Adapt Learning Community: Authoring Tool v0.1.0 Released!

Skip to main content

Authoring-Tool-v0.1.0-Release.pdf

Hi everyone,

We're delighted to announce that we have now released version 0.1.0 of the Adapt authoring tool! This is our first official release version, and represents the culmination of over a year's hard work by the Adapt developers, and the contributions from everyone in the Adapt community in general. Thanks to everyone who helped to develop this tool over the past year into it's current state as a stable, online authoring environment.

I've attached a document that shows all of the requirements from the original specification that have been incorporated into this release, but the main highlights are:

Fully featured online Adapt content authoring
Preview your work as you make changes
Upload and use your own custom Adapt plugins within the tool
Switch themes with the click of a button
Use a variety of custom menu types
Support for copy and pasting of content within a course, and easily create copies of your courses
Manage a repository of images, videos, and audio for use in your Adapt courses
Run the tool on your local machine, or run it as an online application
Minimal interaction install
Publish your content as a SCORM 1.2 package, or as non-tracked web content

There is, of course, much more work to do to get us to version 1.0.0, and there'll be no resting on laurels amid the developers.

Thanks everyone for helping us get the tool to this milestone release, and the team is excited about working with you all to get to version 1.0.0!

A huge thank you to the community for your support and to the entire core team for your hard work - this is a massive achievement!

For reference, the tool can be downloaded from GitHub at: https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/releases

Onwards and upwards!

Sven

Show parent | Reply

Wonderful news!!!!! Thanks for all the dedication and hard work.

Show parent | Reply

Hi Dennis,

Great to see the team has reached that next milestone :)

My question is (as I am sure a lot of people's will be), How much does this release differ from the Master branch? I have an installation of the tool I am working with from about a week ago and am wondering if I should upgrade? If I do upgrade, what is the easiest way to go about doing this?

Cheers

Greg

Show parent | Reply

Hi Dennis,

Please can you advise where I can find instructions to install the Authoring Tool?

Cheers,

Cath

Show parent | Reply

Hi Cath,

You can find detailed instructions on the installation process in the wiki here: https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/wiki/Installing-Adapt-Origin

This is a work-in-progress, so if there's anything that doesn't make sense, let us know :)

Show parent | Reply

when i run $ adapt --version i get 0.0.22 is that the last ver. of adapt or not

Show parent | Reply

Hi Khaled,

When you run that command, it is returning the version number of the Adapt CLI (https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt-cli). Is that what you are looking for? The Adapt CLI README says the latest version is 0.0.23.

If you want to/need to update the CLI, you can run

npm update -g adapt-cli

Chuck

Show parent | Reply

Thanks Chuck for you replay, but if I need to be sure that my authoring tools is last version , what I have to do ,

by the way when i run the above command it return nothing , and the return the version 0,22 again

thanks

khaled

Show parent | Reply

Hi Khaled,

I can confirm that after updating from v0.18, the CLI reported v0.22--the same results as yours. I have reported this mismatch (README vs cmd line).

At this point in development, there is no similar cmd to run for the authoring tool that will report its version. Nor is it reported within the tool's interface.

Show parent | Reply

I ran npm update -g adapt-cli and am getting 0.0.22 for version.

Shouldn't we be seeing 0.1.0 or am I wrong? How do I know when I am looking at the latest release? Is it obvious?

Thanks

npm update -g adapt-cli

Show parent | Reply

Hi Helen,

Like so many applications these days, Adapt is built from "modules": adapt_framework, adapt-cli, adapt_authoring among others. Because they interact with each other, updating one oftentimes means another must be updated. But not always. One piece of the puzzle may continue to work with the other pieces even after they have been revised. This means that version numbers of the pieces rarely stay in-sync as the complete application develops.

When you run a command that begins with the word adapt, such as
adapt --version
you are using the piece called adapt-cli. It is reporting its own version number. Not the version of any other piece.

The current version of the Adapt framework is 1.1.0. The current version of the Adapt authoring tool is 0.1.0. The current version of the Adapt-CLI is in question, either 0.22 or 0.23. You can see from my earlier post in this thread that Khaled and I have experienced the same discrepancy as you, and I have reported it.

Hope this makes things a little clearer.
Chuck

Show parent | Reply

Hi Chuck,

Completely understand all of this. I was hoping (as per my previous question) if someone could let me know about updating these components separately (understanding that certain version might not work with each other). For instance I installed Adapt Author a week before 0.1.0 was released and was wondering if I should update and what is the best way to do this?

Do I just replace everything in my adapt_author folder? Likewise for the framework? if I want to try another version of that do i just update everything in the /adapt_author/adapt_framework/ folder?

Cheers

Greg

Show parent | Reply

Hi Greg,

(Sorry about the length of this post. As you alluded, other people may have similar questions in mind. Please excuse me if I address things you already know. And please continue to engage if I miss your point.)

Looking back to your original post in this thread...I can't answer how much the 0.1.0 release differs from the version you downloaded. I'm not sure anyone can. This is how I understand it...The 0.1.0 release is the first tracked release. We now have a stable version in the master branch against which future updates can be compared. When you and I and others downloaded or cloned the repo before this release, we were getting a copy of the develop branch even as pull requests were being merged into it. So a clone in the morning could be different from a clone in the afternoon. With this release, the master has been tagged as v0.1.0 and set as the default. We can expect it to remain the same until the next release. Between now and then, work will continue in the develop branch. My decision to upgrade was based purely on my perception of stability. Previously the core developers didn't think their code was ready for public release, now they do. Your concerns may be different.

Greg, if you choose to reinstall/upgrade the authoring tool, you do not need to delete or uninstall anything in advance. The script will overwrite anything it needs to in the local adapt_authoring folder. It will delete and reinstall the adapt_framework using the most current release. And the versions of plug-ins that are downloaded will be those required by the newly installed adapt_framework.

The authoring tool's install script is used both to install and to upgrade. There is no separate upgrade command for the authoring tool. You simply rerun the install script. (So instead of the word "upgrade," I'm going to use the word "reinstall" throughout the rest of this post.) If you answer certain configuration questions one way, your data will be overwritten; if answer them another way, your data is preserved. More about that later. Installing the authoring tool installs that adapt framework. The install script checks to see if the framework is present, deletes it if it's present, then installs it. If you use the authoring tool's install script (for initial install or for reinstalling), you will get the latest release of the framework. The framework has been at v1.1.0 since May 2014. This is the version that the authoring tool has been installing. So at this point in development history, I can't imagine a typical installation that would need to have the framework upgraded to bring it up to v1.1.0. There may be installations that were completed in an atypical fashion, and I'm learning every day...but I don't have the knowledge to address them.

Back to reinstalling the authoring tool... I think the fundamental question to ask before reinstalling is whether you have data that needs to be preserved. The answer will not prevent you from reinstalling, but it will determine how you reinstall--or more precisely, how you answer certain configuration questions during your reinstall. If you answer the configuration questions about the master tenant with the same responses as the last time you installed, you will overwrite the master tenant in MongoDB, thereby losing all the data associated with: usernames, passwords, and course data. In other words, if during your last installation you answered questions about the master tenant using the defaults provided, and you use the defaults again during the reinstall, you will overwrite and lose your data. By responding with the same inputs, you will cause the master tenant to be recreated, and this means the data associated with it will be overwritten. If you want to preserve data when you reinstall, you can create a different master tenant which will leave the users and course data intact. In other words, if you accepted the defaults for the master tenant last time, you cannot do so this time. You'll need to be prepared to enter different data for the question
Set a unique name for your master tenant
Probably makes sense to be ready, too, to put something different in
Set the display name for your tenant

I personally haven't explored Mongo. I imagine there are other ways to save your data, reinstall the authoring tool, then reassociate it with the master tenant by directly manipulating MongoDB. Someone else will need to speak to that.

The adapt-cli is independent of and a prerequisite for both the framework and the authoring tool. You're going to need to monitor its evolution on your own and choose to upgrade it from time to time. Same with grunt and npm (and node some time in the future).

The plug-ins in the authoring tool can also be upgraded, but you'll want to do so using the Plugin Manager.

(I'm writing as a community member, not as a core developer. If anything I wrote here is incorrect or misleading, I hope someone will jump in and provide clarification.)

Show parent | Reply

Hi Chuck,

Thank you for that response, it was really helpful. So I take it then that the Authoring tool will work with multiple tenants and that if I choose to re-run the install script (for upgrading purposes) and create a new tenant as to not override my existing data that the tool just displays all courses developed under any tenant? I guess I am just a little concerned that after doing this method multiple times you will end up with many course created by many tenants.. could get messy?

Cheers

Greg

Show parent | Reply

Chuck,

I echo Greg's thanks for that it has laid it out extremely clearly and succinctly for us.

I share his worries about not overwriting my hard work so far so I'm a bit tenuous about the tenants thing too, but I'm going to keep backup copies of everything I know I change (less files etc) just in case and give it a whirl.

I KNOW I accepted the defaults last time so I can make something up this time.

Here goes nothing!

Show parent | Reply

Chuck,

Just ran the node install with a new tenant master name and display name

and it has launched the framework but my course and themes and added plugins have all vanished - i'm back to a fresh install of the framework :/

And I'm confused again - surely what i just did is install the new framework not the new authoring tool?

Helen

root/adapt_authoring :package.json reports : version 0.0.1

root:/adapt_authoring/adapt_framework :package.json reports : version 1.1.1

Show parent | Reply

Hi Helen,

Sorry I'm late to the thread here, but if you need your existing data I'd recommend updating your config file to point to your previous installation. If you haven't deleted your data or any folders it should just be a matter of updating the conf/config.json file.

You'll need to change the following keys:

dbTenant
masterTenantID
masterTenantName

The plan is for the next version of the builder to support upgrade, i.e. by running a command as simple as:

node upgrade

In the meantime, I'm aware that you raised some issues which have since been hot-fixed. You can get this by navigating to /temp/{tenantID}/adapt_framework and running:

git fetch origingit pull origin master

Anytime you create a new course (or do something in a course which demands a full rebuild, e.g. selecting a menu or them) you will have the latest framework.

Regards,

Brian

Show parent | Reply

I think my formatting has been slightly messed up there, so to clarify, to get the latest code for framework, navigate to /temp/{tenantID}/adapt_framework and run:

git fetch origin
git pull origin master

Obviously do the same from the root of adapt_authoring to get the latest authoring tool code.

Regards,

Brian

Show parent | Reply

Thanks again Chuck and Brian.

I was able to reupload my theme and menu changes and I only had a couple of pages so I just quickly rebuilt those, but I think I might try again with your instructions so I learn about the process.

Actually I've just CDed my way through my folder structure as advised using Git Bash and all folders including the last adapt_framework folder now say (master) after them - does that mean i'm all up to date?

*EDIT* Seems I do as I did as you said above and I get the message Already Up to Date! Yay!

Starting to understand the process now! Thank you so much. It certainly seems to be previewing without a dummy course now!

Helen

Show parent | Reply

Hi all,

Previous posts and wiki entries had recommended rerunning the install script in order to "upgrade". That may have been fine advice at a previous point in development, but your questions in this thread have led the core developers to rethink this. I'm working with them now to write up some clearer instructions for folks who have a pre-release authoring tool with data that needs to be preserved. They'll be based on the instructions that Brian was giving to Helen earlier in this thread. I'll post here and in the wiki when we get them set.

If you have a pre-release authoring tool installed that has data that does not need to be preserved, none of this affects you :) You can delete the old adapt_authoring folder and install the the new release.

Chuck

Show parent | Reply

Revised instructions for upgrading to v0.1.0 are available on the authoring tool wiki.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, it is no longer recommended that you upgrade by rerunning the install script.

Thanks for your patience!

Chuck

Show parent | Reply

Hi Chuck,

Following your new instructions I seem to be in business, thanks.

Cheers

Greg

Show parent | Reply

Thank you so much for your assistance Chuck!

Can we run this every time now when there is an update? I don't want to miss out on any new features :)

Talking of which do we know which plugins on Git are now compatible with 0.1.0? For example I'd love to use :

https://github.com/LearningPool/adapt-contrib-responsiveIframe
https://github.com/LearningPool/adapt-contrib-mobileOnlyText
https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt-contrib-triggered
https://github.com/LearningPool/adapt-contrib-blockslider
https://github.com/ExultCorp/adapt-contrib-flipCard
https://github.com/ExultCorp/adapt-contrib-clickAndLearn
https://github.com/LearningPool/adapt-contrib-reveal

there are another 3 - glossary, bookmarking and assessment-results, but they all only contain readme.md!

Helen

Show parent | Reply

Hi Helen,

I would hesitate to say "Yes, every time there is an update" because it would make this technique sound more permanent than I think it is. This early release (v0.1.0) is for "developers" and others who aren't put off by command line and git and such. The next release is intended to be accessible to a wider group of users, so expect the "technical bar" to be lowered. I think it is the developers' intention to have something that comes closer to an upgrade script for the next release.

The most significant difference between the outdated technique that I repeated earlier in the thread and the newer technique that reflects Brian's recommendations is that MongoDB is not being reconfigured. From that point of view, the new technique can be repeated. But the question changes to "why repeat?" The new instructions always pull the same released version. You won't get new features until a new version is released. But perhaps you understood that. (New features can be exciting! If you want to see them early, you'll need to play around with the develop branch. But let's be clear for the sake of anyone reading this: the develop branch is not intended for production.)

Show parent | Reply

Hi Helen

Can you tell me how can you use this component , did you install this component from the adapt tool GUI or form the code window , and when you use it do you write code or just drag the component to the course .

I hope you have time to answer me

thanks

Show parent | Reply

Hello, Thanks for the link with the installation instructions - I am new to all this but I am so excited about using the authoring tool.

I am having trouble running mongoDB - can you direct me to somewhere where I can get some help with this process?

Thanks in advance.

Show parent | Reply

Hi Alexander,

Glad to hear you're giving it a try.

There are currently two versions of installation instructions in the wiki: one longer, more verbose, and another that is more concise. Did you see these links:
https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/wiki/Installing-Adapt-Origin#install-mongodb
https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/wiki/Developer's-Install#install-guides

They both contain links to Mongo guides. And of course, there are other resources on the web.

I found setting up MongoDB to be a little tricky, being new to Mongo myself. But since installation, it's been no trouble.

Cheers!
Chuck

Show parent | Reply

How true and complete is the authoring tool to the sneak peak video preview that was presented a year ago? Are there any more current options that show the authoring tool's capabilities? I would like to present the tool's capabilities to a team and what to identify the best approach to let them see the tool short of installing it on one of our servers.

Also, is there a general goal for the next release of the authoring tool?

Thanks,

James

Show parent | Reply

Hi James,

thanks for your note.

The sneak preview was recorded on a life installation at the time and the tool has moved on significantly since then. We're one or two weeks away from our v0.1.2 release, which will package version 2.0 of the Adapt framework and also contains plenty of fixes and enhancements under the bonnet. The tool still looks much like it did in the preview (i.e. we haven't had time to complete and implement the front end yet) and it still requires a fair degree of technical capability to install.

We set up a beta testing area a while back, which we could give you temporary access to for your research and the demonstration to your team. Please let me know if that's of interest to you.

Thanks,
Sven

Show parent | Reply

Sven,

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate your offer to get temporary access to demo the beta testing area. I would like to take you up on the offer. Would be best to wait until it is upgraded to v0.1.2? Do you anticipate that would happen within a couple of weeks as well?

Thanks,

James

Show parent | Reply