Plugins/Artefact/FreeMindFlash
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Mahara FreeMind mind map plugin
This is an artefact file blocktype plugin to allow Flash rendering of interactive FreeMind mind maps in Mahara Views.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net
It draws inspiration from the FreeMind filter for Moodle.
http://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeMind_filter
Development of this Mahara version was begun by a student, James Kerrigan, on the Foundation degree in Computing and Internet Technology at the University Centre Yeovil.
It uses the FreeMind Flash browser including SWFobject to render the FreeMind files (i.e. using a combination of JavaScript and Flash)
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Flash_browser http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/
We also have (largely) working code rendering the mind maps using the FreeMind Java applet. If there is any interest, we can make available. However, in our hands this performed more sluggishly than Flash and also had some issues with applet security and Mahara view permissions.
Installation
The code may be downloaded from Github
https://github.com/geoffrowland/mahara-artefact_file_blocktype_freemindflash
After unpacking the download bundle, installation essentially involves copying the /freemindflash folder (and contents) into the /artefacts/file/blocktype folder of your Mahara installation to give /artefacts/file/blocktype/freemidflash
However, a few additional edits of Mahara core files are required for appropriate handling of FreeMind .mm files.
To /artefacts/file/filetypes.xml
add (e.g. just before )
<filetype> <description>mm</description> <mimetypes> <mimetype>application/x-freemind</mimetype> </mimetypes> </filetype>
Then increment the $config->version number in /artefacts/file/version.php and visit the Site Administration page to 'force' the update the artefact_file_mime_types table
Finally, in /artefacts/file/lib.php
Immediately after
if ($um->file['type'] == 'application/octet-stream') { // the browser wasn't sure, so use file_mime_type to guess require_once('file.php'); $data->filetype = file_mime_type($um->file['tmp_name']); } else { $data->filetype = $um->file['type']; }
Add
// The browser may have been wrong, so use file extension to force some mime-types.//// require_once('file.php'); switch ($um->original_filename_extension()) { case 'mm': $data->filetype = 'application/x-freemind'; break; }
Note that the switch statement can be easily extended to force other mime-types (for other plugins) that are not reliably identified on upload by browsers.
Use
When editing the contents of a View, drag the FreeMindFlash icon from the Files,images and video tab into your View. Then select/upload the .mm file of your choice. You can also set the width and height, though these default to 450 px x 300 px if you don't.
thumb.png
Issues
If you can't upload/see FreeMind .mm files from the file-picker, then there may be problems with the file mime-type handling. Some browser/operating system setups don't correctly identify .mm files as application/x-freemind so this has to be 'forced' in Mahara.
To do this, ensure you have applied the 'tweaks' to /artefact/file/mimetypes.php, /artefact/file/version.php and /artefact/file/lib.php detailed above.