Tools & Aids
Course Builder
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Introduction | ||||||||||
Prerequisites |
In order to install Course Builder, you need the following
software:
There are a large number of web servers (both commercial and public domain). It is assumed that your local site already has a web server installed. If not, then the Apache web server can be freely downloaded for Unix/Linux and Microsoft Windows platforms. It is also assumed that Course Builder will be installed by a web administrator (or at least by someone with basic familiarity with web servers and CGI scripts). It is simply beyond our scope to document web servers and CGI scripting. |
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Tested Environments |
Course Builder runs as a Perl-based CGI script. It has been
tested in the following environments.
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Download the Perl Script |
The first step is to download the
Perl script for Course
Builder. You can download this to a temporary location of
your choice (later instructions will document where to move it).
You should save it with the name "course-builder.pl".
You can check the syntax of the script by entering the following command:
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Configure the Web Server |
You need to perform some configuration for the web server:
If you have a different web server, you will need to perform
similar configuration tasks. Consult your local web server
administrator for assistance.
The basic task is to define where the e-Handbook files and CGI scripts reside on your local platform. |
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Configuration Details for the Apache Server (Windows Platforms) | ||||||||||
Freely Downloadable Web Server | Apache is a freely downloadable web server that is available for Windows platforms. The current version is 2.x. However, the 1.x versions is still supported. The configuration instructions below apply to both versions of Apache. | |||||||||
Some Relevant Directories |
For the Apache server, there are several relevant directories:
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Configuration Steps |
The following steps are required:
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Configuration Details for the Apache Server (Unix/Linux Platforms) | ||||||||||
Freely Downloadable Web Server | Apache is a freely downloadable web server that is available for Unix/Linux platforms. The current version is 2.x. However, the 1.x versions is still supported. The configuration instructions below apply to both versions of Apache. | |||||||||
Some Relevant Directories |
For the Apache server, there are several relevant directories:
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Configuration Steps |
The following steps are required:
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Configuration Details for the IIS Server (Windows Platforms) | ||||||||||
IIS Web Server | The Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) is a popular web server on Windows platforms. It can be installed from the Windows operating systems disk (information on installing IIS is readily available elsewhere and not given here). Consult your local computer support staff for assistance (we cannot answer questions on installing IIS or any other web server). | |||||||||
Specify the e-Handbook Directory for IIS |
In order to configure IIS for the e-Handbook and Course Builder,
do the following:
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Final Installation Instructions | ||||||||||
Modifications to the Course Builder Perl Script |
You may need to make a few changes to the Course Builder Perl
script. Specifically,
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Boundary Issue for Internet Explorer (MIME Multipart/mixed) |
The Course Builder perl script has browser dependent code that
separates "pages" from one another when printing the HTML code to
the browser.
This is supported with Mozilla/Netscape browsers. However, the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser just prints the file to the screen rather than saving the file as expected. To resolve this problem, the script detects the browsers. For Mozilla/Netscape browsers, it will ask where to save the file. For Internet Explorer, it will ask to download the file using a link. |
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Zip and tar Issues |
The Course Builder perl script can use any external command
application to compress the files generated by Course Builder. By
default, it uses the command line version of WinZip for Windows and
tar for Unix/Linux platforms. If you have a different tool
available locally, modify the "$PACKAGER_EXE" variable in
"course-build.pl" to define the appropriate command to use.
The script can use just one compression application. If you want to run Course Builder from both Windows and Unix desktops, one solution is to have two scripts; one for Windows (i.e., using WinZip) and one for Unix/Linux (i.e., using tar). Then let the user decide which script to run. You need to have the WinZip plugin for command line support (windows only) installed in order to create zip files with the script. Note that WinZIP can open tar files created by Course Builder running on Unix/Linux platforms (WinZip does not create tar files, but it can extract them). |
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Changing the Logo | The Course Builder places a logo on all the pages that it creates. The default logo is a NIST logo. It is recommended that you replace this with a logo more appropriate for your local site. The simplest way to do this is to simply replace the image located in "cbuild\c-logo.gif" with a local logo. |