Hi,
Yesterday I created a mini glossary by using a freeware xml editor. I exported a 4-word glossary, opened it, broke the entries up into easily readable lines, copied 150 of them and then edited each copied entry, saved the final version and imported it into Moodle. Okay, it worked, but it took me an eternity.
I notice that glossary xml files can be created through other programs, from fresh, using just an excel table. Can anyone tell me how this is done, and can it include the additional controls (forget the names, but the 'whole word' options and so on)?
I'm sure entries can be created manually in moodle or in some online program of some sort, but if I do it in excel - or maybe Access, as I have that too - I can create a glossary which can be used in different courses, attribute different language levels and so on, AND retain a clean data copy which can be added to at any time.
To create database data in excel I'd usually use the first row to creat column names, then fill the data in columns below. I assume this must be acceptable for xml too? But what's the best way to get it out of excel or access and into a format moodle will import? I have office 2007.
Thanks for any help.
Hi Brian,
Why don't you create the glossary directly in Moodle and then export it (an xml file) and import it into each course you want to use it in? Is it really quicker to do it in Excel?
Cheers,
Glenys
Why don't you create the glossary directly in Moodle and then export it (an xml file) and import it into each course you want to use it in? Is it really quicker to do it in Excel?
Cheers,
Glenys
Glenys,
Thanks for the suggestion but I can see several problems with that:
First, it seems that my broadband connection reverts to steam-powered dial-up after about 7.00pm here. It can completely stop, or be working at an unuseable crawl. I have gotten very frustrated with it because it causes everything I'm doing online to drop/crash/get lost etc.
Second, I don't always have access to the web - at the moment yes but normally I'm travelling around in Milan and so on. Needing to access the web to do something isn't very helpful. Also, I have various docs on my pc which will be adapted for use in moodle. In the process of adapting, I can rip out the appropriate words or phrases and add them to the local glossary (see immediately if there's a duplicate) in seconds. In batches. If I'm editing a doc or whatever in the middle of Milan, I can't simultaneously get online to cut and paste stuff into a glossary.
Finally, I have tons of vocab here on my pc which can be trimmed up, added to an excel file (or access or whatever). In 3 seconds I can apply the various attributes in columns (whole word, etc) en-mass, then in another 10 seconds upload the whole lot onto moodle.
And I get to keep the original for direct editing.
The only drawback, far as I see it, is that if I edit an uploaded entry on my pc, then upload the file containing it later in the day, the edited word will be rejected as a duplicate (though I think I can see an easy way round this).
So, in this case, working directly with moodle to construct a glossary is a waste of valuable time. In this case.
Gosh. That's a long explanation.
So, how do I set up excel so the can be converted and imported?
Brian
Thanks for the suggestion but I can see several problems with that:
First, it seems that my broadband connection reverts to steam-powered dial-up after about 7.00pm here. It can completely stop, or be working at an unuseable crawl. I have gotten very frustrated with it because it causes everything I'm doing online to drop/crash/get lost etc.
Second, I don't always have access to the web - at the moment yes but normally I'm travelling around in Milan and so on. Needing to access the web to do something isn't very helpful. Also, I have various docs on my pc which will be adapted for use in moodle. In the process of adapting, I can rip out the appropriate words or phrases and add them to the local glossary (see immediately if there's a duplicate) in seconds. In batches. If I'm editing a doc or whatever in the middle of Milan, I can't simultaneously get online to cut and paste stuff into a glossary.
Finally, I have tons of vocab here on my pc which can be trimmed up, added to an excel file (or access or whatever). In 3 seconds I can apply the various attributes in columns (whole word, etc) en-mass, then in another 10 seconds upload the whole lot onto moodle.
And I get to keep the original for direct editing.
The only drawback, far as I see it, is that if I edit an uploaded entry on my pc, then upload the file containing it later in the day, the edited word will be rejected as a duplicate (though I think I can see an easy way round this).
So, in this case, working directly with moodle to construct a glossary is a waste of valuable time. In this case.
Gosh. That's a long explanation.
So, how do I set up excel so the can be converted and imported?
Brian
Hi Brian,
I don't have a very fast broadband connection either, so I create all my Moodle courses on a local installation of Moodle (using Bitnami) and then upload them when they're ready.
I suspected that you had data already created in another format, so you're right to look for ways to import it into Moodle.
You can have duplicate entries in a Glossary : it's one of the options when you create a new Glossary.
I don't have appropriate courses to experiment this in at the moment, but I think one of the most useful ways to use a Glossary is to have students create it, not the teacher, see
Glossary_of_Glossary_Ideas.xml
Also other Glossaries that people have shared at the: Glossary exchange
Cheers,
Glenys
I don't have a very fast broadband connection either, so I create all my Moodle courses on a local installation of Moodle (using Bitnami) and then upload them when they're ready.
I suspected that you had data already created in another format, so you're right to look for ways to import it into Moodle.
You can have duplicate entries in a Glossary : it's one of the options when you create a new Glossary.
I don't have appropriate courses to experiment this in at the moment, but I think one of the most useful ways to use a Glossary is to have students create it, not the teacher, see
Glossary_of_Glossary_Ideas.xmlAlso other Glossaries that people have shared at the: Glossary exchange
Cheers,
Glenys
Hi Glenys,
Thank you...
Brian
Thank you...
Brian
Super simple. Here is an example:
First column is the concept.
Second column is the definition.
Third column the formula that produces the XML for that entry (of course in the worksheet it will show the XML code with the concept and definition embedded).
The formula section sets some defaults of the entry such as using autolink in certain cases. If you want entries to behave differently in this respect, you can add a column for each of these values and set the formula to read them just as it reads the concept and definition.
Then, you copy the XML column and paste as the content of the <ENTRIES> tag (see red arrow) in a text file containing the XML of the glossary. Note that <NAME> and <INTRO> should match the actual values of your glossary (if not it might override or the import fail; I don't know, haven't tried). You can simply export your glossary in Moodle XML format to obtain this block of XML.
hth
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GLOSSARY>
<INFO>
<NAME>Terms and Concepts</NAME>
<INTRO>Terms and Concepts </INTRO>
<ALLOWDUPLICATEDENTRIES>0</ALLOWDUPLICATEDENTRIES>
<DISPLAYFORMAT>dictionary</DISPLAYFORMAT>
<SHOWSPECIAL>1</SHOWSPECIAL>
<SHOWALPHABET>1</SHOWALPHABET>
<SHOWALL>1</SHOWALL>
<ALLOWCOMMENTS>0</ALLOWCOMMENTS>
<USEDYNALINK>1</USEDYNALINK>
<DEFAULTAPPROVAL>1</DEFAULTAPPROVAL>
<GLOBALGLOSSARY>0</GLOBALGLOSSARY>
<ENTBYPAGE>10</ENTBYPAGE>
<ENTRIES>
-->
</ENTRIES>
</INFO>
</GLOSSARY>
| Academic Freedom | a scholar's freedom to express ideas without risk of official interference (Oxford Reference Online) | ="<ENTRY><CONCEPT><![CDATA["&A1&"]]></CONCEPT><DEFINITION><![CDATA["&B1&"]]></DEFINITION><FORMAT>1</FORMAT><USEDYNALINK>1</USEDYNALINK><CASESENSITIVE>0</CASESENSITIVE><FULLMATCH>1</FULLMATCH><TEACHERENTRY>1</TEACHERENTRY></ENTRY>" |
First column is the concept.
Second column is the definition.
Third column the formula that produces the XML for that entry (of course in the worksheet it will show the XML code with the concept and definition embedded).
The formula section sets some defaults of the entry such as using autolink in certain cases. If you want entries to behave differently in this respect, you can add a column for each of these values and set the formula to read them just as it reads the concept and definition.
Then, you copy the XML column and paste as the content of the <ENTRIES> tag (see red arrow) in a text file containing the XML of the glossary. Note that <NAME> and <INTRO> should match the actual values of your glossary (if not it might override or the import fail; I don't know, haven't tried). You can simply export your glossary in Moodle XML format to obtain this block of XML.
hth
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GLOSSARY>
<INFO>
<NAME>Terms and Concepts</NAME>
<INTRO>Terms and Concepts </INTRO>
<ALLOWDUPLICATEDENTRIES>0</ALLOWDUPLICATEDENTRIES>
<DISPLAYFORMAT>dictionary</DISPLAYFORMAT>
<SHOWSPECIAL>1</SHOWSPECIAL>
<SHOWALPHABET>1</SHOWALPHABET>
<SHOWALL>1</SHOWALL>
<ALLOWCOMMENTS>0</ALLOWCOMMENTS>
<USEDYNALINK>1</USEDYNALINK>
<DEFAULTAPPROVAL>1</DEFAULTAPPROVAL>
<GLOBALGLOSSARY>0</GLOBALGLOSSARY>
<ENTBYPAGE>10</ENTBYPAGE>
<ENTRIES>
-->
</ENTRIES>
</INFO>
</GLOSSARY>
Itamar,
Brilliant. I think this is what I'm looking for. I'll have a play with it and see how it works.
Thank you for taking the time to help.
Brian
Brilliant. I think this is what I'm looking for. I'll have a play with it and see how it works.
Thank you for taking the time to help.
Brian
This is THE best example of how to import from excel that I have seen online and in these forums. It makes so much more sense!!
One hangup though, can you import the .txt file directly or do you still have to convert it to .xml? I don't know xml and I find it tricky.
Why can't you just import ann excel file directly as a .csv!! so silly.
thanks again,
Heather
aha!! so you have to manually add .xml/change .txt to .xml for it to be able to upload.
Have you tried Moodle XML Converter? It automatically generates XML from various formats including Excel
Yulia,
I looked at it, but the instructions I saw (even where it said you could use excel) seemed rather vague). I would be happy to use it, but first I need to know in what format I can save data in the programs mentioned - then I can export/convert or whatever.
Brian
I looked at it, but the instructions I saw (even where it said you could use excel) seemed rather vague). I would be happy to use it, but first I need to know in what format I can save data in the programs mentioned - then I can export/convert or whatever.
Brian
Can you please attach your Excel file or whatever your input format?
Yulia,
I haven't bothered doing it yet. I tried creating a small file to transfer / convert as an experiment yesterday but it didn't work, so I just deleted it. I'm noot going to worry about creating an excel or access file until I know what format I need to use, otherwise I'll just waste too much time adjusting it afterwards!
Brian
I haven't bothered doing it yet. I tried creating a small file to transfer / convert as an experiment yesterday but it didn't work, so I just deleted it. I'm noot going to worry about creating an excel or access file until I know what format I need to use, otherwise I'll just waste too much time adjusting it afterwards!
Brian
Have you tried using the Excel convertor I created? (Clicking on my picture will take you to a link from my profile)
Thanks for this reference to the Moodle XML Converter; works very good! Hope others were paying attention to your post also. Thanks again.
Hi Brian,
Before posting your question, did you do your "homework"?
Did you use the Search forums button on this forum? I just did that and found more than a hundred messages in response to that search.
Maybe browsing those 100+ messages will bring the solution you are looking for?
Joseph
Joseph,
Thank you for your helpful response. It is true that I could sit and read hundreds of responses to see if they contain the information I want. In fact, I did take the time to read some, but didn't find what I wanted. I stopped reading entries that were more than 2 years old on the grounds that they must, by definition, refer to different versions of moodle and probably other versions of other programs - such as excel.
I'm sure that if I had had enough time to read through 100 responses (assuming there is a simple answer to my question and my search terms found it) I may have found something helpful, but I didn't. Frankly, I though the idea of a forum was that if you were unable to find what you wanted quickly, you ask a question in the hope that someone who knows the answer will help you rather than just read hundreds of posts.
Obviously, you think otherwise.
Thank you for your helpful response. It is true that I could sit and read hundreds of responses to see if they contain the information I want. In fact, I did take the time to read some, but didn't find what I wanted. I stopped reading entries that were more than 2 years old on the grounds that they must, by definition, refer to different versions of moodle and probably other versions of other programs - such as excel.
I'm sure that if I had had enough time to read through 100 responses (assuming there is a simple answer to my question and my search terms found it) I may have found something helpful, but I didn't. Frankly, I though the idea of a forum was that if you were unable to find what you wanted quickly, you ask a question in the hope that someone who knows the answer will help you rather than just read hundreds of posts.
Obviously, you think otherwise.
Hi Brian,
Yes, Joseph is a cranky old man with bees in his bonnet, just like I'm a batty old lady with bees in my bonnet.
Cheers,
Glenys
Yes, Joseph is a cranky old man with bees in his bonnet, just like I'm a batty old lady with bees in my bonnet.
Cheers,
Glenys