Where is the configuration information for decodable readers stored? Would it be possible to set it up on one computer, and then copy a configuration file(s) from one computer to another to copy the setup? Would that include the pointer to the sample text file (which might not be the same path on a different computer with a different user name)? I realize that it wouldn’t be a huge amount of work to just set up the configuration manually on several computers, but a simple copy of a configuration file would probably be easier. And obviously we would only be copying to other collections that use the same vernacular language. (Unless we wanted to use one setup as a template for another language, but that would certainly involve some modifications in that other language, and would probably be easier just to set it up from scratch.)
Hi Jeff,
Where is the configuration information for decodable readers stored?
You should see the files in the collection’s folder, with names like ReaderToolsSettings-xyz.json. You should see a folder named “Sample Texts”.
But the built-in way to distribute decodable reader setups is this command:
You can also check out this video about making and sharing decodable reader templates.
Thanks for the input, John. I know much more about decodable reader templates now. But I still have one related question. Suppose that I have a BloomPack with decodable reader templates in it. That pack contains the decodable reader configuration, right? I load that BlookPack, and then create a book from one of those source templates. What happens if the vernacular collection already has a decodable reader configuration? From my tests, it looks like the configuration from the template is just ignored, and the configuration currently in the collection is maintained. Is that correct? That seems a little weird, to create a book from a decodable reader template, but you don’t actually get the decodable reader stages from it; they just get ignored.
A somewhat unrelated question: What happens if you created a decodable reader template in one language, and used it to create a book in a different language vernacular collection (a language that has a different alphabet)?
The intended context of a decodable reader template is that someone/some organization puts significant time into crafting the decodable stages, setting up the templates. This product is somewhat “official” (and often is a product of cooperation with a Ministry of Education). There should only be one set of them. Over 1000 decodable and leveled books have now been created through the Enabling Writers program for which they were built, with no complaints about this system. So will not be supporting scenarios where there are multiple competing decodable reader template sets.
I’m talking about the context of a Ministry of Education workshop, and a draft configuration was used to practice on decodable stages (either set up manually, or through a draft set of templates). At the point at which the final decodable stages are ready, and “finely crafted” stages are put into a BloomPack of templates, what is the user with the old stages to do? Create an entirely new collection? As I said, from my experience, if I create a new book from a template with decodable stages, but the collection already has decodable stages defined, the new stages will just be ignored.
Hope that’s clear. Let me know if you need more detail to understand the situation.
Sure, that sounds like one reasonable way to clean out the cruft. You can just copy any existing books into new folder.