May 31, 2019
by D. P. Story
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eforms: Enhanced Preview

Some LaTeX authors use a non-conforming PDF reader as a PDF-previewer, in the same way they use a DVI-previewer. Such non-conforming readers do not necessarily support form fields and the JavaScript they contain. The macro \previewOn has been available for many years, when activated, eforms typesets a rectangular box around a form fields so they become visible to one using a DVI- or PDF-previewer; recently, the eforms package (dated 2019/05/24 or later) supports an enhanced preview. Continue Reading →

April 18, 2018
by D. P. Story
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aeb_mlink: Crossing page boundaries with multi-line links

With the publication of aeb_mlink dated 2018/04/17 or later comes the ability to create multi-line links that can break across page boundaries. Multi-line links (and single line links for that matter) that break across page boundaries are not supported by the PDF Specification; therefore, for such a link, we crack or break the link into two links, the second one is then free to travel to the next page Continue Reading →

March 3, 2018
by D. P. Story
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AeB Pro: \texHelp* and auto-animation

The second in the series on creating a rollover animation. In this demo, we use \texHelp* to create the same animation as in ro-autoanime.pdf, but the animation is not dismissed when the user exits the rollover-word. This enables the user to inspect the animation more leisurely. The aeb_pro package dated 2018/02/17 or later is required. Continue Reading →

September 5, 2017
by D. P. Story
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Correcting a math problem

The traditional way an math objective question is posed using the exerquiz command \RespBoxMath is to leave a blank text field into which the student enters his or her response to the question. An alternate strategy is to supply an incorrect answer (that looks correct) and to ask the student to edit the answer to obtain a correct answer. Continue Reading →

August 26, 2017
by D. P. Story
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exerquiz: Multi-letter variables, alternate appearances, and interval repetition

Version 8.0 of exerquiz introduces the features in the title of this article. The \RespBoxMath command allows for multi-letter variables (‘theta’, for example, to represent an angle). Alternate appearances refers to the feature where the variables are replaced by other symbols, when the user leaves the field; for example, ‘theta’ may be replaced with \u03B8, unicode for the Greek letter theta. Interval repetition refer to a new notation [0,1]*3 as a short-hand notation for [0,1]x[0,1]x[0,1].

See the demonstration file ml-vars.pdf

With the latest browser technology, to see the effects of interactive form fields, you must download the file onto your own computer and open it with Adobe Reader.

August 28, 2016
by D. P. Story
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Using Stamps in a Matching Game: Custom Messaging, Part 1

This article demonstrates how to make simple modifications to the messages of the DAD Game (Drag and Drop). The game is produced by the aeb_dad package.

You play the `game’ by dragging a presidential picture and dropping it into a  rectangle corresponding to that president’s name. As you do so, alert boxes  appear with a message indicating your are right or wrong. The messages in the alert boxes are the default ones, and are the same for each of the  presidential choices. Continue Reading →