The EnterPage Special Edition
(1-03)
The ToolBook Developer's Newsletter from Platte Canyon Multimedia
Software
April 7, 1998
In This Issue
Introduction
Instructor™ and Assistant™
6.1 Upgrade News
Asymetrix To Go Public
Platte Canyon to
Attend the European Developer's Conference
"Developing
& Mastering ToolBook Instructor™ 6" Update
ToolBook Tips From Jeff Rhodes
Platte Canyon Conference Schedule
Customer Profile:
SUMMETRIC Interactive Software, Inc.
Coming in Next Issue
EnterPage Submissions
Subscription Information
Welcome to this Special Edition of The EnterPage, the newsletter from Platte Canyon Multimedia Software Corporation. The purpose of
this newsletter is to keep you informed of new products and developments in the world of
Asymetrix and Platte Canyon as well as offer some pointers on Asymetrix ToolBook
Instructor™ and Assistant™ development. This special edition is primarily to
announce two big pieces of news: the availability of the Instructor™ and
Assistant™ 6.1 upgrade and the initial public offering of Asymetrix, but since we're
sending it out anyway, we thought we'd include some other features too! Enjoy.
Asymetrix has released a patch for Instructor™ 6.0. This patch upgrades
Instructor™ 6.0 to 6.1a. Upgrading to 6.1a will provide several bug fixes and other
enhancements. In particular, Instructor™ and Assistant™ will be able to easily
co-exist on the same machine.
After we installed the Instructor™ 6.1a patch on our machines, we have seen no
noticeable changes. (Perhaps the things that 6.1a fixes haven't been causing us problems).
However, Platte Canyon suggests that you always upgrade to the latest version.
For Assistant™ 6.0 users, you'll want Assistant™ 6.1. Version 6.1 is
considered an upgrade, which means that there is not a patch available for download.
Assistant™ 6.1 ships with a new updated manual and CD. The price to upgrade to
Assistant™ version 6.1 from version 6.0 is $49.95.
To get the Instructor™ patch, you may either order the CD-ROM from Asymetrix ($20
shipping and media charge) or go to the Asymetrix web site and download the 20-megabyte
file at: [link no longer available]
To receive the patch, you need know the serial number of your existing copy of
Instructor. (We found our serial numbers on the bottom of the boxes that Instructor™
6.0 came in). You'll also want to make sure that you have Instructor™ 6.0 installed
on your computer. If you previously had a 6.1 upgrade for Instructor, you'll need to
upgrade from 6.1 to 6.1a.
To order from Asymetrix, contact their sales department at (800) 448-6543 (this number
is valid in the US only). International customers should contact their respective sales
branch. Platte Canyon can also help with all of your Asymetrix product purchases. Contact
us us at (888) ToolBK-1 [888-866-5251], and info@plattecanyon.com.
This just came over the news wire.
Wednesday April 1, 10:40 am Eastern Time
Asymetrix Learning Systems Inc. files IPO
WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - Asymetrix Learning Systems Inc. filed Wednesday an initial
public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an undisclosed number of
common shares.
The initial public offering price per share also was not disclosed in the offering.
Underwriters NationsBanc Montgomery Securities LLC, BancAmerica Robertson Stephens and
Hambrecht & Quist have an over-allotment on an undetermined number of additional
shares.
The company will use net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes,
including working capital.
Asymetrix, an online learning solutions provider based in Bellevue, Wash., has applied
to trade the shares on Nasdaq under the symbol ``ASYM.''
The On-Line Learning '98 (European) Conference will be held in Cheltenham, UK from 21 -
28, July, 1998. Platte Canyon is pleased that it will attend for the first time. Jeff
Rhodes is excited to return to England for the first time since he finished graduate
school at the London School of Economics nine years ago. Jeff has submitted several
presentation topics and will be demonstrating our upcoming "Developing &
Mastering ToolBook Instructor™ 6" product as well as the Progress
Tracker™ and Plug-In family of products. Hope to see you there.
We've had an overwhelmingly positive response to the announcement of our next product,
"Developing & Mastering ToolBook Instructor™ 6." Many thanks for
those of you who signed up to be beta testers. Here are the training topics that will be
covered:
Outline of the Topics Covered
Chapter 1: Getting to Know Instructor™
Section 1: Instructor: A Tour
Section 2: Things to Consider
Section 3: Books, Pages, Backgrounds, and More
Section 4: Viewers
Chapter 2: Instructor™ Objects
Section 1: Using the Catalog
Section 2: Creating Objects
Section 3: Manipulating Objects
Section 4: Object Properties
Section 5: Text, Hotwords, and Captions
Section 6: Graphic Resources
Section 7: Adding Media
Chapter 3: Adding More Power
Section 1: OpenScript Tools and Techniques
Section 2: Navigation Methods
Section 3: Animation
Section 4: Menus
Section 5: Printing
Section 6: Drag and Drop
Section 7: ActiveX
Section 8: Database Access
Chapter 4: Specialized Applications
Section 1: The Book Specialist
Section 2: Instructor's Mini-Apps
Section 3: Librarian
Section 4: ToolBook Synergy
Section 5: Progress Tracker™ Family
Section 6: Plug-In Pro™
Chapter 5: Delivering Your Application
Section 1: Autopackager
Section 2: Other Installation Options
Section 3: Neuron
Section 4: HTML/JAVA
Section 5: Further Resources
You can view the detailed "screen play" at <<Link no longer
valid>>. This will continue to be updated as the project progresses.
For those of you with multilingual skills, we plan to contract with native speakers of
French, German, Spanish, and perhaps other languages to translate the entire content and
record the narration files.
The tips for this issue revolve around the need to have multiple developers working on
a single .tbk file. When we periodically "put the books back together," it is
important not to end up with multiple backgrounds and either duplicate or missing
resources. All of these scripts are designed to be run from the command window:
1. Copy pages from another book onto the same background you are currently on. You go
to the previous page number in your book. For example, if you want to bring in page 38,
run this script while on page 37 of the master copy of the book.
bookID = book "H:\tbcbt\training\tbcbt1b.tbk";
get copyObject(page (pageNumber of this page + 1) of bookID, this page);
sysSuspendMessages = true;
go to next page;
send selectPage;
send copy to system;
go to previous page;
send pasteSpecial "tb60 page";
go to next page;
send selectPage;
send clear to system;
go to previous page
2. Similar to number 1, but now you want to bring in a page that needs to go on a
background that is NOT the current background. In our case, we are bringing in a review
question that shares a common background with other questions but lives in each section.
PageNum is the page number of the page to be brought in.
pageNum = 33;
bookID = book "
H:\tbcbt\training\tbcbt1b.tbk";
sysSuspendMessages = true; go to page "1 1 Toolbar Keys Question last";
get copyObject(page pageNum of bookID, this page);
go to next page;
send selectPage;
send copy to system;
go to previous page;
send pasteSpecial "tb60 page";
go to next page;
send selectPage;
send clear to system;
pageNumber of previous page = pageNum
3. Now you want to bring in any new resources that were created by your other
developer(s). This script copies any NAMED resources that don't currently exist in the
master copy of the book. So be sure your developers name their resources if you want to
use this script.
resourceBookID = book "H:\tbcbt\training\tbcbt1b.tbk"
bitmapList = resourceList("bitmap", resourceBookID)
while bitmapList <> null
pop bitmapList
resourceName = name of it
if resourceName <> null
sysSuspend = false
clear sysError
get resourceInfo of bitmap resourceName of this book
if sysError <> null -- resource doesn't already exist
copy resource it to this book
request "Copied resource" && resourceName
end if
end if
end while
Here is an updated list of upcoming events that Platte Canyon will be attending.
Learning Technology Conference (Formerly Interactive 98)
Session: CBT Authoring Plug-Ins as Time (and Headache) Savers
Session 511, Tuesday, June 16; 1:20 - 2:30 PM.
Atlanta, June 15 - 17
Platte Canyon attendees: Chris Bell & Jeff Rhodes
On-Line Learning '98 (European) Conference
Session(s) to be determined.
Park Campus in Cheltenham, UK, July 21 - 23
Platte Canyon attendee: Jeff Rhodes
On Line Learning 98 (Formerly Asymetrix Developer's Conference)
Silver Sponsor
Anaheim September 23 - 25
Learning Laboratory (Wed, Sep 25) featuring these sessions:
Experience and Evaluate the new 'Learning & Mastering ToolBook Instructor™
6' CBT By Dr. Jeffrey Zink
Easily Add Sophisticated Student Tracking to ToolBook Applications with the Progress
Tracker™ family By Jeff Rhodes
Greatly Increase Your ToolBook Development Productivity with the Platte Canyon
Plug-Ins By Chris Bell
Also, Jeff will be presenting this session on Thursday or Friday:
Developing a "How to Use ToolBook®" product: A Case Study
We will also be demonstrating our products at the Platte Canyon Booth (#300) in the
Exhibit Hall
Other possible Platte Canyon Presentations:
Society For Applied Learning Technology (SALT) Interactive 98 Virginia, August 25 - 27
Learning Technology Conference Oct 98 Los Angeles
A periodic feature of the EnterPage will be a closer look at some of the companies that
successfully use Platte Canyon products. In this issue, we will introduce SUMMETRIC
Interactive Software, Inc., based in Boise, Idaho. SUMMETRIC is the leading supplier of
CBT for healthcare workers and medical equipment manufacturers. We first met Kent and
Barry at the 1996 Asymetrix Developer's Conference, and they were one of the first
licensees of the Progress Tracker™ technology in early 1997, using it to create their
innovate ProFile Administrator product. In the last year, they have converted their
"Competency Suite" of applications from DOS to ToolBook, winning rave reviews
from their customers. In the process, they have relied heavily on the productivity
features of the Plug-In Pro™. Visit SUMMETRIC at http://www.summetric.com.
More Notes from the Underground: Beginner Tips from Jeffrey Zink
More OpenScript tips from Jeff Rhodes
Customer Profile: Read about A Hot Developer Much More
Suggestions for articles or proposals for article
submissions are welcome. Send information to
EP@plattecanyon.com. Back issues of the EnterPage are
available at
http://www.plattecanyon.com/enterpage.aspx.
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