script to generate the text file and have the user download TXT file, HTML file and SWF file at the same time so that he/she could use it on his/her situation... What do you think??? I think this is better than the templates because all the non-Flash users need are to type in the values and call the proper HTML file to open a popup window...

texbala... Your visa is expiring??? What is your status??? Are you on F-1 visa for the school??? Are you graduating soon or already graduated??? Did you apply for the working permit or OPT to maintain the valid status??? I hope things turn out well...

That removing movieclip... That wasn't working right because removeMovieClip() function can only remove the movieclip that has been laid on the stage with attachMovie() or duplicateMovieclip function... It can't do the job for the movieclips that are laid on the stage manually... Simple, eh???

The new text file format...

theTitle=Title comes here...&
&theQ1=The head of the question...  It used to be some other word, but I have changed it to be 'theQ1' and 'theA1' to shorten the typing...&
&theQ2=Also added '&' at the end of each lines to get away with the carriage return code when imported into Flash...&
&theA1=static text0#dynamic text0#input text1&
&theA2=each answers are divided with '#' and the last character of the answer contains the validity of that answer... 0 for false and 1 for true...&
&theA3=This comboBox component will not give you an opportunity to have multiple answers since you don't get to get the multiple values back from the component...  You should use ListBox component to do that...&
&theA4=And make sure that the last number for this variable, theA4, and the one for the questions, theQ4, matches...&

I guess that's about it for now... Let me know if there is anything I have missed... Oh... Yes... The comboBox... It is set to 100 pixel wide for now... It doesn't change the size when the text is longer than that size... I gotta think some more to do that...

[texbala]

seems like u have changed some interesting stuff.. will take a look tomorrow... am working on the design of AIU now.. good night.. thnx. for ur time..

[subquark]

I am a bit more for the creating an application

holy cr@p! an application, like self-contained? if you can do that, I think there would be a market.

oh, I teach geology and environmental science, and do radiocarbon dating by day. the flash evangelacism is seperate from the rest.

so I'll write up some stuff this week, more the idea side (since I hardly know what an array is!).

wow . . .

[CyanBlue]

holy cr@p! an application, like self-contained? if you can do that, I think there would be a market.

Know any good business man???

Personally application is better since I don't know much about the component, and it will be more user friendly...

oh, I teach geology and environmental science, and do radiocarbon dating by day. the flash evangelacism is seperate from the rest.

Yeah... Nothing particular in common except that Flash and no-life life...

so I'll write up some stuff this week, more the idea side (since I hardly know what an array is!).

Sure... Show us what you got...

[texbala]

hey CyanBlue... your code was good... i was thinking about it the previous day and u show us the next day... cool...

Before you implement.. let me tell u what I think now he he...

how about an XML document with specific nodes as:
<questions>
<questiontype = combobox>
<question1> blah blah
<choice1> blah </choice1>
<choice2> blah </choice2>
</question1>
<question2> blah2 blah2
<choice1> blah </choice1>
<choice2> blah </choice2>
</question2>
<questiontype = checkbox>
<question1> blah blah
<check1> blah </check1>
<check2> blah </check2>
</question1>
<question2> blah blah
<check1> blah </check1>
<check2> blah </check2>
</question2>
</questions>

pls. ignore the structure, if XML is not correct .. i need to study.. I know cyanBlue doesn't like XML!!

this will generate a cool application? don't u think so...

also.. how do we edit the XML files??? do we have to edit the raw files OR are there applications to edit and save with an interface?? any idea?

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~bjagann/sample...combo_tut.html was the design i came up.. though it is not attractive ... i was able to come up only with this at 4:00am

did u say.. u were not interested in components?? i am planning to give it a shot... but didn't study the portion which i shld have studied according to my plan..

reg. my visa.. yeah am in F1... EAD is getting over next month ; but am not that worried. will be happy to go back to my motherland India without regrets... but US is really a land of opporutnity... may b.. i didn't use it properly...

Flash.. no-life life... as a graduate student.. life is hard... infact no social life - i got a forwarded message in e-mail.. will put on web and give the link soon...