JClic Guide: Simple and complex associations
Simple association
In the simple association activities two groups of information which have the same number of elements (boxes) are presented. Each element in the original group (Panel A) has its counterpart in the second group (Panel B).
To make the relationship you must click on one of the boxes in the first grid and drag the cursor to the corresponding box in the second grid. The order in which you do this is not significative for the pairing off of the information. When the two pieces of information are correctly associated, the content of the two boxes will disappear, unless you have selected an alternative in panel A:
When editing association activities with JClic author (Class Java: @associations.SimpleAssociation), the tab Panel defines the activity with the following elements:
The information which the panels contain can be textual, sonant, musical, graphic or animated and, more importantly, can be combined.
The arrangement of lines and columns of the two grids must be the same. The distribution in the same game window can be either horizontal or vertical.
In simple associations the relación between the elements of one panel and the other is always the same.You start with the top lefthand box and follow the same direction as the writing until you reach the lower righthand box whatever the distribution of the grids is. JClic automatically assumes this relationship:
Panel A allows you to edit alternative content, i.e., once the user has guessed correctly the relationship, this hit appears in the box in the form of an image, text, sound, animation or a combination of formats.
The options for image, style and border are the same as described in anterior activities.
The form of the fitting edges of the boxes and the selection of the number of lines and columns are the same as for the puzzles.
The choosing of the width and height of each of the panels is independent, therefore you can use the buttons + and -, introduce the numbers from the keyboard or drag the mouse from the two sides or the base of the grids which appear in the graphic environment of the work.
Complex Association
In the type of complex association activity there are also two types of information, but these can have a different number of elements and various types of relationships: one-to-one, various -to-one, odd elements... From each box in the original group (Panel A) there can be a relationship or not. The boxes on the receiving end (Panel B) can be related on one or more occasions or not have any relationship at all:
When you edit a complex association activity , a window type @associations.ComplexAssociation opens in which the behaviour of the tabs Panel A, Panel B and Distribution is the same as in simple associations , taking into account that the number of boxes of the two panels can be different.
The difference is found in the new tab Relationships.
The relationships between the elements of Panel A and Panel B have to be indicated manually, because it is impossible for the programme to discover what the relationship is between the elements. When you create an activity of this type, you automatically see the arrows relating the boxes to each other as in a simple association.
Association activities are considered solved when each box in panel A has been matched to its corresponding pair with the exception of the unallocated boxes (those from which no arrow leaves). The option Inverse Resolution though, makes the activity considered solved when at least one associated element has been found in each box in panel B.
For example, imagine an association activity with ten pictures of fruit and a list of the names of three colours. To solve it you have to find the colour of each fruit. However, if you tick the box Inverse Resolution it will be enough to find one fruit of each colour.