-------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ULTIMATE QUIZ II - QUESTION CREATION DOC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QB_CREATORS Copyright © 1994-95 AGAS Productions All rights reserved Exclusively Licenced To F1 LICENCEWARE Requires Req.Library in LIBS: Drawer -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please take the time to read through ALL of this file. Maybe print it out for future reference etc. You will probably know by now that there are two Question Bank Creator utilities on this disk. Both of them are neither PD, Shareware or Freeware etc. They are only for use by YOU ! ie. Please do NOT spread them around to anyone. Both QB-Creators do the same job but in different ways ! I'll explain full details on both of the QB-Creators in this file to give you as much information as possible. It is up to you to decide which one you want to use for creating your own question blocks. (I now use my new ASCII converter one as I find it a lot easier to type my questions in a text editor first and then convert them) Here's a brief look at the two QB-Creators: o QB_ASCII_Creator: (ASCII text file converter) This will convert an ASCII file to the correct format required by the game to display the questions. ASCII files are normal text editor files that are saved to disk. (ASCII is the standard format for most text editors, just like IFF is standard format for most Paint packages). o QB_Creator: (Automatic Converter) This one automatically converts to the correct format whilst you are typing your questions. The saved file is already in the correct format required by the game, so no need for conversion ! Each question block file that you are gonna create can have a maximum of 100 questions. (with 300 answers ie. 3 for each question) What I tend to do with my questions is make the correct answer to the first 33 questions as 1, the next 33 questions I make answer 2 the correct one and the last 34 questions, I make the correct answers as 3. Don't forget that the questions will be displayed in a random order during the game so don't think that if you answer the first 33 questions with 1 (A) that you will get them all correct ! Here is a FULL explanation of both of the QB-Creators: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The QB ASCII Creator: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not really a creator but more of a converter ! This utility loads in an ASCII text file and converts it into the correct format to be used with the game. I personally use this method as I find it the best way to create all the question blocks. All you have to do is type your questions (100) and answers (300) and the correct answer flag in a normal text editor. Don't worry if you don't own a Text Editor. I've supplied you with a great PD Text Editor for FREE on this disk .... just in case .... well I try my best !) This way you can save your work as you go along without having to type in all the questions in one go ! It also has the advantage of you being able to use a Spell Checker to test for any spelling miztooks !!! hehehehehehe ;) (Sorry, but I didn't have a PD Spell Checker available to put on this disk. You can get one from any PD Library though - or you may already have one supplied with any Word Processor that you have.) o Here's all you need to do to start creating a file: o First, load up your favourite text editor. o Start typing your questions like so: Question 1 Line 1 Question 1 Line 2 Question 1 Line 3 Question 1 Answer 1 Question 1 Answer 2 Question 1 Answer 3 10 Question 2 Line 1 Question 2 Line 2 Question 2 Line 3 Question 2 Answer 1 Question 2 Answer 2 Question 2 Answer 3 10 etc. o Each question can have three lines of text. Each line must not exceed 60 characters per line. (including spaces) You should be able to see just how many characters are on the line by looking at your info bar on your text editor. (IF it's a good 'un !) o Each Answer can have only 1 line of text and again with only 60 chars. Three answers must be typed for each question. o The Correct Answer Flag can either be 10 20 or 30 depending on whether your correct answer lies on Answer 1, 2 or 3. eg. In cricket - How far is the Popping Crease from the stumps ? 2 Feet 4 Feet 6 Feet 20 What was the name of the boat in which Gulliver was shipwrecked ? Antelope Ardvark Ammonites 10 o In the above two questions, the Questions contains two lines of text. The third is not used and is left blank (just press return) o The correct answer to question 1 is 4 Feet and we just type 20 for the Correct Answer Flag. (answer 2) o The correct answer to question 2 is Antelope and we simple type 10 for the Correct answer flag. (answer 1) o Obviously if the correct answer was Ammonites, we would type 30 instead. o I have included a 100 question ASCII file on this disk for you to view and hopefully you will be able to follow it with no problems at all. Just load it into your Text Editor to see what it looks like. (It is named .... Questions.ascii) Let's face it, it's pretty straight forward. It is hard to type in as much info here without trying to make matters worse, so just mess about with the supplied ASCII file and you will learn more from that. O.K. now you should be able to type in 100 questions via your Text Editor. o Once you have typed in all your 100 questions and answers etc. o All you have to do is save them to disk (obviously). o If you have a Spell Checker, test the file for mistakes. o Now Load up the QB_ASCII_Creator and follow the on-screen prompts. o If all is well, you should be presented with a File Requester on the WBench screen. o Select your new ASCII text file and double click on it to load it. o It will be loaded into the program and will be converted automatically to the correct format required by the game. o When it has been converted (very quickly), you will be presented with yet another file requester on the WBench screen. o This time you will be saving the converted file to disk. o Make sure your disk is Write Enabled. o Save the file to disk. (Don't forget to rename it to something different from your ASCII file's name as you don't want to overwrite all that hard work ..... be careful ..... you have been warned !) The names used by the quiz are: QBLOCK-01.Data through QBLOCK-05.Data so rename it to one of those before saving. O.K. you now have a converted file saved to disk. You want to test it out don't you ? Well I have also included a utility to let you do this. It is called the "QB_Player" and full instructions on how to use this can be found in the "QB_Player.Doc" on this disk. Help Notes: Each Question + Answers + Flag use up 7 Lines. Therefore your final ASCII file should be 700 lines long. (7 lines * 100 Questions = 700 Lines of text) Use a spell checker to test for spelling mistakes before you convert your ASCII file. If you are unsure as to what the ASCII file should look like, just look at my example ASCII file via your text editor for full details. (Questions.ascii in Utilities Directory) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- QB Creator: ~~~~~~~~~~~ This question bank creator is really easy to use and should be used by expert typists only !!! The reason being that once you have started typing, you must go through a whole session without being able to save your work !!! ie. You will need to type in the whole 100 questions in one go ! Even after typing in all your questions and saving them to disk, if you notice any spelling mistakes, hard luck. The only way to change them is by a file editor such as Monam 2 (devpac) etc. However, don't let this put you off using this method of creating your questions. I used this method for The Ultimate Quiz Volume 1 and it turned out fine. Although I wish I had coded the ASCII converter ages ago. I'm glad I did as it's now my favourite way of creating all the questions. Anyway, back to the QB_Creator. This utility automatically converts the questions etc into the correct format as you type them, so there is no need for conversion from ASCII to the proper format required by the game. The same rules apply to this creator as the one above: o Each question can have three lines of text, each with a maximum of only 60 characters per line. o Each answer can only be one line long and once again with only 60 chars. o I have put a mark on the screen to let you know when to press Return. If you type more than the 60 character limit then that text will not be shown in the game - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!! o If you want to leave a blank line, eg, your question only uses 1 line, just press return at the next two lines. o When you have typed in your question and three answer options, you will be presented with some options on-screen asking you to press the number that matches the position of your correct answer. (1, 2 or 3) o Then you may either: Press R to redo the question in-case you made any mistakes. Press C to continue onto the next question. Press Q to quit the utility. Warning ! All data will be lost forever! o When you finish typing in all 100 questions etc, a file requestor will pop up on the WBench screen and allow you to save the file to disk. This file will be the correct format as used by the game. (exact same format as the converted ASCII saved file) Again, this file can be tested via QB_Player Utility. Help Notes: When using this Creator, ALWAYS check your Spelling and Answers etc. as you go along as there is no correcting the file at a later date. Not unless you know how to use a File Editor Utility. I would really encourage you to use the other method of creating questions as it has great advantages. However, load up this creator and try it out. It's really easy to use and you might just prefer this method. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- QB_ASCII_CREATOR is © 1994/95 - AGAS Productions. QB_CREATOR is © 1994/95 - AGAS Productions. Andy Gibson (AGAS Productions)