Power
Blue Classroom Quiz
by Sergiy Krutykov
Universität Osnabrück
Institut für Informatik
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Power |
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| About |
Power Blue Classroom Quiz allows you to make a multiple-choice (to be exact 4-choice) quiz with many participants at one time with the help of bluetooth cellphones or via Internet (like the lifeline "Ask the Audience" in the show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"), whereas the frequencies of answers are visualized in a PowerPoint presentation (the word "Power" in the name corresponds to "PowerPoint" and the word "Blue" to "Bluetooth").
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| Requirements |
Power Blue Classroom Quiz requires for proper functioning
1 This software was tested only with Microsoft Windows XP, thus functioning with other Windows versions can not be guaranteed. 2 This software was tested only with Microsoft Office 2003, thus functioning with other Microsoft Office versions can not be guaranteed. This software needs VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) for PowerPoint. VBA is a part of the standard Microsoft Office installation. If VBA nevertheless is not contained in PowerPoint, Microsoft Office must be repaired or reinstalled. |
| Download |
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| Installation |
First of all make sure that your bluetooth adapter is connected and the bluetooth driver is installed.1 Unpack "PBCQuiz.zip" and copy the folder "PBCQuiz" to a place where it is guaranteed to remain and not to be moved. Test your bluetooth adapter with "testBT.jar" (or "testBT.bat" if you have problems with starting "jar"-files). If you get an error message like "BluetoothStack not detected" that could mean that either no driver for your bluetooth adapter is installed or the driver is not compatible to the libraries used in this software. In this case try to install the standard Windows driver.2 In the second step you need to create the MIDlet. There are three kinds of MIDlets dependent on what you need. As all the MIDlets have the same name "BCQuiz.jar" and it is probably not possible two install many than one of them on some phones and even if it is possible you need use some strategy to distinguish them, you have to decide which you take. Firstly you can create MIDlets for single devices. You can use each such MIDlet only with the bluetooth adapter you have chosen. In order to create such a MIDlet make sure that your bluetooth adapter is connected and run "createSingleDeviceMIDlet.jar" (or "createSingleDeviceMIDlet.bat" if you have problems with starting "jar"-files). If You get the message "The MIDlet for your bluetooth adapter was created successfully!" then your MIDlet (the file "BCQuiz.jar") can be found in the directory "MIDlets" in the subdirectory which named after the bluetooth address of your bluetooth adapter. (You also find the file "BCQuiz.jad" there. Normally the phones do not require this file. Use this file only if a phone demand it.) This MIDlet works only with one adapter so if you change the adapter please create the corresponding MIDlet for it. If you want to run quizzes on different computers with different adapters then the previous solution with a MIDlet for a single device quite inconvenient. As a solution for it, in the directory "MIDlets\universal" you can find an already compiled "BCQuiz.jar" which works as follows: If you start this MIDlet on your phone then it searches the area for PCs and Laptops with a bluetooth adapter and if it finds only one then it starts the MIDlet for this adapter. If it finds more adapters then it shows the list of bluetooth addresses in which you can chose an appropriate adapter. However you should now the address of it. You should activate the search (somewhere in Control Panel) for your bluetooth adapter if you want your device to be found via bluetooth. Searching for devices lasts about 14 seconds. As this search happens at the beginning that looks like the program needs too much time to start. Just be patient. If no adapter can be found in these 15 seconds then the search begins again so that it is possible (if no adapter is in the area) that the starting process never end. Just shut the program down in this case. The previous solution has the disadvantage that the quiz partipitiants have to know (quite cryptic) bluetooth address. For this case the third kind of MIDlets can be used which allows user to chose the bluetooth device for quiz. If you have a list of adapters which you want to make quiz-able then you can after inputting this list in the DB to create a MIDlet just for this list. Additionally you have to give name to the devices so that the quiz participants can easily recognize which adapter to choose. Such a MIDlet can be created with "createMultiDeviceMIDlet.jar" (or "createMultiDeviceMIDlet.bat" if you have problems with starting "jar"-files). In this program you can give names to different devices in order to better recognize them. You probably will need to input the addresses manually. These addresses must be in the format 12 characters without ":" between them. Use "getBTA.jar" (or "getBTA.bat" if you have problems with starting "jar"-files) in order to get the address of the currently connected bluetooth adapter in the appropriate format. In the third step you need to install the Power Blue Classroom Quiz Add-in. For this purpose firstly make sure that "Microsoft SOAP Toolkit 3.0" is installed and then allow macros in PowerPoint: under Extras -> Macro -> Security you should chose either middle or low level, whereas low level is not recommended, as malicious macros can be executed without your agreement, whereas by middle level each macro must be allowed by the user personally. After it run "install.ppa" which opens (if not already opened) PowerPoint and installs the Power Blue Classroom Quiz Add-in. If this installation has succeeded, your should see a new menu "PBC-Quiz" and a new commandbar with two icons: one for new slides and one with the green triangle. If nothing appears then there are some troubles with the VBA. In this situation can not be given any better advice then to reinstall or repair Microsoft Office. Use help in the "PBC-Quiz"-menu or read "quiz\help.html" in order to understand the functioning of the Add-in. Finally you need to install the MIDlet on the cellphones of the participants of the quiz. There are some methods of doing this. You can place the MIDlets at their disposal (in the way of your choice, e.g. via a download page) and they install it on their own cellphones with the help of cables and software which they got with their cellphones. You can also send this MIDlet to the cellphones via bluetooth3 either with the help of Windows (right-click on the file -> "Send to" -> Bluetooth -> ...) or with the program "MIDletDistributor.jar" (or "MIDletDistributor.bat" if you have problems with starting "jar"-files). In the first case you are only able to send only one MIDlet at time, which takes each time up to 20 seconds. "MIDletDistributor.jar" sends a chosen MIDlet to all bluetooth-capable cellphones in the proximity simultaneously: After start appears the system tray icon and a file open dialog where you can chose the needed MIDlet then click on "OK" and wait till it has been sent. After that you can resend the same MIDlet, send an other MIDlet or close the program via right-clicking o the system tray icon. Note, some phones do not override the old files so if you want to install the MIDlet for the second time on the same phone you better delete it in advance. If any questions please contuct me on skrutyko@uos.de. ___________ 1 The best of all would be to let Windows install this driver automatically because this software was only tested with the Windows standard driver thus the functioning of the program with other drivers can not be guaranteed. 2 If your computer has an internal bluetooth adapter which uses a non-standard Windows driver you can additionally connect an external one to your computer and try to run it with the Windows standard driver. 3 Normally the owners of the cellphones must firstly allow bluetooth connections on their devices explicitly. |
| License |
Copyright (c) 2008 Sergiy Krutykov
Use of this software is permitted. The library BlueCove is used in this software and use of this library is covered by the Apache Licencse, Version 2.0. You should have received a copy of the Apache Licencse along with this software (see /bluecove/bluecove-2.1.0.txt). If not, see < http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 >. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. |