One of Educator's most powerful features is the ability to create new source (.FLS) files from multiple already-existing .FLS files.  The Primary File will be the file that was open when the user selected Create Composite Source (.FLS) File from the Educator menu.  After making this menu selection, a Select Secondary Source File dialog will appear, allowing the choice of the Secondary File.  Once the Primary and Secondary files have been selected, a dialog containing two input panels and one output panel will appear.

Note: When using Primary and/or Secondary source files which reference graphics or multimedia files, be sure that they are referenced using the full file path OR that you are using a common pair of directories set in Options|Directories to hold your graphics and multimedia files.  This will ensure that your newly created .FLS file can find all of its associated support files.

The example above shows the Primary File and Secondary File panels.  See the Tips On Composite File Creation in the help file for some thoughts on effective use of this tool.

Input Panels

Starting from the top left, both Input Panels contain the following data and controls:

File Name - File name of the Primary or Secondary input file.

Add _ Random Pairs - Enter a number less than the total number of pairs passing the current filter setting and click the Add button.  Educator will randomly select that number of pairs from the input file and add them to the Output Panel.

Set Filter - Opens the Filter dialog, allowing the user to specify what types of pairs from the input file will be available for selection in the Input Panel.  See Filter Settings for more detail on this operation.

Add Selected Pairs - Adds the pairs selected in the Input Panel's display grid to the Output Panel. 

Note : Select pairs by clicking on them in the grid.  Select multiple pairs by clicking and dragging downward with the mouse.  Keyboard users can use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the selection and the Shift + Up and Down Arrow keys to extend the selection.

Add All Pairs - Adds all pairs passing the current filter setting to the Output Panel.

Output Panel

Starting from the top left, the Output Panel contains the following controls and data:

Save Output As - Saves the pairs in the Output Panel to a new .FLS file.

Close - Closes the Composite File dialog after checking whether to abandon any unsaved contents in the Output Panel.

Move Up - Moves the pair selected in the display grid up one position in the order.

Move Down  - Moves the pair selected in the display grid down one position in the order.

Delete - Deletes the pair selected in the display grid. 

Note : Select single pairs by clicking on them in the grid.  Keyboard users can use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the selection.

Allow Duplicate Pairs - When checked, allows duplicate pairs to exist in the Output Panel.  If unchecked, duplicates are excluded based on a case-insensitive match of the Question text - i.e. a pair with the same Question text but different Answer text would not be added to the Output Panel.

Note : In cases where all Question have identical text (such as when each Question is a graphics file without associated text), you will have to select this box in order to be able to transfer these Questions into the Output grid.  Otherwise Educator will exclude them as duplicates.

Use Primary/Secondary Intro - If the Primary and/or Secondary file has an associated introduction (.INT) file, its corresponding check box is enabled.  Select an enabled check box to optionally include the selected .INT file as the introduction for the output .FLS file.

Convert Standard To FIB/Convert Standard To MC/Convert Standard To FIB/MC Mix - If one of these check boxes is selected, all standard pairs in the output grid will be converted to simple fill-in-the-blank pairs, single-choice MC pairs or a mix of the two - making the output file directly usable for creating .FLT test files.

Using FIBs  is not recommended for converting pairs where the answers are LONG text strings.  It is unlikely that the user will be able to type the answer EXACTLY to match the long string.  This feature works best for things like vocabulary words, state capitals, multiplication tables and other short answer pairs.  If you do have longer text strings in some of the answers, use the Convert Standard To MC option.

Number of MC Answers - The selected radio button in this grouping determines how many multiple choice answers will be used when converting a pair from standard to multiple choice.

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