Creating Text Files for VidViewer

 

VidViewer reads in information from several text files, which should all be kept in the same folder with the movie or sound file they refer to.

The names of these files should always be introduction.txt, script.txt, glossary.txt, questions.txt, and cloze.txt.

 

Comments

To avoid confusion as to which file is for which clip, you can include notes (called "comments") in your text files by beginning each comment line with two hyphens, as in the following example from a script.txt file:

--This file contains the script for the mystery play
Narr:	It was a dark and stormy night.

If you are working with a language in which a double hyphen is the standard way of introducing a quotation, you can work around this conflict by entering a space or a tab at the beginning of lines which start with quotation, as follows:

--This is the Polish dialogue for Lesson 2:
CE
	--Co to jest?
	--Nie wiem.

In this example, VidViewer will not display the first line; the two lines of dialogue will be shown in the script.

Font Settings

VidViewer supports Western European (Helvetica/Arial), Central European (Helvetica CE/Arial CE), and Cyrillic (ER UniversTR) fonts, but since font information is not preserved in plain text files, each text file should begin with an indication of which font VidViewer should use to display it. For Central European languages, this is done by typing "CE" on the first line (not counting comments) of the file (see the second example above); for Cyrillic, the first line should be "Cyrillic."

When VidViewer finds "CE" the information for that file is displayed in Helvetica CE or Arial CE. When VidViewer finds "Cyrillic," the information is displayed in the ER UniversTR font.

If VidViewer finds neither "CE" nor "Cyrillic," the section will be displayed in Helvetica/Arial.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to mix fonts within a text file (except in glossary.txt, where "CE" or "Cyrillic" determines the font for the glossed items only).

 

introduction.txt contains text which the student will see upon selecting a clip. This may include an orientation to the content, hints on what to listen or watch for, or other introductory notes. If you prefer not to include an introduction.txt file, a generic message ("Review the clip at left..") is shown in its place.

 

script.txt contains the script or dialogue from your clip. The contents of this file (except comments) will appear when the user clicks the "script" button. If you prefer to create exercises with listening as the only option, you may simply not include a script.txt file.

 

glossary.txt contains the words and definitions to be shown in the glossary under the video window. Formatting is important and should be as follows:

Example:

--this is the glossary for German clip #6
kommst	kommen	to come
ausgezeichnet	ausgezeichnet	excellent	superb

Note that this is a tab-delimited file: items on a line should be separated by tabs (not just blank spaces!). Each set is followed by a single hard return. It's OK if your word processor wraps a set down to the next line, as VidViewer will look for hard returns only.

The glossary.txt file also feeds the vocabulary quiz. If you wish to gloss a word but exclude it from the quiz, type an asterisk at the beginning of the line:

Apfel	Apfel	apple
*Kiwi	Kiwi	kiwi
Pflaum	Pflaum	plum

In this example, all items will appear in the glossary; only apple and plum will appear in the vocabulary quiz.

 

questions.txt feeds the multiple choice exercise, and should be formatted as follows:

Each new section (after the first) should begin with an asterisk; this lets VidViewer know that a new question is beginning.

Example:

--this is for the last clip from the Mystery radio play
Who dunnit?
The maid.
The butler.
The gardener.
b
1200
1800
*With what?
A candlestick.
A dagger.
A shoe horn.
a
2000
2300

 

cloze.txt feeds the fill-in-the-blanks exercise, and should be set up as follows:

Note that the "missing" word should be replaced, in the prompt, by two forward slashes. Between these slashes you can place anything or nothing - for example, you may want to simply show three dashes for every word /---/, or you may want to show three dashes for a three-letter word, but six dashes for a six-letter word /------/.

As in questions.txt, sets should be separated with an asterisk.

Examples:

Yes, it must have been /-------/.
Jeeves
800
950
*Who else /---/ have had the candlestick?
would
1100
1500

Tips on creating text files

You can use virtually any word processor, as long as your files are saved in plain text format. Users of the ER UniversTR Cyrillic font supported by VidViewer should remember to turn off the "smart quotes" feature, as the "zh" character has been mapped to the quotation mark key.

Some platform-specific information:

Macintosh: We recommend using SimpleText; this basic program (automatically installed with the Macintosh system software) allows you to choose different fonts as you type (a feature not found in some basic text editors in Windows). In addition, SimpleText automatically saves to a plain text format (compatible with VidViewer for Macintosh and Windows), saving you the trouble of remembering to tell your word processor to save in this format. Do be sure to name your files with the .txt extension, for the sake of cross-platform compatibility.

Windows: Some systems may be set to hide the three-letter MS-DOS extensions which PC files end in (.txt, .doc, .jpg, etc.). To check this, double-click on the "My Computer" icon (or open any window) and under the View pull-down menu, choose Options... This brings up a box with three tabs; click the tab marked "View." You'll see a checkbox labelled "Hide MS-DOS file extensions for file types that are registered." We recommend that you keep this option unchecked so that you can see exactly what your text files are named.

However, if you do prefer to keep the extensions hidden, you have two alternatives:

1) enclose the name of your file in quotes when you save (for example, in the File name field of the Save As... dialog box, type "script.txt" instead of script.txt), as this forces Windows to save your file with exactly the name you type (without adding and hiding an extra ".txt").

2) save your file as script; Windows will then automatically add the ".txt" extension (though you will not see this!).

If extensions are hidden, do not save your file as script.txt (without quotes) because Windows will cheerfully add yet another extension, resulting in a file named script.txt.txt (though you will not see this extra extension unless you uncheck the "Hide MS-DOS file extensions.." checkbox as described above). VidViewer will not recognize files ending in .txt.txt.

Many word processors in Windows present several ways to save in plain text format: as "Text Only," "Text Only with Line Breaks," "MS-DOS Text," and "MS-DOS Text with Line Breaks." VidViewer will recognize any of these formats.

NotePad

Advantage: always saves files in plain text.

Disadvantages: Does not allow you to display different fonts as you type (a problem for Central European and Cyrillic). Does not allow opening more than one file at a time.

WordPad

Advantage: Allows different fonts to be displayed.

Disadvantages: You must remember to save as text.




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