iBooks Author: Creating Review questions with XML

Summary

In iBooks Author, you can use XML to create a set of questions for the Review widget.

Products Affected

iBooks Author

In a plain text editor, such as TextEdit, you can create an XML document containing questions and answers for a Review widget in iBooks Author.

Use these elements to create your document:

review

 

The contents of your Review widget should be contained within this element.

question

type

These types are supported:

  • multiple-choice
  • multiple-choice-top-image
  • multiple-choice-right-image
  • multiple-choice-images
  • drag-label-to-target
  • drag-image-to-target

text

alt

The text of your question should be contained within this element. Optional: Use "alt" to specify different accessibility text.

main-image

src

alt

Specify the filename of the main image in your question. Not used for multiple-choice or multiple-choice-images. Optional: Use "alt" to specify accessibility text.

choice

correct-answer

src

target-x

target-y

alt

target-alt

 
  • Use correct-answer="yes" to specify the correct answers in a multiple choice Review question.
  • For text-based answers, the text of the answer should be contained within this element.
  • For image-based answers, use the "src" attribute to specify the filename of the image. This element does not have any content for image-based answers, so empty-element syntax is recommended.
  • For drag-label-to-target and drag-image-to-target questions, use the "target-x" and "target-y" attributes to specify the coordinates of the target.
  • Optional: For all answer types, use "alt" to specify accessibility text.
  • Optional: For drag-label-to-target and drag-image-to-target questions, use "target-alt" to specify accessibility text for the target.

line-break

 

This element does not have any content, so empty-element syntax is recommended. It specifies a line break in question or answer text.

For example, a Review with a multiple-choice-images question and a drag-label-to-target question may look like this:

<review>
<question type="multiple-choice-images">
	<text>Which of the following do <line-break />all living things need to survive?</text>
	<choice image-src="oxygen.gif" alt="Oxygen" />
	<choice image-src="water.jpg" alt="Water" correct-answer="yes" />
	<choice image-src="carbondioxide.jpeg" alt="Carbon Dioxide" />
</question>
<question type="drag-label-to-target">
	<text>Drag the labels to the appropriate area of the atom</text>
	<main-image src="atom.jpg" alt="Picture of an atom" />
	<choice target-x="0.23" target-y="0.34">Neutron</choice>
	<choice target-x="61" target-y="75">Electron</choice>
	<choice target-x="0.12" target-y="0.34">Proton</choice>
</question>
</review>

Once you have created your XML document:

  1. Save your file as a plain-text document with a .review file extension in a folder.
  2. Copy each image used in your Review widget to the same folder that contains the .review file.
  3. Drag the .review file in to your iBooks Author book where you would like the review to appear.

If desired, you can continue editing your Review widget with the Widget inspector in iBooks Author.

Important: Information about products not manufactured by Apple is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute Apple’s recommendation or endorsement. Please contact the vendor for additional information.
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