XML Tracklist Creation

1. Create a folder for your chapter in the movies folder at wwwroot.

   We'll look at an example for the 'User Interface chapter':

   Create a folder in F:\Cimel\wwwroot\movies called user_interface"
   Create another subfolder in this one and name it "facts". So basically you should have this folder tree after the above step:
   Cimel\wwwroot\movies\user_interface\facts\

2. Copy the latest XML file (i.e. experiment.xml in F:\Cimel\wwwroot) into your chapter folder in F:\Cimel\Flash Movies - Chapter Development\user_interface\
   Note: Do not disturb the xml file in the wwwroot!

3. Rename the xml file to your chapter name and then open it in Notepad. You will see something like this:
   <TREE>Software Engineering <TREE>Why Software Engineering? <TREE ACTION="URL" LINK="movies/software_engineering/SoftEng-010-Software_Can_Be_Frustrating.swf" HTMLLINK="movies/software_engineering/facts/se_why_software_engineering.htm#s1 " HTMLMENULINK="facts-menu.htm#se_wse" TARGET="this.testswf">Software can be frustrating!</TREE>

4. The first tag (below) "Software Engineering" is the chapter title. <TREE>Software Engineering The next tag (below) is the section name: <TREE>Why Software Engineering? The next big tag (below) is that of the first screen of the section. I'll explain its sub parts in the next point <TREE ACTION="URL" LINK="movies/software_engineering/SoftEng-010-Software_Can_Be_Frustrating.swf" HTMLLINK="movies/software_engineering/facts/se_why_software_engineering.htm#s1 " HTMLMENULINK="facts-menu.htm#se_wse" TARGET="this.testswf">Software can be frustrating!</TREE>
5. I'll break this into its parts and explain along the way:

   LINK="movies/software_engineering/SoftEng-010-Software_Can_Be_Frustrating.swf"

   The 'LINK' variable holds the swf filename (with it's path). So for our new chapter, "User Interface", we change this to LINK="movies/user_interface/the_file_name.swf"

   The next field is HTMLLINK:

   HTMLLINK="movies/software_engineering/facts/se_why_software_engineering.htm#s1

   This is the link to the html file that shoould be invoked when the user clicks on the just-the-facts mode. This NEED NOT exist when you create this menu. You can fill this field later as well.

   The following file is HTMLMENULINK.

   HTMLMENULINK="facts-menu.htm#se_wse"

   This is the link for the just-the-facts menu to scroll to the appropriate position. The "#se_wse" is the anchor for this section in the just the facts menu. This should be the same as the section menu anchor.

   You can ignore the next field "TARGET". Keep it as it is.

   Finally, the text between the two tags is the screen name.

   >Software can be frustrating!</TREE> The text "Software can be frustrating!" should be replaced with the new title that you would want to appear for the particular screen.

6. For more screens just copy-paste and modify the above code.

7. After you have finished a section use an end tag like </TREE>. Below is a code from XML that shows the ending tags: <TREE>User Interface <TREE>Usability <TREE ACTION="URL" LINK="movies/user_interface/temp.swf" HTMLLINK="movies/user_interface/facts/se_why_software_engineering.htm#s1" HTMLMENULINK="facts-menu.htm#us_u" TARGET="this.testswf">What are user interfaces?</TREE> </TREE> <----------------end tag of the 'Usability' section </TREE> <------------------------end tag of the 'User Interface' Section </TREE_MENU_NESTED> <----------- end tag of the XML file

8. After you have this file ready, give it to the pl04a server admin to put it in the main XML (currently experiment.xml) so that you can test your movies in the UI.

• The XML should be in the wwwroot (i.e. in same folder as the user interface swf file).

• For the chapter testing purposes, the XML file read by the interface is called "experiment.xml". Any new chapters to be viewed in the interface should be added to this / saved as this file name only.

• For track list screen title alignment purposes, the number of movies in a particular section should be limited to 17.