The AeB Blog

On this page,  I shall post white papers and interesting examples that I have developed using AeB and AeB Pro (AeB is the AcroTeX eDucation Bundle). These are a collection LaTeX packages bundled together. The AcroTeX Magazine was written by me just a few years, it summarizes the AcroTeX packages and bundles available at that time. Magazine was created using the AcroTeX family of LaTeX packages. (Acrobat /Adobe Reader, version 6.0 or later required.)

LaTeX (http://www.tug.org) is a mark up language for authoring documents, AeB was designed as a authoring system for creating online, interactive documents for the WWW, or for distribution on computer CDs, as PDF files. The AeB Pro extends the utility of AeB by giving the author extensive control over the PDF file. The components of AeB Pro require the use of the Adobe Distiller, while for AeB, other direct to PDF creators can be used, such as pdftex and dvipdfm.

Should you wish to make a comment on any of the articles contained in this blog, you can visit the AeB Blog Comment Page, in PDF naturally.

(04/01/10) I have revived my own online testing system that I developed between 2003 and 2006. Originally called TAOAS, it is now called Oa.sys (pronounced oasis, oa.sys is the AcroTeX Online Assessment System). You may try Oa.sys by going to the Oa.sys login page. and logging in using the username/password of aebblog/aebblog, or, you can first go to the Oa.Sys First Contact Page. The system uses classic ASP and Adobe's FDF Toolkit. Features of this system are quizzes/tests are in PDF, results are submitted and saved to a MS Access DB, there are various deadlines (a time when the quiz period begins, a time when the quiz period ends, and the time when the solutions can be viewed). The system makes a "round trip": student takes the quiz, data is saved, when the quiz solutions can be viewed, the field data is extracted from the database, and repopulates the quiz the student took.

I'll continue to develop the system in my leisure time, but I'm afraid my knowledge of server-side stuff is limited. A friend would like this system ported to Linux/Unix, but with Php or perl. I know very little of these scripting languages. I would like to develop a system that would make it easy to install for a instructor, and make it easy for the instructor to manage his/her own Oa.sys environment---setting up DB of students and passwords, setting up new quizzes (quizzes use AeB, of course), deadlines, etc. Any advice/help anyone can advance would be greatly appreciated. Any comments on the system can be made to me via the AeB Blog Comment Page, be sure to mention that you viewed Oa.sys from the AeB Blog.

• (07/14/11) The rmannot Package: Controlling the position of a Floating Window shows how to control the position and size of a floating window of a rich media annotation. Adobe Reader X required to see the positioning.
• (05/06/11) Repurposing an eqexam Document demonstrates how a single eqexam source can create four output documents. Requires v2.0l (dated 2011/05/05) or later. Download eqexam_pack.zip at the eqexam home page.
• (11/25/10) The rmannot Package: Controlling the Movie by a Button Menu presents a FLV with a buttons that jump to each cue point in the FLV. The fill color changes as the movie is played. The article uses sample.flv.
• (11/06/10) The rmannot Package: A Poor Man's Commercial concatenates two FLVs, but partway through the first, the video is interrupted for a crass commercial message. After the advertisement, the first video resumes where it left off. At the end of the first video, a second video is played. All very short. The article uses three FLVs: sample.flv, DonAd.flv, and horse1.flv.
• (11/02/10) The rmannot Package: Concatenating FLVs demonstrates how to concatenate two FLVs using cue points and VideoPlayerPlus, which is supported by the rmannot package. The article uses two FLVs: sample.flv, and horse1.flv.
• (10/30/10) The rmannot Package: Using VideoPlayerX demonstrates some of the features of VideoPlayerX, a widget devloped at UVSAR. Among its features is that it can play more than one video in a Rich Media Annotation (RMA), can change skins and skin color, dynamically through JS calls. The article uses three FLVs: sample.flv, horse1.flv, and elephants.flv.
• (10/23/10) The rmannot Package: Using VideoPlayerPlus demonstrates some of the features of VideoPlayerPlus, a widget devloped by Joel Geraci of Adobe. Among its features is that it can play more than one video in a Rich Media Annotation (RMA), can change skins and skin color, dynamically through JS calls. The article uses three FLVs: sample.flv, horse1.flv, and elephants.flv.
• (10/18/10) The rmannot Package: Loading and Pausing demonstrates how to load and pause a movie at its first frame when the page containing the movie is opened. This articles uses driving.flv file, which is streamed from this server. To download the file, right-click on the link for driving.flv.
• (10/15/10) The rmannot Package: Demonstrating Event Cue Points demonstrates how to use event cue points with the rmannot package. This articles uses driving.flv file, which is streamed from this server. To download the file, right-click on the link for driving.flv.
• (10/14/10) The rmannot Package: Demonstrating Navigation Cue Points demonstrates how to use navigation cue points with the rmannot package. This articles uses sample.flv file, which is streamed from this server. To download the file, right-click on the link for sample.flv.
• (09/01/10) The cntdwn Package: Handling Notification Events for the Long Countdown Timer, Remembrance Day is another article on counting down, handling events, and creating special effects. Latest version of cntdwn (dated 09/01/2010 or later).
• (08/29/10) The cntdwn Package: Countdown to the New Year is an article that demonstrates a long countdown to the next New Years Day. The next year is dynamically reset using JavaScript after the first of the year. This demo files uses the cntdwn package and a recent version of the eforms package (part of AeB).
• (08/24/10) The cntdwn Package: Handling Notification Events for the Long Countdown Timer is an article on how to write custom event handlers for a long countdown timer of the cntdwn package. The package requires a recent version of the eforms package (part of AeB).
• (08/23/10) The cntdwn Package: Custom Display of the Long Countdown shows an example of a JavaScript function that customizes the display of the long countdown of the cntdwn package. The package requires a recent version of the eforms package (part of AeB).
• (08/21/10) The cntdwn Package: Handling Notification Events for the Short Countdown Timer is an article on how to write custom event handlers for a short countdown timer of the cntdwn package. The package requires a recent version of the eforms package (part of AeB).
• (07/22/10) (07/24/10) Some Comments on Anime Button Layouts requires AeB Pro v1.3c or later (07/22/10) and AeB dated (07/24/10) or later.
• (07/17/10) (07/19/10) Custom Designing Anime Control Button Layout requires AeB Pro v1.3b or later (07/19/10).
• (07/16/10) (07/17/10) Moving the Control Buttons for Button and OCG Animation, requires AeB Pro v1.3a or later (07/17/10).
• (07/14/10) ocgAnime: Animation using OCG (Layers) with AeB Pro brings up ocg animation to the same standards as button animation. Aeb Pro v1.2 dated 07/14/10 or later is required.
• (07/14/10) \btnAnime: Animation using Form Field Buttons with AeB Pro describes how to create simple animations using button appearances. Aeb Pro v1.2 dated 07/14/10 or later is required. Source files for this article can be found in btn_anime.zip.
• (06/14/10) Creating a Quiz Summary Table describes how to create a table that summaries the student's effort on a quiz. (Exerquiz version v6.3q, dated 2010/06/16 available at AeB.)
• (02/21/2010) I've been working on a visual basic project called AeB Builder, it is now available for beta testing.
  
  Basically, it is a LaTeX batch file utility: You select LaTeX source files, choose your driver, dvips or pdflatex, hit the Build button, and the selected files are converted into PDFs.  There are switches for setting certain AeB options, the output folder, the number of times each file is LaTeXed, etc.  By using the renditions package, one source file can produce any number of output PDFs; useful for creating many variations (or renditions) on a quiz or test, for online or for paper. Go to the home page of AeB Builder for more information.
• (12/25/2009) Support for Links in AeB/eForms discusses the eforms command \setLink, how to create an arbitrary appear for the link and various actions, goto actions, named actions, url actions, and jumping to destinations. Requires eforms version dated 2009/12/24 or later.
• (10/17/2009) Using popupmenu and AeB Pro to create Popup Menus with Layers.
• (10/16/2009) Creating Popup Menus with the popupmenu Package. Introduces a new package used for creating popup menuss. The package has minimal requirements, namely, hyperref, but, of course, AeB is most excellent for this package.
• (9/25/2009) Using \saveDest and \useDest. A rather technical blog on how exerquiz creates named destinations that link to the question in a solution within shortquiz and quiz environments.
• (9/24/2009)  Creating Button Appearances. Discusses methods for creating custom button appearances. Requires AeB Pro (2009/09/24 or later) and Graphicxsp.
• (09/20/09) On Tabbing Order: Part Two. Requires eforms package, v2.5c (2009/09/04) or later. Illustrates how to set the tab order through the \taborder key value pair.
• (08/09/09) Exploring the options for \xBld. Requires AeB Pro package, v1.0d (2009/08/07) or later. We illustrate the new print key to set the print attributes of a layer.
• (07/10/09) On Tabbing Order. Requires eforms package, v2.5b (2009/07/08) or later.
• (05/07/2009) Importing and Placing Images using AeB Pro. This is a revised version, with additional feature illustrated. Requires AeB Pro v1.0b (2009/05/07)
•  (05/02/2009) Notes on the Title Page Trailer, Running Headers and Footers. Web package v4.2c (2009/05/02) required.
• (05/01/2009) Creating a Border using \DeclarePageLayout of the Web Package. Web package v4.2b (2009/03/28) required.
• (04/23/2009) Partial Credit for Text Fill-in Questions. Exerquiz version v6.3l (2009/04/23) required.
• (03/28/2009) Placing the Title Page Directory in Multi-column and Boxing in the Directory using Web.
• (03/28/2009) Seeding a Signature Field with AeB Pro. The source code for this PDF file is seedthefield.tex.
• (03/26/2009) Certification Signing using AeB Pro. The source code for this PDF file is certify.tex.
• (03/26/2009) Approval Signing using AeB Pro. The source code for this PDF file is sign.tex.
• (03/14/2009) Using a Graphic for a Title.
• (03/13/2009) Toggling visibility of layers and fields in tandem with AeB Pro.
• (03/10/2009) How to create custom stamps using annot_pro.

Now, I simply must get back to my retirement!