Create a Composite Source File

Note: This session uses features exclusive to WinFlash Educator. If you aren't using Educator, you won't be able to do this segment of the Tutorial.

In this session we'll create a new Composite Source File from two already-existing .FLU source files - an operation you may wish to do to create some variety in your study or, perhaps, to create a file with a subset of the selected source files to use in creating a test file.

You'll also learn how to convert all standard Q&A pairs to "real" Fill-In-The-Blank Q&A pairs in the output file. If you're using all "standard pair" files in order to take advantage of the Options|Automatic Multiple Choice From Standard Pairs or Options|Automatic Fill-In-The-Blank From Standard Pairs options you may need to do this if you want to use some of the standard Q&A pairs in a .FLT test file.

Using the Create Composite Source File Dialog

1. Start Educator and open NECAPS.FLU file from Tutorial 6. Close the Intro window.

2. From the Educator menu, select Create Composite Source File - from Two Source Files...

Note: If this is your first use of the Educator menu, you'll receive an Educator Password Control dialog. Read the dialog's text and decide how you wish to handle access to the Educator and/or Options menus. When you've completed this, continue with the tutorial.

3. From the Select Secondary Source File dialog that appears, double-click on HISTORY.FLU. This file contains three history-related Q&A pairs and was created for use with this installment of the tutorial.

4. The Create Composite .FLU File dialog should now be loaded with the Q&A pairs from NECAPS.FLU shown in the Primary File grid and the Q&A pairs from HISTORY.FLU shown in the Secondary File grid. See Creating Composite Source Files for an explanation of this dialog and its controls. Note that ALL Q&A pairs from each source file are included in their respective input grids - 13 in the NECAP grid and 3 in the HISTORY grid.

Note: The original size of the Create Composite .FLU File dialog when it opens has been limited to fit within an old-style 640x480 display. If you're (hopefully) using a higher-resolution display, you'll want to enlarge the dialog (click and drag the border of the dialog) to obtain as much working area as possible. You can see more Q&A pairs with the display in its One Line Display mode. It's easiest to work with if all three grids are set to One Line Display (the default). You can turn this setting off by unchecking the box if you wish to see the entire contents of each Q and A.

5. Add a Q&A pair from NECAPS.FLU to the Output grid by selecting Q&A pair 3 (double-click on "Vermont") in the Primary File grid and then clicking on the green "down arrow" button above the Primary File grid.

6. Add two Q&A pairs from HISTORY.FLU to the Output grid by selecting Q&A pairs 2 and 3. Click on "The infamous tea party..." and drag down to "The commander in chief..." (this should highlight portions of both lines 2 and 3 in blue in the Secondary File grid - it is not necessary for the entire line to be highlighted to be included) and then clicking on the green "down arrow" button above the Secondary File grid.

7. There should now be three Q&A pairs in the Output grid. In the Source column you'll see PRI, SEC, SEC, indicating that the Q&A pairs originally came from the Primary, Secondary and Secondary files, respectively. In the Source # column you'll see 3,2,3, indicating that these were the Q&A pairs' original numbers.

8. Now let's say we want the last question in the Output grid to appear first in the output file. Select Q&A pair 3 in the Composite Output .FLU File grid by double-clicking on "The commander in chief...". Now click the Output grid's green "up arrow" button twice. This will move the Q&A pair 3 into the first position, pushing the other two Q&A pairs down to second and third position, respectively. Similarly, let's move the Q&A pair that is now in second place to the end of the file by selecting it and clicking the green "down arrow" button once. We should now have the Q&A pairs in Orig order of 3, 2, 3.

9. Remove all three of the Q&A pairs that we've added so far by selecting all three Q&A pairs and clicking the "eraser" button on the Output grid (to the right of the down-pointing green arrow button). We're now back to where we started, but, have no fear - we'll end up with a file before we're done!

Using the Filter Settings

1. Open the Primary File Filter Settings dialog by clicking on the blue "gear" button (to the left of the downward-pointing green arrow button) on the Primary File grid.

2. Move the Capitals category into the Excluded Categories list by clicking on it and then clicking the green "right arrow" button. Do the same with the Video category.

3. Click the Close button. The Primary grid will now contain only Q&A pairs 7-12, the Q&A pairs 1-6 belonging to the now-excluded Capitals category and 13 to the excluded Video category.

4. Click the blue "double down arrow" button on the Primary grid. Q&A pairs 7-12 should now be shown in the Output grid. The blue "double down arrows" on the grids move ALL of the Q&A pairs passing the current filter settings into the Output grid.

5. Click the blue "double down arrow" button on the Secondary grid. The 3 Q&A pairs are now added as Q&A pairs 7-9 in the Output grid.

6. Now let's do a little cleanup. Q&A pair 3 (Q&A pair 9 from the Primary file) might best be placed first as a geographic warm-up for the rest of the Q&A pairs. Select it and move it up to the top position using the green "up arrow" button. Q&A pair 8 (Q&A pair 2 from the Secondary file) might be better placed in the second position. Select it and move it up to the second spot using the green "up arrow" button. The last Q&A pair appears redundant. Select what is now Q&A pair 9 and delete it using the eraser button.

7. Note that Q&A pair 2, the Boston Tea Party question is a "standard" Q&A pair. Since we want to be able to use the output as a source file to create an automatically-graded test file, we'll check the Convert Standard To FIB checkbox located at the bottom of the dialog. We'll see in the Create A Compiled Test File tutorial that standard Q&A pairs are not allowed in the source file used to create a test (.FLT) file.

The control grouping that contains the Convert Standard To FIB checkbox, also contains other conversion alternatives. Using FIBs is not recommended for converting Q&A pairs where the answers are LONG text strings. It is unlikely that the user will be able to type the answer EXACTLY to match the long string. This feature works best for things like vocabulary words, state capitals, multiplication tables and other short answer Q&A pairs (such as Q&A pair 3 in the Output grid). If you do have longer text strings in some of the standard answers, use the Convert Standard To MC option. If you have quite a few Q&A pairs that will be converted you may wish to provide some variety by using the Convert Standard To FIB/MC Mix option, keeping in mind the caveat relating to long answer strings.

8. Since BOTH of the source files have an associated introduction, we have to decide which, if either, of the introductions to use with the NEW file. In this case, check the box Use Primary Intro to add the intro associated with NECAPS.FLU to the output file.

Saving the Output to the New File

1. Now let's save the contents of the Output grid, creating a new file containing 8 Q&A pairs - 5 of the 7 Q&A pairs in the History category from NECAPS.FLU, the geography Q&A pair and 2 Q&A pairs from HISTORY.FLU. Click on the Save Output As... button.

2. Type COMPOUT in the File Name box of the Save Composite File To New Source File dialog that appears and then click the Save button on this dialog.

3. Educator will now automatically open COMPOUT.FLU for your review! Note that the file has been correctly created with pointers to all the associated files (audio, graphic and .RTF), that the Introduction is from the NECAPS.FLU file and that the Boston Tea Party question has been converted to a fill-in-the-blank Q&A pair as requested.

You've completed the creation of a composite .FLU file!!

The seventh exercise will use COMPOUT.FLU as the raw material to create a Compiled Study (.FLZ) File. If you'd like to continue with that exercise now, just click Create A Compiled Study File.

Page url: http://www.openwindow.com/helpfile/create_a_composite_source_file.htm