FlashCamp and Flash CS4
A quickie post about FlashCamp and Flash CS4
Choosing a specific technology for your e-learning courseware
This question came in via email. I figured I would post it (keeping the author anonymous) because these are very common questions, and maybe this post can help other people out. I also want to give others the opportunity to throw in their 2 cents! 🙂
How to add basic SCORM code to a Flash movie
Here’s a quick tutorial for adding basic SCORM functionality to an existing Flash file. This tutorial aims to demonstrate just how easy it can be to add SCORM functionality to an existing Flash movie.
Please note that this tutorial uses ActionScript 3 and SCORM 1.2, but the same principles apply for ActionScript 2 and SCORM 2004.
LegacyCaptivateLoader: Dealing with pre-existing scripts in your Captivate SWF
When I designed the LegacyCaptivateLoader, I was focused on giving the ActionScript 3 SWF the ability to control the ActionScript 2-based Captivate SWF; I hadn’t given much thought to how the situation affects Captivate SWFs using one of the workarounds I just described. Can the embedded SWFs still work? Will JavaScript calls from Captivate still work with ActionScript 3’s ExternalInterface system? The short answer is yes, but it may take some tweaking on your part.
New: LegacyCaptivateLoader class
A few months ago I wrote about the dilemma of trying to load Captivate SWFs into an ActionScript 3-based parent SWF.
Dilemma solved!
I present to you the ActionScript 3 class LegacyCaptivateLoader. This class utilizes ExternalInterface and a proxy SWF to facilitate sending commands to and querying data from an ActionScript 2-based Captivate SWF.
Lines in the sand
Being an idealist, I eagerly bought into what was being covered in grad school. I believed (and still do, to a point) that every project should follow ADDIE or a similar model. C’mon, it makes sense, doesn’t it? The line in the sand had been drawn: skip these principles at your own peril. Now that I’ve spent a few years working full-time as an instructional designer-slash-e-learning developer, I’ve learned first-hand that the instructional design ideals taught in grad school are quickly thrown out the window when you get a “real” job.
SWFObject is officially at 2.0
Geoff Stearns and Bobby van der Sluis have finalized SWFObject 2.0. It is no longer beta, and SWFObject 1.5 is now considered deprecated.
SCORM wrapper examples tested successfully in SumTotal TotalLMS 7.6
The pipwerks SCORM wrapper examples have been successfully tested in SumTotal TotalLMS 7.6. FYI, the examples’ imsmanifest.xml files required some modifications (the old manifests worked fine in the ADL test suites, but coughed a little when used in SumTotal TotalLMS 7.6). The JavaScript, ActionScript and HTML in the examples remain unchanged. If you’ve previously downloaded the examples, I suggest you download the updated versions to get the newer manifests. Of course, if you’re a pro at manifests (Aaron?), you could always make better ones… making the imsmanifest is my least favorite part of working with SCORM. As always, if you test these in your LMS, please let me know — even if it doesn’t work! Thanks 🙂
Really simple SCORM AS3 wrapper example
Here’s a simple example of how the SCORM AS3 class can be utilized. (This example uses SCORM 2004 calls.)
Flash demos for SCORM ActionScript classes now available
Finally got around to making some Flash files that demonstrate the pipwerks SCORM ActionScript classes. I’ve created examples for both AS2 and AS3. You can get them here.
Both of these examples have been successfully tested using the latest ADL test suites for SCORM 1.2 and 2004.