Copyright ⌐1995,1996 Michael K. Neylon. All Rights Reserved. See Copyright Notice in this document for more info.
What is MacFlash?
MacFlash is a flashcard system for the Macintosh. It consists of two programs, MacFlash and MacFlash Quizzer. The MacFlash program allows to create and edit your own decks of flashcards, while MacFlash Quizzer allows you to quiz yourself on these decks, rating yourself by several different methods. The MacFlash system is not limited to simple question/answer type cards, but can include multiple choice, picture-type cards, and others which can easily be added in.
System Requirements
MacFlash and MacFlash Quizzer require system 7.0 or above. The following machines have been used to test MacFlash...
PowerMac 7100/66 and 8100/110
Quadra 810
Installation
MacFlash requires no additional installation beyond locating an appropriate folder to store the programs in.
Software Instructions - MacFlash
MacFlash can be started by either double clicking on the program's icon or by dragging a deck onto the program icon. If you launched without a file, you will need to create a new deck (File/New). Once you have a new or existing deck opened into MacFlash, you will see a window with a (possibly empty) list of cards, and a set of buttons on the bottom of the window.
The list displays the cards within the deck. Each card is identified by a small icon and the question on the card (or "Question not specified" if no question is defined for the card). Double clicking on any entry will bring up the Card Edit Dialog, described below. The list supports cut and paste of cards within the same deck, or between decks. Only one card may be selected at a time, though.
The commands on the bottom of the screen perform exactly as they read. "Add" (or the Deck/Add Card menu option) will add a card to the bottom of the deck, and bring up the Card Edit Dialog. "Remove" (Deck/Remove Card) will remove the currently selected card from the deck (same effect as the Edit/Clear command). "Move Up" (Deck/Move Up) will move the selected card up the list, and "Move Down" (Deck/Move Down) will move the card down.
When you either create a new card, or edit an existing one, the Card Edit Dialog comes up. Along the top of this window is a popup menu with the various types of cards you may create. Selecting a particular type will bring up editing fields for that card (which are explained below). Below the edit fields are two additional fields, the "Maximum Tries Per Card" and the "Value" field. These deal with how the card is presented in the Quizzer program. Click the "OK" button to keep the changes for the card, or click "Cancel" to discard them. Also, you can click "Ok And Add" to add the current card then continue to edit a new card. When you add a card, the card is checked for missing fields and other problems which may confuse the end user of your deck. Some of these are the lack of missing fields and must be filed in; others are more suggestions than errors. If you wish to remove this suggestions, you can set the "Relaxed Card Checking" option under Edit/Preferences. You will still be presented when you omit a necessary field, thou.
For each card type, various editing fields are available in the Card Edit Dialog:
Plain Text: This is a normal 'question/answer' card. The two edit fields for this are self-explanitory.
Multiple Choice: The question edit field is self-explanitory. There are four additional edit fields, and a set of 4 radio buttons. In these fields should go the 4 possible answers you want displayed in the Quizzer. The right answer should be indicated by setting the radio button next to it.
Picture: This card displays a picture with a optional question. The question and answer fields are similar to the Plain Text style. The 3rd field is a picture box. Click on it to hightlight it, then use cut and paste from another program (Finder, Photoshop, etc..) to paste a picture into this frame. The picture will be shown scaled, so don't be alarmed if it looks funny in the dialog. You can also load a PICT file by clicking on the "Load..." button.
Multiple Answers: This card is similar to the Plain Text card, except that you can have several correct answers for a single question. Use the 'Add', 'Remove', and 'Change' buttons in the edit dialog to change the list of acceptible answers, or double click on an entry to modify it.
Sound: This card can have a sound clip associated with it. As with the Picture card type, you can cut and paste a sound clip into the 3rd field in the dialog. Also, you can load the sound clip from a Finder sound file (there are several utility programs that will convert most any sound format to this type). Additionally, you can test the sound with the 'Play' button.
If you have a deck whose answers should be checked in a certain way, you can set these preferences under Deck/Checking Prefs.... You may set any of the options (explained in more detail in the Quizzer section to On or Off which will override any setting in the Quizzer, or you may leave the options as User Default. Options left as such will be determined by the current quizzing preferences.
If you would like to prevent others from looking at the deck from within the editor (but still full access to the quizzer), you can password protect your deck using the Deck/Enable Password Protection option. When you select this option, a dialog will open. Type and retype your password, and click OK. From now on, when you open the deck, a password dialog will appear and ask for your password; if you fail to input the correct password, the deck will fail to load. Once you have added password protection, you can change the password with Deck/Change Password, or you can remove the protection with Deck/Disable Password Protection.
If you have a tab-delimited file that alternates between questions and answers, you can use the File/Import... menu option to load the file into MacFlash. Alternatively, you can use File/Export... to convert the MacFlash deck back into text file. Note that only Plain Text cards are considered in these operations: all cards that are made from an imported file will be of the Plain Text type, and only Plain Text cards will be exported to the text file. Also, the default values and maximum number of tries that are set in the preferences (below) will be used for the imported cards.
You can sort the deck via any of the 5 fields (type, question, answer, value, or tries) with the Deck/Sort By commands. Currently, this will only sort the deck by ascending order, but this should be suitable for most purposes.
There are two other menu options available not discussed in the above. Each deck can have a description which will be shown when it is loaded into the Quizzer. This description can be edited with the "Deck/Edit Description" menu option. Furthermore, you can set the default type of card, tries and values with the "Edit Preferences" dialog.
When you are done editing the deck, you can save with the File menu options.
Software Instructions - MacFlash Quizzer
The quizzer is much easier to operate than the editor. The quizzer can be started by dragging one or more MacFlash decks onto the program, double-clicking on one or more MacFlash decks, or by opening the program and using the Open command to load a deck in the quizzer. Once a deck is opened, the program will display the Description of the deck. Also along with the description is a short list of the options that have been enabled for this deck. These options will override any that you have set in your quizzing preferences. At any time, you can review the descriptions with the Deck/View Descriptions command.
MacFlash supports the quizzing of several decks at the same time. This means that you can create several small decks in the editor, and then quiz on one large deck made up of a selected set of decks. As stated above, you can either double-click or drag all the decks that you want to load onto the MacFlash icon, or, while in the quizzer, you can repeatedly use the Open command to load up each deck. The description box will have arrows that you can use to scan through the descriptions and the scoring details. The answer checking preferences that are stored with each deck are kept; that is, a card will remember which deck it came from, and will use that deck's checking preferences to check the answer.
Once you begin quizzing with the Start Deck command, you will then be displayed with a card. Answer the question by typing the answer into the edit field below the card, and, depending on the current preferences, either press return or click on the 'Submit' button to see if you are correct. If you are, the status line (below the edit field) will tell you so, otherwise, it will display the right answer. Also, a small icon next to the edit field will appear, either a checkmark for being correct, or an 'X' for being wrong. In either case, press return or click on the 'Next Card' button to go on to the next card. Continue like this until you have exhausted the deck (based on the number of tries each card is set at, as well as other preferences), at which point a scoring dialog will come up and give you your performance for that session. From this dialog, you can saved the missed cards as a different deck, or in a text file for review later. You can then retry the same deck, or load at new deck at this point.
If, for some reason, you need to stop quizzing while still in mid-deck, you can use the Deck/Stop Quizzing command. This will immediately end your quizzing session, and will bring up the statistics for the cards that you have already seen before stopping the session.
Some cards may have an associated multimedia object associated with them; when you encounter these cards while quizzing, the quizzer will inform you that the object exists. To play the object, use the Deck/Play command (shortcut is command-P). There is no limit as to how many times you can play an object. Currently, the only card type that supports this is the Sound card; this may change in the future.
There are several preferences which you can set. Under the Preferences command, a dialog will come up, which included the following preferences:
Override Set Number Of Tries : turn this option on to override the number of tries as defined by each card within the deck. You can then set the Maximum Number Of Tries Per Card in the following field.
Never Immediately Repeat : This will prevent you from seeing the same card twice in a row. This also means that if there is only 1 card left on the deck, and you miss it, the deck will automatically end.
Randomize Deck : Displays the cards in a random order if selected. Otherwise, the order will be the same as defined by the deck.
Accept Answers with 'Return' : If on, you can press 'Return' (or 'Enter') to submit your answer instead of having to press the "Submit" button in the quizzer window.
Number of Lines in Answer Box : Adjust this value to change the number of lines that you are given in the Answer edit field on the main window. If you are dealing with longer answers, you may wish to display more lines to see your entire answer.
The next 3 options can be set by the deck, and thus, may be overriden when you are quizzing. Consult the Deck's description to discover which options are fixed for the deck.
Case Insensitive : If on, your answers will not be checked for proper case.
Strip Diacritics : If on, ignores any diacritics (eg accented characters such as ì) in checking your answer
Strip Trailing Spaces : If on, removes any trailing spaces from your answer
Scoring Methods : There are several options for scoring your performace. Constant scoring means that the point value of each card will not change throughout the quizzing. Linear, Decrement By scoring will cause the value of the card to drop by the amount specified in the edit field after each wrong guess. Linear, Final Value of scoring will lower the card's value by a calculated amount such that on the last possible try for that card, it will be worth the value specified in the edit field. Halve Each Try scoring will halve the value of the card after each wrong guess, with a minimum of 1 point.
Reverse Questions And Answers : If the type of card allows you to reverse the question and answer in a logical sense, then you can set how the quizzer presents cards to you with these options. Never will never switch the question and answer, and will quiz as normal. Whenever Possible will switch the question and answer whenever it can, and Random Whenever Possible will switch with a 50% probability. Note that currently, only the Plain Text cards will be reversed.
If you change any of these preferences, you will need to restart the deck.
Another preference that you can change is the scoring display, at the bottom right corner of the display window. You can choose to have this off, or one of several possible options based on cards, tries, or scores, by using the Status Line submenu. Changing this will not require you to restart the deck.
You can also set the font type, size, and style of the question, as well as the background and foreground colors. These options are also saved between sessions, and can be set while quizzing.
A final element of the interface is the status indicator, the LED-like object in the lower left part of the window. When this is red, you cannot quiz because no deck is loaded up. If it is yellow, then a deck has been successfully loaded, and you can begin quizzing. If it is green, then you are in the middle of a quiz.
Deck Creation Suggestions
Here are some ideas that you may wish to consider if you plan on considering to use MacFlash...
Ñ For each chapter/lecture/section that you are studying, make up a single deck for that section. Then, when tests that cover multiple chapters come around, you can quiz on all the appropriate decks at the same time without having to make up a new deck.
Ñ Similarly, you can create decks along the lines of categories (such as parts of speech in foreign languages), and quiz on them separately or together.
Ñ If you are a teacher or professor, you can create a deck in MacFlash, then give your students just MacFlash Quizzer and the deck (or you can password protect the deck to prevent accidental changes).
Future Plans
A couple of ideas that I would like to implement at some point along the way:
- Drag and drop editing in the editor
- Support for user-definable types
- Additional card types ( A Movie Card? )
- AppleScript compatibility
- More quizzing options?
If you have any questions/comments/suggestions or whatever, please contact me at the address above.
Version History
1.0d1 - Oct 10, 1995 - Initial public release
1.0d2 - Oct 29, 1995
Ñ Description is now saved whenever it is edited
Ñ Removed 'Page Setup...' and 'Print' options from File Menu (not used)
Ñ Fixed dialog box shown when closing an modified deck
Ñ Added ability to close deck in Quizzer, in order to start a new deck
Ñ Modified or fixed interface to be more 3D like
Ñ Added "OK And Add" button in Edit Card Dialog
Ñ Menus are disabled when modal dialogs are opened
1.0d3 - Nov 9, 1995
Ñ Compiled to use new 3DAdditions classes - NOTE: for the time being the Notecard function does not work as expected. Am looking into it.
Ñ Controls now use the 3DButtons CDEF
Ñ Both programs now have Balloon Help
Ñ Font, size, and style can now be set for the quizzer, and are saved between sessions.
Ñ Foreground and background can now be set and saved between quizzer sessions.
1.0d4 - Late Nov, 1995
Ñ Questions and answers can now be reversed in the quizzer, either never, always, or at random.
Ñ Fixed problem with window elements not being moved appropriated when quizzer window was resized.
Ñ Text for question of a Plain Text card is now drawn vertically centered in the window.
Ñ Fixed Notecard look
Ñ Answer field in quizzer can now be adjusted for 1 to 5 lines.
Ñ Can toggle if 'Return' or 'Enter' should be used to accept answer. Added 'Submit' Button if the keypresses are to be ingorned.
Ñ Began incorporation of Jim Stout's CDEFs.
Ñ Added 'Load...' button on Picture Card dialog.
Ñ Buttons on Editor's main window are dimmed when not usable.
Ñ Fixed spelling of 'Correct' on Multiple Choice window.
Ñ Some drawing routines adjusted to keep clean looking interface.
Ñ Added support for Multiple Answers card type in both programs. (Note: as expected, this was very easy to do with the current layout of the program, so I can easily add new card type requests.)
1.0d5 - Late December, 1995
Ñ Added import and export abilities in the editor.
Ñ Fixed some of the documentation for typos.
Ñ Improved the look of the deck list in the editor, added headings and values and try information
Ñ Decks can now set specific answer checking options. These can also be set to the quizzer's default. (Decks made previous to 1.0d5 will still work with no problems).
Ñ Changed file type of decks from 'deck' to 'DECK'. The former violated Apple's claim on file types of all lower case letter.
1.0d6 - January 7, 1995
Ñ Fixed major bug of not being able to save a deck as an existing file. (released as a small update)
Ñ Decks can now be sorted (only in ascending order though, but is descending order really necessary?).
Ñ Fixed bug: If clicked 'Ok and Add' while editing an existing card, "new" cards replaced the original card. This no longer occurs.
Ñ Default button in edit dialog changes depending on context: 'OK' if editing an existing card, or 'OK and Add' if editing a new card.
Ñ Card count is displayed in editor. A card count has been added to the quizzer's deck description dialog.
Ñ Improved Cut and Paste. Can now C&P multiple cards ala standard List Manager. Appropriate commands are enhanced/limited depending on selection. TEXT clips can now be read in ala the import feature (that is, will be stored as Plain Text cards and expect the same format).
Ñ Add Card's keyboard command changed from command A to command I (so that Select All would be the appropriate command A).
Ñ Decks are now saved using the Quizzer's creator type. This means that double-clicking on a deck will load it into the Quizzer instead of the editor.
Ñ Missed cards can be saved as a deck or as a text file from the performace window in the quizzer.
Ñ Potential total score was not being reset to zero between reading of decks.
Ñ The quizzer can now open and quiz on more than one deck at a time. See documentation for more details.
Ñ Added password protection for decks within the editor.
Ñ Added Sound card type, as well as the internal support for more multimedia card types.
Ñ Cards are cached when they are quizzed on in the Quizzer; this should speed up performance for viewing and checking.
Ñ Added ability to stop quizzing in mid-deck.
Ñ MultiAnswer cards should now work properly (editing a card previously left garage in the answer field).
Ñ 3D-ized the MultiAnswer entry dialog
Ñ After inputing info for a new card, fields are checked for potential non-program related problems (i.e. lack of a question on a plain text card.) Some of these checks are suggestive, and can be turned off with the new 'Relaxed Checking' pref in the Editor.
Ñ Certain card information is transfered between card types when switching types in the edit dialog.
Cavets/Known Bugs
Ñ Tabbing between edit fields in the editor dialog doesn't work most of the time.
Ñ When switching card types, similar information is not passed along as well.
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank the following people for their help and support in making this program:
Bill Gundlach - for ideas and keeping me motivated
The people at #macdev - for ideas and suggestions
Metrowerks Codewarrior - Only the best development system for the Mac
James Rodden - For 3DAdditions and UWindowState classes
Zig Zitchterman - For the 3DButtons CDEF
James Stout - For Jim's CDEFs
Harold Ekstrom - For the CListBox code
Richard A Brag - For the CPreferences code
Peter Lewis - For the Balloon Help Compiler
Cyrus Daboo - For the Balloon Help PowerPlant Classes.
Dair Grant - For the LPasswordField class
Bungie - for the necessary distractions :-)
as well as a tip of the hat to the following users who have offered many suggestions and bug reports...
Andrew Robinson
Phil Cohen
Kevin Patfield
Copyright Information
MacFlash and MacFlashQuizzer are Copyright ⌐1995,1996 Michael K. Neylon. All rights reserved. You may freely distribute these programs in the public domain as long as this document remains with the programs in this unmodified form. The author grants permerission for this program to be included in any public domain library (including CD-ROMs).
MacFlash is release as donationware - if you like this product, you are encouraged to send $5 or more US dollars to the following address:
Michael K. Neylon
2795 Windwood Drive, Apt. 165
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Although you are under no obligation to do so, by sending in this donation, you can expect to see more great Macintosh products in the future.
MacFlash documentation / Michael K. Neylon / January 7 1996
