Multiple Files in the same File Resource

Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Scott Chillemi -
Number of replies: 8

I'm using Moodle 2.0 and Captivate 6.0.

Occasionally I want to have multiple Files in the same file resource because one Captivate SWF file needs to load another one.  This might be required if a primary SWF file needs to load an MP4 as a short mini-video.  I’m unable to get this to work in Moodle.  I’ve tried loading both files into the Moodle File Resource and then choosing “Set Main File” on the primary one.  It is unable to find the secondary file.

I’m able to get the two files to work together on my own hard drive or on a regular website, but not in Moodle.  At one point, I thought I could get it to work by turning on “Legacy Course Files” and putting them in the repository, but that didn’t work either.  I also tried the Folder Resource and URL Resource, but I wasn’t able to get it to work. 

I understand Moodle uses a database instead of a file structure in 2.0 and beyond, but there should be a way to get two files to play nicely together – I’m just not having any luck figuring it out.  Hopefully there is a setting somewhere that I’m missing, but at this point I’m stuck.

If I posted this to the wrong forum, I apologize.  I saw other posts about SWF files and repositories and I figured this was the closest I could find.  If there is a better forum then let me know and I’ll re-post.

 

Thanks,

Scott

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In reply to Scott Chillemi

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

This normally works. Perhaps you should start by trying to get something simpler to work. The simplest example I can think of is to make an index.html that links to an other.html. Upload both of those to the same File resource, make index.html the main file, then see if the link works.

Once you have it working for simple HTML files, you can then go back to making the SWFs work.

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

I came to say the same thing  -it should work. Have the files all in one folder; zip it, upload it to the file resource, unzip and set the main file as the one you want displaying. Do try with simple linked html files first as Tim says and then we can see if there is an issue with your captivate files. (There's an old but still correct blog post here  )

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Scott Chillemi -

Well, at least we know it is not a Captivate problem.  It happened with the simple "index.htm" loading a "sub.htm."  They worked together just fine on my hard drive, but did not work together in the Moodle File Resource.

When I clicked on the second html document, I received the following error message:

Not Found The requested URL /lms/sub.htm was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache/2.2.22 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.22 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 mod_fcgid/2.3.5 Server at www.learningidentive-group.com Port 80

Like I said earlier, primary documents load, but secondary documents fail.  I guess I need to apologize to Adobe for blaming Captivate...

If I switch the Main File" to the "sub.html" that one will load instead, but the link to the index.htm document will produce the same error message above.

Any theories?  Obviously this is limiting my flexibility how I setup my content.

I'm using Lunarpages as my webhosting company and I manage my Moodle site remotely.

I thought of something else that might be applicable.  When I want to upload a file I need to use an FTP program to get it to my Moodledata repository, then from their I can load it into Moodle.  I can't get Moodle to search my hard drive to upload a file using the "File Picker" because if I do I get the following error message:

"File Not Specified"

I thought this was weird when I first encountered it, but then the work around was pretty easy: just upload the file to the repository with Filezilla and then the File Picker worked. 

I know it is not my IT department because I have the same problems when I try to do these things from my home computer.

 

Thank you for looking into this with me!!

 

Scott

 

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In reply to Scott Chillemi

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

What is the HTML source code of the link from index.html to sub.html?

What is the URL when you are looking at index.html?

When you click the link, what URL do you go to?

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Scott Chillemi -

Tim,

 

Thank you for taking a look at this for me.  Your questions and the answers are as follows:

What is the HTML source code of the link from index.html to sub.html

http://www.learningidentive-group/lms/sub.htm

What is the URL when you are looking at index.html?

http://www.learningidentive-group.com/lms/pluginfile.php?file=%2F514%2Fmod_resource%2Fcontent%2F1%2FReally%20Simple%20Test%20Web%20Page%2Findex.htm

When you click the link, what URL do you go to?

http://www.learningidentive-group.com/lms/sub.htm

I created a username called “tester” on my site.  It has “teacher” level access to a course called the “Internal Resource Center.”  If you login to this user you can add and delete resources to this course and possibly find out what I’m doing wrong.

There isn’t anything critical in this class so it might be a useful place to experiment.  Email me at scott.chillemi@hirsch-identive.com and I’ll send you the password for this account.  Also, if anyone else might have a theory or be able to help troubleshoot this please email me and I’ll send you the password too. 

This might be helpful as well.  If I link to an external site, I can both get to the external site and then get to additional sites from there.  It is only when I have an internal link that goes to another internal link that the secondary link does not work. 

Here is another thought related to links.  My company, at one point, changed its name.  This of course required me to change the URL for the Moodle site.  I changed a setting in the config.php file in my Moodle installation directory.  I had to change the “$CFG->wwwroot =” setting to the new URL.  Then I had to revisit the file resources screen for all my course videos, but everything worked just fine after that.  Of course, at the time I wasn’t even attempting to have subordinate video files so if something wasn’t working at that point perhaps I wouldn’t even have noticed.  Maybe there is another configuration file I need to modify for subordinate videos to load properly?

 

I really appreciate the help,

 

Scott

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In reply to Scott Chillemi

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

There are several things wrong here.

First, the link has to look like

<a href="sub.html">Link text here</a>

Not

<a href="http://www.learningidentive-group/lms/sub.htm">Link text here</a>

Second, you must have the "Use slash arguments" option turn on (Site administration ► Server ► HTTP) or this will not work at all.

 

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Scott Chillemi -

Tim,

 

Thank you!  It works now!  You are Moodling genius.

 

Scott

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In reply to Scott Chillemi

Re: Multiple Files in the same File Resource

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

There never was a truer word saidsmile

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