Editing Your Module using Edit-In-Place

Edit-In-Place is a tool that lets you make quick and easy changes to your existing Connexions modules. Your modules contain CNXML tags. CNXML is an XML markup language that allows you to identify the different types of content in your modules and to distribute your modules over many different hardware platforms and different operating systems without extra effort on your part. Using Edit-In-Place, you can:

• Add or remove elements (paragraphs, lists, equations, exercises, figures, code blocks, notes, and examples)
• Edit existing elements
• Preview existing documents

Note: An Element is simply a part of your document, such as a paragraph, list, equation, and so on. For more information on these elements, please see the CNXML Help Pages or select Other elements from the Add Here drop-down list.

Adding New Elements

Using Edit-In-Place is easy. Once you have created your module, and entered the metadata, you can immediately begin adding text. To add text use the following steps:

1. Click the "Edit" tab.
2. If the module is new, click on the white box that says "click to edit paragraph" in the upper right corner when you mouse over it. A text editing box appears.
3. Enter the text of your first paragraph.
4. Click Save. The text editing box closes and the text you entered appears in a white box.

You have just created your first paragraph. If you want to view what the published version of this module will look like, click the Online link under the "View" heading in the Module Status sidebar on the right of the page.

Besides paragraphs, you can add the following by clicking on the insert… link:

• Lists(bulleted and ordered)
• Equations
• Exercises
• Notes
• Codes
• Examples
• Tables
• Sections

Editing Existing Elements

The steps for editing existing elements are similar to the steps for adding new elements.

1. Click the "Edit" tab.
   
   

   Figure 1: The "Edit" tab displaying contents of a module in the Edit-In-Place editor mode.

2. 
   
   
3. Click in the white area of the gray text box that contains the element you want to edit. The content of the element displays in a blue text editing box.
   
   
   

   Figure 2: The blue edit box in the Edit-In-Place editor.

4. Edit the content as necessary.
5. Click Save. The text editing box closes and the text you edited appears in a white box.

Canceling Edits

If you are editing an element, but then decide to return the element to its pre-edit form, simply click Cancel. What happens next depends on the state of the element you are editing.

• If the element is new, the element will be deleted.
• If the element already existed, it reverts back to what it was before you began this editing session.

Deleting Elements

It's very easy to delete an element from your document. Follow the steps below to delete an element:

1. Click on the element you wish to delete.
2. Click Delete.
3. Click Yes on the alert box that pops up.
4. The element will be deleted from your document.

Show/Hide Sidebars

Each module and collection editing area features a useful "Show/Hide Sidebars" icon. When you click on the icon, the right and left authoring sidebars are hidden and the content pane is expanded. This is especially useful when editing modules using Edit-In-Place.

Once the Show/Hide Sidebars icon has been clicked, you can reduce the editing area and display the sidebars by clicking it again.

Figure 3: Click on the "Show/Hide Sidebars" icon...

Figure 4: ...and the editing area fills the page. Click on the icon again to return to your normal view.