Talk:DragMath equation editor

Developments

Documentation is a bit challenging as I am trying to bridge the possibility of moving through three different structures over the period of a year. In trying to maintain a bit of history I have users who seem intent on going to a section that says "Don't do this! For historical purposes only" (and as noted below, to avoid further confusion this material has now been deleted and appears below - and may eventually be included in a History of dragmath page), there are some rather bizarre versioning issues resulting from changes in adminlib.php, the nature of the current install files from CVS makes simple zip install unworkable though I think preferable and it may become a core technology which means a probable total rewrite.... I have been thinking of splitting the page into "History of DragMath on Moodle", "Using Dragmath" and "Installing Dragmath" and then creating zip files for easy install and attaching them to a new forum thread and then referencing the posted files in the docs via its URL. Any comment/suggestion welcome, either here or in the forum.

Discussion of Recent Changes

This page has being overhauled based on the change in how the applet and integration is being packaged and offered as well as upon the changes in DragMath 0.7.2 that move parsing tokens to the <Initial> stanza of the MoodleTex.xml format.

Prior instructions for installing dragmath appear below and have been removed from the docs because users continue to use them though they are warned NOT to. This way there will be some record of the docs, but users will have to aggressively look for trouble.....

Installing DragMath Integration and DragMath Applet Separately - Not Recommended!

You install DragMath in two steps

1. Install the DragMath package
2. Install the DragMath integration package

=====Step 1 - Install the DragMath package =====

Download the latest DragMath package from sourceforge and unzip it in the $CFG->dirroot/lib/editor/htmlarea/popups directory (where $CFG->dirroot is your "moodle" directory as defined in config.php. NOTE there is also a popups directory directly in the editor directory. Don't use that one!). This will create a new directory under popups called DragMath containing all the necessary DragMath components.

=====Step 2 - Install the DragMath integration package =====

Important Note: These instructions will REPLACE the smiley button on the HTML editor toolbar with the DragMath editor button. This was done to keep the installation instructions simple. If you want to keep your smiley button, see the section at the end of this article.

Download the latest DragMath integration package from the modules and plugins database. In the zip archive, you will find two files.

• dlg_ins_smile.php -- Copy this file to your $CFG->dirroot/lib/editor/htmlarea/popups directory, overwriting the existing file (you may want to make a copy of the original file before overwriting it)
• em.icon.smile.gif -- Copy this file to your $CFG->dirroot/lib/editor/htmlarea/images directory, overwriting the existing file (you may want to make a copy of the original file before overwriting it)

You must also change two lines in the file $CFG->dirroot/lib/editor/htmlarea/dialog.js

• around line 34 you will see the line:

case "dlg_ins_smile": x = 330; y = 320; break;

Change this line to

case "dlg_ins_smile": x = 540; y = 340; break;

• around line 47, you will see a line that begins

var dlg = window.open(url, "ha_dialog", "toolbar=no, menubar=no, ...

Modify this line, changing

resizable=no

to

resizable=yes

You might also want to change the mouse over popup from "Insert Smiley" to "Insert Equation". to do this you need to edit the file $CFG->dirroot/lib/editor/htmlarea/htmlarea.php

• around line 275 you will see the line:

case "insertsmile: ["Insert Smiley", "em.icon.smile.gif", false, ...

Change this line to

case "insertsmile: ["Insert Equation", "em.icon.smile.gif", false, ...

Finally, make sure that the new files and directories you create in the above steps are readable by the Web server. For example, make sure that the em.icon.smile.gif file has the same permissions as other gif files in the images directory.

=====Step 3 - Additional configuration regarding smiley button...=====

For those users who want to keep their smiley button, there are postings in this discussion that explain how to do it. At one time you could also download a special version of the DragMath integration package here but we are informed that this link is no longer working (you may be able to search for the link in the forums and find the name of the poster). Unzip it in your moodle root directory.

Sorry guys, this is not making a lot of sense

For starters, how does this gel with what is in the article? Or more importantly, why is there, in the article, discussion on how to use DragMath before there is any mention on how to install it or what to do after updates? I know that this is going to be obsolete after Moodle 2.0 is released, but a lot of people are going to be using Moodle 1.9.x for years into the future, so this HAS to be a lot clearer and more direct than it currently is. If "experts" are caring for Moodle 2.0 and subsequent releases, then these instructions HAVE to be clear and concise and workable, right now I suggest they are not.

As a "wannabe" maths person, I have tried a lot of different packages and I cannot get clear instruction on any of them without a great deal of hand holding from Mauno or Marc when it comes to installation. Even us old guys like to do things on our own, and this makes no sense.--Colin Fraser 12:00, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Moodle 2

Marc Grober 20:40, 16 June 2009 (UTC) As DragMath moves towards becoming part of Moodle core there will be some dramatic changes. I have created a separate forum thread to address these developments and Petr is actively participating there so that would be the most appropriate place to address transition questions: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=125977&parent=551794