Quizzler Format

Creating A Quiz With MakeDoc

With the free version of Quizzler, you can import your own quiz files through the Memo Pad application, so you can copy/paste a file from your desktop computer and easily get it loaded onto your handheld. Unfortunately, a single memo in the Memo Pad may only have up to 4000 characters. Quizzler Pro adds the ability to import Palm Doc files, which allows the quiz author to build a quiz of any size (still subject to the 1000 question limit in Quizzler).

There are various methods for creating a Palm Doc file. One such method described here uses the free Windows utility called “MakeDoc for Windows” (or MakeDocW.exe). In this method, you can create your quiz file in plain text using NotePad (or any other word processor that can save files in plain .TXT format) and then convert the NotePad file to Palm Doc format using MakeDoc.

You can download MakeDoc from an internet web site such as PalmGear.com. It is a free program that is very small. It does not come with documentation, so we will describe how to use it here.

Configuration

Run MakeDocW.exe. You will see a tabbed window with many options. These are the options you need to change from the default configuration:

Line Breaks Tab

CR/LF Removal = Remove LF
CR/LF Translation = None

Advanced Tab

Uncheck “Ignore Single Line Breaks”
Pilot File Extension = “pdb”

Conversion Tab

Uncheck “Compress”
Uncheck “Auto Install” if this gives you problems (you can install manually by double-clicking the resulting PDB file)

How To Use

To convert your text file:

Run MakeDocW.exe and select the “Conversion” tab.
Click the “Browse” button and select your quiz text file.
Click the “Convert” button

That’s it. Your new Palm Doc file, ending with “.pdb”, will be found next to the source file (if “Auto Install” unchecked) or ready to be loaded into your Palm at the next HotSync (if “Auto Install” is checked). To manually install, just double-click the Palm Doc file and then do a HotSync.

After a HotSync, run Quizzler Pro and select the “Import Doc File” menu item. You should see your Palm Doc file there. Select it, tap “Convert”, and your quiz is ready to use.