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Chuck Lorenz edited this page Mar 23, 2015 · 22 revisions

##Introduction The authoring tool is in pre-lease development and testing. That means the developers are proud of how far their work has progressed, but are not yet satisfied with where it is. There are still features to be added and bugs to be worked out. But it works!

Installing the authoring tool is getting easier and easier; however, it still requires the installer to take steps that are typically hidden within a packaged installer. If you’re not intimidated by techie things, following these directions will get you up and running the authoring tool. And that’s when the fun starts.

##Installation Overview

  1. Install prerequisites.
    The authoring tool and the Adapt framework depend on other software to run. We’ve got to make sure these are in place first.

  2. Clone the Adapt authoring project.
    We’ll download the code from its repository on GitHub.

  3. Run the install script.
    The install script will use the prerequisite software you installed to find instructions within the project code. It will download more components and make a connections between all the pieces.

  4. Run the application.
    By this point we’ll have all the project pieces in place. In order to access the authoring tool, we need three things running: the database, a web server, and a browser. We’ll get these going, then log in to the authoring tool.

##1. Install Prerequisites The authoring tool will not run without the following:

The following are optional but make life more enjoyable:

Using the command line. If you are new to using the command line or if your command line skills are rusty, read this explanation before proceeding.

Using git. Git is a free source code versioning and control program. It also facilitates accessing software that is hosted on github.com. Adapt source code and most of the code it depends on is hosted here on GitHub. Git commands begin with the word git, as in the following example.
$ git clone git://github.com/marcelklehr/nodist.git
Such commands will not work if git is not installed. To check if git is already installed, open a terminal window and enter the following command.
$ git --version
If git is installed, a version number will be displayed.
You do not need to use git to download software from GitHub. You can use the "Download ZIP" button found on each GitHub repository page.

Tip: Some of these prerequisites come preinstalled with certain operating systems. Before installing, verify if it is already installed by checking for its version.

###Install Node.js Node plays two important roles: it gives us the node package manager (npm) that will download and install other modules & plugins that the authoring tool requires; and it provides a light-weight web server that will run the tool’s code.

Open a terminal window. Check if node is already installed by entering the following command.
$ node -v
If node is installed, a version number will be displayed.

The node version required by the authoring tool is v0.10.33. It is likely that other versions will be acceptable in the future, but not today. How to change your version of Node? Broadly speaking, you uninstall the current version (from Windows; from OS X and Linux) and install the required version. However, if you spend a few extra minutes to install a node version manager, we think you’ll be saving time and energy in the long run.

Node version managers, such as nodist (Windows) or nvm (OS X, Linux), make it easy to switch between versions of node. It is recommended that you use one. Follow their instructions to install and to load node v0.10.33.

###Verify npm is installed The node package manager (npm) is used to download and install the stuff the authoring tool depends on. It comes with Node.js, so we simply want to make sure that nothing prevented it from installing.

Open a terminal window. Check if npm is installed by entering the following command.
$ npm -v
If npm is installed, a version number will be displayed. If not, you’ll need to troubleshoot. Because npm is installed along with Node.js, it is likely that node did not install correctly. Consider reinstalling node.

###Install FFmpeg Using FFmpeg with the authoring tool is not required, but it will produce nice thumbnails for the images and video assets you upload to the tool.

Installing FFmpeg in Windows.
Installing FFmpeg in OS X.
Installing FFmpeg in Ubuntu.

###Install the Grunt and Adapt Command Line Tools A command line interface (CLI) allows us to issue commands to a particular program using the command line of a terminal window. Grunt.js is used to build the course. The Adapt CLI is used for a variety of tasks.

To install:
$ npm install -g grunt-cli
$ npm install -g adapt-cli

###Install MongoDB When you make selections in the authoring tool and enter course content, all of it is saved in a database called MongoDB.

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