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PC-QUIZZER Version 2.2 - Shareware 01-Jun-90 Copyright (c) 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 - Data Assist, Inc., All Rights Reserved. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Data Assist, Inc. The software described is furnished under a license and may be used or copied only in accordance with this license agreement. You may evaluate this software for 30 days. After the 30 day evaluation period you are expected to register this software if you continue using it. This software MUST be registered if used in an educational or commercial environment. There are three types of registration available: 1. PC-Quizzer Registration: You will receive an updated disk with the latest version of QUIZ. You will NOT receive a printed manual. For personal use only! ($29) 2. PC-Quizzer Package: You will receive an updated disk with the latest versions of QUIZ, QIZEDIT, ARGUS and VIEW. You will also receive a printed manual. ($59) 3. PC-Quizzer+ Enhanced Version: You will receive an updated disk with the latest versions of QUIZ, QIZEDIT, ARGUS, VIEW, QUIZZER, QUIZLIB and RESPONSE. You will also receive a printed manual. Note: With this license, instructors are permitted to distribute multiple copies of QUIZZER to students for "in-house" training and testing. ($129) Site Licenses are available for Academic users, Commercial users and Developer's who wish to distribute multiple copies of the PC-Quizzer+ software. Please contact Data Assist for additional information. INTRODUCTION PC-QUIZZER is a Computer Based Testing (CBT) and training package designed for easy use while retaining many of the features found in expensive CAI packages. The product permits the user to create lessons without the requirement to learn a complex CAI programming language. The lesson is presented to the student using windows which contain options, questions, the answer prompt, and help. In addition, PC-Quizzer permits the use of color text, color graphics, sound effects, and music. A speech synthesizer may also be used to produce speech. Throughout this document we will refer to "the student" and "the author". The student is the person who is taking the quiz or lesson. The author is the person who is writing the lesson. From the PC-Quizzer options menu the student is able to select features such as Immediate question retry, Repeat missed questions, Almost correct answer, Select questions based on keywords and others. PC-Quizzer lessons are text files which contain questions and commands which control the presentation of the questions. The questions used in a PC-Quizzer lesson may be true/false, fill in the blank, multiple choice, or K-type multiple-choice. The questions on the quiz may be given sequentially or be randomly chosen by the computer. Questions that are missed are flagged for later retry, or they may be asked again immediately until the correct answer is given. Each question may contain multiple correct answers and incorrect answers. Various levels of help and other information may be included and displayed when the student needs help or has entered a right or wrong answer. Quiz files may be created using QIZEDIT or any standard ASCII text editor or word processor. Once created, the entire quiz file may be loaded into PC-Quizzer or certain questions may be selected based on a list of keywords. Graphics images for use with PC-Quizzer may be created with any graphics program, painting package or an application program that supports PCX files. The ARGUS utility may be used to capture graphics screens from other application programs. Another PC-Quizzer option permits answers that are "almost correct." This feature allows minor misspelled words to be accepted if the response is "similar" to the correct answer. For example: The response "Georg Washington" may be considered correct as the answer to "Who was the first President of the United States?" PC-Quizzer can be used for instruction in almost any subject including foreign languages, history, science, math, vocabulary and word definitions. It may also be used to ask trivia questions at your next party for hours of fun. PC-Quizzer is an excellent educational tool and a must for everyone involved with learning or teaching. AVAILABILITY PC-Quizzer is available for the IBM PC and most compatibles. PC-Quizzer requires only one disk drive and either a Monochrome, CGA, EGA, MCGA or VGA graphics adapter. The system should have at least 384K of RAM memory. Additional memory is required for graphics. Color Graphics is only supported on graphics adapters compatible with those made by IBM. PC-QUIZZER GETTING STARTED Lesson files, or quiz files, may be created using QIZEDIT or any standard text editor. If a word processor is used be sure that the non-document or ASCII mode is used. A complete description of QIZEDIT is available in another section of this document. Questions are organized into question entries. Each entry contains the text of the question, one or more correct answers, any anticipated incorrect answers and optional text to be displayed for various conditions. As you will soon discover, there are many other PC-Quizzer commands that may be used in a question entry. OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS PC-Quizzer is executed by typing QUIZ from the DOS ">" prompt. PC-Quizzer will begin by displaying the title screen. Press the ESC key to proceed to the main menu. The main menu contains several options which are used to load files and set parameters which control the way PC-Quizzer operates. Simply press the key corresponding to the appropriate menu option. The following section describes in greater detail the main menu options and how they are used. PC-QUIZZER MENU OPTIONS A - ALLOW APPROX. MATCH This option may be used to enable or disable PC-Quizzer from allowing minor misspelled answers from being accepted as correct. If this parameter is set to NO, the student must enter the answer exactly as specified in the QUIZ file. Only an exact match will be accepted. PC-Quizzer will always accept answers in either upper or lower case. When this parameter is set to YES, PC-Quizzer will determine if the answer entered by the student is "almost" like one of the correct answers given in the question entry. This feature may be used when the student should not be penalized for a minor misspelling of the answer. B - BEGIN QUIZ This option is used to begin a quiz. Before you can begin a quiz you must load one into the computer by using either Option L or Option K. After the quiz has completed you may repeat the quiz again by selecting Option B a second time without the need to reload the quiz file. Also see Option M. C - DISPLAY CORRECT ANSWER This option is used to control if the correct answer is displayed whenever the student enters an incorrect answer. If this parameter is set to NO, the correct answer will not be displayed. If this parameter is set to YES, the correct answer will be shown to the student. You may choose to set this option to YES while the student is studying the subject matter or is taking a practice quiz. Note: Should the question contain multiple correct answers, only the first correct answer will be displayed. Also see $ANSWER under the Commands section. E - EXIT PROGRAM This option will cause PC-Quizzer to exit back to MS-DOS. H - DISPLAY HELP LINES This option controls whether PC-Quizzer displays HELP lines during the quiz. If this parameter is set to YES, the student may request help by entering a question mark while at the answer prompt. PC-Quizzer will display a window containing any HELP lines given in the question entry. If this parameter is set to NO, then the help text will not be displayed. If no help is available for a question and the student asks for help, an error message will be displayed in the error window. This parameter should be set to YES during drill and practice sessions. Also see $HELP under the commands section. I - IMMEDIATE RETRY This option is used to control whether the student will be given a second (or third) chance to correctly answer a question. If the Immediate Retry option is set to YES, the student is given three attempts to supply a correct answer to a question. If the Immediate Retry option is set to NO, the student will be given only one try to enter the correct answer. If the student enters an incorrect answer, the question will be graded as wrong. The student may retry the missed question at a later time by choosing option M on the main menu. Also see Option M. K - KEYWORD LOAD This option performs the same function as Option L except that the student may specify a list of keywords. The keywords are used to select questions from the quiz file. After the student has specified the quiz filename, PC-Quizzer will display a keyword window. The keywords are entered into this window, and the arrow keys may be used to move around the inside of the window. When all the keywords have been entered the END key is used to terminate the list. The keywords may be entered in either upper or lower case. When searching the quiz file, PC-Quizzer will select only those questions which contain one or more of the keywords specified within the text of the question. All keywords for a question must be indicated using the $KEY command. Also see Option L and $KEY under the commands section. Example: Use Option K to load the STATES demo file and specify the name of your state and the name of each of your adjacent states. L - LOAD ALL This option is used to Load All questions from a quiz file. All of the questions will be loaded and selected. After the quiz file has been loaded, select Option B to begin the quiz. Also see Option K. M - REPEAT MISSED After completing a quiz, Option M may be used to repeat any questions that were missed. Option M may be repeated over and over again until no more questions are missed. The "Wrong:" field on the main menu indicates the number of questions which will be selected if Option M is specified. R - RANDOM MODE This option tells PC-Quizzer to randomize the questions before they are asked. This is a very useful study technique. Random mode is the opposite of Sequential Mode. Also see Option S. S - SEQUENTIAL MODE This option is the opposite of random mode. If sequential mode is specified, PC-Quizzer will present the questions in the same order as they appear in the quiz file. This is the default mode. Also see Option R. V - VOICE OUTPUT If your computer has a VOTRAX Type'n Talk, Personal Speech System, or ECHO synthesizer, you may select option V to enable speech output. PC-Quizzer will "speak" the questions and other messages to the student. Note: PC-Quizzer requires an initialization file to define the synthesizer communications port. Registered users should contact Data Assist for an Applications Note which describes how to set up the port before using a speech device. Registered users with a speech synthesizer other than those previously listed should contact Data Assist for support. COMMANDS The question entry starts with a $QUESTION command and ends with a $EOQ command. Each line of text between these two commands is part of the question entry. Each question entry must also have at least one $ANSWER command. Example: $QUESTION What is 1+1? $ANSWER 2 $EOQ Each PC-Quizzer command begins with a dollar sign which must start in column one. The command name may be abbreviated to three characters, but no less! $ACCEPT Syntax: $ACCEPT prompt-string The $ACCEPT command is used to prompt the student for an answer. In text mode, the student is prompted in the response window at the bottom of the screen. In graphics mode, the student is prompted at the current graphics cursor location. You may use the $LOCATE command to position the graphics cursor at the desired screen location before using the $ACCEPT command. Note: A question may use only one $ACCEPT command. Examples: $QUE $TITLE Accept in Text Mode What State has a capital of Montgomery? $ACCEPT And the answer is? $ANS ALABAMA $EOQ $QUE $TITLE Accept in Graphics Mode $PCX 0 USA.PCX $PAINT 197 133 2 $LOCATE 16 80 $DISPLAY Name this state... $LOCATE 192 8 $ACCEPT Name? $ANS ALABAMA $EOQ See also: $LOCATE and $ASK $ANSWER Syntax: $ANSWER answer-string The $ANSWER command tells PC-Quizzer what the correct answer to a question is. A question may contain multiple correct answers, but each correct answer must be specified on a different $ANSWER command. After the $ANSWER statement you may have additional lines of text. These lines will be displayed in the question window if the "answer-string" matches the answer given by the student. If your question has multiple correct answers, you may have different responses for each of the possible correct answers. Example: $QUESTION What is 1+1? $ANSWER 2 $EOQ $ASK Syntax: $ASK prompt-string The purpose of the $ASK command is to prompt the student for an answer while a graphics image is displayed. If the $ASK command is not used, PC-Quizzer will return to the text screen and prompt the student for an answer. If $ASK is used while a text screen is currently displayed, it will be ignored. See demo file USA.QIZ. $CGA Syntax: $CGA mode picture-file-name The $CGA command is used to display a BSAVE color graphic image. The mode parameter specifies the video mode needed to display the graphic image. Currently only modes 4, 5 (medium resolution) and 6 (high resolution) are supported. Picture-file-name is the name of a disk file which contains the graphic image. The complete file path name must be given. The graphic image must be stored in BSAVE format. Also see the $PCOLOR command. Note: Data Assist recommends the use of the $PCX command rather than the $CGA command. The $CGA command may become obsolete in a future version of PC-Quizzer. $CHOICE Syntax: $CHOICE style The $CHOICE command is used to display a menu of answers. The student selects an answer by using the arrow keys on the keypad. The style parameter is used to indicate the type of answer that is expected. The valid style parameters are: K - when a K-type answer is needed. T - when a True/False answer is needed. C - when a single Character answer is needed. N - when a Numeric answer is needed. X - when an eXact answer is needed. The lines following the $CHOICE command are used as the items on the menu. The menu is presented to the student using a scroll-bar window. When style K or T is specified, PC-Quizzer generates the menu automatically. The answer for the question (specified with the $ANSWER command) must contain the correct number of characters: K - 1 character: A, B, C, D or E. T - 1 character: T or F. C - 1 character: Must match the first character of the answer. N - 1 to 70 characters in length. Must exactly match the answer. X - 1 to 70 characters in length. Must exactly match the answer. Example: $QUE In what month was George Washington born? $CHOICE C A. January B. February C. March D. April E. May $ANS B $EOQ Note: Sample file CHOICE.QIZ provides additional examples showing the use of the $CHOICE command. $DISPLAY Syntax: $DISPLAY text-string The $DISPLAY command is used to display text strings on a graphics screen. The $DISPLAY command is ignored if used within a text window. The text-string is displayed at the current graphics cursor location. You may use the $LOCATE command to position the graphics cursor at the desired location before using the $DISPLAY command. Example: $QUE $TITLE Display in Graphics Mode $PCX 0 SKULL.PCX $LOCATE 8 16 $DISPLAY Which bone is the Temporal Bone? $LOCATE 192 16 $ACCEPT Number -> $ANS 7 $EOQ See also: $LOCATE and $ACCEPT $EOQ Syntax: $EOQ This command marks the End Of the Question (EOQ). It must be the last statement in the question entry. Its purpose is to mark the end of the question and all the additional commands and text lines which are part of the question entry. Example: $QUESTION What is 1+1? $ANSWER 2 $EOQ $GCOLOR Syntax: $GCOLOR f-color b-color The $GCOLOR command defines the foreground and background colors for use with the $DISPLAY and $ACCEPT graphics text commands. The $GCOLOR statement must come before the first $DISPLAY or $ACCEPT statement within the question entry. The values of f-color and b-color depend on the current graphics video mode and color palette used. $HELP Syntax: $HELP The $HELP command marks the beginning of a HELP block. The lines following the $HELP statement (until the next command) will be displayed if the student enters a "?" at the Answer prompt. If menu option H is set to OFF then PC-Quizzer will not provide the student with any help. The HELP text is displayed in the HELP window. Example: $QUE Who was the first president of the U.S.? $HELP This person, who is often called the founder of our country, and also appears on the $1 bill. $ANS George Washington $EOQ $KEY Syntax: $KEY keyword-1 keyword-2 ... The $KEY command gives the author the ability to specify keywords in a question entry. The keyword(s) specified on the $KEY statement are used by the Keyword Load Option (K) to select questions based on keywords. $KTYPE Syntax: $KTYPE code PC-Quizzer provides a facility to accept K-type questions. The K-type question format is often used on professional examinations. A K-type question contains 4 items of which 1 or more are true. The answer is either A, B, C, D, or E and is formed using these fixed rules: The answer is A if items 1, 2 and 3 are true. The answer is B if items 1 and 3 are true. The answer is C if items 2 and 4 are true. The answer is D if only item 4 is true. The answer is E if items 1, 2, 3 and 4 are true. Example: $QUE Which of the following Presidents were in office before 1850? 1. George Washington 2. Ronald Reagan 3. Andrew Jackson 4. Abraham Lincoln $ANS B $! B means that 1 and 3 are true. $KTYPE 1 George Washington's term began in 1789. $KTYPE 2 Ronald Reagan's term began in 1981. $KTYPE 3 Andrew Jackson's term began in 1829. $KTYPE 4 Abraham Lincoln's term began in 1861. $EOQ The correct answer in this example is B, which means that (1) George Washington and (3) Andrew Jackson were both in office before 1850 and the others were not. Should the student incorrectly answer this question, PC-Quizzer will use the text following the corresponding $KTYPE statement to display why the specified answer was wrong. Note: In order for PC-Quizzer to properly ask a K-type question, the above format must be used. For more insight into using K-type questions load the file KTYPE.QIZ from the distribution disk. K-type questions may not be used in conjunction with Graphic Screens. $LOCATE Syntax: $LOCATE x-loc y-loc The $LOCATE command is used to position the graphics pointer at a desired screen location. The x-loc and y-loc parameters specify the starting x and y location to place the graphics pointer. Generally, the $LOCATE command is used in conjunction with $DISPLAY and $ACCEPT when displaying text on a graphics screen. The $LOCATE command is ignored if the video screen is in a text (character) mode. Note: The graphics pointer is not visible on the screen. The pointer simply points to a pixel location on the graphics screen. $NOISE Syntax: $NOISE sound repeat delay The $NOISE command is used produce sound effects within your PC-Quizzer questions. The sound parameter is a single letter code from the list below. It selects which sound to use. The repeat parameter specifies the number of times to repeat the sound effect. The delay parameter specified the number of milliseconds to wait before the sound is repeated. Sound Effect A Bat screech B Birdcall C Clock Ticking D Door Buzzer E Explosion F Flying Saucer G Generator Starting H Phaser Sound M Machinery N Phone Ringing O Phone Busy P Photon Torpedo Fire R Rescue Siren S Spigot Dripping T Train Passing W Whooping Siren X Computer Thinking Y Conveyor Moving Z Crickets Chirping By using different values for repeat and delay you can produce different sound effects. Most of the effects will sound good if you use a repeat value of 4 or 5. To achieve a variety of sound effects, you will need to experiment using different values for repeat and delay. Note: Some of the sound effects have a built in delay. If you specify a delay parameter other than one, you may not be able to distinguish the difference. Example: $QUE $TITLE Noise Demo In the Disney movie "Bambi", is Bambi a Boy or a Girl? $CHOICE X Boy Girl $ANS Boy $RIGHT $! Make a Phaser sound $NOISE H 5 1 Good Answer. $WRONG $! Make a Whooping Siren sound $NOISE W 5 1 No, Bambi is a Boy. $EOQ See also: $SET NOISE $NOT Syntax: $NOT incorrect-answer-string The $NOT command is similar to the $ANSWER command except that it specifies an incorrect answer. The text block following the $NOT statement will be displayed in the question window if the student enters an incorrect answer which matches the incorrect-answer-string. A question entry may contain multiple $NOT commands. Example: $QUE Who is the current president of the U.S.? $NOT Dan Quayle No, Mr. Quayle is the Vice President. $NOT Ronald Reagan No. Mr. Reagan was our last President. $ANS George Bush $EOQ $PAGE Syntax: $PAGE The $PAGE command will cause PC-Quizzer to display "Press Enter for the next page..." in the answer window. The lesson will pause until the student presses the Enter key or the Return key. This command may be used to divide up a large question into screens that fit inside of the question window. The $PAGE command is similar to the $PRESS command. However, the $PAGE command will cause the question window to be cleared before the next page of text is displayed. Example: $QUE The capital of Alabama is Montgomery. Juneau is the capital of Alaska. Phoenix is the capital of Arizona and also its largest city. The capital of Arkansas is Little Rock. $PAGE The capital of Alaska is... $CHOICE X Little Rock Phoenix Columbus Juneau $ANS Juneau $EOQ $PAINT Syntax: $PAINT x-loc y-loc color-code The $PAINT command is used to paint an area of the screen. The x-loc and y-loc specify the starting x and y location of the area to paint. PC-Quizzer will paint the area using the color-code specified. The area to be painted must be outlined with a color different from the present color of the area. See demo file USA.QIZ. Note: $PAINT should NOT be used to paint complex areas of the screen. Doing so may cause the stack to overflow and the PC to lock up!!! $PCOLOR Syntax: $PCOLOR palette-number Before using the $CGA command you should set the desired pallet-number by using the $PCOLOR command. The palette-number may be either 0 or 1 on a Color Graphics Adapter. $PCX Syntax: $PCX mode pcx-file The $PCX command is used to display a graphics file stored in PCX format. The mode parameter represents the graphics mode needed to display the picture. The mode also defines the Horizontal and Vertical dimensions of the picture as well as the number of colors: (HORIZONTAL x VERTICAL x COLOR): 0 - CGA (320 x 200 x 4) 1 - CGA (640 x 200 x 2) 2 - EGA (320 x 200 x 16) 3 - EGA (640 x 200 x 16) 4 - EGA (640 x 350 x 2) 5 - EGA (640 x 350 x 16) 6 - VGA (640 x 480 x 2) [also used on MCGA] 7 - VGA (640 x 480 x 16) 8 - VGA (320 x 200 x 256) [also used on MCGA] 9 - Hercules (720 x 384 x 2) Example: $PCX 8 BUNNY.QIZ This command will display a picture of a bunny using 256 colors on a VGA or MCGA graphics system. Notes: Only modes 0, 1, 6, 8 and 9 are supported in PC-Quizzer. All the video modes listed earlier are supported in PC-Quizzer+. Although many software products are capable of creating PCX files, Data Assist can only guarantee compatibility with the PCX files created using ARGUS. Please refer to the Graphics Application Notes for additional information on creating PCX files. ARGUS is a graphics screen capture program that supports all the above PCX display modes. Additional information on ARGUS may be found under the Graphics Utilities section of this document. Data Assist also provides a color scanning service for customers who wish to display photographic images in their PC-Quizzer lessons. BSAVE files are still supported in order to maintain compatibility with previous versions of PC-Quizzer. Data Assist recommends that customers switch to using PCX files. $PLAY Syntax: $PLAY music-string The $PLAY command is used to play music. The music string contains an expression which describes the music to be played. The music string uses a format similar to the PLAY statement in BASIC. See demo file MUSIC.QIZ. A-G: plays this note in the current octave. On: sets n as the current octave. (0..6) Nn: plays note n. (0..84) Ln: set the length of the following notes. (1..64) Pn: set the length of a rest. (1..64) Tn: sets the number of quarter notes in a minute (32..255) >n: plays note n in the next higher octave. <n: plays note n in the next lower octave. ML: play complete period of Ln value. MN: play 7/8 time of Ln value. MS: play 3/4 time of Ln value. Example: $QUE Name this tune... $PLAY T120L4MNO4C8C8DCFE2C8C8DCGF2C8C8O5CO4A $PLAY FED2T90B-8B-8AFGF2 $ANS HAPPY BIRTHDAY That was an easy one. $EOQ $PRESS Syntax: $PRESS The $PRESS command will cause PC-Quizzer to display "Press Enter to continue" in the answer window. The lesson will pause until the student presses the Enter key or the Return key. This command may be used to divide up a large question into paragraphs that fit inside of the question window. Another use for the $PRESS command is just prior to the use of a $CGA or $PCX command. This allows the student an opportunity to read a question before being presented with a graphic image. See also: $PAGE $QUESTION Syntax: $QUESTION [name] This command marks the beginning of a question. The question may optionally contain a name from 1 to 8 characters in length. Although you do not need to name a question, if a name is used, it should be unique. Following the $QUESTION command is the body of the question. This text is displayed in the question window when PC-Quizzer asks the student this question. Additional PC-Quizzer commands may be included within the question body. For example, $PLAY, $NOISE, $TEXT, $PRESS, etc. The $ANSWER command is used to indicate the end of the question text. Example: $QUESTION What is 1+1? $ANSWER 2 $EOQ $RANGE Syntax: $RANGE low-value high-value The $RANGE command provides an easy way to specify a numeric answer range. The two parameters indicate the low-value and the high-value of the correct answer. After the $RANGE statement you may have additional lines of text. These lines are displayed if the student's answer falls within the specified range. A question entry may contain multiple $RANGE commands. Example: $QUE What is the square root of 2? $RANGE 1.4140 1.4143 $ANS 1.41421 $EOQ Note: Every question must have at least one $ANSWER command, even if the question contains a $RANGE command. $RIGHT Syntax: $RIGHT The $RIGHT command begins a block of text which is displayed whenever the student enters any answer that is correct. This command is typically used when the question contains multiple correct answers. Example: $QUE What is the capital of Michigan? $ANS Lansing $RIGHT Many people believe that Detroit is the capital because it is the largest city in Michigan and also the best known. $EOQ See also: $WRONG $SET Syntax: $SET option value To accommodate the setting of various program options, PC-Quizzer provides the $SET command. All $SET commands must appear in the lesson file before the first $QUESTION command. Some of the $SET commands correspond directly to the menu options of PC- Quizzer. Other $SET commands are used to control options only available with PC-Quizzer+. Allow Approximate Answer (Menu Option A): $SET APPROXIMATE ON $SET APPROXIMATE OFF Display Correct Answer (Menu Option C): $SET CORRECT ON $SET CORRECT OFF Display Help Lines (Menu Option H): $SET HELP ON $SET HELP OFF Immediate Retry (Menu Option I): $SET IMMEDIATE ON $SET IMMEDIATE OFF VOICE Output (Menu Option V): $SET VOICE ON $SET VOICE OFF Random Mode (Menu Option R): $SET MODE RANDOM Sequential Mode (Menu Option S): $SET MODE SEQUENTIAL To enable or disable the student from existing a lesson: $SET CAPTIVE ON $SET CAPTIVE OFF To enable or disable the "automatic" beeps and noises in a lesson: $SET NOISE ON $SET NOISE OFF To enable or disable the display of the Grade Scoreboard: (PC-Quizzer+ ONLY) $SET SCOREBOARD ON $SET SCOREBOARD OFF To enable or disable the display of Feedback messages: (PC-Quizzer+ ONLY) $SET FEEDBACK ON $SET FEEDBACK OFF To set the limit for the number of question retries: (PC-Quizzer+ ONLY) $SET RETRY 1 $SET RETRY 2 $SET RETRY 3 Note: You must use "$SET IMMEDIATE ON" in conjunction with the "$SET RETRY" command. Some $SET commands are ignored by PC-Quizzer. They are only valid in a PC-Quizzer+ lesson. $SLEEP Syntax: $SLEEP seconds The $SLEEP command causes PC-Quizzer to sleep for the specified number of seconds. If any key is pressed while PC-Quizzer is sleeping, the program will continue. $TALK Syntax: $TALK speech-string This command will output the speech-string on a speech synthesizer. Note: In order for your computer to talk, you must have either a VOTRAX, ECHO, or DECTALK speech synthesizer. $TATTRIB Syntax: $TATTRIB index f-attrib b-attrib The $TATTRIB command provides an alternate, shorthand method to specify foreground and background colors. This command performs the same function as $TCOLOR. However, numeric attribute (color) codes are used rather than the symbolic codes used by $TCOLOR. $TATTRIB also provides the ability to specify attributes for use with Monochrome monitors and color display adapters which use non-standard color attributes. See demo file MONO.QIZ. $TCOLOR Syntax: $TCOLOR index f-color b-color [BLINK] The $TCOLOR command defines a foreground color and background color for use with the $TEXT command. The index may range from 1 to 10. You may optionally use the modifier BLINK to select a blinking color. The $TCOLOR statement must come before the first $TEXT statement within the question entry. Up to ten different color groups may be defined and used per $TEXT command. Once the colors are defined by $TCOLOR, they may be used by multiple $TEXT commands within the same question entry. See demo file TCOLOR.QIZ. The color codes which may be specified for f-color and b-color are: Black, Blue, Green, Cyan, Red, Magenta, Brown, White, Grey, LBlue, LGreen, LCyan, LRed, LMagenta, Yellow and LWhite. Example: $QUE $TCOLOR 1 BLACK WHITE $TCOLOR 2 WHITE BLACK BLINK $TCOLOR 3 RED BLACK $TEXT This is {Reversed}. This is {Blinking}. This is {RED}. And this is a normal line of text... $TEXT What does {1+1} equal? $ANS 2 $EOQ $TEXT Syntax: $TEXT text-string The $TEXT command displays the text-string in the question window. If the text string contains sub-strings enclosed inside of {} characters, these sub-strings will be colored using the color codes specified by the $TCOLOR or $TATTRIB commands. Each group of sub-strings may be colored differently. Up to ten sub-strings may occur within one text-string. See also: $TCOLOR and $TATTRIB $TITLE Syntax: $TITLE title-string The $TITLE command is used to give a "name" to a question. This name is currently only used by the QIZEDIT program to build a table of question titles. This feature makes it easy for you to locate and edit a question. The $TITLE command is ignored by the PC-Quizzer program. Example: $QUE $TITLE The Happy Birthday Song Name this tune... $PLAY T120L4MNO4C8C8DCFE2C8C8DCGF2C8C8O5CO4A $PLAY FED2T90B-8B-8AFGF2 $ANS HAPPY BIRTHDAY I thought you would know this one!!! $ANS BIRTHDAY Close. $EOQ $WRONG Syntax: $WRONG The $WRONG command is similar to the $RIGHT command except that the block of text is displayed only if the student enters a wrong answer. Example: $QUE What is the capital of Michigan? $ANS Lansing $WRONG Sorry! Even though it might not be as well known as Detroit, Lansing is still in fact the capital of Michigan. $EOQ See also: $RIGHT GRAPHICS APPLICATION NOTES This section provides tips on converting images from other products to a format compatible with PC-Quizzer. CONVERTING GIF FILES GIF is Compuserve's Graphics Interchange Format. There are several hundred high quality, color pictures available in the Compuserve Picture Forum. Many of these pictures are also available on various BBS systems and through many Shareware vendors. Use any GIF display program to display the picture. Then use ARGUS to convert the picture into a PCX file. PC PAINTBRUSH, PAINTBRUSH+, PC PAINTBRUSH IV The PCX files created by these ZSoft products are compatible with PC- Quizzer. Some video modes are not currently supported but will be in future versions of PC-Quizzer. PC PAINT PLUS Create a picture using PC Paint Plus. Use the Tools Option: Show Screen to view the picture. Capture the picture using ARGUS. PICTOR / GRASP Pictor is the paint program that comes with GRASP from Paul Mace Software. The CGA and EGA mode PCX files created by Pictor are compatible with PC- Quizzer. However, Pictor does not create compatible 256 color PCX files. To create a 256 color PCX file, first use Pictor and create a .PIC file. Exit Pictor and use SHOWPIC to display the picture. Use ARGUS to convert the picture into a useable PCX file. SPLASH! Create a picture using Splash! Save the picture as a .SS file. Use the SHOWSS program to display the picture and capture it using ARGUS. COLORIX Create a picture using ColoRIX. Save the picture as a .SCI file. Use the RIXLATE program to display the picture and capture it using ARGUS. DELUXE PAINT II For EGA pictures: Create a picture using Deluxe Paint II. Save the picture as a .LBM file. Use the CONVERT utility to convert the .LBM file to a .PCX file. Example: convert -d puzzle.lbm -p3 puzzle.pcx This procedure does not work for 256 color VGA pictures. DR. HALO III Create a .PIC file using DRHALO. Use the PRESENTS program to display the picture and capture using ARGUS. GEM DRAW PLUS Create a picture using GEM Draw Plus. Select the 'To Output' menu option. Output the picture to the screen and capture using ARGUS. VGACAD VGACAD is a Shareware paint program created by Lawrence Gozum and Marvin Gozum, MD. Create a picture using VGACAD. Save the picture as a .BLD file. Use the MVGAVU program to display the picture and capture it using ARGUS. VGA PAINT You may use ARGUS to capture a picture directly from the VGA Paint screen. Hint: If you press Alt-Ctrl-G just after pressing the left mouse button, the mouse cursor will be invisible in the captured image. PC-KEY-DRAW Create and save the picture using PC-Key-Draw. Press F8 O (the capital letter O) to invoke the picture view option. Press the space bar until the desired picture is shown. Press Alt-Ctrl-G to capture the picture with ARGUS. LOGITECH PAINTSHOW-PLUS / SCANMAN SCANNER Scan an image using the Logitech ScanMan Scanner. Use the Logitech PS-Plus paint program to display the image and capture using ARGUS. Do not use the TIF2PCX conversion utility provided by Logitech. This utility will not create a PC-Quizzer compatible PCX file. COMPUTER EYES Computer Eyes is a video capture board available from Digital Vision. Create a .CE file using the EYES program. Use the Digital Vision VIEW program to view the .CE file and capture with ARGUS. This procedure works for both VGA and EGA pictures. JOVIAN LOGIC VIA & SYLVIA Jovian's 256 color PCX file format is not compatible with PC-Quizzer. Use VU.COM to grab a video image. Store the image in .VI format. Exit VU.COM, then use SHOW to display the .VI file. Capture the image using ARGUS. OTHER PAINT PROGRAMS Most paint programs have an option that enables you to view a picture without showing all the icons and tools. Use this capability to display a picture and capture using ARGUS. ARGUS will save the image as a PC-Quizzer compatible PCX file. COLOR SCANNING SERVICE Data Assist provides a complete color scanning service where we can convert your pictures, photographs, diagrams and other artwork into PC-Quizzer graphics screens. We can also scan images to be used with most painting, drawing, animation, presentation and desktop publishing packages. For additional information, please contact Data Assist, Inc. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PC-Quizzer may be used on a Monochrome Monitor or a Color Graphics Monitor. The program defines 6 windows which are used for all screen displays. They are numbered as follows: 1 - Main Menu Window 2 - Question & File Load Window 3 - Answer Window 4 - Help & Keyword Load Window 5 - Error Window 6 - Grade Window On a Monochrome system each window uses the same two colors. On a color system PC-Quizzer uses default colors that should be visible on any monitor. If your monitor (monochrome or color) is unable to display the default colors, you may find it desirable to change these colors. This may be done by typing the command COLOR from the MS-DOS prompt before you start PC-Quizzer. Example: C> COLOR C> QUIZ --- PC-Quizzer uses direct memory I/O to the video screen. While this technique is very fast, it is also prone to not work correctly on some not-so-compatible computers. Please contact Data Assist if you are having any problems using PC-Quizzer on your video system. --- PC-Quizzer permits all responses to be entered in upper or lower case. This includes menu options as well as keywords and question answers. --- When entering True/False questions into the quiz file, the author should enter "$ANSWER T" or "$ANSWER F" as the correct answer. This will enable the student to enter "T", "F", "TRUE" or "FALSE" as their answer. RESTRICTIONS For PC-Quizzer a maximum of 100 questions may be entered into a question file. PC-Quizzer+ allows up to 300 questions per file. Depending on the size of the questions and amount of memory in your computer, it is possible to exceed memory before all of the questions have been loaded. Note: The Shareware version of PC-Quizzer is limited to 500 lines of text per QIZ file. --- The length of each quiz text line should not exceed 100 characters. The QIZEDIT program requires that each text line be 78 characters or less. SAMPLE FILES Several sample quiz files have been included on the distribution diskette. These files are intended to show examples of the format used to build your own lesson files. We suggest that you experiment with these files to help you better understand how to use PC-Quizzer. REQUESTS Data Assist has designed PC-Quizzer to be both flexible and easy to use. Like any software package there are numerous improvements and additions which could be made. We have received several requests and invite you to submit written requests at any time. Registered users are asked to "vote" for the requests that they would like to see implemented. To vote, simply mail us a letter indicating which requests from the list below you would like to see implemented. Those items which get the most votes will get the most attention in future releases. Be sure to include your own requests or comments if you have any. REQ001: Add EGA graphics support. (Available in PC-Quizzer+) REQ002: Add an $INCLUDE command to include files. REQ003: Save scores on disk with student names. Also a list of which questions they missed would be nice. (Available in PC-Quizzer+). REQ004: Allow colors to be used in help messages. REQ005: Would like to save a quiz in the middle and resume at a later time. REQ006: Need to have multiple part questions, i.e., here is some text, and these five questions are about this text. The GMAT has questions like this. REQ007: Would like to be able to change menu options like A,C,H,R,S and I in the middle of the quiz. REQ008: Would like to "preview" a quiz, i.e., have the computer ask the questions and show me the answer. Then I can practice typing in the answers. Later on I will take the quiz and enter the answers the normal way. Many times I just want to learn how to spell the answers and this would sure help. REQ009: Provide an option to scan a quiz and mark the questions to be selected. It would be nice if the selected questions could be written back to disk as another quiz. (This feature is available with QIZEDIT). REQ010: Sometimes I find typo errors in my questions. I'd like to be able to call up an editor while in PC-Quizzer and fix it. An integrated Editor would be perfect! REQ011: For very large questions, I'd like to be able to scroll back and forth in the window. Need this capability on the HELP window too. REQ012: I would like to say "Skip question M if I got question N right." Or "Skip question M if I got question N wrong..." REQ013: Need to have numeric answer ranges. (Now available). REQ014: The ability to load selected questions from multiple quiz files using keywords. The ability to load all questions from multiple files. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PC-Quizzer was written in Turbo C from Borland International. About 10% of the code is assembler. We have found the Turbo C compiler to be very fast and highly recommend it. A special thanks to our customers (and even some non-customers) who have provided us with numerous ideas, suggestions and requests. ERROR MESSAGES Can't open the quiz file. Please try again -- The quiz file specified does not exist or the filename was entered incorrectly. Duplicate question -- The question you are trying to append already exists in the edit file. File already exists, overwrite? -- You are changing the file name to an already existing file. The contents of these files may be different, so be careful if you reply "Y". File contains too many questions -- The file you are trying to load contains too many questions for QIZEDIT. File has been updated, save? -- You are about to exit QIZEDIT, but have not saved the current edit file which you have changed. File not found -- The specified file can not be found in the current directory. Graphics card is not compatible with this PCX file -- The file that you specified appears to be a valid graphics file. However, your graphics adapter is unable to display the image. Generally this error occurs when you attempt to view a Hercules file on a non-Hercules device, or a VGA file on a non-VGA device. Illegal CGA mode -- Only CGA modes 4, 5 and 6 are supported in this version of PC-QUIZZER. See section on $CGA command. Illegal command or parameter -- A command was read from the quiz file which is either an unknown command or is a legal command which contains an illegal parameter. Correct the statement and try again. Invalid file name -- You have specified a file name that contains invalid characters. A file name can contain the characters A-Z, 0-9, $, #, or @. Invalid PCX file: xxxxx -- The file that you specified does not appear to be a valid PCX graphics file. Does the file have a .PCX extension? Was the file created by ARGUS? Maximum of 100 questions loaded -- A maximum of 100 questions were loaded from the quiz file. PC-Quizzer will only use the first 100 questions on the quiz. PC-Quizzer+ permits a maximum of 300 questions per quiz file. No questions are currently selected -- Before entering option B to begin a quiz, you must load a quiz file using either option K (Keyword Load) or option L (Load All). No question in CUT buffer -- You are trying to PASTE a question when the CUT buffer is empty. You must CUT a question before you can PASTE it. No questions were missed -- An attempt has been made to use option M when there are no questions marked as being missed. See discussion of option M. Not enough memory -- PC-Quizzer was unable to allocate enough memory to work correctly. For most quiz files, 384K of memory should be sufficient. Open failure for file: xxxxx -- VIEW was not able to open the file that you specified. Please supply a correct path and file name. Question entry is missing an answer -- A question does not contain an $ANSWER statement. PC-Quizzer will skip this question. Question already in CUT buffer -- You are trying to CUT a question, when a question has previously been CUT and not pasted. You must PASTE the current question in the CUT buffer before you can CUT another. Quiz file is empty. Please try another file -- The file you are trying to load into PC-Quizzer does not contain any questions. Are you sure that you specified the correct name of a quiz file? This file is not compatible with PC-QUIZZER -- The file that you specified appears to be a valid PCX file, but was saved in such a way that it is incompatible with PC-Quizzer. This question does not have an answer. Skipping on -- PC-Quizzer is trying to ask you a question which does not have an answer. Edit the quiz file and be sure that each question entry has at least one $ANSWER command with the correct answer specified. See also $ANSWER. Too many lines read -- The quiz file you are loading is too big for the version of PC-Quizzer that you have. Make the QIZ file smaller and try again. Contact Data Assist if you require a larger version of PC-Quizzer. Too many questions -- You have reached the limit on the number of questions in the edit file. You can not execute any functions which add additional questions (See section on limits). Unable to display PCX screen -- While executing a $PCX command, PC-Quizzer was unable to display the picture. Make sure that the picture file exists on your disk. This error can also occur if PC-Quizzer attempts to display a picture and you do not have the appropriate graphics hardware. Unable to load picture -- While executing a $CGA command, PC-Quizzer was unable to locate the file which contains the graphic image. Make sure that the picture file exists in the path you specified on the command. Unable to open VOICE port -- PC-Quizzer could not open the port which drives the speech unit. Make sure that the port is configured into your system. VOICE port is unknown to PC-Quizzer -- Prior to using the speech device with PC-Quizzer you must create an initialize file which sets up the port. Contact Data Assist for technical support. TRADEMARKS MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft. IBM-PC is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation. PC-QUIZZER and PC-QUIZZER+ are trademarks of Data Assist, Inc. Turbo C is a registered trademark of Borland International. VOTRAX and Type'n Talk are trademarks of VOTRAX Corporation. ColoRIX is a trademark of RIX Soft Works, Inc. ComputerEyes is a trademark of Digital Vision, Inc. Dr. Halo III is a trademark of Media Cybernetics. GEM Draw Plus is a trademark of Digital Research. GIF is a trademark of Compuserve. Splash! is a trademark of Spinnaker Software. PC Paint Plus is a trademark of Mouse Systems. PaintShow and ScanMan are trademarks of Logitech. Pictor and Grasp are trademarks of Paul Mace Software. VIA and SYLVIA are trademarks of Jovian Logic.