1. Certification Exam Processes
How to create XML files to import to Prometric and reports
Training Services February 2010

2. The Process Author creates itembase/frame/*.fm images/visio/*.vsd
images/gif-images/*.gif
images/tiff-images/*.tiff
Save FrameMaker files “as XML” to
itembase/frame-xml/*.xml
Convert with XSLT to Prometric-style XML under bccpa\prometric-xml\exam.xml
Upload GIF images to a public Web server (or just create a ZIP file containing all images)
Import exam.xml to Prometric (plus upload ZIP with images)
Visit items, configure images manually; randomize distractor order

3. Directory Structure
Subversion -- proxysg/trunk/v341/exams ; packetshaper/v321/exams
itembase/frame – Exam item source files; named as chapters (e.g. product-family-a4.fm)
images/visio – Visio diagrams. One file per chapter.
images/gif-images – Web-ready GIFs (screenshots and exports from Visio; 96 DPI)
images/tiff-images – Printable TIFF (screenshots and exports from Visio; 150 DPI)
Itembase/frame-xml – saved from frame-working as XML
build/*.xml – which exams contain which chapters. Sections. Descriptions
build/*.dtd – XML structure for Prometric import (for validation)
build/xslt ; build/java; build/lib – infrastructure to manipulate XML

4. Preparing Environment
Exam/Item import can be done Prometric administrators/authors only (perhaps not every test author)
Necessary software
Java – JDK or JRE 1.6
JAVA_HOME environment variable (e.g. c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_10 )
Apache Ant; set ANT_HOME env. variable
Run Ant scripts

5. Convert with XSLT Check out the contents from proxysg/v341/exams
Verify that files “index-full.xml” and “bccp-v341.xlm” have the expected content – all chapters are referenced and all belong to their sections. Transform exam XML file to Prometric. Go to directory exams/bccpa.
ant -projecthelp
ant create-full
ant create-exam
ant transform-exam
Find result – e.g. releases/bcsg_waiver-v341-r0911-exam_BETA.xml

6. Upload GIF files to a Web Server
Each exam item contains no more than one GIF image. It’s name is written as item’s serial # in lowercase.
For example, item PROD-027 (chapter “Blue Coat Products) has image “prod-027.gif”.
All images refered by exam creation can be found under exams/working directory (e.g. bcsg_waiver-v341-r0911-pictures.zip )
Upload this ZIP during Step 2 of your exam creation. Then configure your exam items with these images (Step 3)

7. Import Exam to Prometric
Live Demo. Menu “Author Tests”, pick “Import test via XML” from select box; browse to exams/releases/bccpa/bccpa-v303r02.xml; upload.
Look for error messages. If there are any, correct mistakes in your source files and generate the exam’s XML anew. (Errors are most likely in index-structured-v321.xml or in some XML created from a FrameMaker). You may need to find a location of error by its line number.
Configure the exam – set its serial number, price, etc. – as shown in the first presentation.
Make the exam public, and move it to Production folder.

8. Printable Sample Exams or Production Exams
Install Apache FOP. Configure custom fonts ( )
Go to exams/formatting-objects
Edit sample_exam.xsl as appropriate
Open DOS window in “formatting-objects”
Run
ant –projecthelp
ant create-fo
Run command-line FOP transformation. E.g.
fop sample-exam.fo sample-exam.pdf
Open PDF and correct mistakes if any. Repeat “ant” and “fop” commands as many times as necessary.