Components in SuperMemo are texts, images, sounds, buttons and other pieces that are used in composing a single page displayed by SuperMemo.

Each component can have its appearance and behavior changed by means of options available from its own pop-up menu. To open a component pop-up menu right-click over the component. You can also press Ctrl+Alt+F10 to open the pop-up menu of the current component (the one marked with a shadow). You can switch the current component with Ctrl+T. Ctrl+T selects the next component clockwise, while Ctrl+Shift+T selects the next component anti-clockwise.

The following lists describes all options you can find on pop-up menus of components of different type. As these options are often same for various component types, they are all described here. A given component might not display an option that is irrelevant (e.g. Insert OLE object appears only in OLE components, while Delete is common to all components).

Important! HTML components and OLE components display their own pop-up menus in the presentation mode. HTML components display typical internet browser pop-up menu while OLE components display the menu dependent on the OLE server that handles a given OLE object (e.g. if you use an MS Word OLE object, MS Word pop-up menu will be opened if you right click over the OLE component).

The component pop-up menus include a subset of the following options:

• Reading - options available from text and rich text components and used in processing reading lists and longer text components (see the article Reading the Internet to find a detailed description of how to use the options on the Reading submenu)
  • Queue extract - use the selected part of the text to create a new element and put this new element in the pending queue
  • Remember extract - use the selected part of the text to create a new element and memorize this new element
  • Task extract - use the selected part of the text to create a new element and put this element on the current tasklist
  • Queue cloze - create a new cloze deletion element based on the current text selection and put this element in the pending queue
  • Remember cloze - create a new cloze deletion element based on the current text selection and memorize this element
• Insert HTML link - insert a link into the source HTML code in HTML components in editing mode
  • Element - insert a hyperlink to another element in the collection (for details see Insert HTML link)
  • Text registry - insert a hyperlink to another text in the text registry (including unformatted text and HTML text)
  • HTML file - insert a hyperlink to a stand-alone HTML file anywhere on your hard disk or a network drive
  • Web address - insert a hyperlink to a file available from the Internet
  • Registry image - insert an image from the image registry
• Insert OLE object - insert a file into your OLE component. This file might be an MS Word document, Excel spreadsheet, Mind Manager mind-map, Corel clipart, MS Equation, chemical formula, animation, video, etc. The number of files you could reuse is only limited by OLE servers installed in your Windows. Once your create a collection with OLE objects, you can redistribute your files among users who do not have corresponding server applications. For example, if you insert a Mind Manager mind map and your customer does not have Mind Manager installed, he will still be able to use your collection. He will not, however, be able to edit the mind map. This would require having Mind Manager installed. The dialog box displayed with Insert OLE object makes it possible to select one of the two options:
  • create a new OLE file (you only have to pick from the list of OLE servers available in your installation such as Bitmap Image, Wave Sound, WordPad Document, etc.)
  • create an OLE file from an original document (e.g. MS Word document or MS Excel chart)
• OLE properties - display the properties of the OLE object
• Search source - search the source text in an HTML component
• Links
  • Registry member - link the current component with a selected registry member. For example, if you have an image component and would like to display an image Elephant that is used by other components: (1) choose Links : Registry member, (2) select the image in the image registry, and (3) click Accept (or press Enter). You can search for the image in the registry with Ctrl+S to narrow the number of candidate images to link
  • Hyperlink - select in the contents window the element to which the component should be hyperlinked to
  • Hyperlink number - link the current component with another element by inputting its number. Note that it is much easier to create hyperlinks using the option Hyperlink above
  • Font - choose a font for the current component from the font registry (choose Accept after you select the font)(this option is equivalent to Text : Link Font)
  • Play on click - link the current component with another playable component (e.g. sound, video, script, etc.). When the user clicks your component, the linked component will play
  • External file - link the current component with an external file (i.e. file not integrated with your collection). Note that linking to external files reduces the size of the collection but the link can be easily severed if the file is moved to a new location or when you move your collection to another computer. Unlike External file, the option Import file will integrate the external file with the collection and increase its size
  • Delete registry link - delete the current registry link in the current component. This operation removes links created with Links : Registry member and Links : External file. Note that If the deleted link was the last link to the registry member in question, this member may be deleted with or without warning (depending on the registry type)(compare: Edit : Delete file)
  • Delete hyperlink - delete a hyperlink from the current component to another element
• Import file - imports a file to a registry and creates a link from the current component to the newly created registry member. For example, if you want your sound component to play a given WAV file, choose Import file, pick the WAV file in the file dialog box and click Open. Your WAV file will be integrated with the sound registry and a link to this file will be registered with the current component. Unlike the option External file, Import file will create a copy of the imported file in the elements folder and increase the size of the collection
• Image - options related to image components
  • Stretch image - display the current image stretched to the size of the current component. If the image is smaller or larger than the image component, it will be shrunk or stretched to the appropriate size
  • Edit hit-area - edit hot-spots used by scripts commands DRAGMATCH and HITTEST
  • Transparent - make the current image transparent. The image background will become transparent and will instead show the components or the background image lying underneath the current image component
• Sound and video - options related to sound and video components
  • Panel - select the control panel for sound or video components
    • None - display sounds as text-only and videos as display-only
    • Buttons - display a control panel with buttons such as play, stop, rewind, etc.
    • Slider - display a control panel with a slider for easily rewinding the sound or video
    • Recorder - display the alternative control panel for sound components with buttons dedicated to comparing user recorded sound with the original sound. This panel is useful in pronunciation exercises where the user is suppose to record himself and compare his recording with the original recording of a native speaker
  • Extract section - extract a section of the sound or video file to be played by the component. For example, if you want to create a number of exercises based on the same longer video scene, you can use this option to make each exercise play only a section of the video file without wasting disk space
  • Frames - select the speed of video fast forward (i.e. the number of frames to skip in incremental rewinding or moving forward)
• Shape - options related to shape and line components
  • Line thickness - select the thickness of lines
  • Line style - select the line style (e.g. solid, dashed, dotted, etc.)
  • Brush style - select the style of the shape texture (e.g. solid, crossed, etc.)
• Script - edit the script in script components
• Button text - change the text on buttons used in script and programmed components
  • Play - change the text displayed before the script or program is executed
  • Stop - change the text displayed when the script or program is running
• Text - change properties of various text components (text, Spell-Pad, sound, and RTF)
  • New font - define a new font, store it in the font registry (not in the case of RTF components) and use it in the current component
  • Edit font - editing the currently used font (e.g. modify it in the font registry)
  • Link font - choose a font for the current component from the font registry (choose Accept after you select the font)(this option is equivalent to Link : Font)
  • Center text - center the text in text or sound components
  • Transparent - make text transparent in text or sound components. Transparent texts show the components or the background image lying underneath the current text component. Otherwise, they are displayed on the uniform background determined by the option Color
  • Keep in lexicon - decide if the text stored in the current component should be stored in the lexicon registry
  • Case sensitive - make Spell-Pad case-sensitive
  • Copy transcription - copy the phonetic transcription of the current text component to the clipboard (phonetic transcription registry must not be empty)
• Color - choose a color for the current component (this option will override the transparent attribute in text components)
• Default color - choose the default color for the component (the default color is the same as the background color in the current element)
• Border - show or hide a border around the current component
• Display at - determine when a component should be visible. If you clear all checkboxes, the component will become invisible (e.g. acting like a placeholder for sound or a script)
• Play at - determine when a sound component should play. If you clear all checkboxes, the component will become muted. If you check all checkboxes, the sound will play on each step of the repetition cycle
• Answer - make a component an answer. This will make the component invisible at the moment of asking questions during repetitions. Note that Answer is a quick way to choose an appropriate subset at Display at (click Answer and see changes in the dialog box displayed with Display at)
• MCT - determine which components will take part in a multiple-choice test
  • None - component is not used in a multiple-choice test or is only used as a question, comment, etc.
  • Wrong - component makes a wrong response in a multiple-choice test. If the user clicks this component, he will be graded Fail
  • Correct - component makes a good response in a multiple-choice test. If the user clicks this component, he will be graded Good
• Delete - delete the current component. If this component uses the last link to a given registry member (i.e. no other components link to this member), the member will also be deleted (in case of sounds, images, videos, etc. you will first be asked to confirm deleting the registry file)
• Edit
  • Copy - copy the contents of the component to the clipboard (e.g. linked text, linked image, etc.)
  • Paste - paste the contents of the clipboard into the component (only if the clipboard contents matches the type of the component)
  • Paste special - paste special an OLE object
  • Move to ClipBox - move the component to the ClipBox
  • Edit file - edit the registry file associated with the component (e.g. sound file in sound components or bitmap file in image components). Edit file will use a default editor assigned for editing files of the selected type in your Windows installation
  • Delete file - delete the file associated with the current component (compare Delete registry link)
• Mode - determine how the component is displayed and processed
  • Presentation mode - display the component in the way it will be seen by the user
  • Editing mode - prepare the component for editing or sizing
  • Dragging mode - prepare the component for dragging or sizing
  • Send to back - send the component to the back behind all components lying currently underneath
• Component
  • Select next component - set the current component in the presentation mode and set the next component in the editing mode
  • Select previous component - set the current component in the presentation mode and set the previous component in the editing mode (anti-clockwise)

Frequently Asked Questions

You can add pictures to your items and make them show only at answer time
You can add a sound recorder