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Power Book Builder
Instantly Convert PPTs to TBKs
PowerPoint to ToolBook Converter
A ToolBookDeveloper.com Product
User’s Guide
Includes “Getting the Most from Graphic Conversions” that
was previously a separate document
For version 1.2
This document was produced on June 28, 2006 and may be out of date. For the
most recent copy of the Power Book Builder User’s Guide, please go to
www.ToolBookDeveloper.com/support
Developed by Nirvana Bound Pty Ltd
and Resource Engineering, Inc.
The Power Book Builder is a product jointly developed by Nirvana Bound PTY LTD & Resource Engineering, Inc.
Nirvana Bound Pty. Ltd.
7 Mill Hill
Port Macquarie, NSW 2444
AUSTRALIA
Phone: 612-6581-4511
Fax: 612-6581-4512
Resource Engineering, Inc.
PO Box 449
Waitsfield, VT 05673
Phone: 800-810-8326 (North America only) or 802-496-5888
Fax: 802-496-7724
e-mail: customerservice@ToolBookDeveloper.com
Second Edition – 2006.
Copyright © 2004-2006 Nirvana Bound Pty. Ltd.
.
All rights reserved. No part of this workbook covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any
form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or
information storage and retrieval systems—without prior written permission of the publisher.
®
Windows™ and PowerPoint™ are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
ToolBook™ is a trademark of SumTotal Systems, Inc.
All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Power Book Builder User Guide
Last Updated: June 28, 2006
Go to www.ToolBookDeveloper.com/support for the latest version of this document.
Page i
Table of Contents
Table of Contents............................................................................................................................ ii
New in Version 1.2 ......................................................................................................................... 1
Express Conversion Button now available ............................................................................. 1
New naming options for image names.................................................................................... 1
New naming options for Toolbook object names ................................................................... 1
Mapping details are now saved............................................................................................... 1
Multiple choice field questions added to the PowerPoint Catalog ......................................... 1
ToolBookDeveloper.com Grid Questions added to the PowerPoint Catalog......................... 1
About the Power Book Builder....................................................................................................... 2
Overview..................................................................................................................................... 2
Features and Benefits.................................................................................................................. 2
System Requirements.................................................................................................................. 3
Typical Use Scenarios................................................................................................................. 3
Converting Existing PowerPoints ........................................................................................... 3
Using PPT as a Storyboarding Template ................................................................................ 3
Installation................................................................................................................................... 4
Quick Start .................................................................................................................................. 5
How to Use the Power Book Builder ToolBook............................................................................. 6
Required ToolBook Files............................................................................................................ 6
PBB.exe .................................................................................................................................. 6
PBB_Blank.tbk (or your own template book) ........................................................................ 6
TBK_Objs.tbk......................................................................................................................... 6
AutoShapes.tbk ....................................................................................................................... 6
PBB.wbk ................................................................................................................................. 7
Other Required Files ................................................................................................................... 7
TBConv.tbm............................................................................................................................ 7
Catalog.ppt .............................................................................................................................. 7
StoryBoard.ppt ........................................................................................................................ 8
Preparing for the Conversion ...................................................................................................... 8
Directory/File Structure .......................................................................................................... 8
Setting up the Power Book Builder......................................................................................... 9
Power Book Builder Converter Screens ..................................................................................... 9
Welcome/Preparation Checklist.............................................................................................. 9
Project Settings ....................................................................................................................... 9
PowerPoint Sizing................................................................................................................. 11
ToolBook Page and Object Naming ..................................................................................... 13
Text Conversion Options ...................................................................................................... 17
Graphic Conversion Settings ................................................................................................ 26
Additional Conversion Options ............................................................................................ 28
The Magic Button ................................................................................................................. 31
Converting Existing PowerPoints ................................................................................................. 32
Getting the Most from Graphic Conversions................................................................................ 33
Definitions of Different Types of Graphics .............................................................................. 33
Clipart ................................................................................................................................... 33
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Images ................................................................................................................................... 34
Unconverted PowerPoint Objects ......................................................................................... 34
Getting the Best Graphic Conversions...................................................................................... 34
Is the graphic grouped with other objects? ........................................................................... 34
So, Just what Will Power Book Builder Convert?.................................................................... 36
Special Note About .gifs ....................................................................................................... 36
Known Issues ............................................................................................................................ 36
Clipart Gets Converted as an Image ..................................................................................... 36
Clipart Only Gets Partially Converted.................................................................................. 36
Using the Power Book Builder Storyboard .................................................................................. 38
Proper Storyboard Use Makes Conversion Mapping Easier .................................................... 38
Converting from the PowerPoint Storyboard ........................................................................... 40
Recommendations to Streamline Your Development Process ..................................................... 41
Fine-Tuning and Customizing the PowerPoint to ToolBook Conversion .................................... 42
Creating Your Own PowerPoint Template ............................................................................... 42
Naming PowerPoint Objects................................................................................................. 42
Using Your Own ToolBook Template...................................................................................... 43
Customizing Power Book Builder Objects in the TBK_Objs.tbk ............................................ 43
ToolBookDeveloper.com Products........................................................................................... 45
Popup Message Box Widget................................................................................................. 45
Audio Player Widget............................................................................................................. 45
Grid Question Object ............................................................................................................ 45
Question Objects....................................................................................................................... 45
Using the PowerPoint Question Objects............................................................................... 46
ToolBookDeveloper.com Products........................................................................................... 53
Popup Message Box Widget................................................................................................. 53
Audio Player Widget............................................................................................................. 54
Grid Question Object ............................................................................................................ 54
Other Power Book Builder Features ............................................................................................. 55
Re-Running Power Book Builder (the PBB.inf file) ................................................................ 55
AutoShapes.tbk ......................................................................................................................... 56
Page iii
New in Version 1.2
At the request of several customers we have added several new features to Power Book Builder
version 1.2.
Express Conversion Button now available
After completing the initial conversion of a PowerPoint, information about that
conversion that is saved to an .inf file will populate the Power Book Builder wizard
when the folder for the conversion project is selected. At that point a “Convert”
button will be enabled and pressing it will take you to the magic button skipping past
all of the conversion setting details.
New naming options for image names
You now have more control over how images are named during the conversion
process. The two new options allow you to name images using the page name and
either a number or an alpha character.
New naming options for Toolbook object names
You now also have more control over how ToolBook Objects are named when the
ToolBook is being built during the conversion process. The two new options allow
you to name objects using the page name and either a number or an alpha character.
Mapping details are now saved
With the previous version all conversion detail except mapping was saved. This
meant that if you were doing several rounds of conversions on the same PPT, each
round would need to be remapped. Now ALL conversion information including
mapping details is stored with the project in an .inf file.
Multiple choice field questions added to the PowerPoint Catalog
Multiple choice field questions allow you to have multiple choice questions with
answers that are longer than one line which is the limitation for multiple choice
questions that use buttons. There is now a named object in the Power Book Builder
PowerPoint catalog that will convert questions into multiple choice fields.
ToolBookDeveloper.com Grid Questions added to the PowerPoint
Catalog
ToolBookDeveloper.com Grid Question support has been added to the PowerPoint
Catalog. When you have the Grid Question Object (a separate
ToolBookDeveloper.com Add-On), questions developed in PowerPoint using the
Grid Question template that has been added to the Power Book Builder PowerPoint
catalog.
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About the Power Book Builder
Overview
Power Book Builder is a tool that is going to revolutionize ToolBook development. No
longer will developers have to spend days or weeks copying and pasting text and graphics
from makeshift PowerPoint Storyboards or instructor-led training into ToolBook. With the
Power Book Builder ToolBook developers will be able to complete these tasks in a matter
of minutes!
Features and Benefits
Extremely easy-to-learn and use PowerPoint Storyboard for your SMEs. Experienced
PowerPoint users will be up and running in minutes. Non-PowerPoint users will have a
very short learning curve.
Rapid ToolBook development with substantially less opportunities for error and need
for Quality Control. Cut development time by 70% to 85%.
A fully documented PowerPoint Storyboard.ppt and PowerPoint catalog.ppt.
o The PowerPoint catalog includes items such as question objects that make it
easy to convert all of the standard ToolBook question object options from
PowerPoint to ToolBook (e.g. Unlimited answers, nominate which is correct,
enter immediate or delayed feedback, etc. These convert directly to ToolBook
question objects.)
A customizable ToolBook catalog of tools and pre-converted AutoShape objects.
Simply customize to your theme prior to conversion and the objects, when imported
into ToolBook, will have your "look and feel."
Full control over interface design just like any other ToolBook project. You determine
the size, design, navigation panel motif, and colors via the use of a pre-designed
ToolBook Template.
Numerous options for converting pictures. You decide if you want to convert them into
a ToolBook resource or use a Web Graphics Placeholder. You even have the option to
auto convert Picture objects to Paint objects.
PowerPoint Action Buttons are converted to ToolBook buttons and hyperlinking to
slides and URLs are converted to ToolBook hyperlinks. This is true for all objects, not
just buttons. (i.e. An Action Button on slide 3 that hyperlinks to slide 30 in PowerPoint
will convert to a button on page 3 that will hyperlink to page 30 in ToolBook.)
"Slide Image" Widget Option produces slide images that in conjunction with your
ToolBook will display the appropriate slide image for the current ToolBook page assists in proofing.
Text on the PowerPoint Notes page is saved as userProperties in the ToolBook page
and in conjunction with a Power Book Builder Widget can be displayed in both reader
and author level. Typically this is where the SME will provide detailed programming
instructions and/or audio narration text.
Ability to produce a separate text file for audio narration.
Your ToolBook pages get named during the conversion process according to your
specifications. You may choose to:
o Use the slide title
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o
o
o
o
Use the slide name
Use the slide number
Use a consecutive number
When numbers are used there is an option to apply a prefix and pad the number
with zeros. e.g. SME_001 Here the prefix is "SME_" and pad the number to a
length of three
System Requirements
PowerPoint 2000 (version 9 or higher) or higher on the computer running the Power
Book Builder.
ToolBook 8.5 or higher on the computer running the Power Book Builder.
The Power Book Builder has been tested on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and
Windows ME Operating Systems.
Typical Use Scenarios
People are excited about the Power Book Builder for two main reasons. First, a lot of
instructor-led training has been created in PowerPoint so organizations are looking for a
quick way to convert viable training material into flexible e-Learning. The second reason
that people are excited about the Power Book Builder is that SME’s don’t have the time or
interest to learn how to use an authoring package such as ToolBook. But, just about
everyone can use PowerPoint so it makes for an excellent storyboard development tool that
can easily be converted into ToolBook...providing you have the Power Book Builder.
Converting Existing PowerPoints
As organizations consider converting some of their instructor-led training, the
inevitable question arises, “How can we easily repurpose what we already have in
PowerPoint into e-Learning?” Enter the Power Book Builder! Literally within
minutes you can convert an existing PowerPoint to ToolBook with amazing accuracy.
Days and weeks of copying and pasting from PowerPoint to ToolBook will be
reclaimed as value-adding and productive time.
We don’t want to suggest that you simply need to convert instructor-led PowerPoints
and you will have a web-based course. Typically you will need to flesh out the
PowerPoint presentation with the detailed information and insight that the live
instructor provided in the classroom. In addition, you will want to add functionality
that you don’t normally have in instructor-led training such as exercises, quizzes, and
enhanced navigation. The Power Book Builder gives ToolBook developers more
time to focus on the enhanced functionality because the grunt work of converting
graphics, bullets, page titles, etc. is done for you :-)
Using PPT as a Storyboarding Template
Arm your SME’s with the Power Book Builder Storyboard template and you have
substantially increased the capacity of your development team. Depending on the
role you want your SME’s want to play in the development process, they can do 80%
to 90% of the development work for you, just by writing their content in the Power
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Book Builder template. In addition, it serves as an excellent communication tool
between the SME(s) and the ToolBook developer(s).
Installation
Run the Setup_PBB.exe file. This will extract the Power Book Builder files to your hard
drive. You will then have a C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB folder that looks
something like what is shown in Figure 1. You will also have a PBB_Proj directory at the
root of your harddrive (c:\PBB_Proj) as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1: The PBB folder set up in C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound
Figure 2: The PBB_Proj folder in C:\.
The Setup_PBB.exe will also:
1. Add a shortcut to your desktop and a program group (ToolBook Developer) and Icon
(Power Book Builder) to your Start Menu.
2. Install the PBB.wbk file into your ToolBook catalog folder.
During the setup process the ToolBookDeveloper Installer will run. This is a small
ToolBook application that will find your Instructor##\Catalog folder and will install the
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PBB.wbk file into it. When that files runs, please click the Begin button. When you get
the Installation Complete message, select OK and then select the Installer Close button.
Quick Start
The Quick Start PowerPoint (QuickStart.ppt) in the C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB
folder will help you through your initial conversion. It briefly describes each of the options
in the Power Book Builder. Print out the Power Book Builder Quick Start PowerPoint and
use it to go through your first conversion. Once you have successfully gone through the
process the first time, refer back to this help document for more detailed instruction on
each of the conversion options as well as for information on how your can customize the
conversion process to meet your needs. If you wish to test the Power Book Builder on a
sample PowerPoint you will find a PowerPoint file named PBBdemo.ppt in the
C:\PBB_Proj\PBBdemo folder. This PowerPoint demo shows most of the functionality
available with the PowerBook Builder.
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How to Use the Power Book Builder ToolBook
We recommend using the Power Book Builder Quick Start PowerPoint for your first conversion.
This will familiarize you with the Power Book Builder and its basic functionality. After that, we
recommend you refer back to these instructions for more detail on how you can fine-tune the
Power Book Builder to best meet your development needs.
Required ToolBook Files
There are several ToolBook files that are used to convert the PowerPoint file to a
ToolBook.
PBB.exe
Location: C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB\PBB_TB85
Modification Status: Do NOT modify this file. We cannot provide support if this file is
modified.
This ToolBook serves as the setup\preferences interface as well as the conversion
engine. Here you define the PowerPoint file that you wish to convert and as well as
how you want it to be converted. Detailed instructions on using this book follow.
PBB_Blank.tbk (or your own template book)
Location: C:\PBB_Proj\
Modification Status: You should modify this file to suit your needs or better yet, create
your own template ToolBook.
We supply a PBB_Blank.tbk book that can be used for building your ToolBook. This
book is supplied as an 800x600 sized book and should only be used if you do not
wish to use your own template book. We do recommend that you create your own
template book. That way when the conversion process is over your converted book
will have the ToolBook properties that have been set in your template book including
background elements, navigation, etc. You can learn more about creating your own
template in the section titled “Using Your Own Template.”
TBK_Objs.tbk
Location: C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB\PBB_TB85 or …\PBB_TB89
Modification Status: You should modify this file to suit your needs.
This book is used to format ToolBook objects during the conversion process. You
can customize these objects to suit your needs and your interface following the
guidelines in Customizing Power Book Builder Objects in the TBK_objs.tbk.
AutoShapes.tbk
Location: C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB\PBB_TB85 or …\PBB_TB89
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modified.
This ToolBook is installed in your Instructor catalog folder. This is used to convert
PowerPoint AutoShapes to ToolBook objects. For more information on the
AutoShapes.tbk see AutoShapes.tbk.
PBB.wbk
Location: ..\Instructor85\Catalog or ..\Instructor89\Catalog
modified.
This catalog ToolBook is installed in your Instructor catalog folder. It has two
catalog objects: PBB Slide View and PBB Page Properties. You will then need to
add it to your catalog the way you add any other categories to your catalog.
PBB Slide View
Place this Widget onto the background of a converted ToolBook and using the
Extended Properties Editor you will be able to toggle the display of the
PowerPoint Slide for the current page.
PBB Page Properties
Place this Widget onto the background of a converted ToolBook and using the
Extended Properties Editor you will be able to View, Copy and Delete any
Page Properties created in the conversion process.
Other Required Files
TBConv.tbm
Location: C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB\ PBB_TB85 or …\PBB_TB89
modified.
This is a special PowerPoint file that contains the macros necessary to convert some
objects in the PowerPoint to ToolBooks objects.
Catalog.ppt
Location: C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB\StoryBoard
modified.
The catalog.ppt has specially developed PowerPoint objects that Power Book Builder
will convert directly into ToolBook Objects. For example, there are question objects
in the Catalog.ppt that can be copied and pasted into the PowerPoint storyboard.
Then your SME simply needs to fill the answer, scoring, option, and feedback
information into the appropriate fields. When you convert the PowerPoint into a
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ToolBook the information will get converted into a ToolBook Question Object. For
more information on using the Catalog.ppt, please see Question Objects where we
also discuss the Popup Message Box and the Audio Player Widget, two other
products developed by Nirvana Bound Pty Ltd and available from
ToolBookDeveloper.com.
StoryBoard.ppt
Location: C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\PBB\StoryBoard
Modification Status: You can modify this file, but you must take caution in doing
so. For more information on the StoryBoard.ppt please see Using the Power Book
Builder Storyboard
The StoryBoard.ppt is a specially coded PowerPoint file that can be used by SMEs to
develop e-learning content. When used in conjunction with the catalog.ppt it will
yield exceptionally high conversion rates for fairly complex ToolBook projects. For
more information on the StoryBoard.ppt, please see the section on storyboards.
Preparing for the Conversion
Please spend time up front preparing for the conversion. It will help assure that the
conversion goes smoothly and that you get the best results.
Directory/File Structure
We are zealots when it comes to file organization. It saves us a tremendous amount
of time and frustration. Since the Power Book Builder is all about saving time and
doing it right the first time, it is important that you get the tool and your projects set
up in advance so that the conversion goes smoothly.
While this set-up might be obvious to some, it is worth spending some time on this
area as it will help eliminate confusion, especially if you are building several books at
the same time.
Run the Conversion from the Local Drive
The conversion process takes a lot of memory and computer power. We
recommend running the conversion task completely on your local machine.
Running the conversion across a network should work fine, but performance
might be disappointing and could slow down other network activities.
Conversion Directory Structure
Create a special directory on your local drive specifically for doing the
conversions. This should be in a directory separate from your regular
ToolBook project directories.
A directory named C:\PBB_Proj will be created during the setup process.
Create a folder of the same name as your PowerPoint file within C:\PBB_Proj.
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For example, if the PowerPoint file is PBBdemo.ppt the folder would be
named C:\PBB_Proj\PBBdemo.
Setting up the Power Book Builder
There are many options for how you convert your PowerPoints. For example, you
can choose how pages get named, how graphics are converted and imported into
ToolBook, and how different types of text gets handled in the conversion process.
An explanation of each of the options in the Power Book Builder follows.
Power Book Builder Converter Screens
Welcome/Preparation Checklist
You must check off the items in this list indicating that you have completed them
according the Quick Start Instructions and that you are ready to run your conversion.
Alternatively, you can check off the box that indicates that you have completed all of
the tasks. The purpose of this checklist is to assure that your conversion goes
smoothly and without any problems.
Figure 3: Welcome/Preparation Checklist
Project Settings
In the Project Settings you define the PowerPoint file you wish to convert, the
directory you wish it to be converted to, and the name of your template ToolBook.
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When you add the name of the PowerPoint file to be converted it will become the
name of your converted ToolBook as well.
Figure 4: General Settings
Project Folder
This is the special project folder you have set up for the specific PowerPoint
conversion. For example, C:\PBB_Proj\PBBdemo.
If you have already converted a PowerPoint and you have not deleted the
PBB.inf file that was created during the conversion, once you select the
folder, providing the PBB.inf file is in the folder, the Power Book Builder will
be populated with all of your most recent settings. For more information on
this PBB.inf file please see Map Settings and the PBB.inf File and ReRunning Power Book Builder (the PBB.inf file)
ToolBook Template File Name
This is the template book you will be using for your ToolBook. We provide
you with a blank template book named PBB_Blank.tbk. You can find this in
c:\PBB_Proj. However, this is simple a one page ToolBook without any
background elements such as navigation, record fields, etc. We recommend
that you use your own template book or one of the templates provided with
ToolBook. The preview button will give you a preview of the template you
have selected. (Note that the preview will be plain white if you are using the
PBB_Blank.tbk as it is well…blank :-). For more information on creating a
custom ToolBook template see Using Your Own ToolBook Template.
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When using a Template that comes with ToolBook, make sure that you remove
all of the pages from the template except the main content page. Your template
for the Power Book Builder should be just a one page ToolBook.
PowerPoint File Name
This is the PowerPoint file that you will be converting.
ToolBook File Name
This will be the name of the converted ToolBook file. It is automatically set
to be the same name as your PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Sizing
What would happen if your ToolBook template and PowerPoints were different sizes
and proportions from one another? Chances are you would not be happy with the
results of your conversion. Therefore, in most cases you would want to make sure
that your PowerPoint is sized to roughly equal the size of your ToolBook Template.
That is the purpose of the PowerPoint sizing options.
First, a little background on the size of PowerPoint slide shows. PowerPoint is not as
straightforward as ToolBook when it comes to sizing. One big difference is that
PowerPoint is sized in inches, which means very little when you are developing
something that is going to be viewed on a computer screen. So, equating inches in
PowerPoint to pixels in ToolBook is a difficult task. However, something that
PowerPoint does do really really well is rescale slides based on the user-defined slide
size. What does this mean? Well, think about a ToolBook project and what would
happen if you changed the size of the book from 800x600 to 1024x768 pixels.
Actually, not much would happen other than the book size would change. All of your
objects would remain as they were in the 800x600 book so that you would have a
large margin of blank space on the right and bottom of your newly sized book.
PowerPoint on the other hand resizes the entire slide.
Figure 5: On the left is an 800x600 pixel ToolBook resized to 1024x786 will look like after the book size is
changed where as a PowerPoint made larger will proportionately resize all of its objects very nicely (on the
right).
The Power Book Builder takes advantage of the nice sizing features in PowerPoint to
size your PowerPoint prior to conversion so that it will fit your ToolBook template.
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This is great for the ToolBook developer because you do not have to be so concerned
with the size or shape of the PowerPoints you are given for conversion. This is not to
say that you should not have any concern about this. In fact, the best conversions will
always come from PowerPoint storyboards that you have set up in advance.
However, if you are converting lots of existing PowerPoints that may not be the right
size, this sizing functionality will be important to you – especially if you need to
leave extra room in the margin for a navigation panel or other background objects that
were not designed into the original PowerPoint.
Figure 6: PowerPoint Sizing Options.
PowerPoint Size
Here you can specify the size you wish your PowerPoint to be sized to prior to
the conversion. Typically, if your ToolBook template is 800x600 pixels, you
will want to resize your PowerPoint to the same size, 800x600 pixels.
However, if you are converting an existing PowerPoint that does not have any
room for navigation buttons or other background objects, you may want to
allow for them when you do the conversion. You can do this by resizing your
PowerPoint to something smaller than your ToolBook template.
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Figure 7: In this example, the PowerPoint was resized to allow for a 75 pixel high navigation bar at the bottom
on the screen. The ToolBook template was 800x600 pixels. The PowerPoint size was set at 800x525 pixels.
You can see that there was not any noticeable distortion with the change to this PowerPoint size.
Size to PowerPoint
This option will not modify your PowerPoint size at all.
Size to Template
This option will size your PowerPoint to the same size as you ToolBook
template.
Add Remove Slides
This option lets you remove slides from the conversion process. Simply select
the button and then check off the slides you wish to include in the conversion.
By default all slides are included, so you only need to uncheck the slide(s) you
wish not to convert. This can be especially helpful as you are familiarizing
yourself with the Power Book Builder and how it will treat your various
PowerPoint slides. Use the view slide option to see what the slide looks like
to determine if you wish to include it in the conversion.
Slides that are not converted will not be able to be hyperlinked to from other
pages that are exported.
ToolBook Page and Object Naming
The Power Book Builder names all ToolBook pages and objects. Because many
developers use a structured naming scheme, you have several options for naming
pages.
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Figure 8: Power Book Builder Page naming options.
Page Naming
There are several options for Page Naming as described below.
Use Slide Title
The title of the PowerPoint slide will become the page name. Be aware that
ToolBook only allows 32 characters for the page name. If your slide title is
longer than 32 characters it will get truncated at 32 characters. Another
problem with using the slide titles is that you could end up with two or more
pages with the same name if slide titles are the same. Even if slide titles are
slightly different, but exceed 32 characters, the titles may end up being the
same once they are truncated. For example:
Slide 1 title: How to use the Power Book Builder Graphics Function
Slide 2 title: How to use the Power Book Builder Text Function
The ToolBook page name for both would become:
How to use the Power Book Builde
Use Slide Name
You are able to name objects in PowerPoint, but it is not nearly as easy as it is
to name objects in ToolBook. To name a PowerPoint object you must use a
macro and go through several steps. Honestly, we don’t believe that it is
worth the trouble. However, in future versions of the Power Book Builder
Storyboard template we may include macros for naming objects, so this option
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for slide naming may be easier to implement in the future. In the meantime, if
you do decide to name the slides you may want to use this feature.
Use Slide Number
The number of the PowerPoint slide will become the page name and can be
used in conjunction with the numbering options below. If you use the
add/remove slide option to remove slides during the conversion, you will have
gaps in your page name numbers. For example, if you skip slide 3 during the
conversion, your ToolBook pages will be numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, etc. It is good
practice with ToolBook to include some alpha characters in the name of pages
for example: safety-01, safety-02, etc. If you are not aware of this best
practice, please see the note below about using numbers only for page names.
Use Consecutive Numbering
The number of the ToolBook page will become the page name and can be
used in conjunction with the Numbering options below. Note that this option
is the same as Use Slide Number option if you have included all slides for the
conversion. If you have excluded slides using the Add/Remove slides feature,
with the Use Consecutive Numbering option, your slides will be consecutively
numbered without any gaps for the excluded slides. Also see the note below
about using numbers only for page names in ToolBook.
Numbering Options
Here you can customize the names of your ToolBook pages to fit with your
naming scheme. These options are only used when you have elected to use
either the Slide Number or Consecutive Numbering. The number prefix can be
any series of characters or numbers that uniquely identify your pages. For
example, we might preface page numbers with “PBB” so that page names will
now be PBB01, PBB02, PBB03, etc.
The Max Characters establishes the numerical format so that each page
number has the same number of digits (i.e. 003, 030, and 300).
WARNING – With ToolBook there are inherent problems with using numbers
only for ToolBook page names. When you use only numbers, and you then
reference a page by its name, because that is a number, ToolBook will instead
look at the page number and not the page name, if they are the same then this
is not a problem. However, if you skipped slides during conversion your
ToolBook page names will not match up with your ToolBook page numbers.
Therefore, our recommendation is to always have an alpha character in your
page name.
Image Names
Image Name refers to the name given to your images (“graphics”) upon
conversion of the PPT to TBK. After conversion you will see the images in
the graphics folder.
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PBB Default
The default naming scheme for images is:
SlideX_PPTtype Y.zzz
Where:
X is the slide number
PPTtype is the PowerPoint Object Type which could be one of several
PowerPoint types including “Group,” “Object,” “WordArt,” “Picture.”
Y is converted object number
zzz is the file extension and will be either .gif or .jpg.
Here is an example:
Slide4_Object 54.gif
Use Page Name + number
Graphics will be named using a combination of the page name and the image
number (starting at 1 on each new page and consecutively numbering each
graphic).
Here is an example:
Page-011.gif
In this example the page name is “Page-01” and the graphic number is “1.”
Use Page Name + Alpha
Graphics will be named using a combination of the page name and an alpha
character (starting at “a” on each new page and consecutively lettering each
graphic).
Here is an example:
Page-01a.gif
In this example the page name is “Page-01” and the graphic letter is “a.”
Object Names
Object Names refers to the names given to the ToolBook Objects that are
created during the conversion process.
PowerPoint Name
The default naming scheme for ToolBook Objects is:
PPTtype Y
Where:
PPTtype is the PowerPoint Object Type which could be one of several
PowerPoint types including “Group,” “Object,” “WordArt,” “Picture.”
Y is converted object number
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Here are a couple of examples:
Object 54
WordArt 39
Use Object Type + number
ToolBook objects will be named using a combination of the ToolBook object
type and the object number on the page (starting at 1 on each new page and
consecutively numbering each object on the page).
Here is an example:
Field1
Button2
Rectangle3
Use Object Type + Alpha
ToolBook objects will be named using a combination of the ToolBook object
type and an alpha character (starting at “a” on each new page and
consecutively lettering each object).
Here is an example:
Fielda
Buttonb
Rectanglec
Text Conversion Options
Here is where you define the properties for how the text will get converted. First a
little background on what will happen when you convert text.
When text gets converted from PowerPoint into ToolBook, the Power Book Builder
takes the text from a field in PowerPoint and creates a field in ToolBook with the
same properties for the font type, font style, and font size as the field had in
PowerPoint. Then the text from PowerPoint is put into the ToolBook field as plain
text. It is important to understand that the fonts that you see in PowerPoint may not
be indicative of the font properties for the field in ToolBook. Since only the font
properties for the field get transferred to ToolBook and the text gets inserted as plain
text and not rich text, your converted ToolBook could look very different from your
PowerPoint. For example, in PowerPoint if you have text that has been changed to a
different color by selecting the text and then changing the color, it will convert at the
original color of the PowerPoint field and not of the new color.
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Figure 9: Text conversion options.
Fonts
When you convert text from PowerPoint to ToolBook, the size of the text will
look bigger even though it is exactly the same point size. To compensate for
this discrepancy, the Power Book Builder has a font conversion table. For
PowerPoint Arial and Times New Roman font sizes 8 to 36 points, the
equivalent sizes in ToolBook have already been determined and will show in
the font conversion table. If you wish to make adjustments you can or if your
fonts are larger than 36 point you can make manual adjustments to the font
conversion table. With the font conversion table option you can also change
the font face.
Use PowerPoint Font Size
When this option is selected, fonts will be the same point size in ToolBook as
they are in PowerPoint.
Font Conversion Table
Check the “Use Font Conversion Table” option to enable proportional font
scaling so that your PowerPoint and ToolBook fonts appear to be close to the
same size. The font conversion table has been built based on a font by font
comparison between fonts in PowerPoint and fonts in ToolBook beginning at
8 point through 36 point. If your fonts are larger than 36 point, you may need
to make adjustments. If you feel that the font sizes getting converted are not
exactly what you want, select the Edit Font Table option to make manual
adjustments.
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Arial/Times New Roman
PPT
TBK
8
7
9
7
10
9
11
9
12
10
13
10
14
13
15
12
16
14
17
14
18
16
19
16
20
17
21
17
22
18
23
19
24
20
25
20
26
21
27
22
28
23
29
24
30
25
31
26
32
27
33
28
34
28
35
29
36
30
Reduction
Factor
12.50%
22.22%
10.00%
18.18%
16.67%
23.08%
7.14%
20.00%
12.50%
17.65%
11.11%
15.79%
15.00%
19.05%
18.18%
17.39%
16.67%
20.00%
19.23%
18.52%
17.86%
17.24%
16.67%
16.13%
15.63%
15.15%
17.65%
17.14%
16.67%
Table 1: Pre-Determined Font Scaling in Arial and Times New Roman is shown above. Based on our studies
these are the font conversion factors that seemed to create the most similar look between PowerPoint and
ToolBook.
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Edit Font Table
This option will let you change font size as well as font faces. When you
click the Edit Font Table button the Power Book Builder will read all of the
fonts in your PowerPoint presentation and display the font face and font size
in a table. On the right hand side of the table you will see the font face and
equivalent font sizes that the PowerPoint text will get converted into. Here
you can change the name of the font as well as change any font sizes. We
recommend going with the default font sizing for your first conversion and
then fine tuning the scaling based on your results.
Figure 10: Here is where you can instruct Power Book Builder to convert one font used in PowerPoint to a
different font in ToolBook. When you first open the table, the converter will read all of the fonts used in your
PowerPoint and will populate this table with those fonts and show the font size that the text will get converted
into in ToolBook. In this example, all Arial 12 fonts in the PowerPoint will get converted into Arial 10 fonts in
ToolBook. If you wanted to change that you would select the font you wish to change and select the “Edit
selected font” button.
Figure 11: Change the font face and/or font size.
Map Fields and Page Properties
This option can give you tremendous power in the conversion process and can
save you hours of manual development time if used effectively. It will allow
you to map specific fields in the PowerPoint to record fields or page
properties in ToolBook. It will also allow you to consistently name the fields
that are created in ToolBook. For example, one of the basic settings that we
suggest everyone map is the PowerPoint Slide Title (assuming that your
PowerPoint has them). The slide title is clearly a good candidate for a record
field in ToolBook because it is typically in a style that you wish to use
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consistently throughout your project. For more information on ToolBook
Record Fields, please refer to the SumTotal Systems ToolBook
documentation.
All Text in the PowerPoint slide will get converted into text fields on the
foreground in ToolBook unless you specifically indicate that they should be
mapped to a record field or Page Property.
NO fields in the PowerPoint Notes view will get converted to a field on the
ToolBook page UNLESS you specifically indicate they should get mapped to a
record field. The text from all other fields in the PowerPoint Notes view will be
put into Page Properties and unless you map these to Page Property name the
name will be the name of the PowerPoint field.
To map record fields and page properties, check the Map Fields and Page
Properties option and select the Edit Map Details button.
Mapping to ToolBook Fields
When you open up the mapper, any record fields in your ToolBook template
will be listed under the field names column. You may add any number of
additional Field Names for the purpose of constant naming of ToolBook
fields. Note that the names for both fields and page properties must be
unique, you may not have a record field or field name the same as a page
property name. WARNING! There is no logic to ensure that you use a valid
name format for either the fields or page properties.
Figure 12: Here is where you add Field Names or Page Properties that you wish to map to certain PowerPoint
fields to.
Next you need to assign the PowerPoint fields to the ToolBook Fields. When
you assign the field you will be shown the fields in your PowerPoint. You can
narrow down this list by selecting from the types of PowerPoint fields in the
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center of the Record Field and Page Property Field Mapping Prep screen.
You can elect to show the text from: Slides Only, Notes Only, Title Fields,
Bullet Points or you can Show All. Title fields in PowerPoint have unique
properties which enables displaying them separate from other PowerPoint text
fields. Bullets in PowerPoint also have unique properties. Other text fields in
PowerPoint do not have unique properties so Power Book Builder will
display all of the fields and you will need to manually go through the fields as
part of the mapping process.
To assign the PowerPoint fields to ToolBook fields or record fields, highlight
the ToolBook field that you wish to map to and then select one of the options
for showing text (Slides Only, Notes Only, etc.). Now, click on the Assign
button. This will open up the Field Name Mapper.
Figure 13: Mapping PowerPoint fields to ToolBook record fields.
The master list will show all of the fields in the PowerPoint that meet the
criteria you selected in the Mapping Prep screen (ie. Slides Only, Notes Only,
etc.). Also, you will notice that the Master List will not include any
previously selected (Mapped) PowerPoint fields. As you select different
items in the master list you may notice that the Slide text, Title field, and
Bullet field selections change. This is to make it easier for you to determine
the purpose of each of the fields. In addition, you can select any of the items
and double-click on it or select view source and the Power Book Builder will
display the contents of that field.
Fields in PowerPoint that have been grouped (whether they are text boxes,
placeholders, rectangles or other autoshapes with text, or bullets) will NOT be
shown in the View Text list in the Text Mapper.
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Figure 14: You can view the source of the PowerPoint fields to determine if they should be mapped to your
ToolBook record fields.
Go through the list of items in the Master List and move each to the “Selected
List” that you wish to map to the specific field by selecting the Add button.
This will move the item from the “Master List” to the “Selected List.” Note
that you can also view the text of the field with items in the “Selected List” by
clicking the “View Destination” button or double-clicking the item.
Here is where you will notice a big benefit if your PowerPoint template was
properly created by copying the initial slide and creating new slides from that
copy (or by selecting the Duplicate Slide option in PowerPoint). If you have
done this, you will notice that the fields from slide to slide are similarly named
especially if the fields are correctly named in PowerPoint. Otherwise, if you
add fields to each slide, PowerPoint may name them differently on each page
creating a bigger job for you in the mapping process.
Once you are happy with your mapping, select the Update button. Continue
through this mapping process until all of the PowerPoint fields you wish are
mapped to Record Fields or field names in ToolBook are mapped.
Mapping to ToolBook Page Properties
You can map PowerPoint fields that are on the Slide or Notes view to
ToolBook Page Properties. This is especially useful if your SME has written
developer/programming notes that you want to capture in your ToolBook
project, but you do not want to add as a field on the ToolBook page. Follow
the same steps to map to Page Properties as used to map to fields or record
fields. The only difference is that you do not need to have the Page Properties
set in advance in your template book.
Map Settings and the PBB.inf File
As you work through the Power Book Builder an information file gets created
that stores information about your conversion settings. That way, if you need
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to run the converter again on the same PowerPoint, you will not need to
reselect all of the conversion options. Items that get mapped will be stored as
well. Should you go back to do a subsequent conversion, all mapping
information will be retained. If however you have removed slides or
PowerPoint objects that had previously been mapped, they will be removed
from the mapping details since they no longer exist.
Narration – Generating a Narration Script Text Document
If you wish to create a formatted narration script in a text document (.rtf
format) for proofing and recording purposes simply map your narration in
PowerPoint to a field in ToolBook named “narration.” You can add this field
in the mapper in which case each narration in the PowerPoint will get mapped
to a field on the ToolBook page. The name of that field will be “narration.”
Alternatively, you can add a record field to your ToolBook template called
“narration.” Then the Narration script will map to the “narration” record field.
In either case, Any text mapped to a field named “narration” will be copied
into a table in an rft document. The table will also include the ToolBook page
number and the ToolBook page name for cross-reference purposes.
All text fields in PowerPoint will get converter into fields in your ToolBook.
However, you may not want certain fields to get converted. While there is no
way to omit fields during the conversion process, you can map the fields you
wish to omit to a ToolBook Page Property. For example, you can map all fields
you wish to omit to a Page Property named “Delete.” Once the book is
converted, you can then use the Power Book Builder Page Properties Widget to
go through your book and delete all of the Page Properties named, “Delete.”
Text in PowerPoint
Ignore Text Rotation
PowerPoint can display rotated text, but ToolBook cannot. So, how does the
Power Book Builder handle rotated text? If the Ignore Text Rotation option
is checked, it will bring the text into a text field as if it were any other text. If
you uncheck that option, your rotated text will be converted to an image and
the image type is controlled by the “Unconverted PowerPoint Objects”. If
you want you can fine tune the handling of rotated text by setting a maximum
degree of rotation that is acceptable to be converted into ToolBook text before
it gets converted as an image.
Resize Fields/Buttons to Fit Text
This option will size the fields and buttons in ToolBook to fit the text. This is
a one time sizing and should not be confused with the auto-size field option in
ToolBook. During the conversion process the field or button will get sized to
fit the text and that is the size the object will be set to. Note that this feature
will only resize fields and buttons where the text or caption overflows, or in
other words it will only make the fields and buttons bigger; not smaller.
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Because in most cases developers want all of the text to fit into a field, the
default for this setting is set to checked (turned on).
Bullet Points in PowerPoint
You must specify how you want Power Book Builder to convert bullets that
are in your PowerPoint. There are several options to choose from depending
you how you want the bullets to be displayed in ToolBook.
Bullet Points to Plain Text
This option will convert each set of PowerPoint bullets into a text field in
ToolBook. Note that you may have several bullet fields on a slide. Each will
convert into a separate text field.
Bullet Points to Unordered List
This option will convert each set of PowerPoint bullets into a ToolBook
Unordered list (a Standard ToolBook Catalog option). For more information
on the functionality of an unordered list see SumTotal Systems ToolBook
documentation. Note that you may have several bullet fields on a slide. Each
will convert into a separate unordered list.
Bullet Points to ToolBook Bullets
This option will convert each set of PowerPoint bullets into ToolBook Bullets
(a Standard ToolBook Catalog option). For more information on the
functionality of a ToolBook bullets see SumTotal Systems ToolBook
documentation. Note that each bullet in PowerPoint will get converted to a
separate ToolBook bullet point object and that these bullet points will be at
the same level that the bullets are in PowerPoint. In other words, in
PowerPoint if you have first and second level bullets, you will have first and
second level bullet point objects in your ToolBook. As ToolBook does not
have a 3rd level bullet, any bullets subordinate to level 2 will get converted to
level 2.
You should customize the bullet graphics prior to running the conversion
process. For more information on how to customize your bullet graphics,
please see Customizing the TBK_objs.tbk.
When you have more than one set of bullet points on a given slide and you
have selected "PPT bullets to ToolBook bullets" then the bullet points in
ToolBook will be in a single column and will most likely be out of order. Please
note that this is a ToolBook bullet point feature and not an issue for Power
Book Builder as ToolBook bullets only allow for a single column and the order
is based on the horizontal pixel placement. In this situation the only way
Power Book Builder will build the bullets correctly is if the subsequent bullet
points (in your PowerPoint slide) are directly below and are aligned on the left.
This of course means that you only need to have one set of bullet points in the
PowerPoint slide:-)
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Bullet Points to Graphic List
This option will convert each set of PowerPoint bullet fields into ToolBook
graphic bullet lists. For more information on the functionality of a graphic list
see SumTotal Systems ToolBook documentation. The graphic list object does
not distinguish levels so a multi-level bullet point field in PowerPoint will
become a single level set of bullets in ToolBook.
You should customize the bullet graphics prior to running the conversion
process. For more information on how to customize your bullet graphics,
please see Customizing the TBK_objs.tbk.
Graphic Conversion Settings
Graphic Options in ToolBook
Power Book Builder gives you three options for inserting graphics into
ToolBook projects. When you choose to have Power Book Builder create
graphics from the PowerPoint project, you have the option of inserting the
graphics into ToolBook using one of these three methods: As Web Graphic
Placeholders, as a Reuseable Graphics Placeholder, or as a Picture Object.
For more information on the differences between these three objects, refer to
your SumTotal Systems ToolBook documentation. Note that if you use the
Web Graphic Placeholder option your graphic will get converted to either a
.gif or .jpg. That is because the Web Graphics Placeholder requires either a
.gif or a .jpg during the ToolBook export to dhtml process.
Figure 15: Power Book Builder Graphic Options.
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Types of Graphics in PowerPoint
There are several different types of graphics in PowerPoint. These include
clipart, pictures, and PowerPoint objects.
Clipart
Clipart is characterized by many (often hundreds) independent objects that are
group to form a graphic. The PowerBook Builder will convert these grouped
objects to grouped objects in ToolBook unless you specify that the clipart
should be converted to an image (so that it is one graphic and not a series of
separate objects grouped together). The “Convert Clipart to Image” option is
checked by default.
Why would you want to convert clipart as individual pieces instead of one
graphic? In most cases you won’t, but if you want to be able to edit the clipart
in ToolBook you will need to get at the individual bits and pieces in
ToolBook.
There are some issues you may encounter when converting clipart to gifs.
Please refer to the Getting the Most from Graphic Conversions area for more
information on these possible problems and how to best work around them.
Pictures
Pictures in PowerPoint are single images (photographs or graphics) that will
get converted to images in ToolBook. If a Picture is grouped with other
PowerPoint objects then the whole group will converted to an image using the
“Unconverted PowerPoint Object” option below. Unfortunately, PowerPoint
will not “export” any (individual) object that is in a group separately. If
objects are grouped together, whether the objects are pictures, PowerPoint
autoshapes, clipart, etc., it will get treated as one object in the conversion.
These objects will get converted following the settings in “Unconverted
PowerPoint Objects.”. For this reason you will need to ungroup any
PowerPoint Picture objects before running Power Book Builder. For more
information on improving graphic conversions, please see Getting the Most
from Graphic Conversions.
Unconverted PowerPoint Objects
There are several other types of PowerPoint objects that that will get
converted by the Power Book Builder. These objects can include Rotated text
(depending on the options you have chosen for Rotated text in the Text
Settings) and PowerPoint autoshapes, among other miscellaneous objects. For
more information on improving graphic conversions, please see Getting the
Most from Graphic Conversions.
Web Graphic • Resource • Picture Object
These three options are standard ToolBook options for adding images into
your ToolBook Projects.
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Web Graphic – A standard ToolBook “Web Graphic Placeholder” object is
used.
Resource – A standard ToolBook “Reusable Graphic Placeholder” object is
used.
IMPORTANT!
If you choose to convert your graphics to resources in ToolBook, the graphics
will be placed into a Reusable Graphics Placeholder that is set to the size of
the graphic in PowerPoint and the placeholder will be set to stretch to fit the
button.
Picture Object – A standard ToolBook Picture object is created.
For more details about these standard ToolBook objects please refer to the
ToolBook help.
Additional Conversion Options
Additional conversion options will allow you to get even more out of the Power Book
Builder.
Figure 16: Additional conversion options available in the Power Book Builder.
Image Options
Here there are additional setting that you can use to further fine-tune your
conversion.
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Export Slides for Proofing
When selected an image is created for each slide. Using the “PowerPoint Slide
Proofing” catalog object in the PBB.wbk you can view the slide image. This is
handy for comparison between the ToolBook page and the original
PowerPoint slide.
Convert Diagrams to Image
PowerPoint provides several options for creating images such as
Organizational Charts, Venn Diagrams, Cycle Diagrams, etc. If you select the
Convert Diagrams to Image option, the diagrams will be converted to images
in the conversion process. Otherwise, diagrams will be converted as a
grouped set of ToolBook objects.
Convert Groups to Images
This option will take a group in PowerPoint and convert it as one single
image. If this option is not selected, the objects within the group will be
converted as separate objects and then all of the objects will be grouped in
ToolBook.
Convert Pictures to Paint
This option will convert ToolBook Picture objects to Paint Objects.
Convert WordArt to Plain Text
This option will convert WordArt objects to text that will get converted into
ToolBook text fields. If you do not select this option, WordArt objects will
get converted into an image and inserted into your ToolBook according to the
options set in the Unconverted PowerPoint Objects setting.
What to Convert
Because some developers may want to modify or improve on some of the
converted graphics prior to building the ToolBook there are several options
for how the conversion should be handled.
Convert All Objects
This option will convert your entire PowerPoint and build your ToolBook.
We recommend trying this option for your first conversion so you can get a
handle on how various items that you have in your PowerPoint get converted.
Page 29
IMPORTANT!
If you chose the Convert All Objects or the Convert Graphics Only option the
first thing that Power Book Builder will do is look to see if there is already a
graphics folder in the project folder. If there is already a graphics folder in the
project folder IT WILL BE DELETED as the first step in the conversion process.
If you have made modifications to graphics that you do not want to lose when
you rerun a conversion, we recommend making a copy of the graphics file or
renaming the graphics file in the project folder BEFORE running the converter.
Convert Graphics Only
This option will go through your PowerPoint and convert only the graphics.
This option will allow you to then go into the graphics folder and make
modifications to the graphics prior to running the second half of the
conversion process that will build your ToolBook application.
All and Use Existing Graphics
Use this option if you have converted just the graphics or if you have
converted all objects and are happy with the graphics, but want to make some
changes to the text conversion. For example, let’s say that in your first
conversion you forgot to map the title fields in PowerPoint to the title fields in
ToolBook. However, you are otherwise happy with the graphics. In this case,
you can select this option. When the ToolBook gets built it will use the
existing graphics but rebuild all of the other PowerPoint objects.
All and Import Graphics Last
A tremendous amount of computer power is used during the conversion
process. If you have a particularly large PowerPoint with lots of objects on
every page, the conversion could run very slow or could stop running all
together. This can be due to the size of the graphics, in our testing we
converted one PowerPoint that had 40 slides and the converted ToolBook was
more than 80 meg. Power Book Builder can not use anything other that what
it finds in the PowerPoint, therefore, selecting this option will give Power
Book Builder more processing power to do the conversion and then at the end
import all the external images in one go.
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The Magic Button
Figure 17: Additional conversion options available in the Power Book Builder.
Go ahead….make your day! Just give it a click, sit back and watch the Power
Book Builder do its thing :-)
For the best results, we recommend shutting down all applications (including
PowerPoint) before you run the Power Book Builder. The Power Book Builder uses
a tremendous amount of computer power during the conversion process.
During Beta testing we found that especially large PowerPoints brought our
systems to a grinding halt when we also had Outlook running.
Page 31
Converting Existing PowerPoints
Power Book Builder is an excellent way to repurpose existing PowerPoints into ToolBooks. A
determining factor on the quality of the conversion is advance preparation of the PowerPoint.
While you can run Power Book Builder without any preparation because you may not be totally
sure of how the PowerPoint was originally developed, you cannot be sure of how the objects will
convert. For example, the original developer may have grouped all of the items on the page –
bulleted text, graphics, slide titles and so on. If you select the option to convert grouped objects
to an image you will end up with one image per page and no text as the entire group will get
exported as a graphic.
Perhaps the best way to handle conversion of existing PowerPoints is to run through the
conversion once and take a look at the results. Hopefully it is exactly the way you want it to be.
If not, then it will help you identify areas that you will need to go back to the original
PowerPoint and make some changes.
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Getting the Most from Graphic Conversions
We have been quite pleased in general with how Power Book Converter converts graphics
(clipart, images, and other PowerPoint objects). However, because of some limitations with the
way PowerPoint converts some graphics and the way that ToolBook imports some graphics you
may need to do a little tweaking with your graphics package to get them looking exactly the way
you want them to look.
Definitions of Different Types of Graphics
First, let’s cover some definitions so that we are all talking about the same thing. Please
note that these are not official definitions, but rather definitions specific to this product.
Clipart
Back before computers, clipart referred to artwork that was in a book that was
literally clipped from the book and pasted into a document, advertisement, or
newspaper. Today clipart can mean different things to different people so we want to
throw our own definition into the ring.
When we talk about clipart with Power Book Builder we are referring to a graphic
that consists of many different bits and pieces (sometimes hundreds of bits and
pieces) that when brought together make a pretty nice looking “picture.” Because
each of the bits and pieces an easily be resized, when you resize clipart, the total
graphic gets nicely resized without the jaggies that you typically get when you resize
bitmap graphics.
How do you know if a graphic is “clipart?” In PowerPoint, select the graphic and
then try to ungroup it. If you can ungroup it and you can see all of the bits and pieces
(see the example) then it is clipart. Note that when you import a graphic from
MicroSoft clipart, it is typically imported as a .emf file (enhanced windows metafile).
If you leave these untouched, they will be considered as an image by Power Book
Builder. On the other hand, if you ungroup the image (you will get a warning that it
is going to convert the Microsoft drawing object) it will get converted into clipart.
When you group all of the objects in clipart, they will be handled using the
instructions that you select in the Clipart area. If you do not group the objects in
PowerPoint, each object will be treated as an individual object and will be exported as
and Unconverted PowerPoint object.
When you convert clipart objects they will get converted as .gifs if you chose the
option to convert them to web graphic placeholders in ToolBook.
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Figure 18: Example of clipart in PowerPoint. Notice all of the separate objects that make up the "picture" in the
right hand picture.
Images
Images as defined by Power Book Builder are complete graphics that cannot be
separated into bits and pieces. Bitmaps, gifs, and jpgs are all examples of “images.”
When you convert images they will get converted as .jpgs if you chose the option to
convert them to web graphic placeholders in ToolBook.
Unconverted PowerPoint Objects
These are objects that don’t fall into either the clipart or image categories.
Autoshapes and WordArt fall into this category.
When you convert clipart objects they will get converted as .gifs if you chose the
option to convert them to web graphic placeholders in ToolBook.
Getting the Best Graphic Conversions
If you are surprised at how your graphics have converted the first thing you will want to do
is go back to the original PowerPoint and look at the graphic. Nine times out of ten you
will find that the reason for the disappointing graphic is in how they were grouped before
the conversion.
Is the graphic grouped with other objects?
If it is then it will get converted using the settings for “Unconverted PowerPoint
Objects.” For example, if you have two photos, if they are not grouped, they will be
converted as images and according to your selections for image conversions. By the
way, we have been extremely please with the quality of photo’s that have been
converted :-) However, if two photos are grouped together, then they will get
converted as Unconverted PowerPoint objects.
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Figure 19: Pictures not grouped. Each gets exported as a separate .jpg.
Figure 20: Pictures are grouped and therefore get treated as Unconverted PowerPoint Objects. Because the
selection was to convert them to .gifs, they are starting to look at bit grainy. They are grainy because .gifs can
only have 256 colors. When the number of colors exceeds 256, colors start getting combined and the image
starts getting grainy.
Page 35
So, Just what Will Power Book Builder Convert?
Here is what Power Book Builder will convert:
1. PowerPoint Picture objects, these are imported files, Windows Metafile
(.wmf) or Enhanced Metafile (.emf), jpg, bmp, (photos) etc. These will be
converted as images unless they are grouped with other objects.
2. ClipArt (a group consisting of lost of freeform objects). These will be
converted as clipart.
3. An object that Power Book Builder can not convert. e.g. Tables, OLE
objects, Auto Shapes, etc. These will be converted as an unconverted
PowerPoint object.
Special Note About .gifs
Any graphics that get converted as a .gif go through a secondary conversion process.
You will notice this process kicking in during the conversion process. Whenever you
see a command window pop up during the conversion process it is because the
secondary process has kicked in.
The gif conversion is done via 2GIF, a .gif conversion utility from fCoder
(www.fCoder.com) that we have purchased a developers license for in order to
builder it into Power Book Builder. When Power Book Builder converts your
PowerPoint and creates .gifs, it is actually a two-step process:
1. Converting the PowerPoint Graphics to .gif’s and rename them with a .res
extension in the graphics/ppt2gif folder, and
2. Converting the .res file into a .gif file using the 2GIF converter and putting it
into the graphics folder.
Known Issues
Here are some known issues we have run across when converting images using Power
Book Builder:
Clipart Gets Converted as an Image
Sometimes what you think will be treated as clipart actually gets treated as a picture
because it is a Picture object in PowerPoint. If you convert Picture objects to .jpg’s
you will lose any transparency because .jpgs cannot have a transparency color.
Clipart Only Gets Partially Converted
ClipArt typically consists of many objects, sometimes many hundreds of objects.
This can really slow the conversion process. Also there is a limit to the number of
objects that can be drawn on a ToolBook page both in actual number of objects and
memory limitation size. If you have a particularly large graphic with lots of pieces,
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during the conversion process ToolBook will run out of available memory and any
further objects can not be added to the page. When ToolBook does run out of memory
you will get a dialog with a message: "Page or background is full. Try saving this
book to a different name, or deleting some objects."
Unfortunately, this message can not be captured by Power Book Builder as it is an
internal ToolBook error and does not raise an Execution Suspended message. This
means that you need to <Ctrl><Alt><Delete> to end the process. This may also
mean a reboot. For this reason the Power Book Builder converter will not convert a
ClipArt object if it contains more than 20 objects and if the current page already has
more than 200 objects. This may seem like a lot but this will limit the number of
ClipArt objects to between 2 to 3 per page depending on the size of (number of pieces
in) the clipart. If Power Book Builder does not convert the ClipArt it will be
governed by the “Unconverted PowerPoint Objects" option.
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Using the Power Book Builder Storyboard
The best, easiest, and quickest conversions will come from PowerPoints developed using
the Power Book Builder Storyboard, BUT only when the storyboard is modified and used
correctly! What do we mean?
Proper Storyboard Use Makes Conversion Mapping Easier
A very powerful feature of the Power Book Builder is the ability to map fields in
PowerPoint to fields, record fields, or page properties in ToolBook. This can be a fairly
simple task if you have properly set up the Power Book Builder Storyboard and if your
SME has properly used it. Otherwise, this can be somewhat time-consuming.
Like ToolBook, PowerPoint uniquely names each object on a page. However, unlike
ToolBook, naming or renaming objects is not easy. It requires the use of macros and takes
some time to do. For this reason the Power Book Builder Storyboard already comes with
the fields on both the Slide and Notes view correctly named. Future versions of the Power
Book Builder Storyboard may include macros to make this naming process easier, but for
now, if you wish to name objects in PowerPoint you will need to do it on your own.
“So, why would I want to name my objects anyway?” perhaps you are wondering.
Actually, you don’t need to name PowerPoint objects in order to convert them since
PowerPoint has already named them. However, how objects are named can make the
conversion easier, especially if you are mapping a lot of PowerPoint fields to your
ToolBook. Here’s why:
During the mapping process you must select the PowerPoint objects that you
wish to map to your ToolBook. Let’s say that you have a subtitle on each of
your PowerPoint slides that you wish to map to a record field in your
ToolBook named subTitle. Note that in this example the PowerPoint subTitle
field is not the special PowerPoint Title field. In the text mapper you will be
shown all of the fields in your PowerPoint and you must specify which of
those fields you want to get mapped to your ToolBook subTitle record field.
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Figure 21: Add and Remove dialog box in the mapper.
In the example shown you will notice that there are fields named Rectangle 2, Rectangle 3,
Rectangle 5, and Rectangle 6. The question is which of these fields is the subTitle field for
each slide in the PowerPoint? You can select the “View Source” button to see the contents
of the field selected. Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew that rectangle 2 on each slide is the
subTitle field? Absolutely! So, how do you assure that rectangle 2 is always the subTitle?
Well, you could name each of the objects, but that will take way too much time! A better
approach is to assure that when the slide first gets created that the subTitle is properly
named. The easiest way to do this is to create your first slide and then copy that slide so
that you have as many slides as you think you will need for your project. That way, the
objects on each slide will have the exact same names.
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT CONCEPT AND IS ONE THAT MUST BE
UNDERSTOOD BY YOUR SME’S!
If your SME’s do not understand the importance of properly named objects, chances are
they will not properly use the Storyboard template and that will make your conversion job
more difficult. It would be helpful to have some rules for your SME’s to follow when they
are developing content with the Storyboard template.
1. Always keep one clean slide at the end of the PowerPoint that is not used except as a
template. When you need to add a new slide to the storyboard, go to the last “template”
slide and duplicate it. Now, move that newly created slide to the location in the
presentation where you wish it to be located.
2. Always use existing fields in the storyboard for standard items such as Title, subTitle,
narration, etc. Delete those fields only if they will not be used. If you delete one of the
fields in error and you will in fact need it, go to the template slide and copy the filed
and then paste it back of the slide you are working on or delete the entire slide and start
over again. Do not try to add the field back onto the slide by drawing another one.
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Converting from the PowerPoint Storyboard
If your SME’s have properly used the Power Book Builder storyboard, your conversion
should be fairly simple and straight forward. Mapping should be easy because common
fields will have common names (i.e. all of the subtitles on all slides will be named the same
– “subtitle”).
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Recommendations to Streamline Your Development Process
Power Book Builder is all about reducing your ToolBook development time. In using the
product for our own ToolBook programs we have come up with some development guidelines
that when coupled with the Power Book Builder have reduced our development cycle by 80% to
90%, increased the quality of our products, and shifted the bottleneck in our development
process from ToolBook programming to content development – which is where the bottle neck
should be.
One of the benefits of using PowerPoint is that it is really easy to use. In addition, it has
advanced functionality with things such as spell checking that is very easy to use. Making
corrections due to typos or changes in content are MUCH easier to make in PowerPoint than in
ToolBook and can be made by the subject matter experts. Therefore, a BIG recommendation
that we make is that you use the PowerPoint not only for content development, but also for all of
your proofing. At Resource Engineering their rule is that content changes get “frozen” at the
PowerPoint level. All narration is proofed, all graphics are proofed and approved, and all other
text has been read through and proofed as well. That way we know that when we convert the
PowerPoint to ToolBook we will just need to focus on layout, minor modifications to account for
limitations in the conversion process, and other programming that we were not able to convert
from the PowerPoint.
With the approach of doing all proofing in PowerPoint there is no need to do a content review in
ToolBook because the content is EXACTLY the same as it was in PowerPoint. You don’t need
to proof to make sure that the correct information got copied and pasted because that process has
been automated and the chance of human error has been eliminated. Now, instead of spending
80% of the total development time working in ToolBook, less time will be spent with ToolBook
development and more time can be spent with content development.
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Fine-Tuning and Customizing the PowerPoint to ToolBook
Conversion
Creating Your Own PowerPoint Template
You can and SHOULD create your own PowerPoint templates for SME’s to use for
developing storyboards. The PowerPoint template should include a graphic on the
background that either simulates your user interface or that is an actual screen capture of
your user interface. By doing this you are giving your SME’s a clear palette on which they
can create their work. For example, they know where the navigation panel is so that they
don’t inadvertently put content over the panel. This way, when you do the conversion you
will have very little need to move objects around – saving you lots of time and enabling
you to focus on putting the final touches on your program.
We recommend that you use our sample storyboard template (storyboard.ppt) and modify it
as necessary to meet your needs. All objects that exist on the storyboard are named so that
it will be easy for you to identify objects in the mapping stage of the conversion process.
Naming PowerPoint Objects
While it is not necessary to name PowerPoint objects, it makes mapping a heck of a
lot easier if you do. For example, let’s say that you have a record field in your
ToolBook template for questions and you want all questions to get mapped into that
record field during conversion. When you add an object onto a PowerPoint slide the
object gets automatically named and often the name makes little sense (for example,
rectancle1046 might be the name given to the only text field on a page). Now, when
you are mapping objects to a record field or a property in ToolBook, you are shown a
list of all of the objects found in the entire PowerPoint. They are listed by slide
number and then name. In addition to it being a hassle to remember which slides
have questions on them, when you do find the right slide with the question, then you
need to figure out which of the objects is the question.
An easier approach would be if you could easily identify PowerPoint objects by a
meaningful name….wouldn’t it? Well, you can ☺ The way to do this is to name the
PowerPoint objects. Normally you would need to know how to write macros for
PowerPoint to do this for you, but we have a way for you to do it that is pretty easy
and only requires that you be able to run a macro – you don’t need to know how to
write one ☺
How to Name PPT Objects
Open up your PPT. Now, in Windows Explorer, browse to c:\Program
files\nirvanabound\pbb\PBB_TB89 (or PBB_TB86 if you are using that
version) and find the file named TBConv.tbm. Double-click on this and it
will open up as a blank PPT. Minimize it so that you can get to your SME's
PPT. Now, select a field and go to Tools --> Macros --> Macro. In the
dropdown box that says "Macro In" select the TBConv.tbm. Basically this
TBM file is a PTT with pre-developed macros in it.
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Now select the Name Object macro and select run. (If you do not have the
option to run it, it may be because of security settings in PPT. You need to
have the security settings such that you can run macros.) Now you can name
the object be it a graphic, text field, or PPT shape. Note that you can do this
for any field and is especially helpful if you have a lot of items to map to
record fields or page properties - they will be easy to find because they are
named.
We recommend that you create a template slide for every type of ToolBook
page you want your SMEs to use. Then, name the objects that you will want
to map into to your ToolBook. Objects that are named can be copied and
pasted to other pages or the entire page with named objects on it can be copied
and pasted as a new page and the object names will be preserved.
Using Your Own ToolBook Template
We highly recommend that you use your own customized ToolBook templates for your
conversions. That way, when the conversion is complete you will be that much closer to
having a finished product. Standard items in a ToolBook template typically include:
o A navigation panel
o A Title record field
o A Subtitle record field
o A background graphic
Your ToolBook template may include other items as well such as a Windows Media
Player, a Progress Bar and/or a field with page names.
The template that you use should be just one page. If your template is multiple pages (for
example, you have a special page for a table of contents or for quizzes or exercises) save a
copy of your template as your conversion template. Then remove all but your main content
page from the template. Once you have completed your conversion you can import the
additional pages of your complete template into your converted book.
Customizing Power Book Builder Objects in the TBK_Objs.tbk
Power Book Builder will look to the TBK_Objs.tbk file for details on how you want certain
objects to look in ToolBook. The objects in the TBK_Objs.tbk have been taken from
standard ToolBook objects found in the catalog so if you are happy with them, there is no
need to modify them. However, if as an example, you choose to convert PowerPoint
bullets to ToolBook bullets, and you want the bullet graphic to be different than the
standard ToolBook bullet points, you can make that change here. That way, when your
PowerPoint gets converted, it will have your bullets and not the standard ToolBook bullets.
Customizable objects in the TBK_Objs.tbk file include:
•
ToolBook Bullets
•
Graphical Lists
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•
The Multiple Choice Question Object
•
The Multiple Choice Text Fields Object
•
The True/False Question Object
•
The Fill-In the Blank Question Object
•
ToolBookDeveloper.com Grid Question Object*
•
ToolBookDeveloper.com Pop-Up Message Box.*
•
ToolBookDeveloper.com Audio Player Widget*
•
ToolBookDeveloper.com Pop-Up Message Box*
*These items require the purchase of ToolBookDeveloper.com add-on tools. For
more information please go to www.ToolBookDeveloper.com. In order for these to
get properly converted you will need to add the objects to the appropriate pages in
the TBK_objs.tbk by dragging them onto the page from your catalog. The only
exception is that the audio player widget needs to be on the background of your one
page ToolBook template that you will be using for the conversion.
Figure 22 Here is the first page from the TBK_objs.tbk. This shows the standard ToolBook formats for bullets,
unordered lists, graphic lists, etc. You can change these to suit your interface by modifying the TBK_objs.tbk
before doing your conversion.
Simply modify these objects as you would modify any ToolBook objects to suit your
preferences and then save the book. During the conversion process, when the converter
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hits an object that will get converted using one of these ToolBook objects, Power Book
Builder will look to this file and copy the object.
This file is located in the install folder (C:\Program Files\NirvanaBound\ PBB\PBB_85)
and to assist with different styles of TookBook projects Power Book Builder will first look
for this file in the projects folder. (e.g. C:\PBB_Proj\PBB_Demo\). Lets say you would
normally have round red bullet points for 90% of your projects and various other colors
other types of projects. Then the default TBK_Objs.tbk would have the red bullets and you
just need to copy this file to the projects folder and then change the bullets to green or blue.
Note that the objects in the TBK_objs.tbk file will determine the look and style of the
objects, but not their placement on the ToolBook page. Placement on the ToolBook page
is dictated by the placement on the PowerPoint slide.
ToolBookDeveloper.com Products
To demonstrate just how awesome the Power Book Builder can be we have included the
ability to utilize three of the many products developed by Nirvana Bound Pty Ltd and
available from ToolBookDeveloper.com
Popup Message Box Widget
The Popup Message box is a nifty and attractive ToolBookDeveloper.com tool that
easily adds popup text to your ToolBook project. For more information on how to
add Popup Message Box functionality to your ToolBooks using the Power Book
Builder see Popup Message Box Widget.
Audio Player Widget
If you use audio in your ToolBook projects, you know how time consuming it is to
assign audio files to every page. However, if you use the Audio Player Widget from
ToolBookDeveloper.com adding audiofiles to your projects is a piece of cake! Just
add the audio file name in the special audiofile name object in the PowerPoint
Storyboard or add the object from the Catalog.ppt to your own template (add it to the
either the Slide or Notes View). Providing the Audio Player Widget is in your
template book when Power Book Builder converts a slide if it finds an
AudioFileName field it will load the file name shown into the Audio Player for the
given ToolBook page. For more information, see details below on the Audio Player
Widget found in the Catalog.ppt
Grid Question Object
The Grid Question is a complex set of true-false questions that enables you to set up a
grid with items in columns and rows where learners select one or more correct
answers at the intersection of the rows and columns.
Question Objects
Power Book Builder can convert question elements in PowerPoint into ToolBook question
objects. However, VERY EXACT instructions for creating the question objects in
PowerPoint must be followed. First some background.
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“Question objects” in PowerPoint are identified as such during the conversion process by
their unique names. So how do they get the unique name? It would be much too tedious
and prone to error to ask your SMEs to do this as it requires the use of advanced macro
functions. Instead, we provide a PowerPoint book called Catalog.ppt. This book has
question objects, all properly named, that can be copied and pasted into another
PowerPoint. During the copying and pasting, the unique names will be maintained so that
when you convert the PowerPoint, the complete question object will be properly built in
ToolBook – simply amazing :-).
There are two approaches you can take to providing your SMEs with the question objects.
The first option is to give SMEs the Catalog.ppt and instruct them to keep that PowerPoint
opened so that they can copy and paste the objects from the Catalog.ppt to the storyboard
PowerPoint. Another option is for you, the developer, to set up the storyboard PowerPoint
with question slides at the back of the PowerPoint Storyboard. Then, when SMEs want to
add a question to the PowerPoint, they go to the back of the storyboard and find the
appropriate question slide, copy the slide and then paste the slide at the correct location. In
either case, at this point when the question object in on the right slide SMEs can complete
the question object.
Using the PowerPoint Question Objects
What are the PowerPoint Question Objects?
To assist you and the SME it is important to understand what the question
objects are and the limitations of these PowerPoint objects.
Question Objects
With Power Book Builder you may create Multiple Choice, Multiple Choice
Field Questions, ToolBookDeveloper.com Grid Question Objects, True False
and Fill in the Blank questions. Each of these question objects are uniquely
named groups, made up of the same PowerPoint objects. There are two main
(numbered bullet point) fields in each group, the first is the Answers field,
this field contains the answers that the ToolBook user will select. The second
field is the Correct which needs to have Yes or No for each corresponding
line in the Answers field. Because these are Numbered Bullet Point fields
the numbering is automatic and it is important to note that there is NO code
controlling the data entry. This means that a True False question which
MUST have ONLY two Answers could be entered to have more than two or
less than two answers – nothing will stop you from dong that in PowerPoint.
When Power Book Builder encounters a problem of this nature it will still
create the ToolBook question object, however, it will not configure it because
it knows that there is an error in the data entry.
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Figure 23: Multiple Choice Question Object in the Catalog.ppt.
Options Object
When setting up a question object in ToolBook you have several options
depending on the question.
Figure 24: Question Options Object in the catalog.ppt.
The options in the Options Object include:
Score this Question – If you check this box in the ToolBook question
object the question will be scored and the score will be factored into the score
for the book. Power Book Builder uses either Yes or No instead of a
checkbox. “Yes” will set the option to checked in ToolBook.
Cannot Change Responses – If you check this box in the ToolBook
question object once learners answer the question they cannot change their
answer. Power Book Builder uses either Yes or No instead of a checkbox.
“Yes” will set the option to checked in ToolBook.
Randomize Answers – If you check this box in the ToolBook question
object the answers will be randomized each time that the question is shown.
Power Book Builder uses either Yes or No instead of a checkbox. “Yes” will
set the option to checked in ToolBook.
Mulitple Correct – This is an option on multiple choice questions only. If
you check this box in the ToolBook question object users will be able to select
more than one of the answer choices. Power Book Converter uses either Yes
or No instead of a checkbox. “Yes” will set the option to checked in
ToolBook.
These options are basically “turned on” or “turned off” as part of the
conversion process depending on the value of the field in the PowerPoint
question object. “Yes” turns the option on and “No” or anything else other
than “yes” turns the option off. We recommend sticking with the Yes/No
convention for clarity and consistency.
Note that if this object is not on the slide with the Question Object then the
options will be the same as they are in the TB_Objs.tbk file for the given
question.
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Feedback Object
Here is where you would add your immediate feedback if that is how you will
be handling the question. Sometimes you may need more than one line of
text for the feedback for a given answer, as this is a numbered bullet point
field and the numbers MUST correspond to the Answers you may enter <br>
within the one line of text and Power Book Builder will create a multi line
feedback. Note that if this object is not on the slide with the Question Object
or if there is no feedback for a given answer then the feedback will be the
standard <correct> or <incorrect> based on the answer being correct or
incorrect.
Figure 25: Immediate feedback object in the catalog.ppt.
Delayed Feedback Object
Here is where you would add your delayed feedback if that is how you will be
handling the question. See Feedback Object for multi line feedback. Note
that if this object is not on the slide with the Question Object then the
feedback will be the same as in the TB_Objs.tbk file for the given question.
Figure 26: Delayed feedback object in the catalog.ppt.
Multiple Choice and Multiply Choice Field Questions
There are two options for multiple choice questions: Standard multiple choice
questions with buttons or multiple choice questions using fields. The answers
for multiple choice questions using buttons are somewhat limited in length as
the answer words actually go into the caption for the button. As captions can
only have one line, if your answers are long, you may want to use the multiple
choice fields instead. Both types of multiple choice questions come directly
from the standard ToolBook catalog.
With either type of multiple choice question object you may have as many
Answers as you wish; you are not limited to the default (4) answers shown.
To create more options simply hit the enter key and you will get a new line
item that is correctly numbered. Multiple choice questions may have as few as
two answers and there is not upper limit. You will need to do the same for the
Correct so that you have a “yes” or “no” for each of the possible answers.
Next select the options by typing “yes” or “no” to each.
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Now provide your feedback. If you choose to have immediate feedback, you
must have one response for each answer choice. If you have delayed feedback
you will need feedback for all answers being correct and all answers being
incorrect and if you give credit for partially correct answers you will need
feedback for that outcome as well. Also remember that once the book is
converted, if you do have delayed feedback you will need a button on the page
to trigger the delayed feedback of the question.
Figure 27: PowerPoint slide with the correctly named fields for multiple choice question objects.
True-False Questions
With the True-False questions you may have only two answers where one is
correct and the other is incorrect. As you already know, you are not restricted
to the words “True” and “False”, it could be “Yes” or “No” or any text. You
will need to then indicate which is correct by typing “yes” or “no” in the
Correct field for the given answer.
Next select the options for the question by typing “yes” or “no” to each. Note
that since this is a true-false question the fourth option, multiple
choice/multiple correct is not a valid option for this type of question so the
option selection could be anything as it is ignored”.
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to score the question.
Figure 28: PowerPoint slide with the correctly named fields for True-False question objects.
Grid Questions
Grid Questions are a special type of true-false questions that consist of rows
and columns. Because the questions are somewhat more complex than
standard questions they are a little more difficult to set up for conversion, but
if you take a few minutes to understand the set up, it will save you a lot of
time setting the questions up directly in ToolBook. Figure 29 shows an
example of a grid question in ToolBook.
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Figure 29: Example of a ToolBookDeveloper.com grid question set up in ToolBook.
Grid Question Set-Up
Using the grid question template in the catalog.ppt file, add each of your
column headings under the Column category. Then add the row headings
under the Row category. So far, so good. Here is gets a little tricky is in the
listing of correct answers. First of all, the number of items listed under the
correct answers will equal the number of correct answers there are in the grid.
For each correct answer, you need to list the column and row of the correct
answer. So, in the example in Figure 29, the first correct answer would be 1,1
indicating the column and row intersection of New Year’s Day and January.
The second correct answer would be 2,2 indicating the column and row
intersection of Ground Hog Day and February. And so on. If you have a
complicated grid question, it might be helpful to draw the grid out on paper to
be sure you have the correct coordinates.
On the options tab, indicate whether you wish to have the question scored or
not, indicating “yes” if you want it scored and “no” if you do want it scored.
Next, select either Feedback or Delayed Feedback and delete the one you
don’t wish to use. Actually, with the Grid Question you will want to use
Delayed Feedback since your user will be selecting more than one answer.
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Figure 30: Example of a Grid Question set up in PowerPoint..
Fill in the Blank Questions
With the Fill in the Blank questions you may have as many answers as you
wish, just like in ToolBook. The ToolBook Fill in the Blank question MUST
have an <else> answer, which can be either correct or incorrect, the default
PowerBook Fill in the Blank question does not include this answer and Power
Book Builder will automatically add this <else> answer if it does not find it in
the list of answers, when this happens the answer will be incorrect, which is
the default in ToolBook. If however, you require this to be correct then you
must have the last answer as <else> and a corresponding Yes in the Correct
field.
Next select the options for the question by typing “yes” or “no” to each. Note
that since this is a fill in the blank question only the first two options are valid.
The last two options are ignored.
to score the question.
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Figure 31: PowerPoint slide with the correctly named fields for multiple choice question objects.
ToolBookDeveloper.com Products
To demonstrate the just how awesome the Power Book Builder can be we have included
the ability to utilize three of the many products developed by Nirvana Bound Pty Ltd and
available from ToolBookDeveloper.com.
Popup Message Box Widget
The Popup Message box is a nifty and attractive ToolBookDeveloper.com tool that
easily adds popup text to your ToolBook project. You can automatically add Popup
Message Boxes to your project during the conversion process by using the special
Popup Message Box object in the PowerPoint Catalog.ppt. In order for the Popup
message Box to work you must add the Popup Message Box Widget to the
TB_Objs.tbk Popup Message Box page. Then you can customize it to match your
ToolBook project.
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Figure 32: On the left is an example of what the Popup Message Box looks like in ToolBook. On the right is the
Popup Message Box object in the catalog.ppt.
Audio Player Widget
If you use audio in your ToolBook projects, you know how time consuming it is to
assign audio files to every page. However, if you use the Audio Player Widget from
ToolBookDeveloper.com adding audiofiles to your projects is a piece of cake! Just
add the audio file name in the special AudioFileName object in the PowerPoint
Storyboard or add the object from the Catalog.ppt to your own template (add it to the
either the Slide or Notes View). Providing the audiofile name object is in your
template book when Power Book Builder converts a slide if it finds an
AudioFileName field it will load the file name shown into the Audio Player for the
given ToolBook page. If the text in the field is “Use Page Name” then the page name
will be used and “.mp3” will be appended to the page name.
Figure 33: AudioFileName Field from the catalog.ppt.
Grid Question Object
For information on how to create Grid Questions that convert perfectly to ToolBook,
please refer to Grid Questions.
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Other Power Book Builder Features
Re-Running Power Book Builder (the PBB.inf file)
Conversion information is stored in the PBB.inf file in your project folder.
Here is an example of a PBB.inf file:
[Files]
PowerPoint=C:\AAA-PBB\Testing\test_new_pbb.ppt
Template=C:\AAA-PBB\Testing\pbb_blank.tbk
ToolBook=
[General]
ConvertWhat=convertAll
[Book]
BookSize=12000,9000
[Pages]
IncludeSlides=
PageNameFormat=UseNextNumber
PageNamePadZeros=2
PageNumberPrefix=test[Text]
PageNumberPrefix=false
RotationValue=
ResizeToText=true
BulletPointFormat=BP_To_UnorderedList
MapFields=true
[Fonts]
UsePPT_FontSize=false
UsePPT_FontTable=false
[Images]
ExportSlides=false
ConvertDiagramToImage=false
ConvertGroupToImage=false
ConvertClipartToImage=true
ConvertPicturesToPaint=false
ClipartFormat=ClipartToWGP
PictureFormat=PicturesAsWGP
AutoShapeFormat=PP_To_TB_WGP
GraphicsNames=PBB_Default
[Objects]
ObjectNames=PPT_ObjectName
[MapDetails]
2052=true,Title
5124=true,AudioFileName
6146=true,Title
8194=true,Title
10242=true,Title
10259=true,QuestionText
11266=true,Title
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12290=true,Title
13314=true,Title
20482=true,Title
18434=true,Title
[ConvertDetails]
UserName=Robin McDermott
Date=9/9/2005 5:56:27 PM
You will notice that this information is fairly readable. If you have several projects to
convert and want to make sure that you use the same setting, print out a copy of the .inf file
from your first conversion and use that as a guide for setting for subsequent conversions.
Please note that all information on the conversion gets stored into the .inf file. For a
background on this please see Map Settings and the PBB.inf File
AutoShapes.tbk
PowerPoint has a lot of AutoShapes that can be used to enhance the presentation of
information. These AutoShapes would typically get converted into graphics. So for
example, let’s say that you use the Oval Callout shape. When you convert that shape in the
Power Book Builder it will become a graphic and the text will also be a part of the graphic,
which makes it very difficult to change. Perhaps you would prefer it to be more like a
ToolBook object that you can easily resize and adjust as you can do in PowerPoint and for
it to include the text in a field that you can change. That is not possible to do with Power
Book Builder alone. that the AutoShapes.tbk file has a handful of ToolBook AutoShape
objects with the necessary coding to convert your PowerPoint AutoShapes. In future
versions we will offer more AutoShape objects.
.
Page 56

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