March’s Featured Module
The Confession of St. Patrick
By Patrick (of Ireland)
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If you’re a conservative Evangelical, you’ve probably shied away from everything associated with Patrick of Ireland (better known as “St. Patrick”). That’s too bad, because we’ve let the Catholics steal him away from us!
Patrick was an Englander, kidnapped by Vikings, saved as a slave boy, escaped home to England, and then answered the missionary call to go back to his slave home. Exciting stuff!
Patrick left behind 2 books. This one, Confession, was written because the Christian leadership in England wanted to know what he thought he was doing in Ireland. It appears he was there without their permission or their blessing. It tells us what he believes. You be the judge if you think he was Catholic! (Hint: the module is listed here at DDT as a module of the month!)
I’ve included a couple of “bonus” chapters in this module (that make it worth the download all by itself!).
This free eS/TW module may be downloaded here (scroll down to the biograpy section).
If you’d like to purchase this for your small group (or just like holding a good book in your hands!), they are available here.
SEE OUR PAST MODULES OF THE MONTH by clicking here.
Fore more free Bible Study modules formatted for TheWord Bible software, visit wordmodules.com
When eSword 10.0 was released back in late 2011, one of the new features that was incorporated into it was a new type of module called a Reference module (modules now ending with “.refx”). It is basically identical to the .topx format with the following distinctions:
- .Refx files are compressed. They take up much less space than their identical .topx versions.
- .Refx files cannot be viewed in the Topic Editor. They may only be viewed in the “Reference Library Tool” which must be accessed under the “Tools” menu or by clicking the “Reference Library” button.
- .Refx files may not be edited, nor may they be converted (easily) to other software programs.
Interested in reading the full blog entry? Click here.
eSword’s .Refx Module
The How’s & Why’s -
Costas (the software creator of theWord) has created a very nice tool that is used
to convert some resource types to theWord’s format. While this tool is multi-
I would like to inform folks right up front that Costas’ converter will not convert
“locked” modules. For instance: any modules purchased as a “premium” eSword resource
will not convert tohttp://www.biblesupport.com/e-
Almost all of the modules that I build here at DDT I release for both eSword and theWord. Not all module builders do that, however. You may occasionally find modules built for eSword that you want for theWord. With these instructions, you’ll be able to convert just about every eSword module (except for “premium” resources and .refx files) you’ll ever find.
Interested in reading the entire blog? Click here.
Converting Resources to theWord
See my tips to “Maximize Productivity” with eSword settings & more
Convert resources to use with theWord Bible software -
Use eSword for Personal Revival in 2012 -
When DDT.com first went live almost two years ago (May 13, 2010), we were the only eSword site on the web that was regularly adding new modules. OMLB was attempting to distribute “publishable quality modules”, and not the typical “pump and dump” modules (where digital text gets pumped up from from the internet, and then dumped into a module shell with little/no formatting nor proofreading) that were often distributed. It was our desire to raise the formatting bar for module building.
But DDT.com never just built modules; it was also my desire to link to modules from
other sites that were “conservative, evangelical, Christ honoring and Bible believing”
in content. In May of 2010, there weren’t many of those -
At the same time, this site went live another module site was in the process of disintegrating. I didn’t want to link to modules at that site, because I believed in time that site would become unserviceable. (That did happen, by the way.) But that site had some modules with good content, but poor formatting. What to do with those modules?
If you add to that our desire to double our effectiveness for Christ by offering
all of our modules not only for eSword, but also for theWord, and our problem got
compounded. What were we going to do with all of these modules that have good content
but poor formatting that OMLB did not make? So our team reached a compromise: put
those modules (even the ones that we converted for use with theWord) on an archive
site and link to them. Use the “^” sign -
For the last two years, that site worked well as a place to host those modules that
were not built by OMLB and had no other internet home. But recently esnips changed
their downloading policy. Their site is now much more difficult to use. In short
-
So as of May 1, 2012, DDT no longer links to esnips. All of the modules that had previously been linked to from esnips have either been edited and reposted, moved, or deleted. esnips has been esnipped at DDT.com. 80 modules have been updated, edited, or deleted.
So, if you’re one of the users who have had issues with DDT offsite links, I think you’ll be able to go back and download those troublesome files. Thanks for your patience.
DDT Gets esnipped
For years, eSword devotees had been begging for a better way to handle their large library of .topx files. For some, wading through 2,000+ files to find study information was impractical. To be quite frank, it just didn’t work.
So, in order to best utilize eSword’s .topx file system, you either had to 1) be
well acquainted with the digital contents of each module -
When Rick released eS10x in late 2011, one of the major upgrades he included was
the Reference Library -
So, if you are looking for study materials on “The Armor of God” from Ephesians 6:10-
But there is one problem: what if the word Ephesians isn’t in the title of the module? Hmm. Good question.
Real world example: Handley Moule wrote a commentary on Ephesians called “Grace and
Godliness.” Most module builders follow this format for naming .topx files: Last
Name, First Name Middle Initial. -
“Moule, Handley C.G. -
But how useful would that be if you’re “filtering” modules looking for resources on Ephesians? Unless you remembered that specific module is on Ephesians, I believe you’ll never use it. Ever.
Fortunately, whoever created this module (BibleSupport.com’s “SpreadTheWord”) was wise enough to add one important word to the title, so in reality it is named this:
“Moule, Handley C. G. -
See the difference? Now when you filter for “Ephesians,” this module will show up in the filtered list!
All of the modules built by OMLB and posted here at DDT have always included something substantial in the title (like “Ephesians” or “Holy Spirit”, etc.). If it wasn’t included by the author in the title, then we added it in parenthesis after the title. Let me give you an example. Here is a real world module built by OMLB and posted here at DDT.com:
“Brooks, Keith L. -
See that word “(Prophecy)”? The parenthesis tells you it was not originally in the title; but the title, all by itself, tells you nothing about the contents of the module. So now, if you filter for “Prophecy”, this module will show up in the search.
Helpful, huh? We aim to please!
Now, here’s the thing: you can do the same thing to modules, too. By adding words
to the file name, you can make your modules “filterable.” Both .topx & .refx modules
can -
1) make sure you back up your modules (!!)
2) navigate to your “...program files...\e-
3) right click any individual .topx file and choose “rename”
4) add as many words to the file as you want, making sure to keep “.topx” at the very end of the file name
That’s it. Really. Why not give it a try and see?
Some Windows users may find they have “permission” issues when attempting to change file names in the “...Program Files...” folder. If you find this problem, simply add two additional steps:
1) make sure you back up your modules (!!)
2) navigate to your “...program files...\e-
FIRST ADDITIONAL STEP: right click any file (or ctrl-
3) right click any individual .topx file and choose “rename”
4) add as many words to the file as you want, making sure to keep “.topx” at the very end of the file name
SECOND ADDITIONAL STEP: right click the edited file(s) and “cut/paste” them back
into the “...Program Files...\e-
One final note: if you change the name of one of Rick’s official modules, the eSword downloader will show you that it is not installed; that’s because it is looking for a specific file (that no longer exists, because you changed it). Be cautious about editing Rick’s official resources.
Making sure all of your .topx files are “filterable” will go a long way towards making your Refviewer even more powerful than it already is.
END NOTES
*SmartStarter temporarily renames .topx files, creating an environment where the user could select only certain .topx files to show up in the Topic Editor. Smart Starter is still available, but not nearly as necessary with eS10x.
*I think it was “DSaw” that first suggested the use of a folder/sub-
Maximizing eSword’s Reference Library by Editing File Names