Actions Editor Including Methods
Did you know that this new feature existed??? Well you should:-)Click
here to read an article from
Platte Canyon's "The EnterPage", Issue 5-04 on "Actions Editor Tip by
Cindy Kessler" - thanks Cindy:-)
How Does This FreeBee Work?
This is an unofficial, unsupported, undocumented (except here:-) hacked
version of the Actions System Editor. Therefore, you already know how this
works. Right? Use it at your own risk. If you have
problems with this tool, you will not get support from Click2Learn, Platte
Canyon, or me. That said, the ToolBook List would be a good forum to
discuss this tool and how it can be used.
I have been using this new Actions Editor for more than 3 months and
have not found any problems at all.
This tool is a modified (hacked) version of the standard Actions Editor,
it will allow you to easily access this really cool and
great new feature - Action Methods - available in version 8.5 Instructor
only. Without this tool or a tool like this, you are on your own to
create the Actions Methods using the command window.
How Can This FreeBee Be Used?
You can use this FreeBee in your own development of ToolBook projects. You cannot give away or sell this FreeBee to others. If you want
others to be able to use the FreeBee, please direct them to this site to
register for the FreeBee Newsletter and access to all of the FreeBees.
How Does the FreeBee Work During
Development?
Once you have updated your Actions System Editor with this tool, you
will be able to create Action Methods as easily as you create Shared Actions.
What's New?
There is a new option in the Action menu called "Method Actions..."
which is just above the "Shared Actions..." option.
When you select the Method Actions option the following dialog will
open. Note that this looks and works exactly the same as the "Shared
Actions" dialog. Functionally, Method Actions are exactly the same as
Shared Actions, the difference is where the Actions are stored and their
scope.
That's it:-)
How do I use Method Actions?
After you have created a Method Action you
need to "Execute" the Action. From the Insert menu, select Action, Object,
Execute Method:
The following dialog will popup and allow you
to select the object that has Method Actions. Once selected you then need
to select the Method to Execute. If the Method has parameters you would
then define these parameters. Finally you would optionally specify a
variable to store the returned value.
That's it, simple right?
Installing the Tool To Your System
Before you download the tool ensure that ToolBook is closed. Using
explorer or My Computer, navigate
to the Instructor product directory which should be: C:\Program
Files\click2learn\Instructor85\ for a standard install. Now create two new
folders called tb85actaOriginal and tb85actaMethods, move the existing C:\Program
Files\click2learn\Instructor85 \tb85acta.sbk into the tb85actaOriginal
folder. Download the FreeBee tool into the C:\Program
Files\click2learn\Instructor85\tb85actaMethods\ folder. The download file
will be tb85actaMethods.zip, now extract the tb85acta.sbk to the
C:\Program Files\click2learn\Instructor85\ folder.
Removing the Tool From Your System
If after installing this tool you decide not to use Action Methods, there is really no need to
delete it from your system. If however, you want to remove it, here
is how you would do that:
Assuming you have followed the above installation method all you need
to do is copy the file C:\Program
Files\click2learn\Instructor85\tb85actaOriginal\tb85acta.sbk to C:\Program
Files\click2learn\Instructor85\tb85acta.sbk overwriting the exiting file.
Your call if you also want to delete the two folders b85actaOriginal and tb85actaMethods.
Why I Developed this FreeBee
After I read Cindy's article on using Actions Methods,
I realized that it opened a whole world of possibilities that are not
doable using standard Actions.
I started using Actions Methods, but quickly got tired
of having to use the command window to create the methods. I
modified my Actions Editor so that I could add methods as easily as I
could add actions. While I hesitated providing this to others
because it modifies the standard Action System Editor, I decided to make it available on a
"at your own risk" basis because it is just too good not to share with
fellow ToolBookers.
FreeBee Features
-
Create Action Methods with the same ease as adding standard Shared Actions that
we are all familiar with.
-
Focus on harnessing the power of Methods Actions and not on writing the
code for the Methods Actions.
FreeBee Details
Developed in ToolBook v8.5. Sorry, but this functionality didn't
exist until v8.5 :-(
Get FreeBee
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