Frames A Computer-Aided Instruction Tool Version 1.1 User's Guide Copyright (c) 1991 by Timothy J. Weber P.O. Box 6721 Ithaca, NY 14851 GEnie: T.WEBER4 CompuServe: 70511,2247 Portions Copyright (c) 1988 by Philip A. Mongelluzzo Waterbury, Connecticut Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 Contents Contents.................................................2 Introduction.............................................2 Shareware................................................3 System Requirements......................................3 Distribution Disk........................................4 Running Frames...........................................4 Frame Files..............................................4 Frame File Format...................................5 Entering Blanks.....................................6 Verbatim Lines......................................7 Frame File Reference................................7 Change History...........................................8 Version 1.0.........................................8 Version 1.1.........................................8 Version 1.2.........................................9 Copyright Notice and License.............................9 Introduction This manual describes how to use Frames, a tool for Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI). Frames implements something known as "programmed textbooks" on the computer. Specifically, it presents the student with small bits of material, called "frames," and requires the student to fill in words or phrases that have been left out. The concept is not as complex as other CAI methods; it doesn't provide hints, respond to wrong answers with explanations, grade the student's progress, take different paths through the lesson, or use graphics or sound. It simply asks the student to fill in the blanks, and shows the right answers when she has completed all the blanks on a frame. This has been done in paper textbooks for many years. What Frames makes possible that paper doesn't is: 1. Easy monitoring of students' progress eliminating paper records or standardizing them; 2. Unlimited distribution of lessons, reducing the paper waste normally associated with workbooks; and 3. Easy creation of on-line tutorials by non- programmers. 2 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 What Frames offers that other CAI programs don't is: 1. A simple user interface for the student. Frames uses menus and dialog boxes in a familiar way. 2. A simple user interface for the teacher. Lessons are easy to create, and no programming or macro language is involved. 3. Modest hardware requirements. Frames can be used without a hard disk or a graphics monitor. Shareware Frames is marketed as shareware. This means that you are free to copy it, try it, and pass it along to any and everyone, but you must pay the author $30 if you use it. See the end of this document for the legal details. To register, print out the invoice included with Frames by typing "copy invoice.txt prn" at the DOS prompt, fill it out, and send it with a check or money order to Timothy J. Weber at the address listed at the top of this document and on the program's startup screen. Registration is important. There are (at least) three good reasons to register: 1. It's legal. You are granted a license to use an unregistered copy of this program for evaluation purposes for 31 days (see the end of this document). If you use it beyond 31 days, you are violating the license agreement and breaking the law. 2. It's nice. The author is making his living from user-supported software (and also helping his fiancee through school), and he depends on your registration fees to eat. 3. It's in your best interest. As a registered user, you will be notified of future upgrades, and your requests for customizations or new features will receive careful consideration. The more registrations, the sooner upgrades will occur. System Requirements Frames has been tested on a PC-XT compatible with 640K RAM and a CGA, running MS-DOS 3.1, and on a BSR 386SX with 2M 3 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 RAM and a VGA, running MS-DOS 3.31. Printers are supported in straight ASCII mode. Theoretically, it ought to run on any PC with a compatible BIOS. Without any frame files loaded, Frames requires around 80K of memory; it will use all available memory for frame files up to 640K. Distribution Disk The following files are on the distribution disk: FRAMES.TXT documentation, ASCII format FRAMES.EXE the executable file TUTORIAL.FRA frame file for the tutorial INVOICE.TXT invoice, ASCII format AHED.COM The Ad Hoc Editor, by Michael Covington AHED.TXT The Ad Hoc Editor documentation Running Frames To start Frames, simply type "frames" at the DOS prompt. You will receive instructions on how to load a tutorial on using Frames. All the information you need to know to use Frames is contained in this tutorial; you should read it before continuing to the next section of this User's Guide, so you will understand the terms used there. Frame Files In order to use Frames, you must first enter the information that you want presented to your students into a file. The exact format of this file, called the "frame file," is detailed below. There are three main restrictions on frame files: 1. Frame files must have an extension of ".FRA". 2. Frame files must be placed in the directory that is current when Frames is run. If you need more information about directories or file names, see your DOS manual. (If all your files are on one floppy disk, this probably won't be a problem.) 3. You must create frame files with an editor or word processor that creates "ASCII" or "flat" files. If 4 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 you don't have such an editor, you can use AHED, the "Ad Hoc Editor" [1], included with Frames. Frame File Format Entering frames is simple: just type the text you want to appear. It doesn't matter where your margins are set or how the text is formatted in the file; Frames will reformat it so that it fits on the screen. For example, the file TUTORIAL.FRA (the frame file for the tutorial) has a right margin at 60, but when you look at it with Frames, it fills the whole 80 columns of the screen. You can look at TUTORIAL.FRA with AHED or your favorite ASCII editor or browser to see examples of all the frame file format rules. This will make the following examples easier to understand. To indicate how you want your text divided into frames, place a period (".") on a line by itself in the first column. For example: This is a sample frame file. This is its first frame. . This is its second frame. To separate a frame into one or more paragraphs, place a colon (":") on a line by itself in the first column, like this: This is another sample frame file. This is its first frame, the first paragraph. : This is its second paragraph of the first frame. . And this is the second frame. By default, Frames numbers consecutively all frames and all paragraphs after the first. The first frame in a file and the first paragraph in each frame is unnumbered; this is so you can use the first frame or the first paragraph of a frame as an introduction or title. If you want to change the numbering sequence, put the new number right after the "." or the ":", like this: [1] This is an independent product written and distributed by Michael Covington, and is not a part of Frames. It's in the public domain, so you may use it free of charge. For more information, see the AHED.TXT file. 5 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 This frame will have no number. : This paragraph will be numbered "1." :5 This paragraph will be numbered "5." .597 This frame will be numbered "597." Also, if you don't want your paragraphs or your frames numbered at all, you can put a "0" (zero) after the "." or the ":", like this: This frame will have no number. :0 This paragraph will have no number. : This paragraph will be numbered "1." .0 This frame will have no number. . This frame will be numbered "1." Entering Blanks To enter a multiple choice blank in the frame file, you need to: 1. Put parentheses ("()") around the choices, 2. Separate them with slashes ("/"), and 3. Indicate the correct answer by putting an asterisk ("*") in front of it. For instance: This statement is (true/false/*don't know). The correct answer is "don't know". To put a fill-in blank in the frame file, just put an underscore character ("_") before and after it, like this: This sentence has a fill-in _blank_. The correct answer is "blank". You can also have fill-in blanks with multiple correct answers, like this: This sentence has a _blank/fill-in blank_. The two correct answers are "blank" and "fill-in blank". 6 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 The only restrictions on blanks are that they cannot be longer than 80 characters so they can fit on one line of the screen, and they cannot be broken across lines. If you break a blank across lines, it will be seen as just plain text. There are more examples of both multiple choice and fill-in blanks in TUTORIAL.FRA. Verbatim Lines Frames reformats all lines by default. If you want lines to appear exactly as they are in the frame file, put the ">" character in the first column. This will force this line to be placed on a line by itself on the screen, and spaces will not be trimmed as they normally are. For example, this frame file: This is formatted; >This >is >not. will look like this on the screen: This is formatted; This is not. Frame File Reference The special characters in frame files are: . In the first column, starts a new frame; can be followed by a new frame number. : In the first column, starts a new paragraph; can be followed by a new paragraph number. () Surrounds a multiple-choice blank. / Separates multiple-choice answers. * Indicates the correct multiple-choice answer. _ Surrounds a fill-in blank. > In the first column, indicates that this line should be taken verbatim. 7 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 Maximum line length: 255 characters. Maximum blank length: 80 characters. Change History Version 1.0 November 1989. Initial release. Version 1.1 November 1991. New features: Verbatim mode. Larger files are now supported. Frames will now use all available memory to load frame files. Use Alt now to get to a menu, not Control, for compatibility with popular windowing systems. Control is still used as the accelerator. The Help menu is moved to the far right of the menu bar, for compatibility with popular windowing systems. Bugs fixed: Question marks and exclamation points didn't get two spaces after them, like periods do. Fixed. Crashed when loading if memory is exhausted. Now reports the problem and continues, with no frames loaded. Allowed Save when there's no frame file loaded. Fixed. Invisible "Abort, Retry, Ignore" when trying to print to an offline printer. Now reports the problem and allows retry or cancel. Lines that start with spaces weren't formatted correctly. Fixed. There are still some other formatting problems, so for now, don't end a line with a blank unless it's the last line in the paragraph. 8 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 Version 1.2 Summer 1992? New features: Replace the File Load dialog box with one that allows browsing through directories and picking from a list. Mouse support. Bug fixes: More intelligent formatting. Copyright Notice and License This software is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America, as well as by the copyright laws of many other countries pursuant to international treaties. Frames computer program and documentation Copyright (c) 1991 by Timothy J. Weber. All rights reserved. No part of the Frames computer program, documentation or related files may be reproduced, photocopied, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted except as provided by this license. Your first use of Frames (hereinafter referred to as "the Software") constitutes your agreement to the following terms of license. Timothy J. Weber will be referred to as "the Author." LIMITED LICENSE. A limited license at no charge is granted to use and test the Software for no more than 31 calendar days. Thereafter, you must either pay the license fee or cease all use of the Software. FULL LICENSE. When a license fee is paid, the Author will grant a non-exclusive license to use the Software by one natural person (the "Licensee"). Licensed copies of the Software may be kept only on computers used by the Licensee. No purported transfer of the license shall be effective unless the person transferring the license (the "Transferor") notifies the Author of the name and address of the recipient of the license (the "Transferee"). After such transfer of the license, the Transferor must cease all use of the Software. COMMERCIAL LICENSE. Commercial organizations are granted a limited license of 31 calendar days' duration during which time individuals in the organization may evaluate the Software. After this, the organization must pay the Author 9 Frames User's Guide Version 1.1 for one the following, whichever is least: (a) a site license, or (b) licenses for each user of the Software, or (c) licenses for each computer the Software is used on. Commercial users should contact the Author for further information. DUPLICATION LICENSE. License at no charge is granted to duplicate the Software, including, but not limited to, placement of the Software on electronic bulletin boards and distribution by mail, as long as (a) only a nominal charge, not to exceed $10, is made for such duplication, and (b) the Software is duplicated exactly as it is distributed, without change or omission. UPGRADES. The full license applies to all future versions of the Software. When future versions are released, the Author will notify the Licensee by mail. Copies of the current version of the Software will be supplied by the Author on request, at the cost of the distribution materials. LIMITATION OF REMEDIES. Should you encounter problems with the Software, the Author's entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be, at the sole option of the Author, either (a) to terminate the license and return any license fees that you paid the Author for the Software, or (b) repair or replace the Software. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. The Author makes no claims as to the suitability of the Software for any specific use. Except for the Limited Warranty stated above, the Author disclaims any and all other warranties, express or implied, oral or written, including any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The limited warranty stated above gives you specific legal rights, but you may have other rights, which vary from state to state. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. In no event shall the Author be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of the use of the Software, including without limitation any direct, incidental or consequential damages or any damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of information or any pecuniary loss, even if the Author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow exclusion or limitation of liability for incidental or consequential damages; therefore, the above limitation may not apply to you. 10