File organizationClic 3.0 is a 16-bit programme developed for the Windows 3.1 operating system. This means that it is unable to work with files and folders with more than 8 characters in their name, or more than three in the extension. All the "long names" supported by Windows 95 and later versions are shown by their abbreviated version of 8 characters plus 3 for the extension in Clic. For example, if you save a drawing with Windows 95/98 Paint and give it the name "Map of the moon", Clic and all other 16-bit applications will see it as MAPOFT~1.BMP. So, you have to keep in mind that the names given to files that you wish to use later should be kept to 8 letters without spaces, accents or "strange" characters. For the above example, it may have been better to name the file MAPMOON.BMPIt is recommended that all of the files that are used in an activity or pack are located in the same folder. Even though calls related to other folders can be made, the application will be more solid and transportable if you follow this advice. It is quite normal to work with several files at the same time when creating activities with click. Imagine that you want to make an association between the names of six writers and their photographs. First of all you have to prepare the "primary material" for the activity: look for the photographs; scan them; download them from the Internet; or copy them from a CD-ROM. You will have six files in BMP or GIF format, which will have to be copied in the same folder. Then you will have to prepare two text files: one with the writer's names and the other with the references to the photographs (using the technique of writing the BMP or the GIF name in curved brackets). Finally, you will have to create the Clic activity and define the colours, letter fonts, size of the cells and other graphic elements; all of that will be saved in an ASS file, which is the one that Clic will recognise. In total, 9 different files are needed to create this activity: 6 photographs, 2 text files and an ASS file. It is, therefore, very important to correctly organize the information. If all this material is saved in the same folder it will be much easier afterwards to make changes, copy it to diskettes, send it by Internet, etc. When you have finished creating an activity pack you can use the ClicPac programme (which is explained in module 4) to compact the different files in a single file. This will help the transport of the application to other computers and will prevent accidental changes. ClicPac will also help us to "clean up", erasing the files which are no longer necessary.
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