- Why is the file saved in non-IMS format and why do I have
to export and import IMS Learning Designs?
- How do I edit and add Metadata?
- How do I add a new content file?
- What is the "Resources View" for?
- What is a "Perspective" and what is a "View"?
- Why can't I see any Editors or Views?
- I deleted a Learning Design from the Projects View. How do
I get it back?
- Why aren't I allowed to reference Content or Metadata files
that are not in or below the Project or Metadata Folders?
- What are the special working folders for?
- Why doesn't the internal Browser View work on some Linux systems?
- How can I configure the data and configuration folders for
a networked installation?
- Why can't I...?
Q. Why is the file saved in non-IMS format and why do I have to export and import IMS Learning Designs?
A. Because IMS specifies that the Learning Design XML should be embedded in an IMS Content Packaging XML file. This makes it harder to reference files and resources since these are part of the <resources> element of the parent Content Package. The IMS Content Packaging specification says that these <resource> elements should be parsed for dependent files (image files, links, and so on.) This parsing needs to be done at the final "Export and Package" stage, since the files may be edited over time, and their contents may change. Also, you may wish to package your LD in a different version of IMS Content Packaging at a later date. This de-coupling allows that. Furthermore, Metadata files can be disaggregated, saved as stand-alone files, and re-used in the LD file.
Q. How do I edit and add Metadata?
A. See the instructions for adding Metadata.
Q. How do I add a new content file?
A. Select the Files tab, right-click, and select New->File.
Then either edit it from there (double-click) or add it as an Item
in an Item Tree Editor and then edit it
from the "Edit Item" menu item.
Note that you can only edit text files. Also note that the Reload LD Editor
is not a content authoring tool. It is best to create
your web content in a dedicated web-authoring tool. However, there is support
for specifying external editors associated with file extensions in the Preferences
dialog.
Q. What is the "Resources View" for?
A. The Resources View, or Resources Manager, is a work in progress. The idea is to be able to organise all your favourites in one place and then reference these in Metadata and Learning Design Files. At the moment, you might regard it as a handy "Bookmarks" tool.
Q. What is a "Perspective" and what is a
"View"?
A. A "View" is a window onto information, such as the Projects View, the Resources View or the Browser View. A "Perspective" is an arrangement of open Views and Editors. There are two Perspectives provided in the Reload LD Editor - a "Resource Perspective" and a "Project Perspective". You may open a Perspective from the "Window" menu and customise it to your taste, setting the position of Views and Editors. See the section Views, Perspectives and Editors for more details.
Q. Why can't I see any Editors or Views?
A. You may have closed all the Editors and Views. Go to the Window->Show View menu and open a View. See the section Views, Perspectives and Editors for more details.
Q. I deleted a Learning Design from the Projects View.
How do I get it back?
A. Entries in the Projects View are references to actual files. When you delete an entry in the Projects View you only delete the reference, not the actual file. To bring the LD back into the Projects View, select the "New Learning Design" wizard and select the file in the file dialog. In fact, you may reference the same file more than once in the Projects View.
Q. Why aren't I allowed to reference Content or Metadata
files that are not in or below the Project or Metadata Folders?
A. Portability. Since all files that your Learning Design references are in the Project folder they can be moved or copied to another computer whilst maintaining relative path integrity. If you referenced files outside of the Project folder, the paths would no longer be relative. This is how a lot of web-editing tools, such as Dreamweaver, work.
Q. What are the special working folders for?
A. The "Project folder" is the root folder for the Learning Design XML file(s). It holds the LD XML file(s) that reference content files in the "content" folder. All content has to exist in or below the "content" folder. Metadata files are stored in the "metadata folder". (These files can be created in the Metadata Editor and referenced throughout the LD Editor by clicking on the Metadata button.) The "output" folder is a temporary storage area for the XML imsmanifest.xml file that results when an Export is done. This file is added to the final zip package together with any files in the "content" folder. Any metadata files in the "metadata" folder are embedded in the final imsmanifest.xml file.
Q. Why doesn't the internal Browser View work on some
Linux systems?
The internal Browser View on Linux depends on the version of Mozilla you have installed and a few other factors. If the internal Browser View cannot be instantiated then the system Browser is used instead. In order to get this feature working, follow these instructions:
See this link for further information: http://www.eclipse.org/swt/faq.php#browserlinuxrcp
Q. How can I configure the data and configuration
folders for a networked installation?
A. One problem when run on a network is that the LD Editor will try to write to the installation folder located at reload-ldeditor/configuration. This might be a read-only folder for the networked user. To set this to another location suitable for each user, edit the reload-ldeditor/configuration/config.ini file and add the following, or similar, line:
osgi.configuration.area=@user.home/reload/ldeditor-workspace
Similarly, the user's default data location is set to @user.home/reload/ldeditor-workspace. You may change this in the reload-ldeditor/configuration/config.ini file by adding the following, or similar, line:
osgi.instance.area=@user.home/your_location
On the Macintosh version, the config.ini file is located inside the .app package. You will have to view the contents of the package in order to edit it.
Note - "@user.home" signifies the current user's home directory. You may replace this with an absolute location if you wish.
A. We're still working on the Reload Learning Design Editor. There are more features to come!