Content

Annotation component - Recording of presentations

With the annotation component slides, i.e. in HTML format, can easily be presented and annotated simultanously. The annotations are saved as well as recorded voice and the pages themselves. The information is merged in an XML file so that the lecture can be reconstructed and be seen (and heart, of course!) again.

System requirements

The annotation component can only be executed under Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher. To install WebPresenter the installation of the Microsoft .NET framework (version 1.1) and the extensions for J# is necessary. To record voice a soundcard and a microphone are needed. Futhermore a current version of Microsoft DirectX drivers is recommended.

Installation

To install WebPresenter run WebPresenter.msi. If Microsoft .NET framework isn't installed yet, you will be redirected to the download site of the framework.If Microsoft .NET framework is installed, choose next. Choose the folder where you want to install WebPresenter. Now click twice on the next button to complete the installation.

Usage of annotation program

WebPresenter can be started via the startmenu. When starting the program the first time you're asked to choose the folder where the data of your annotated presentation will be stored (NOTE: You can change the folder in the program before you have started to record a presentation. To change the folder choose Datei -> Speichern unter and select the new path.). In the row above the addressfield there are the buttons of the annotation tools. From left to right these are:

  • Browser: activates the browserwindow for navigation. Annotations cannot be made in this state.
  • Laserpointer: shows a laserpointer while the left mouse button is pressed.
  • Freehand: draws a line while the left mouse button is pressed. The line can be optionally smoothed.
  • Textmarker: draws a (transparent) filled rectangle while the left mouse button is pressed.
  • Textbox: first a line is drawn. At the end of the line a textbox appears in which you can enter a comment. Clicking on the OK button finishes the text annotation.
  • Edit: annotations can be chosen to edit by clicking on the associated circle.
  • Delete: clicking the circle of the associated annotation deletes the annotation directly.
  • Stop recording: stops recording of sound.

By choosing Optionen -> Standardeinstellungen detailed options (like color, transparency, font size, etc.) for the specific tools can be selected. Some of these can be chosen at the menubar on the left side of the window. Information associated with the presentation can be entered in the dialog Optionen -> Metadaten. All options are persistently saved, that means that they are still valid the next time you start the program. The options on the menubar at the left side of the window are only valid until the next tool is selected.

Usage of the presentation (SVG) component

The presentation component generates SVG files which represent reconstructions of presentations in lectures. The generated SVG documents can be viewed in a SVG capable browser. You have to install the Adobe SVG Viewer Plugin to view the SVG videos. The component is a terminal application which is written in Java. The program requires at least one XML file, which was created by the annotation component.

System requirements

The application requires a few libraries which must be included in the classpath:

  • jaxen-core.jar
  • jaxen-jdom.jar
  • jdom.jar
  • saxpath.jar
  • xerces.jar
Please use the latest libs available. xerces.jar must be in the version 1.4.4 or higher. The other libs are included in the JDOM-jar file which can be downloaded fromJDOM.

Invocation of the application

eLecture.SvgGenerator is the main class of the application. The following arguments are available:

  • -i:<XML input file>
  • -d:<(nested) folder with XML input files>
  • -l:de or -l:en
One of the arguments -i: and -d: must be specified. Both can't be used simultaneously. An input folder can be nested. The argument -l: is optional. With this argument you can specify the language of the SVG document (labels of info panel and context menu). en will be used as default value if the argument is omitted. The labels are defined in a file named labels.xml.

Output

For each XML input file 4 SVG files will be generated. e.g. for test.xml following files will be generated:

  • test.svg
  • test.svgz
  • test_scale.svg
  • test_scale.svgz
Files with the extension svgz are GZIP archives of SVG files. They can also be viewed with a browser which has the Adobe Plugin installed. They are considerably smaller in size than uncompressed SVG files because SVG documents are XML based and therefore text based. Files whose filenames have the extension _scale will scale dynamically if the browser window is resized. This can be useful if a client's resolution is smaller than the resolution used during recording. Otherwise (normal SVG file) the presentation does'nt fit on the screen. On the other hand scalable SVG files lead to extreme overhead.

Every generated file will be stored in the particular XML input folder. Necessary resouces (images and audio files) must be located in the folders which were specified in the input XML file. A generation process will store a file called RuntimeSetup.es in the output folder. Every SVG file searches for this file in its folder.

Usage of SVG files

The generated SVG files can only be viewed with the Adobe SVG Viewer Plugin. This is a browser plugin.