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HandyCards Compatibility Guidelines (WinFlash Educator Only)

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HandyCards For PalmOS v1.x vs HandyCards For PPC v5.x/PalmOS v2.x Formats

 

The original HandyCards .hc format consisted simply of two strings, Q and A, delimited and separated by the tag '##'.  Newer format .hc files can also contain Q&A pairs which use .wav sound files, .bmp and .jpg graphics files and support auto-scored T/F, Y/N and multiple-choice Q&A pair types.

Beginning with WinFlash Educator v8.00.06 and HandyCards for PocketPC v5.0 the two programs can also transfer 'history' information back and forth so that Leitner and Frequency Based On History mode data is retained through repeated export/import cycles (which you might wish to do if you are adding to your files using Educator but doing a lot of studying on your PDA).

In expanding WinFlash Educator's ability to interface with this format, certain adjustments are necessary to WinFlash's native Q&A pair format.  Without getting into the programming involved, the following are the rules that are applied.

Exporting

 

1. Only .wav-format sound files and .bmp or .jpg (.gif is also supported in HandyCards v5.0) graphics files are supported.  HandyCards v4.2 supports only one sound file and one graphics file per Q&A pair, so only the sound and graphics files associated with the WinFlash question are considered for export to this format.    The exported sound and graphic files are copied to the directory where the exported .hc file is being placed.

 

When placing the exported files on the handheld device, the .hc file and all of its associated sound and graphic files must be kept in the same directory - either My Documents or a subdirectory of My Documents - e.g. My Documents\My HandyCards Files.

 

2. Fill-in-the-blank Q&A pairs are exported as plain text standard format after being "assembled" by the same method used for printed cards or clipboard copying.

 

3. Yes/No Q&A pairs and True/False Q&A pairs are exported as True/False New Format Q&A pairs.

 

4. Multiple choice Q&A pairs are exported to the New Format multiple choice type.  This necessitates dropping any text entered in the WinFlash Text For Answer edit box in the editor.  In addition, since HandyCards can only handle up to five multiple-choice answers, six-answer WinFlash multiple-choice Q&A pairs are converted as follows.

 

a. If the answer is "All Of The Above", "None Of The Above", or any answer where the sixth answer is not one of the true ones, the sixth answer is simply dropped.

 

b. If the sixth answer is true but it is not an All Of The Above Q&A pair, then the first numerical answer that is NOT true is dropped and the sixth answer substituted for it along with changing it's sense to true.

 

Thus, when constructing files using WinFlash which you wish to be transparently portable to HandyCards, follow these guidelines:

 

1. Only use .wav, .bmp and .jpg format multi-media files and only use them in the Question. If you are using HandyCards v5.0 or later AND WinFlash Educator v8.00.06 or later you can also include .mp3 audio and .gif graphics in BOTH the Question and Answer.

2. Don't use FIB-type Q&A pairs

3. Don't use Y/N-type Q&A pairs (unless you don’t mind them being presented in T/F format)

4. Use at most 5 answers for multiple-choice Q&A pairs

5. Don't put important information in the introduction, or .rtf support files, as these are all completely ignored when exporting data to HandyCards.

6. Hints and comments can be used if you are using HandyCards v5.0 or later AND WinFlash Educator v8.00.06 or later but HandyCards does not support the 'launchable' hints/comments available in Educator.

 

Importing

 

Currently there are only two choices for importing data - append to and overwrite the currently open file.  We recommend that files created with WinFlash be maintained on WinFlash as well and that files imported to WinFlash from .hc format are subsequently added to and maintained using WinFlash as well.

 

This establishes the desktop copy as the "master version" and edits are simply re-exported and loaded into HandyCards.

 

Files imported to WinFlash from New Format .hc files can fully support all variables available in HandyCards.  Multimedia files referenced by the .hc file are assigned to the Question IF WinFlash can locate them in the currently open .FLU file's directory or the assigned WinFlash graphics or sound directory - otherwise they are ignored.

 

 

 

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