yourTILT

Important Files

These are the files within yourTILT that set the navigation, include JavaScript, access cookies, and/or use PHP. The list is organized by module then in the order pages would be viewed. Information about each of the interactions is integrated into that list; quiz information is listed at the end. The last items listed are those pages that must be edited in relation to your campus network and servers in order to function. Most of these files will only need to be edited once. Remember that changes to files need to be made to both the regular and the non-flash versions of the tutorial, if you choose to support both versions.

 

Introduction: Internet

require.htm
Includes a JavaScript browser detect in <head>. Based on the browser detect results, the JavaScript uses a document.write on the line "If you can't see anything get the download directions, then go to the Flash Download Page" to write a link to the appropriate download directions based on what browser on what platform the script detects. At the time, this was the best way to negotiate the problem of various user combinations of browsers and platforms. Plug-in downloads and installations may have changed since this was developed. Our experience and research at the time suggested that many students and users had trouble downloading and installing plug-ins on their machines. Our method assists them in this process based on how the process differs between platform and browser. Most recent browsers come with the Flash plug-in already enabled, so this is not as much of a concern as it was initially.

cookies.js
The file cookies.js is JavaScript code that is included in many TILT files. It consists of a series of cookie related functions. It is used it to create the name cookie from registration and it also includes functions for the quizzes. It is primarily used to preserve the users "Internet Issue" selection from issues.htm so that we can tailor examples to the user's preference throughout TILT. This is a fairly straightforward process: the cookie is queried for the value set in issues.htm and the value is used by JavaScript to perform a document.write to the page. For example, if the user selected "New Trends" then the example will relate to new technology or trends. Please note that cookies are by default only accessible to pages from the same web server from which they are set. Our cookie is set in cookies.js on line 236 [ SetCookie(cookieName, cookie, null, "/", ".lib.utsystem.edu") ]. You will need to change this to reflect the name of your server. Cookies.js is included in almost every directory in TILT. It might be best to change line 236 in either the Full TILT version or the TILT Lite (tilt/nf/) version and then copy it to all major subdirectories (except the image directories). Another solution would be to include one cookies.js file in the top-level directory then just point all files that use it to that particular copy.

regform.htm
Passes form information to reg.phtml which connects to the LDAP database and either creates a new record for the user, or if a record exists for this user, informs them of an existing record. If a record exists the user can either go to shortform.htm, for return users, or create another slightly modified login.

shortform.htm
Used by return users. Submits form data to short_reg.phtml, which connects to LDAP database. Users who enter TILT through shortform.htm are directed towards issues.htm to select a "Current Internet Issue", skipping the introductory section on information literacy and Internet Misconceptions.

intro/issues.htm
Includes the above mentioned cookies.js. Writes the users "Internet Issue" selection to a cookie, which is set for the duration of the browser. When a user clicks on the "Choose It" button, the value is stored in the cookie and they are redirected to the next page.

 

Module 1: Selecting

index.htm
Each module contains an index.html file. Because TILT modules use the tilt.htm frameset the index.html contains an http refresh in the <head> to redirect anyone who goes to http://tilt.lib.utsytem.edu/module1/ to the frameset http://tilt.lib.utsytem.edu/module1/tilt.htm.

tilt.htm (frameset)
TILT's standard interface uses three frames in its frameset : top_nav, bot_nav, and content. Most navigational elements target the center frame named "content".

need.htm
Includes cookies.js and JavaScript examples based on the "Internet Issue" selected by the user. Cookies.js uses the "getSubValue" function to return "reg" and "pref" for document.write to display examples that correspond to the appropriate value in the cookie.

popular.htm / scholarly.htm
Includes JavaScript image swap. "Onmouseover" events are placed inside image map.

scholpop2.htm
Includes JavaScript image swap. "Onmouseover" events are placed inside image map.

prequiz.htm
Includes JavaScript for button redirects.

 

Module 2: Searching

brainstorm2.htm
Uses cookies.js to generate examples of keywords and phrases based on the user's "Internet Issue" chosen after registration.

The Thought Process
The "Thought Process" is written in JavaScript and encourages the user to create a list of relevant keywords and phrases from a topic sentence for more constructive searching. This interaction is easily modifiable to include different topic sentences and keywords.

synonyms.htm
A frameset for the interaction consisting of three frames within the main content window including:

synonym1.htm
A horizontal frame at the top for the topic question. (name="instructions")

synonym2.htm (name="test") & synonym3.htm (name="answer")
2 vertical columns within the lower frame: synonym2.htm contains the action the user is to asked to apply to the topic sentence, an input box, a submit button, and a back arrow.

synonmy3.htm
A blank frame of just the bgcolor (#FFFCEB), this frame will be written to by JavaScript in synonym2.htm. synonym2.htm contains some simple JavaScript that compares the answers the user provides in the input area with an array of hard coded answers. It then writes any matches it finds to the synonym3.htm frame (called "answer") as well as the forward arrow. The Thought Process has students practice the process three times. Each time the interaction follows the same procedure.

database2.htm
Uses cookies.js to write examples.

record1.htm
Uses JavaScript rollovers for database record for a document.

record2.htm
Uses JavaScript rollovers for database record for magazine article.

keyword.htm
Uses cookies.js and a keyword.js. Keyword.js was just an experiment in separating out all the document.write JavaScript for these examples into a separate file. It might be interesting to create small library of these files to dynamically include based on the user's "Internet Issue" set in the cookie.

Searchers Wanted
Searchers Wanted is an interaction that encourages the user to apply searching skills to a real database. For contractual reasons the University of Texas cannot allow access to the database we used (Periodical Abstracts). We suggest contacting your library's computing or systems department to create a link to use a database to which your institution subscribes. The interaction could also be adapted to work with a free database on the web or a general web search engine.

searchers.htm
Contains JavaScript to open a pop-up window for the interaction.

trainer.htm
Builds the frameset consisting of left frame that containing trainer1.htm, and a larger right frame that contains ovid.htm.

ovid.htm
Contains an http refresh that loads the database into the frame after a small pause. This URL will have to be changed by your institution to point towards a database or web site chosen by you. You will probably also need to alter the questions and JavaScript interactions that appear in the left frame to reflect the particular database you select for this interaction.

trainer2.htm
Contains some simple JavaScript to check the value the user input to the question of how many articles they found while searching the database. The result is displayed as a JavaScript alert.

trainer4.phtml
Contains JavaScript to get the name value from the cookie, and then some PHP to extract just the first name to write into the document. For some reason it was difficult to split the name into first and last with JavaScript so PHP was used.

trainer5.htm
Contains a small JavaScript interaction similar to trainer2.htm.

over.phtml
PHP script to get the users name from the cookie and print it to the screen.

 

Module 3: Evaluating

findbooks.htm
Contains JavaScript for the image swap that occurs when the user rolls over the different parts of the call number.

findarticles.htm
Contains JavaScript to get the "Internet Issue" from the cookie to write an article citation to page.

billgates2.htm
Creates the frameset for the Searching for Bill Gates interaction. Two horizontal frames are loaded: book1.htm in the top frame, and book1_answer.htm in the lower frame.

book1.htm
book1.htm contains JavaScript for the rollover red arrow image that is swapped in as the user rolls over the spaces in the shelf where the call number should be located. There is also a function called "answerCheck" that is called when the user clicks on a space. This function writes html to the bottom frame (book1_answer.htm). If the answer is right then this html will include the red arrow to move forward.

urls1.htm
JavaScript image swap reveals information about different parts of a url.

You Make the Call
"You Make the Call" is a poll type interaction written in PHP. Information from the form in call.htm is passed to poll.phtml, which processes and graphs the information. Poll.phtml is fairly well commented. The values from the poll are stored in 4 flat text files: votes_poll1, votes_poll2, votes_poll3, and votes_poll4. For security purposes these flat text files are written to the /tmp directory of the server rather than within htdocs. You may need to check with your system administrator as to how long files written to the /tmp directory will remain; some systems flush this directory periodically. These files contain the total number of answers to the 3 choices provided for each of the 4 questions, and the total answers separated by colons. i.e. 21:120:229:370 This small file is broken apart by poll.phtml to provide the values to display. The bar graphs are generated by converting this number into a percentage of the total, then setting the width of the middle image to that number. The bars are made of three small images: a left end, a middle (whose length is generated based upon the percentage of the total it represents), and a right end.

 

Quizzes

The quizzes are probably the most complex JavaScript in TILT and have been the most prone to errors, bugs, and network problems. They depend on cookies to store the answers to each question, and a cookie that is set to prohibit the user re-answering the question immediately after reading our response. The quiz was written before we decided to use PHP (perhaps even before PHP existed). The quizzes could be rewritten in PHP and probably perform a lot better than they currently do.

quiz.htm
Creates the frameset that the quiz sits inside. Two frames: top frame, name="question", and bottom frame, name="feedback". The top frame displays the questions; while the bottom frame is blank and will contain our answers to the quiz, written dynamically by JavaScript after the user hits "submit."

Each quiz question, named q1.htm - q9.htm follows the same procedure:

1.Checks user input for a response. Sometimes there are multiple selections that need to be made. This function checks that the user has made the correct number of selections. It is called with checkInput(f) and returns a JavaScript alert if the correct number of answers were not submitted.

2. Checks whether or not this question has already been answered with cookieTest. If there is a cookie present that contains an answer for this question the user is automatically sent to the next question.

3.If these two tests pass, the appropriate response is then selected and written to the bottom feedback frame, along with a link to the next question.

4. Two cookies are then set: "last" and "ans". The "last" cookie is checked in step 2 to see whether this question has been answered before; while the "ans" cookie contains the number of right answers to each question for the results page.

q9.htm
Is the final question of the quiz and contains a text area for the user to input the "most important thing they learned" from the module.

end.phtml
This file contains JavaScript and PHP for printing out the quiz results. The code is commented fairly well. If the user registered then the option to email the quiz results is displayed; if they entered as an anonymous guest then email is not an option.

quizmail.phtml
Confirmation that the quiz results have been mailed.

tilt.phtml
Adds a quiz record to the LDAP database.

Mandatory Edits

Absolute URLs
Most of the necessary changes listed below involve places where absolute URLs were used within TILT. You will need to change these URLs to reflect your setup. Temporarily we have replaced our absolute URLs with XXX.XXX.XXX. You could do a find or grep command to locate each of these instances:

  • Every index.html file within modules 1, 2, and 3, and the quiz subdirectories in each.
  • Every index.html file in the same directories within the nf/ directory hierarchy
  • Index.html files within stats/ and stuff/ which contain an http refresh that redirects users.
  • In admin/ both the siteline_admin.phtml and sitemap.htm.

Registration
If you choose to use a registration system as we did, you will need to edit the following files in both versions:

  • short_reg.phtml - change lines 2 and 23
  • reg.phtml - change lines 2 and 36 (in the nf version, change line 4 and 38)

In addition, the files in the stats/ directory use LDAP to generate statistics for TILT and the quizzes. These PHP scripts bind to our LDAP server and would have to be changed to reflect the address of your LDAP server. The following files would all need to be changed in order to access local statistics:

  • comments_m1.phtml
  • comments_m2.phtml
  • comments_m3.phtml
  • mintst.phtml
  • quiz1.phtml
  • quiz2.phtml
  • quiz3.phtml
  • tiltcmnts_m1.phtml
  • tiltcmnts_m2.phtml
  • tiltcmnts_m3.phtml
  • tiltstats.phtml

Module Two: Searchers Wanted
Searchers Wanted links to a database subscribed to by the University of Texas. OVID has given us limited permission to use one year of an old datbase for our site. You will need to make arrangements with a vendor to link to another database should you choose to keep this interaction.

Module Three: Siteline
Siteline requires users have the ability to write to files in tmp/. You will need to make changes depending on your setup. These files need edits as noted:

  • siteline.phtml - change line 44
  • sitevision_end.phtml - change line 6
  • poll.phtml - change line 228

Quiz
The quizzes need the following edits in each of the module directories.

  • end.phtml - change line 97 and line 98. [Note that this file, while having the same name in each quiz directory, is unique to each particular quiz.]
  • quizmail.phtml - change line 18 and 20.
  • tilt.phtml - change line 32.

 

Brent Simpson, simp@mail.utexas.edu
Last updated: March 20, 2001