One of the most frequently addressed questions we come across is on the topic of importing questions into our Quiz/Test software and Weblearning application.  More often than not, the trouble lies within the formatting for the text file itself.  In this article, I’m going to show you how to properly format your questions and load them into the Import Utility so that they can easily be imported into our software.

Before we get started, it’s important to note that the Import Utility only allows you to import Multiple Choice/Response style questions. Any other types of questions (Fill-in-the-Blank, Essay, Pick List, etc.) will need to be added in manually.

The first step is to launch the Import Utility itself. Depending on the type/version of the software your using the process for doing this may vary. In most cases, you can launch the Import Utility by going to the Questions area of the quiz/test you are currently working on and locating the Import link, bringing up the Import Wizard. On the first step of the Import Wizard, where you would normally select the .txt file you would like to import questions from, there is a link that reads Launch the Import Utility (click here).  In some cases, you can launch the Import Utility by going to the Tools menu at the top and selecting Question Import Utility. In Weblearning, you can launch the import utility by following the instructions in the Import section of the Questions & Slides tab.

This will launch the Import Utlity, which allows you to open the text file containing the questions you would like to import, and format the text file into the proper format for importing.

Each question that you import should follow the 11-line import format. The first line must contain the question text, followed by a Hard Return, then a blank line (if your question or answer text contains line feeds/carriage returns, replace then with the following markup prior to importing:  [br] ). The next 5 lines are answers A-B-C-D-E, each followed by a Hard Return.  If a question has less that 5 answers, enter a blank line (Hard Return) for each missing answer. After the 5 answers, another blank line should follow. Next, the explanation should follow, then followed by a hard return, and then 2 blank lines.

Each question immediately follows the previous question. Here is the format (the prefixed numbers are there for example only):

01: QUESTION 1 TEXT
02:
03: ANSWER A
04: ANSWER B
05: ANSWER C
06: ANSWER D
07: ANSWER E
08:
09: EXPLANATION
10:
11:
12: QUESTION 2 TEXT
13:
14: ANSWER A
15: ANSWER B
16: ANSWER C
17: ANSWER D
18: ANSWER E
19:
20: EXPLANATION
21:
22:

So let’s assume I already have a text file with a few of my questions, answers, and explanations already saved and I would like to import those questions. My text file will more than likely look something like this:

First, I’ll need to open my file using the Import Utilty. To do this,  select File > Open Existing Text File from the top menu and then browse your hard drive until you find the .txt file you would like to import. When I open my text file in the Import Utility for the first time, it’s going to look like this:

As you can see, the questions from my text file do not match the 11-line import format. To verify that the lines are off or to view what types of errors I may have in my text file, I can click the Preview tab at the top to get  a question by question analysis of exactly what (and more importantly how) questions will be imported.

As you can see I have multiple errors in the layout of my .txt file, but just in case if I couldn’t tell immediately, the Import Utility will notify me with a popup alerting me to any glaring errors it might detect.  In my case. here are the errors:

First and foremost, both of my questions are using more than one line, when they should only be using one line.  In my second question, the explanation is also using more than one line when it should be only using one line. Also in the second question, I only have four answers (which is OK) but I have not left a blank line where the 5th answer would normally be. In fact, I’m missing a second blank line after both explanations as well. All of these things together are causing my question errrors.

For instance, the importer is looking for the first choice on my first question on line 5. However, it’s finding the last word of my question instead. After I go back and correct the formatting (moving all question text to one line, making sure I have the proper number of blank lines including blank lines for items I won’t be using, and making sure my explanations are only on one line) my format will look like this:

As you can see I have corrected all my errors, and now the data on the right (in white) lines up correctly with a blue rows to the left.  From this view it looks as though I’ve managed to remove all the errors in formatting. However, just to make certain I’ll click on the Preview tab again to see what errors might be found:

This time around, I did not recieve any popups notifying me of any errors, and I only see one warning sign.  In this case, the warning sign is alerting me that I have not entered any text for the 5th answer of my second question - which I did intentionally so it appears all is well.

The last thing I’ll need to do is denote which answer is actually the correct answer. To mark an answer as correct, I’m going to prefix it with [*]. Once I return to the software and actually import my formatted text file, that’s the prefix I will use to denote the correct answer in the Import Wizard. If my question has more than one correct answer (in the case of a Multiple Response style question), I only need to prefix all of the correct answers with [*]. Once I’ve prefixed my answers, my Import Utility screen will look like this:

Note: This step can be skipped, however if no prefix is found the Import Wizard will automatically use the first answer as the correct answer.

Now that my text file is in the correct format, it’s time to save my text file again so that it may be used by the Import Wizard. To do this,  select File > Save This File to Disk from the menu at the top and select the location and filename where you would like to save your formatted text file.

Once my .txt file is saved, I’m ready to return to the software and follow the steps of the Import Wizard, using my newly formatted text file to easily import questions, answers, and explanations directly into the software.

Atrixware Quiz Management Service is an easy online solution for emailing, exporting, viewing, and storing online quiz results published from our Quiz Publishing Software.  This article is going to show you how to publish a quiz using Atrixware Test Pro Developer that utilizes the Quiz Management Service.

To begin, I’m going to start Test Pro Developer and from the Develop tab I am going to select to create a New Test/Module.

This will bring up the Create New Test / Module window, where I can select the template that I would like to use for my test.  To use the Quiz Management Service, I want to select the QMS Test template from the Test tab and click the Next button.

I will now be prompted to enter a title for my quiz and optionally a summary.  Once I have entered my quiz title, I’ll click on the Finish button to create my QMS Test.  Clicking on the Finish button will bring up a dialog window asking me to enter my email address.  If I already have a Quiz Management Service account, I want to enter the email address I use to login to my account.  If I haven’t yet used the Quiz Management Service, I can simply enter my email address and my account will be created for me the first time a student completes my quiz.

When a student completes my QMS Test, they will be prompted to enter their name and email address before they can recieve credit for the test.  By default, the screen a student would see prompting them to enter this information looks like this:

If I wanted to, I can edit the appearance of the page.  I can do this by going to the Develop tab, highlighting the test I created, and clicking on the Files & Resources tab from the top bar.  One of the files under the Files & Resource tab should have the filename qms_submit.txt.  By opening and editing this file, I can change not only the appearance of the page, but what information is collected from the student and submitted to the Quiz Management Service.

The qms_submit.txt file contains the HTML, CSS, and Javascript to render the form that the student sees and submit it to the Quiz Management Service.  Below I’m going to go over the different parts of the file to give you a better understanding of how I could customize it.

Javascript Validation 

The Javascript Validation function above checks the values entered for the Student Name and Student Email. If you wanted to add more input fields to the form you could add validation for more form fields.

CSS (For what the student sees)

Here you can easily change the appearance of the form the student sees without actually changing the form itself.  For example, if you wanted to change the size of the font of the word IMPORTANT: , you could change font-size: 10pt;  to font-size: 14pt; under .style2.  Or if you wanted to change the color of the text from black to green you could add color: #00FF00; inside of .style1.

CSS (For the report that is emailed to you & stored in the Quiz Management Service)

Here you can easily change the appearance of the report that is included in the email sent to you when a student completes the test, as well as is stored in the Quiz Management Service.  By editing the CSS here, you can change the font type, color, size, and weight for the report headings, question text, answer text, result text, correct answer text, and the explanation text (in that order top-bottom). 

HTML (For the report that is emailed to you & stored in the Quiz Management Service)

In this section of the file you can customize the report that is being sent to you via email and being stored by the Quiz Management Service.  Not only can you change the layout of the report, but you can also add additional information to your report gathered from PowerScript.  You could easily add values for things such as <% Score.GetPassingScore %> or <% Score.GetRoundedValue %> to add the passing score for the test and students rounded score. 

Using values you set via PowerScript, you could pass information about class, subject, category, test version, or almost anything else you could imagine.

Another powerful option for customization that Test Pro Developer gives me is the ability to configure whether or not the student sees the report I set up in the section above or if they see a custom message upon completion of the test.  To edit this option or customize the message displayed to the student, I’ll need to go in a edit the PowerScript for my test.

With the QMS Test I created still highlight, I want to select the PowerScript tab from the top menu and then click on the Open Full Editor link in the Task Panel.

In the PowerScript Code Editor I want to use the scrollbar on the right hand side to scroll down until I see the section of code entitled QMS Values.

There are three values I can change by editing this section of code.  The first is qms_account, which is the email address I entered when creating my QMS Test where I wanted the results to be sent.  The second value I can edit is show_results.  If show_results is set to true, then upon completing the test, my students will see the full report I set up after they have submitted their test score.  If show_results is set to false, the student will instead see the message stored in the last value I can edit, the response value.

The response value is the message displayed to the student upon completing their quiz instead of the full report.  By default it is a generic message, but using HTML I can customize the message to match the rest of my test.

For example, if I set response equal to “<font size=’3′ face=’Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif’>Your Results have been submitted. Click <b><font color=’#FF0000′>CLOSE</font></b> to finish.</font”, then the message the student sees would look like this:

Your Results have been submitted. Click CLOSE to finish.

Or if I set response equal to “<font color=’#0099CC’ size=’3′ face=’Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif’>Your</font><font color=’#004080′ size=’3′ face=’Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif’> Results <font color=’#0099CC’>have</font> been <font color=’#0099CC’>submitted</font>. Click <b><font color=’#66FFCC’><em>CLOSE</em></font></b> to <font color=’#006699′>finish</font>.</font”, the result would look like this:

Your Results have been submitted. Click CLOSE to finish.

As you can see, Test Pro Developer offers a nearly unlimited amount of customizations when it comes to the results that it uses along with the Quiz Management Service.  After I have distributed my test and a student has completed it, I can click on the Quiz Management tab and login to the Quiz Management Service using the email address I chose to have my results sent to.  By default, the username and password for the Quiz Management Service is the email address I entered when publishing my quiz.

One of the new features in Test Pro Developer 9 is the ability to export test questions (multiple choice and true/false) into PowerPoint.

A small note - this export works only if you have PowerPoint installed on your system.

To begin, select a test, and then click the EXPORT option on the task panel:

Choose the PowerPoint Export option from the list:

The PowerPoint Quiz Properties screen will appear:

From here, you will be able to configure various settings for the output, such as design template, prefixing, response text, and a few others.

Spend a few minutes configuring the export, and then click the CONTINUE button once you have it set up. After a few seconds (or minutes if you have a lot of questions), the slides will appear inside of PowerPoint.

In my example shown below, I choose the ‘green fade’ design template:

Many people use Test Pro Developer to create elearning tests, packages and quizzes for a classroom or training.  You can also use Test Pro Developer to start or improve a business.  Many of our customers already sell Test Pro Elearning Packages as study guides, training materials etc as their primary source of income.  Elearning packages can be developed in Test Pro and the installers can be available from a link in an automated email  that provides customer with serial number (your software piracy protection), download link etc.  The purchaser will be allowed to install the software once unless specified in your Activation Server Account (Manages and tracks your installations and key codes).  You can also burn your elearning package on to an autolaunch CD for distribution as well.

All payment information and a copy of the purchase order is sent to the business owner without lifting a finger.  Once the initial set up is complete, your online business will require very little maintenance with minimal fees (payment processing, respondents).

 For more information, you can contact our sales department 866-696-8709 ext 0

If you are a Test Pro Developer user, and have moved to either Easy Quiz Maker, or Online Quiz Maker, you will be able to migrate your tests so they will work inside of your Quiz Maker software.To prepare your tests for migration, first open up Test Pro Developer, and log in to your Developer profile. Go to the ‘Tests in Development’ area, and for each test, click Tools > Change Access Rights:

Make sure that ‘Shared Access‘ is selected for each one.

Next, you close out Test Pro Developer, and locate the shortcut icon. Right-Click on the shortcut, and choose PROPERTIES, and then click FIND TARGET in the dialog box (on Windows Vista, you can just Right-Click and choose OPEN FILE LOCATION). This will take you to the root install path of Test Pro Developer. Locate and double-click on the PROFILES folder, and then Right-Click on the folder for your profile, and choose COPY.

Now, locate the shortcut icon for your Quiz Maker software, Right-Click on it, and choose PROPERTIES and then FIND TARGET (or in Vista, choose OPEN FILE LOCATION). You are now in the root installation path for your Quiz Maker software. Locate and double-click on the PROFILES folder, and then choose EDIT > PASTE. This will paste the Test Pro Developer profile folder here.

Now you can start up your Quiz Maker software. On the main screen, Right-Click on any blank area, and choose IMPORT > FROM DEVELOPER 8 PROFILE:

On the Import window, click the Developer 8 Profile, and all shared tests will be shown. Simply click on each one, and click IMPORT.

Note that this process works on both Easy Quiz Maker as well as on Online Quiz Maker.

Did you know that if you are distributing ELearning Packaged Tests or using the LAN based testing components, you can create question text and choices that contain dynamic (changing) values?

Here is a simple example. Consider this Quiz Question:

Dave has 2 apples. Jane has 1 apple. How many apples do they have total?

Suppose we want to change the names each time. Suppose we want to change the TOTAL # apples each time. We can do both - so let’s get started.

First, go to the question wizard, and pick BASIC STYLES > MULTIPLE RESPONSE:

Click ADD QUESTION, and the Question entry wizard will appear. Enter the question text, and (for this example) 4 choices:

Click NEXT (to save the question), and then close the Question Wizard form. Your new question should be listed in the question list.

Now, if you want the names Dave and Jane to be dynamic (meaning, they will be different each time), first double-click the question to open it up in the Question Editor, click the VIEW CODE tab, and click APPLY. When you click APPLY, you will be able to enter some PowerScript code. This is where we will define the ‘pool’ of names we will use. Enter the following code:

' Set Up Name Choices and Variables
ExecuteGlobal("Dim name1, name2")
'
' Create Possible Names
name1_choices = Array("Bob", "Dave", "Steve", "Joe")
name2_choices = Array("Alice", "Jane", "Mary", "Lisa")
'
' Pick a Randon Name for Each One
For i = 0 To Second(Time)
name1 = name1_choices( int(rnd(1)*4) )
name2 = name2_choices( int(rnd(1)*4) )
Next

Now, click the QUESTION/CHOICES tab, and click the FULL EDITOR button. Highlight the word Dave in the editor, and then click the INSERT DYNAMIC VALUE button:

Enter name1 into the blank and click OK. Notice that the name Dave has been replaced with <%name1%>.

Follow the same steps for Jane (highlight Jane, click insert dynamic value) - this time enter in the phrase name2 and click OK. Your question should look as follows:

Click SAVE on the FULL EDITOR, and you will be returned back to the Question Wizard. Now click the PREVIEW QUESTION tab and then click COMPILED PREVIEW. If you do it a few times, you should see that the names change each time:

Changing the ANSWER is a bit more complex. The reason is, we need to make sure that each of the incorrect/detractor answers are never the same value as the correct answer. In our example, we have used the values 2, 5, and 7 as detractor values, so we never want those values to be the correct value.

Keeping that in mind, let’s go back to the code editor (VIEW CODE tab), and modify the code as follows:

' Set Up Name Choices and Variables
ExecuteGlobal("Dim name1, name2, value1, value2, correct_value")
'
' Create Possible Names
name1_choices = Array("Bob", "Dave", "Steve", "Joe")
name2_choices = Array("Alice", "Jane", "Mary", "Lisa")
value1_choices = Array(2,3,4,5)
value2_choices = Array(6,7,8,9)
'
' Pick a Randon Name for Each One
For i = 0 To Second(Time)
name1 = name1_choices( int(rnd(1)*4) )
name2 = name2_choices( int(rnd(1)*4) )
value1 = value1_choices( int(rnd(1)*4) )
value2 = value2_choices( int(rnd(1)*4) )
Next
'
' Set Correct Value
correct_value = value1 + value2

Next, go to the QUESTION/CHOICES tab. You can (if you want) go to the FULL EDITOR and replace the numbers using the INSERT DYNAMIC DATA button like I showed you previously when you did it for the names, or, you can just type it in. Either way the end result should look as follows:

<%name1%> has <%value1%> apples. <%name2%> has <%value2%> apples. How many apples do they have total?

Since we are changing the values, we also need to make the ‘correct answer‘ dynamic. To do this, click the CHOICES A-H tab, and change the correct answer from ‘3‘ to <%correct_value%>.

Our code will calculate the ‘correct-value’, and place it here.

Once again, click PREVIEW QUESTION and then COMPILED PREVIEW. Doing it several times will yield various names and values each time.

In this tutorial I will be discussing how to add a video in a question with Test Pro Developer.  First create a Learning Mode w/ Advanced Report Test by clicking Create a New Test > Enterprise > Learning Mode w/ Advanced Report.  After your test is created we will need to add your video to the project.  Select your test and click the configure button. 

Click the Other Resources tab, click the Open File Dependency Editor and click the Add button. 

Navigate to the location of your video file and click Add.  Click OK, Close twice and Save Changes to return to the Develop Tests window. 

Next, we will need to create the HTML document that the video will be embedded into.  If you are familiar with HTML, you can further customize the HTML document as desired.  For this example, I will keep it very simple.  Open Notepad and paste the code below. 

<html>
<body>
<embed LOOP="false" AUTOPLAY="false" height="240" width="360" src="testVideo1.avi"></embed>
</body>
</html>

You will need to change the video name, width and height in the code to the properties of your video. 

Save the file and name it what ever you would like with a file extension of .html (ex.  yourfilename.html).    Close the html file and Open Test Pro. 

I will now add a question to our test by selecting the test and clicking the Add Question button.  Now click the Add a Question button in the questions area.

Then click the + sign on the Multiple Option Style Variations question type and select Multiple Option - On Form HTML Exhibit. 

Enter your question/answers and click Next.  Test Pro will prompt you to add an html file for your question.  Navigate to the HTML file we just created, click OK then Done.

Now it is time to preview your question.  Select the question, click Edit Question > Preview Question > Complied Preview.  Your video will now appear in the question as shown below.

In this article, I will be customizing the End of Test Report in Test Pro Developer.  You will need to have knowledge of HTML or an HTML program like FrontPage or Dreamweaver. 

Note: This customization is not for the Standard Legacy Report.  You can remove the Standard Legacy Report by clicking Configure and unchecking the Show Standard (Legacy) Report Upon Completion of the Test box.

First you will need to create a Learning Mode w/Advanced Report test (Create a New Test > Enterprise Tab > Learning Mode w/Advanced Report).  Then we need to add a dependency file (the banner image) by selecting on the test and clicking the Configure button. 

Select the Other Resources tab and click the Open File Dependency Editor button. 

Click Add File and navigate to your banner image. 

After your file is added, click OK, Close, Close and Save Changes.  Now that our banner is included in the test, we want to modify our HTML report template.   To find the HTML report template follow the path below and open it in your HTML editor if desired. (you can open it in the text editor as well)

Note:  Your Application Data folder may be hidden.  To view this folder, click tools > Folder Options > View and select Show Hidden Files and Folders.

On Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Application Data\Atrixware\Developer 8\Profiles\YOUR PROFILE NAME\Electronic\YOUR TEST NAME\aw-adv-report.txt

On Vista

Right-Click on your Desktop Shortcut and select Open File Location.  Click Profiles\YOUR PROFILE NAME\Electronic\YOUR TEST NAME\aw-adv-report.txt

Now I will link to my image by adding this line of code right below the <body> tag

<img src="banner.gif" />

Note: Replace banner.gif with the name of your banner image

I also want to remove the grey background, border and padding from the bold text by removing the style selected below.  I also want to add the text Your Results For before my test name. 

Save your file after you have modified your report template to your liking.  Open Test Pro and go to your Develop Tests tab.  Right click on your test and select Compile & Run > Standard Test.  Once your test opens, click End to see your new report.  If your banner image is too wide for the default size of the test window (like the image below), you will need to make a few modifications.

First find the line of code below and remove it (View/Edit Test Level PowerScript)

Browser.Move main.left, main.top, main.Width, main.Height 

Now with your cursor still in the same spot, paste the code below.

(under this line: FileTemplate.AppendFile finalFile, reportOutput)

Change reportWidth(currently 830)/reportHeight(currently 600) number to your width/height in pixels and click save.

Change reportWidth(currently 830)/reportHeight(currently 600) number to your width/height in pixels and click save. 

You can preview your test from the code window by clicking the button below.

In this article I will be discussing the use of rule scripts in Test Pro Developer.  The use of rules can be very helpful to select a number, type, weight etc. of questions in a test.  The most common rule used would be to select a certain number of questions from each category.    You also have a number of other rules you can use to filter your questions.  You can select the questions or the answers to contain specific text, by a script tag or by question weight. 

I will start by creating a test that has multiple categories and varying score weights.  Now that the test is created, we can apply some Rule Scripts to it.  I want my test to contain 10 questions from the First Category, 15 from the Second Category and all questions from the Third Category.  To do this, select the test you are working with in the Develop Tests tab and click the Configure button. 

Click the Question Configuration Tab and click the Select Questions with a Rules Script option box.  Click the Edit Script button then click the Open Wizard button. 

Select 10 from the first drop down box, select the First Category from the second drop down menu and click Add and Continue.  

The rule has been added so now we can continue to add the rules for the remaining two categories.  Once you have added your last rule click Add and Close.  Click Save then Save Changes.  I will run my test to make sure my rules have gone into effect by right-clicking on my test, selecting Compile and Run, then select Standard Test. 

Answer a few questions then click End to bring up your report.  The report will tell you how many questions you got correct out of the total number of questions in each category.  This is how we will know that our rules are working properly.  

So now that my rules are in place, I am going to make some modifications to them.  Select the test, click the Configure button and click the Question Configuration tab.  Click the Edit Script Button and click the Open Wizard button.  I want to have every question with a score weight of 9 to be included in the test.  Select All for the first drop down box, 9 for the last drop down box and click Add and Close. 

I now want to change the Third Category to include only 1 question instead of all questions.  Click the Create Script Manually tab and you will see a list of the Rule Scripts we have added.  Find the Rule Script that says…

Rule
Match Category “Third Category”
Use All

and change it to…

Rule
Match Category “Third Category”
Use 1

Click Save then Save Changes

Atrixware was recently awarded a Dr. File Finder Favorite designation at TUCOWS.com for its eLearning software title Test Pro Developer. Mr. Michael E. Callahan, the Manager of Editorial Content on Tucows, known around the world by the trademarked name Dr. File Finder, is regarded as the world’s leading expert on shareware.

 In reviewing Test Pro Developer, Dr. File Finder commented, “This product, and other products by the company, have the ability to help educate and teach people of all ages. So, if you’re in business or education, if you’re a teacher or a CEO, if you’re someone who just needs to teach something or learn something, this is a product you need to try. I recommend it highly!”

Test Pro Developer 8.0 is a Microsoft Windows application which enables the user to create eLearning courseware, tests, quizzes, presentations, and surveys. Atrixware’s eLearning software tools facilitate rapid e-learning to meet the needs of students, teachers, Homeschool parents, corporate and government trainers, independent content publishers and non-profit associations. It also helps other certifying entities that validate individuals for licensing or certification from real estate license testing to machinery operator certification.”

Take the drudgery out of repetitive test preparation.Randomly generate a test from a topic, Deter cheating by randomly altering the positions of the possible answers & questions. Automate self-grading tests which inform you what you got wrong & why. Print tests & quizzes with answer keys. Email & HTML tests without a server. Create Surveys. Try the flashcard player so students can teach themselves and have fun learning.

Besides the educational market, Test Pro Developer is available in two additional core editions, each designed for a specific type of user; users in a corporate/network setting, and users developing eLearning content for profit. Professional Edition – Corporate Training, Commercial Training Centers, Government Agencies, and K-12 School environments from single room to facility wide, includes proctored or “high risk” testing capabilities too. Enterprise Edition – Perfect for anyone looking to create “eLearning Software”, typically for profit. This version adds a royalty-free distribution license, and offers three piracy-protection technologies can be encoded into eLearning software for distribution via a CD-Rom or the Internet.

Finally, Atrixware offers the added flexibility of creating and delivering online courses and tests over the Internet with its WEBLEARNING System. A subscription based service that lets anyone begin creating their first test in about an hour according to the company. Atrixware offers free trials of both its Test Pro Developer software and online WEBLEARNING System before a purchase is required.
For more information visit Atrixware at www.atrixware.com

The entire Dr. File Finder review of Test Pro Developer is available at TUCOWS.com at http://www.tucows.com/article/1185.