Playing a dice game, using While loop

Intro

In a previous blog post I explained the ins and outs of the new Advanced Actions dialog box. If you feel confused about my terminology in this more practical blog post, please read that first article. A decision block of type 'While' is totally new in version 2017. It has some similarities with the Conditional decision block (IF, Then, Else) but offers new possibilities as you'll see in this simple game. The While loop can be used to create a looping sequence of commands. That loop can be infinite, or limited in number of executions, based on one condition or a combination of conditions. Mohana Das from the Adobe team published recently this article demonstrating the infinite While loop. Please read that article, for users familiar with advanced actions the used condition 'IF 1 is equal to 1' will be easily recognized, since this was the condition needed to create a mimicked standard action decision in older versions. It means that the sequence of commands will continue to be done, since that condition always results in True. In a future blog post, I will offer some tips about breaking such an infinite loop.

The present article will focus on using the While loop, based on a condition which results in having the commands sequence repeated a limited number of times. It is a very simple game, every object was created within Captivate. One exception: the color shift in the Characters was achieved using roundtripping with Photoshop.

It is not a responsive project, to avoid a too long article (should have to explain setup in fluid boxes with logic of the variables and advanced actions). Maybe in a next article?

Play first!

Download this published folder (HTML5). Sorry, cannot embed it in this post (allows only SWF's and it is not playing well in Flash output). Unzip the folder, launch the index.html file to start playing. It is a small game: when you click on the Play button, a dice will be rolled and you'll see one of the faces of the dice, indicating a (random) number. The girl is supposed to climb the stairs, she will go up as many steps as the number you won. The goal is to reach the top. When the girl reaches the top of the stairs, clicking on the Play button will result in another scenario, and a Reset button will appear.

On entering the Game slide you'll see two looping animations, with added randomness and a possibility to stop the the looping. You'll see this action in Preview, but I will not provide details.

Slide setup - preparations

Have a look at the timeline of the Game slide:

I created the stairs as a freeform shape. That was pretty easy with Guides (see Guides Rule) and Snapping to guides. Of course a better approach would be to create that shape in Illustrator with export to SVG, but it is always a challenge to use only the available Captivate tools.

Dice: this is a multistate object, the normal state is a square shape, for each of the sides circular shapes with a gradient fill are added. Look at the Object state panel for this object.

The 3D animated dice has also been created as a group from a lot of shapes.

Effects - Characters

Two custom motion effects were created for the climbing girl. Default effects couldn't be used in the advanced action, because the path had to be edited. Here are two screenshots of the custom effects: Impatience (before starting game) and StepUp (during play).

The original Character (climbing the stairs) will disappear with a default Exit effect 'Zoom out'. when the top is reached.

The Sticky image that replaces the original one climbing the stairs, will get a default Entrance effect 'Drop in and Bounce'. The text panel in that image is covered with a click box, functioning as a Reset button.

Play button: is a simple transparent button.

Variables (for game only - more are needed for the start animation)

I created 5 user variables:

v_dice: starts with an empty value, will get a random number between 1 and 6 (using JavaScript, see Playing with Numbers)
v_counter: starts with a value=0 and will be used in the condition for the While loop to fix the number of repetitions to match the random number in v_dice
v_stair: is a second counter, that will be used to keep track of the total number of steps done. It is needed to know when top is reached. The staircase has 16 steps. It also starts with a value=0.
v_null: empty variable (see...) used to reset the v_dice variable after each use of the Play button
v_roll: starts with a value=0, will track the number of dice rolls needed to complete the steps; that number appears after the top of the stairs is reached. It is a third counter.

For the EnterGame action a 6th variable v_anim is used.

Events and actions

The three used events for the game are:

Success event of the Play button, it will trigger an advanced action PlayAct
Success event of the Click box (Reset) it will trigger the advanced action ResetAct
On Enter event of the Game slide, which triggers the animations: EnterGame

ResetAct triggered by Click Box

I couldn't use Scenario 2 of the Replay Slide blog post. There are a couple of reasons, one being that the Game slide was originally the only slide. It is never a good idea to start a project with a complicated On Enter action (as is necessary for the looping animation). The workaround is to have a short dummy slide (mine is 0,2 secs) before the game slide and use this Reset action:

Due to the command 'Continue', the On Enter action of the game slide (second slide) is always executed. At this moment for HTML5 output this is not the case when using micronavigation (as in the blog post about Replay slide).

PlayAct triggered by Play Button

The PlayAct has 3 decision blocks, one of each type: the first decision is a standard action (sequence of commands), the second is a While loop based on a condition and the last decision is an IF condition, in previous versions labeled as a conditional action. Here is the Preview:

Decision 1 'Random' (standard action)

With this sequence, the 3D dice (animated On Enter) will be hidden and replaced by the static dice in its Normal state.

The one line JavaScript will generate a random number between 1 and 6

window.cpAPIInterface.setVariableValue("v_dice",Math.floor(Math.random()*(7-1))+1);

I explained the construction of this line in detail in this blog post

The variable v_counter is reset to 0. It is important that this is done before the While loop in the third decision.

Decision 2 'EndCheck' (conditional IF action)

This decision checks if the character has reached the top by comparing the user variable v_stair with the total number of steps (16). Contrary to v_counter, v_stair is only reset to 0 when re-entering the Game slide (using ResetAct).

The Play button is hidden (to avoid disturbing the rest of the sequence) and the static multistate dice.

The original character disappears, is replaced by a group (character + click box + text balloon) with some default effects.

If the condition is not fulfilled (ELSE), which means the top has not yet been reached, the variable v_roll is incremented by 1.

Decision 3 'ShowNumber' (While loop)

The condition used to limit the execution of the commands in this loop, is a combination of these two (AND):

The number of steps taken by the image cannot go beyond the random number stored in v_dice (see first decision) and
The total number of steps done, stored in v_stair, cannot be greater than 16, number of steps in this staircase.

The commands to be done while that AND combination results in True are:

Switching the static dice to the next state (see image of the Object states for this static dice above)
Character gets on the next step (using custom effect StepUp, but that name has been changed by Captivate to the name of the effect it was based on 'RightToLeft'.
The variable v_counter is incremented, it is this variable which is used in the first condition
The variable v_stair is incremented; that variable is not reset by clicking on the Play button, is necessary to check if the top is reached (decision 2 'EndCheck').

EnterGame triggered by the On Enter event

Here is the Preview, let me know if you need more details

Questions?

Fire away. Creating this game was a lot of fun, 'while' exploring 'while' loops. Let your creative juices surge!

Advanced Actions Dialog box in Captivate 2017/2019

Intro

In my previous blog post about my preferred new features in Captivate 2017 I mentioned that the dialog box for Advanced Actions got a nice new layout. It is like new shoes, sometimes it takes time before they feel as comfortable as those old sneakers :). The focus of this article is on clarifying that new dialog box. Maybe you'll discover some unknown gems here as well? I recommend to download the example published file, or watch it (as SWF output) in that article if you are using a Flash enabled browser on a desktop or laptop.

Structure - sections

The dialog box still has a fixed size (I wished it could be resized) and in this screenshot I indicate three sections, which I will explain more in detail below:

Section 1: with the Global control panel to the right, two dropdown lists and the Action name field. That field has to be filled in for an advanced action, but not when your goal is to create a shared action (see Dare To Share).
Section 2: has the control panel and navigation possibilities for the Decisions. Decision is the name used in the official Help documentation for those parts of the action that have the generic names 'Untitled_1'...(and function as buttons to navigate to a decision). When opening the dialog box a default number of 3 decisions will be present. You'll see in the screenshots that I am used to rename those decisions, certainly for an action with multiple decisions.
Section 3: shows the type of decision, has the control panel for the Commands or actions. I prefer the word commands to avoid confusion.

Nothing has changed at the bottom of the dialog box, with the buttons Usage (for the active Advanced action; for Shared actions you'll find the Usage button in the Library), Variables (which allows you to open the Variables dialog box if you want to create more user variables or check the available variables, you cannot delete variables when entering the dialog box from this button), Save as Shared Action... (will open the Shared Actions dialog box), Save or Update Action and the Close button.

Section 1: Global

On the first row you'll have:

Create from: followed by a dropdown list. I call this the actions template list. It will have the default template 'Blank' on top, but also the name of all shared actions in the project. One of the possibilities of shared actions is to use them as a template for a normal advanced action. The list is not alphabetically ordered. You can type the first character to navigate to a template starting with that character.
Control panel with 6 buttons

Preview button: this button is still unknown by many users, and has become even more useful than before. In previous versions you could only see a conditional action in this Preview, but since the former standard actions are now embedded in the same interface, you can also preview standard actions. Here is a screenshot of such a simple standard action. Watch the indicator 'Execute Actions' which means that this is a standard action.

The biggest advantage of the Preview window is for advanced actions with a lot of decisions, because you'll get an overview of all decisions. However: the operators for conditions (like 'is equal to ') are translated in the JS and AS equivalents (== means 'equal to', && means 'AND"). Parts of the decisions are collapsed in this example (triangle buttons):
Create New Action is the + button. It is no longer necessary to choose first of all the type of action, which was the case in previous versions.
Import Shared Action: works only for shared actions (doesn't appear in the tooltip). That same button is to be found in the Library. Personally I always prefer to import (and export) shared actions from the Library.
Export Shared Action: works only for shared actions (doesn't appear in the tooltip), same button as in the Library.
Delete Action will delete the active action
Duplicate action: can be very useful. In some instances duplicate advanced actions are to be preferred to shared actions (maybe a future blog post).

On the second row in section 1 you see;

Action name: compulsory for advanced actions. Be careful with names (sorry for the repetition), do not use names that are used for other items.
Existing Actions: has a dropdown list, ordered alphabetically. You can type the first character to navigate to an action starting with that character.

Section 2: Decisions

This section has these items, starting at the top left:

Control panel with 3 buttons (which now are not as tiny as they used to be in former versions):

Add decision (+ button): the decision will be added after the active decision (its name is bold and blue, non-active decisions have their name in regular black font).
Delete decision: active decision will be deleted
Duplicate decision: very useful. Look above at the second Preview example where decisions 4 and 5 are very similar to decision 3 and have been created with this button.

Previous/Next buttons: will navigate and make that previous or next decision active. These button have also 'grown up' :)
The last group at the right is also a navigation panel, but will mostly be dimmed, unless you have more decisions that can fit in the fixed width of the dialog box as you can see in this global screenshot:

Those buttons allow to navigate, but will not select the decision you are navigating to, the present decision will remain active. First button scrolls to the first decision, second/third to the previous/next decision without making them active, last button scrolls to the last decision. Personally I suspect that I will not use those buttons often because you have another way:
Dropdown list with names of all the decisions is to be found under the triangle button at the end of the line with the decision buttons (which you can of course also use to navigate to a button). Of course, I am a labeling freak as you can see in the screenshot. When you select a decision from this list you'll navigate to that decision and it becomes active. Beware: the width of the dropdown list is limited, use short names or at least have significant characters at the beginning of the name. The list is ordered in the sequence of the decisions, you can use a first character to switch to a decision name starting with that character. More reason to label: if you leave all names at Untitled, you'll not get any help from 'U

Section 3: Commands

Select a decision by clicking on its button (Untitled_x as generic name or with a custom name). It is possible for each decision to choose its type: Standard, Conditional IF, Conditional While (loop). Look below for the differences. In this section you'll see several instances of the same control panel with a sequence of 8 buttons, some having a shortcut key (I use a Win system):

Add (CTRL-N) will add an extra line after the last line of that part
Remove (Delete): deletes the selected line(s)
Copy (CTRL-C) will copy the selected line(s).
Cut (CTRL-X) the selected line(s)
Paste (CTRL-V) copied or cut lines: will work in between actions as well, as long as it is in the same part (depends on the type of decision)
Insert (CTRL-I) will insert an extra line before the selected line
Move Up: the selected line(s), can be useful because of the importance of sequence of commands.
Move Down: the selected line(s), can be useful because of the importance of sequence of commands.

Type 1: Standard

If you leave the check box before 'Conditional action' unchecked, you are ready to create a sequence of commands, formerly named a 'standard advanced action'. This screenshot shows such an action and before (under Control panel of the Global section 1 I showed a Preview of such an action):

This type has only one control panel, since there is only one part in this type: the list of commands that have to be done in the chosen sequence. As told before, you can select a number of commands and paste them to the clipboard. They can be used within the same advanced action, in other decisions of any type, but only in the so-called 'Actions' part. However you can paste the copied lines also to another advanced action, with the same restriction.

Type 2: Conditional IF

To create a decision of this type, you have to check the check box before 'Conditional action', and choose the option 'IF' in the dropdown list as is visible on this screenshot:

This screenshot shows two parts of the complete decision, to see the last part 'ELSE' you have to click on the ELSE button at the bottom of the Actions part in the first screenshot:

The three parts of this action: Condition, THEN (is not mentioned like that, second part under the Condition, ELSE have a control panel as described before. You can always copy/paste between the Actions part (THEN and ELSE), but the Condition part is 'standalone'.

The first screenshot also shows the dropdown list, because you can define different conditions with AND (all conditions have to be fulfilled), OR or a combination of both (be careful with the last option).

Type 3: Conditional While (loop)

To create a decision of this type, you have to check the check box before 'Conditional action', and choose the option 'While' in the dropdown list as is visible on this screenshot:

For the Conditions the situation is identical to Type 3 (AND, OR, Custom). This type has only two parts however: the Condition and the list of commands that have to be repeated as long as the condition part results in True. Two parts means two control panels, not interchangeable. But you can copy/paste from another decision or action, as long as you remain in the same part (condition or Actions).

Conclusion

I hope this bit boring overview was useful for you. Promised: next blog posts will be practical, still busy with examples concerning Pausing the Timeline (focus on audio). Explanation of usage of the new While loop, with some examples is on the way as well. Not to forget: the very useful integration of Go to Next/Previous State in advanced actions: you'll get a tutorial for a user controlled or non-controlled presentation as well.

TIP: for complicated actions with many decisions of all types, I add an extra character to the name: '..._S' for a standard decision, '...._C' for a conditional IF decision, and '...._W' for a conditional while loop. Easier to identify.

If you have questions, issues with the Advanced actions of any kind, please fire away!

Captivate 2017's gems

Intro

About two weeks ago Captivate 10, now labeled Captivate 2017 was released. If you did visit my blog in the past, you know that I prefer to wait a while before posting my first impressions. My focus is also more on the non-hype features added in this release, I call them the 'hidden' gems. Some are mentioned in the documentation, some not.

Retina screen - software recordings

Captivate 9 was the first release which could be used on retina screens. However to record a Video Demo or a Software simulation you did have to edit the AdobeCaptivate.ini file. It was a solution, but bit cumbersome. After the capture process you had to edit that same file again to be able to use Captivate on that screen.

Tip: when using Windows 10 as OS, be sure to check the Display setting before recording a Video or a Software simulation. Bu default it will be set to a number higher than 100%. To record you have to reset it to 100%.

In Captivate 2017 this is no longer necessary, thanks to the Adobe team!

Advanced Actions enhancements

The Advanced Actions dialog box has been refurbished, and many will have emphasized that it is now easier to combine standard with conditional actions. Personally I don't find that so important because the condition 'IF 1 is equal to 1' worked as well, but much more has changed. I will post an article later explaining the changes in the dialog box more in depth.

Enhancements Decisions

The existing functionality for multiple decisions in former versions has been preserved: adding decisions, moving decisions, duplicating decisions. The buttons got another look as you can see on this screenhot. There has been added two extra time savers, if you have a lot of decisions in one advanced action:

A dropdown list showing all decisions, and allowing you to navigate and select a decision (Section 3, to the right)
A control panel to scroll to the next, previous decision, and to the Last and First decision (Section 2, to the right).

Added commands

I am very happy that the commands 'Go to Next State' and 'Go to Previous State' (one of my first feature requests when multistate objects appeared) are now available in the list with commands in the Advanced Actions. In Captivate 9 there were only available as simple actions (Actions Tab dropdown list). This improves efficiency quite a lot, as you will see in the example movie below.

While loop

It has taken a 'while' but finally we have a looping possibility in Advanced actions, no longer needed to switch immediately to JavaScript. In combination with the command 'Delay Next Actions.... ' a lot is now easier in advanced or shared actions. Just one pretty easy example: create a countdown animation by combining a counter variable, a while loop, an effect and that Delay command. While loops can be combined with standard and conditional decisions as well.

Example movie

This short example has two slides:

First slide shows a countdown animation and a progress bar. That slide is using the new While loop. Use the Start button to see the animation. When the animation is finished you'll get a Reset button. Here is a screenshot of the used action (Preview). .
The second slide is using the "Go to Next State" command both for the text items and the images with the sticky character. Use the Continue button to go to the next state. When all states have appeared, you'll get a Reset button.

Test this movie out, if Flash player is enabled in your browser:

Typekit integration

Finally we have access to the Typekit Library (I'm used to it using CC applications)! In the example movie I used two fonts which I already acquired with a CC subscription (Fira Sans and Rosario), but Typekit also has a free license. You have to check it out, time to get away from those limited set of websafe fonts. When publishing with Typekit fonts, you'll need to add a domain name. For testing purposes you can choose for 'Local host'. If you are collaborating on a project, you'll have to be sure that the collaborators have a Typekit license as well. In that case when opening a Captivate project, Tk fonts will be synchronized on their system.

Responsive projects

A lot of articles and tutorials have been published already to acclaim the use of Fluid boxes in responsive projects. However I am also happy that the 'old' way with Breakpoint views is still available as well. If you upgrade a responsive project from a previous version (8 or 9), it will automatically show in the Breakpoint view mode, since the development has happened in that mode. After two weeks with Fluid Boxes in CP2017 I don't have enough experience yet to judge their full power. My first impression is that the kind of project will indicate (dictate?) the choice of the development work flow:

Fluid Boxes mode development will be a big timesaver for text-heavy projects. No need to check all text container styles for font sizes in all breakpoint views, no need to adapt the margins, leading to have text fitting in a text container on any mobile device.
The continuous slider to see the changes for all possible browser resolutions is great!
The design of a responsive theme with fluid boxes needs a different set of mind: how to set up the grid with Fluid boxes in content master slides.
The minus point of working with Fluid boxes is that you lose some control. My teacher's experiences learned me that you cannot use the same layout on a smartphone as you use for a laptop or even a tablet screen. That will make using Fluid boxes not appropriate for all courses. If you are a die hard designer, maybe you will not like the way that objects will be handled when the browser resolution changes?
Objects in a Fluid box are essentially in a 2D space: you cannot have overlapping objects. That is the reason why the Help explains that Zoom objects, Highlight Boxes and Click boxes are not allowed in a FB. The line object and mouse objects are excluded as well. However you can use them in a static Fluid box.
Breakpoint mode development is a lot more work, but gives you more control for layout differences between devices and for design. You can have overlapping objects, and with the exception of the Rollovers almost anything can be used.

Tip: to switch to Breakpoint view development use this option in the Project menu:

The possibility to change a normal (blank) project to a responsive project is a much asked for, very useful addition. The reverse is not yet possible, responsive to non-responsive.

After some more experience with using Fluid Boxes, my opinion could change of course. Anyway I am persuaded already that the customisation of the theme is more important than ever. If you wonder why, maybe have a look at this article: 'What is in a Theme/Template?'

Update August

This week I discovered an undocumented enhancement thanks to a user on the forum:

https://forums.adobe.com/message/5077114#5077114

When using the Submit All feature for a quiz, up till now it was not possible to localize this popup dialog box (style can be changed using the Object Style Manager):

In Captivate 2017, the dialog box whidh appears when you click the option 'Submit All Messages in Quiz, Preferences has all you need to localize everything. In previous versions this dialog box had only 3 items.

More?

This personal view on the new features/enhancements in version 2017 (10 under the hood) is based on a limited time of exploration. In a future blog post (or showcase) I will give more details about the creation of the example movie. As promised, the overwhelming number of buttons and features in the new Advanced Actions dialog box will be the subject of another tutorial. At least, if you find this useful?

Interactive Video Buttons

Intro

When I posted the article about Pausing the Timeline (part of the sequence of articles about that most important panel), I promised to add some use cases to illustrate using pause and pausing points. Let us start with a simple use case, based on a recent forum question in this thread: I nteractive Video Buttons

Use Case - description

It is clear that the user is not aware of the difference between pausing the timeline by an interactive object (pausing point) and by the command Pause. The idea is that the learner, while a video is playing, can launch a popup that has some static content (text, images...). While that popup is opened, the video should pause. On closing the popup the video should resume playing. The user proposed to have a close button for that purpose, which is the easiest solution (Scenario 1 below). hyperlink instead of the close button as I described in this article: M ore is in a hyperlink - Close button

It could also be done with defining the open button as a toggle button Scenario 2).

For both scenarios it is necessary to insert the video as a multi-slide synchronized video to be able to control the video with Captivate functionality. If you insert the video as event video it will play totally independent from Captivate.

Scenario 1

In this scenario the popup will appear with one button, and be hidden by another button or hyperlink.

This makes it possible to have two actions, simplifies the setup: no need for a variable, no need for a conditional action. You can use two standard actions. If you want multiple buttons and popups, or expect to be using this work flow in other projects, I strongly recommend to create shared actions instead of advanced actions. This article will describe only the advanced standard actions.

Have a look at the setup of the slide. Look at the Timeline panel. It has only 3 objects (from bottom to top: video, shape button, popup). In the screenshot the shape button SB_Info is selected. It will open the popup 'Info'. Look at the Timing properties of the button. The option to pause is unchecked (which is not the default situation), the shape button is timed for the rest of the slide. The result is that the button will be active for the whole slide, there is no inactive part.

The popup in this example is a shape used as text container, labeled 'Info'. That popup has to be invisible in output (eye icon in the Properties panel). If you expect that the slide can be revisited, a better approach is to use the On Enter event of the slide to hide this popup 'Info'. To close the popup I preferred using a hyperlink over a close button. The popup is ta single object. If you prefer to have a 'real' close button, you'll end up with two objects (text + button). In that case you can group them, to reduce the number of commands for showing and hiding.

Standard Advanced Action ShowContent

This action is triggered by the Success event of the button SB_Info as you see in this screenshot:

After showing the popup (only one text container, can also be a group), I choose to disable the button SB_Info. If you want it to more user friendly, you can add a custom state 'Inactive' to that button and change to that state. This will avoid confusion for the user, some may expect that button to be a toggle, which is not the case in this first scenario. The last command will pause the timeline unconditionally, resulting in both video and audio to be paused.

Standard Advanced Action CloseContent

to be triggered by the hyperlink over the big X character:

if you prefer a Close button, this same action will be triggered by the Success event of that button; you can use exactly the same action. If you are using a responsive project, or HTML5 output only, the work flow with a button is to be preferred because the hyperlink event is not to be trusted with HTML5 output.

It is a similar advanced action (use the duplicate feature), with three commands which are the opposite of those in ShowContent: Hide (was Show), Enable (was Disable), and Continue which will release the Playhead, both video and audio will resume.

Scenario 2

In this scenario aToggle button is used both for opening and closing the popup.

In that case you can use an approach similar to what I explained in: 1 action = 5 toggle buttons

It is a little bit more complicated because:

You need an extra custom state for the popup button which indicates that it changes to a close button after having opened a popup:
You'll need a variable to track the status: I will use v_visib, a Boolean, with value = 0 when the popup is not visible,
and value = 1 when the popup is visible; since I used a shared action from an external library, that variable is created automatically.
You'll need a conditional advanced action to be triggered by the Success action of the button:, this is the advanced action version created based on the shared action:

More Possibilities

An interactive video will often be spread over multiple slides, to offer navigation buttons to different parts of the video. It is not a problem to have the scenarios available on all slides: time both the button and the popup groups for the rest of the project, always on top.

I mentioned the possibility to group a close button with text, but groups with more objects are possible as well: image, shape, animations. Group all together, hide the group On Enter for the slide, and you only have to replace the single object in the scenarios above by the group.

Turn the actions into shared actions, and keep them in a separate project. You can open the Library of that project as an external Library in future projects. Especially the toggle action, it will save time because you don't have to create the user variable.

Future use case, example of Pausing the timeline, will be about audio. It is more complicated because there are several ways to use audio in Captivate, perhaps I will need more than one post.

Reference/Registration point in Captivate?

Intro

The origin of this article is (again) due to a forum question: "I want to rotate a triangle around a certain point" using the Rotation effect. It is time to explain the importance of the reference or registration point for objects in Captivate. In other Adobe applications like Illustrator, InDesign, Animate you have lot of control over that point. Look at this small screenshot: it shows that reference point in two different locations. Sorry for the low resolution, it is very small in Illustrator: left image shows the reference point in the left center, the right image at the bottom right. It was that last point that was wanted by the OP in the forum, but ... Captivate doesn't allow changing the reference point.

Reference points Captivate

The Reference/registration point in Captivate is used in different situations. In some situations it is located at the top left corner of the bounding box, in other situations in the center of the bounding box. The 'bounding box' is the rectangle surrounding the object or the object group. You'll see it during editing, when selecting an object or a group. The visual presentation of that box on the stage is not looking always exact, it can look larger than it really is. The correct size (px) of that box can only be seen in the Options tab of the Properties panel.

Location, resizing, rotating

The X and Y value in the Options tab are the coordinates of one of the registration points: the top left corner of the bounding box, as you can see in this screenshot:

The red lines in this screenshot are guides. The dotted square is the bounding box. The blue circle indicates the first reference point, which is top left and has its coordinates in X and Y in the Options tab. If you uncheck the 'Constrain Proportions' option, and increase the Width (W) or the Height (H) you'll see that the reference point will not move, increasing width will move the right border of the bounding box, increasing height will move the bottom border.

However, if you use the Rotation button on the stage, or the Rotation option in the Options tab, the used reference point is no longer the one indicated by the blue circle, but the center of the bounding box, which is indicated with a white circle in the screenshot. Same point is used for Flipping and 90° rotation buttons in the Options tab. The reference point will (weirdly) not change in the X, Y coordinates when you rotate an object as is visible in the next screenshot: you see that the X/Y still references to the blue circle center, which is no longer part of the bounding box of the shape:

Aligning

If you align two or more objects (use the Align Toolbar which you can open by Window menu) the result can be surprising. Have a look at this first screenshot: I kept the rotated arrow, added a rectangle with exactly the same width (300px), and having the reference point at the same X value. That means that the center point of both shapes has the same X value as well, centering the shape will not move them. In a first test, I selected the arrow first for alignment (see right image in screenshot).

The result for left align is to be seen in the left image: the most left point of the bounding box of the arrow has been used as reference. When the bounding box is turned off, there seems to be no 'alignment' between the shapes. The second image looks better.

Same alignment rules when you use grouped objects instead of single objects. The bounding box of the group is what matters.

Effects

For all effects the center point of the bounding box (white circle in the very first screenshot) is the absolute reference point. It is the case for all categories of Effects. Especially for motion effects, the new Guides are very handy to locate the start, end and intermediate points of the motion path as I showed in this post: Guides Rule!.

That was the original question which I mentioned in the introduction: how can you rotate an object, not around its center but around another point. Since version 9 it is possible to apply an effect to a group. You cannot have individual effects for objects that are grouped (which is a pity). But in this case effect on a group provided a workaround for this particular question:

Add an object that is 'invisible' to the end user, like a shape with a Fill Alpha = 0 and a stroke = 0.
Group that object with the object to be rotated, in such a way that the center of the group bounding box coincides with the rotation point you want to use.

This sounds more complicated than it is really. Have a look at this visual presentation: the wanted rotation point was the right bottom point of the triangle. Duplication of the triangle with rotation provided me with that 'dummy' object which I made invisible to the user (here I added a light grey border to make it visible):

The red lines are guides which will not be visible on publishing. You see in this screenshot that the bounding box looks bigger than it really is, because its exact size is indicated by the red guides.

Using Quizzing System Variables

Intro

In my last post I mentioned that, based on the visits to my blog posts, Quizzes in Captivate seem to be one of the stumbling blocks for newbies. Most of the quizzing blog posts with focus on default quiz slides are already pretty old. More recently I have been talking about new features like Branch aware and Knowledge Check Slides. The most visited post will be updated to accommodate the changes in a near future. This article will offer you some ideas about using the specific quizzing category of system variables. If you ever downloaded the full list of system variables, you will have seen that these variables are read-only, at least if you are not a JS expert. As a bonus, you'll find a downloadable list with Quizzing System variables which include my personal comments and links to blog posts where I have used those variables.

This article is an introduction to the use of variables, the use cases are not complicated at all.

Using read-only Variables

Quizzing System variables are read only, but you can use them in two ways, which I will illustrate by a couple of use cases later on:

To show information to the learner, by inserting them in a text container, which can be a shape or a text caption.
All variables are case sensitive, for that reason I recommend strongly only to insert variables using the X button in the Character part of the Properties panel for the text container. In the dialog box you choose System variables (default is User variables), eventually the category (Quizzing) and pick the correct variable from the dropdown list. It is also possible to limit the number of characters (set to 5 in this screenshot):

Since text containers including variables have to be generated on runtime, contrary to the static text containers, it is wise to use only websafe fonts which was not the case in the screenshot above.
To use them in an advanced or shared action for multiple goals, like changing navigation, calculation, skipping slides etc.

You will see some use cases for both situations in this article.

Use case 1: add information on question slides

This use case has been explained in an older article (Buttons on question/score slide), but here you'll see a refurbished version using new features which have appeared since that old version: hyperlink, multistate object, shared action, toggle command.

The idea is to insert system variables in a text container that appears on the first question slide, is timed for the rest of the project, always on top. Since all embedded quiz objects have priority in the stacking order (z-order, order of the layers in the timeline), you have to make sure that the custom text container is not covered up by embedded objects. For that reason I edited the size of feedback messages on the quizzing master slide, to make room for the (green) text container:

This text container can remain permanently on the question slides, always available, or you can use a shape button to trigger its appearance. That button is visible in the screenshot as a green button with the label 'i'. It is also inserted on the first question slide, timed for the rest of the project. This shape button has an extra custom state 'Close', visible on the next screenshot, to turn it into a real toggle button. The action used for this shape button is the shared action described in '1 action = 5 toggle buttons', and a user variable v_visib is used in that action.

You see the inserted system variables cpQuizInfoPointsscored, cpQuizInfoPointsPerQuestionSlide and cpQuizInfoNegativePointsOnCurrentQuestionSlide. The result on runtime, when the toggle button has opened the info text can be seen in this screenshot:

To be sure that the information is closed by default On Enter for each question slide, I used an On Enter action for each question slide, which will be shown in use cas 3

Use case 2: Custom Score slide

You can turn on/off fields in the default Score slide, but you can also replace the inserted fields by your text and system/user variables. Look at this example in editing mode:

You see again a lot of embedded system quizzing variables: cpQuizInfoPointsscored, cpInfoPercentage, cpQuizInfoTotalQuizPoints, cpQuizInfoTotalCorrectAnswers and cpQuizInfoTotalQuestionsPerProject. Moreover there is one added user variable v_penalty, which I'll explain in use case 3.

On runtime it will look like this screenshot:

This score slide is taken from the same example file. Since both the text information container and its toggle button were timed for the rest of the project, you have to take care of hiding both On Enter for this score slide. I used this standard advanced action:

Use case 3: Calculation total Penalty

Although there is a system variable (with a very long name) cpQuizInfoNegativePointsOnCurrentQuestionSlide, no exposed system variable is available containing the total penalty of the quiz, which is the opposite of the maximum number of points , cpQuizInfoTotalQuizPoints. If the user misses all answers, he'll get a negative score equal to that total penalty. Since it is not available as an exposed quizzing variable, I will have to calculate it.

For that purpose I created a user variable v_penalty with a start value of 0. The On Enter event of each question slides was used to trigger this standard advanced action (shared action had no sense because same action is valid for each question slide):

The first 3 commands take care of resetting the toggle button (SB_Info with the variable v_visib) and hiding the text information container (Tx_Info).

The Expression command is using cpQuizInfoNegativePointsOnCurrentQuestionSlide to calculate the present amount of v_penalty. It may seem confusing that I'm using '+' as mathematical operator: reason is that the system variable always shows a negative number. You don't have to believe me: have a look at the second screenshot in use case 1.

More use cases - download

I wanted to keep it simple in the described use cases, introduction to the use of variables. Download the pdf with description of all quizzing system variables from this link.

The table has 6 columns:

Variable name
Variable type: a variable can be empty, a Boolean (only values are 0/1 or T/F), a number, text or undefined.
Explanation which is sometimes bit different from the explanation found in the Variables dialog box
Default value
Comments: my personal comments
Blog posts: here you'll find quite a lot more use cases, I mention the blog posts where the referenced variable has been used

In this screenshot you see part of the first page:

Conclusion

I'm waiting for your comments. Do you see ways of using those system variables in your projects? Do you have questions, use cases that you cannot figure out if they are possible? Fire away.

Challenges for Starters

Intro

Seven years ago I started blogging about Captivate (with version 4 - 5). Most subjects are more advanced, you'll find many use cases for advanced and shared actions. Meanwhile I also have spent thousands of hours on the Captivate forums, answering questions ans solving issues. Moreover I am busy as a Consultant and a Trainer (for Captivate and other Adobe applications), both in live and online classes. Based on the combination of those 'Captivate' experiences with my former career as college professor, I planned to write this article to line up the three most important Challenges for any Captivate developer, especially for newbies. It doesn't matter whether you are developing software simulations, soft skills training, responsive or normal projects, if you master those Captivate features you'll feel more comfortable and save a lot of time. Bonus for me: less questions on the forums :). Imagine standing before this natural stone porch, in the middle of the most beautiful desert in the world. You got that Captivate license, but how to start, where to go?

Challenge 1: Timeline

Why?

Captivate's Timeline is without any doubt one of the first stumbling blocks for Captivate newbies. This observation is based on the many problems popping up in forums and social media, on my experiences with consultancy and while offering basic training. It is not the normal timeline that you have in video applications, or in animation apps. It shows all objects at once on the stage, timeline is per slide, not for the whole project. Lot of reasons to be confused. Pausing the timeline by a command or by an interactive object is THE key to building interactivity in a Captivate course which is the main reason why you have chosen for an eLearning authoring tool instead of a video capturing tool. Understanding the Timeline and being able to control should be the first priority of any Captivate learning (and training) process. How do you stop this touareg caravan ;)?

Resources

Nothing can replace a live (or virtual) training for this challenge, but recently I published a sequence of 5 articles on my blog and in the eLearning Community to clarify this subject. Here are the links, not in the 'logical' sequence which I used for publishing, but ranked by importance:

Pausing the Timeline, why and how?

Captivate Timeline(s) in cptx-file demystified

Introduction

Color codes and shortcut keys

Captivate Timeline in cpvc (Video Demo)

Challenge 2: Quiz

Why?

Captivate quiz and score slides have pretty strict rules. A lot of functionality is built in the quizzing and score master slides. The two-step Submit process, the priority of the embedded objects cause a lot of problems for starting Captivate users. That explains why every blog post I ever wrote about Quizzing is very popular. Most of them, even after many years, are still visited daily. The challenge here is about the normal Quiz slides, not custom Quiz slides that are created using standard objects, widgets, variables and advanced/shared actions. Those custom question slides are challenging for intermediate/advanced users (watch out for a later blog post for those users). Drag&Drop slides, used as Question slides can be included in the starter's challenge because they make a quiz more engaging.

What a relief when the car transporting our food and cook was found after a long quest:

Resources

Some of these blog posts do need an update, although most of the information is still valid

Question Question Slides - part 1 with the new Review buttons in Captivate 9 the confusion Next-Skip is gone

Question Question Slides - part 2

Knowledge Check Slides

Drag&Drop tips

Drag&Drop Captivate 9 - InBuilt states

Challenge 3: Theme

Why?

It is one of the most hidden gems in Captivate: design of any project can be streamlined when using a custom Theme. A theme includes all object styles, master slides, skin and defaults for software simulations. All are based on a (custom) Theme colors palette, which can even be applied to most Learning Interactions. Creating or editing a theme before starting any project may seem a waste of time, but I guarantee that it will save a lot of time in the process. Small changes to the design, so often asked for, are done in minutes. In many circumstances a well-designed theme makes templates superfluous.

Architects of Macchu Picchu knew very well how to prepare 'design' of their city. Sorry for my adding the acronym TQT (Timeline, Quiz, Theme):

Resources

Here are some links to get you started with Themes and Theme colors:

What's in a Theme/Template?

Theme Colors

Conclusion

This was my personal view on the stumbling blocks for Captivate starting users. I am not pointing to any step-by-step work flow which may seem astonishing. My focus is on what is often causing the most frustrations for the so-called 'newbies', whatever their experience with other applications. As a college professor I used Flipped classes long time before the word was invented: do not spend valuable training time by explaining processes that can easily be found somewhere (videos). Students do not need a trainer for them. Spend class time by taking away obstructions that are slowing down the learning process.

Captivate Timelines: color coding and shortcut keys

Intro

This last article about the Timeline is sort of a bonus for those who want to know 'everything' about the timeline panel. The color codes can be a quick visual help to recognize object timelines, and I personally use the shortcut keys quite a lot to avoid the many mouse movements to the different tabs in the Properties panel.

If you have problems with the used terminology, maybe you missed some information from this articles, already published:

Captivate's Timelines demystified - Intro

Video Timeline demystified (cpvc)

Captivate's Timelines cptx-project

Pausing Captivate's Timeline (cptx)

Color coding

The color coding is the same for master slide timelines and slide timelines. The hexadecimal code is just an indication because a lot of the timelines have a gradient fill..

Audio timeline: dark grey (about #4E5156)
(Master) slide timeline: beige (about #DBD7CE)
Placeholder objects: orange (about #DCC399) with some exceptions (Content/Rollover Caption/Rollover Image)

Content Placeholder: light blue (about #AFD7FF)
Placeholders for Rollover Caption/Image: green (about #BFDD8B)

Static objects: light blue (about #BEE8FB). Static objects are Text Captions, Text Animations, Shapes (not used as button), Highlight Boxes, Web objects, SVG's, Images, Videos, Animations, Characters, HTML animation. There are some exceptions

Rollover Caption/Image have the green color like for the placeholder (about #BFDD8B)
Rollover Slidelet is sort of a hybrid, between static and interactive: is also green (about #BFDD8B)
Zoom object: also green (about #BFDD8B)
Static widget/interaction: also green (about #BFDD8B)

Mouse object: beige like the slide timeline (about #DBD7CE)
Interactive objects: green (about #BFDD8B). Those include the buttons, click boxes, Text Entry Boxes, Shapes used as buttons, Learning interactions (static and interactive)
Effect timelines: light red (#FBDAE1), turning to darker saturated red (#F584A7) when selected
A selected timeline, with the exception of the slide audio at the bottom, and effect timelines will always be blue (about #99BCBF)

Shortcut keys

I love shortcut keys, once published my favorites for moving/resizing objects (which are still functional). The timeline panel has also several shortcut keys, which can save time because you don't have to switch to the Properties panel all the time. Some of the shortcut keys also work for Effect timelines, but not all.

Zooming : Zooming in/out has to be done with the slider at the bottom of the Timeline panel. No shortcut keys are available.

Spacebar or F3: alternative shortcuts for the play button on the timeline panel or the option Play Slide (confusingly stored under the big button Preview). This method (no Preview) can be used for editing timing, for synchronizing. Use this 'Play slide' (or scrub) to position the Playhead, and you can then easily synchronize start times of objects with this Playhead position. Inserting an object when the playhead is at a certain frame will result in having the object timeline starting with that frame.

HOME/END: moves the playhead to the start/end of the slide timeline

CTRL-E: to extend the duration of a selected object till the end of the slide.

This shortcut key is not valid for individual Effect timelines

CTRL-L: to move the start of an object timeline to the Playhead position, a great way to have multiple objects appearing on the same moment (still waiting for CTRL-R to align end of timeline with playhead)

This shortcut key is not valid for individual Effect timelines but they'll move automatically with the object timeline

CTRL-P: to move the start of an audio timeline to the Playhead position

LEFT/RIGHT arrow: moves start of an object timeline 0,1sec in the indicated direction. Applied effect timelines move with the object timeline. Shortcut keys also work for audio timelines

This shortcut key is valid for individual Effect timelines, after selecting they can be moved independently from the object timeline

CTRL-LEFT/CTRL-RIGHT arrow: moves start of an object timeline 1sec in the indicated direction (also audio timelines), applied effect timelines will move along.

This shortcut key is valid for individual Effect timelines, after selecting they can be moved independently from the object timeline

SHIFT-LEFT/SHIFT-RIGHT arrow: decrements/increments duration of slide timeline or object timeline with 0,1sec. Applied effect timelines will not be changed. This means that an effect timeline could end up being outside of the object timeline; in that case the effects will play but not with the intended duration or start.

This shortcut key is valid for individual Effect timelines, after selecting you can increase/decrease the duration of the effect timeline independently from the object timeline

SHIFT-CTRL-LEFT/SHIFT-CTRL-RIGHT: decrements/increments duration of slide timeline or object timeline with 1sec; same behavior for the effect timelines as described above.

This shortcut key is valid for individual Effect timelines, after selecting you can increase/decrease the duration of the effect timeline independently from the object timeline

Conclusion

This was the last article in the (long?) sequence about Captivate's Timelines.

I learned from the contacts with Captivate users, as forum moderator, trainer and consultant, that the Timeline is the most important stumbling block for starting Captivate users. For that reason I spent quite a lot of hours trying to assemble this 'soap' about it. Based about that same experience, and the statistics of my blog posts, I see two other similar issues causing problems to Captivate newbies. In the next article I will try to elaborate on those 'big' 3 and offer links to tutorials/articles that explain them in depth.

Pausing Captivate's Timeline

Intro

This is the fourth post in a sequence of 5. The first post introduced features of all timelines, the second is focused on the specific aspects of the Video Demo Timeline, the third on the aspects of the normal/responsive projects (cptx) both for master slides and normal slides. To understand this article - perhaps the most important - I recommend to read at least the first and the third article as a preparation.

This topic is more suited for a live event: a real or a virtual training session. I expect a lot of questions, and those are easier to answer in a live event. I have presented several webinars for Adobe in the past (most about advanced and shared actions), but that practice seems to be discontinued since a while. If you want to participate in a meeting (Connect room), I'm prepared to organize it. Send me a note: either by mail (info@lilybiri.com), in the comments on this post, or use Twitter (my handle is @Lilybiri). In case of sufficient requests, I'll propose a date/hour (probably am PT, for users in USA) and will need an e-mail address for the invitations. As a bonus, will offer you some files.

Pause and Pausing points

Pausing the timeline means stopping the Playhead. However that can be done in in two ways, and they do not affect the items in the same way. Let me first explain what I mean by 'Pause' as opposed to 'Pausing Point'. You'll see that I compare them with two traffic signs: Pause with the red light, Pausing point with the Stop sign. But also in traffic, some 'items' do not respect those signs, legally or illegally.

Pause

This strict way of pausing can be achieved by one of these methods:

With the pause button on one of the default playbars.
By choosing the command 'Pause' to be triggered On Enter for a slide (doing it On Exit is not a good idea, because it will happen after the last frame, see previous post about events). It can also be a (last) command in an advanced/shared action.
By using the Success event an interactive object (like a shape button) with the command 'Pause' either as a simple command or within an advanced/shared actions. Usually it will be the last command.
Alternative for 'Pause' command is to assign 1 to the system variable cpCmndPause (its default value is 0). This system variable controls the pause.

If you use a playbar, you'll see that the progress bar is stuck when Pause is encountered. To understand even better, I recommend to insert the system variable cpInfoCurrentFrame in a text container, displayed for the whole project (on top).

UnPause?

You can use the Play button on the playbar, or need the command Continue, which is available as simple action and in the dropdown list in advanced actions.

Pausing point

Pausing points exist on some special slides, or you can add them by inserting an interactive object for which Pause the slide is activated in the Timing Properties panel. In many cases the pausing point will be visible on the Timeline (see previous articles), but not always. Contrary to the absolute pause, here the timeline is 'waiting' for an action by the user. For that reason the STOP sign is a better metaphor than the red light. Here is an overview of the pausing points, which will be visible on the Timeline:

Quiz or question slides: the pausing point is visible on the slide timeline, but not in the Timing Properties panel. Only way to move is by dragging. Default timing is at 1,5secs, and pause cannot be unchecked. Pausing point is linked with the two-step process triggered by the Submit button. However when selecting the Submit button, you'll not see the pause in the Timing Properties panel (as is the case for the D&D Submit button). Waiting is here for the user to click the Submit button, then to press Y or click on the slide
Score slide: same situation as for the quiz slides: visible in the slide timeline, not in the Timing Properties. Default timing is at 1,5secs. Pausing point is linked with the Continue button, but will not show in the Timing Properties panel of that button. Waiting here is for the user to click the Continue button.
Drag&Drop slide: is pausing at 1,5secs but the point is not visible on the timeline. You will not see it in the Timing Properties for the slide, but in the Actions tab of the D&D panel. It is linked with the Submit button, when selecting that button the Timing properties panel will show the timing of the pausing point. Waiting for the user to click the Submit button, or in case of Auto Submit waiting for a correct answer.
Interactive objects (click box, button, shape button, Text Entry Box) can have a pausing point, to be defined in the Timing Properties panel. That pausing point will be visible in the Timeline, and the part before the point is indicated as 'Active', part after the pausing point as 'Inactive'. Since a click box is invisible to the user, it has not inactive part, its pausing point will always be at the end of its timeline. Waiting is for the user to click either on or outside of the interactive object (click box, shape or normal button) or to confirm the Entry in a TEB. You can edit the pausing point by dragging in the Timeline or in a precise way by editing the Timing Properties panel. It is also possible to uncheck the Pause (see screenshot 3 in the Gallery).
Shape button on a master slide can have a pausing point. Since objects on a master slide have no duration, no Timing Properties panel, you have to indicate that you want it to pause, in the Actions tab of the Properties panel (see screenshot 4 in the Gallery). You can uncheck the pause there as well. The pausing point will be at the end of each slide, based on that master slide. It will not be visible in the timeline
Interactive widgets or learning interactions have a pausing point at 1 sec. It will not show up in the Timeline, you can find it in the Timing Properties. Pause can be unchecked, but you'll not want to do that for this type of interactions.That is the place to edit or uncheck the Pause (see screenshot 5 in the Gallery). Static widgets/interactions do not have a pausing point. More info about difference between interactive and static in: Widgets and Interactions

Bonus: You can download a (watermarked) pdf with this overview from PausingPoints.

UnPause?

It depends on the kind of pausing point:

For Question slides: the playhead is released after the second step of the Submit process and the actions defined in Question properties will be done.
For Score slide: similar, but after clicking the Continue button.
For Drag&Drop: exactly the same as for the Question slides, after clicking the Submit button.
For interactive objects on master or normal slides: if an advanced action is executed (Success/failure) the playhead is not released automatically. If you want this to happen you have to include a Continue or a navigation command like Jump to as last command in the action. If you use a simple action, the playhead will be released by default, but in CP9 it is possible to uncheck that default setting 'Continue playing the Project' (not done in this screenshot).

What is Paused?

Not everything is paused by the absolute Pause command, nor the Pausing points. Watch the interactive movie to understand better. Some items are never paused, some are paused by both Pausing points and the Pause command, some are only paused by the Pause command, not by the pausing points although there may be a workaround.

The position of the playhead when pausing is important: objects for which the object timeline starts later than the pause will not appear until the playhead is released.

Same is the case for Effects which have a duration, a timeline: if the pause occurs while the effect is not finished, it will stall in the last position and continue only when the playhead is released.

Animations however are never paused, not even when you use the Pause command triggered by the On Enter event of a slide. They will always play.

Video clips inserted as Event video are totally independent: if they are playing when pausing, they'll continue to play. If a pause is occurring and the video is not yet started, the user will be able to use the Play button of the video control panel to watch the video. The only alternative way to pause event video is by using JavaScript (see Working with event vide os). Video clips inserted as Multisynchronized video however will be paused by the Pause command and by a pausing point.

The situation is a lot more complicated for audio:

Background audio is totally insensitive to Pauses or Pausing points: it will continue to play.
Slide Audio: will automatically be paused by the Pause command, but not by a pausing point. It is possible to pause slide audio at a pausing point, to resume when the playhead is released if you check 'Stop Slide Audio' on the Options tab in the Properties panel of the interactive object.
For the default pausing points on quiz slides, score slide, D&D slides you cannot pause the slide audio however. This seems confusing, and can lead to a problem. Slide audio clips automatically will increase the duration of the slide. You learned that the default pausing point of this type of slides is always set to 1,5seconds. If the playhead is released with the command 'Continue', it will have to visit all the remaining frames on the slide, those frames in the 'big' inactive part of the slide. To avoid that, I recommend that you change the default pausing time and make it just a little bit smaller than the slide duration. This is not necessary if the actions when releasing the playhead from its pausing point are a navigation to another slide, because the inactive part of the slide will just be skipped.
Object audio: will be paused by the strict command Pause, but not by a pausing point! There is no workaround for this behavior for a Pausing point.
Audio started with 'Play Audio' cannot be stopped not by Pause nor by a pausing point, the only way to stop it is by launching the command 'Stop Triggered Audio'.

Why pausing?

This blog post has become very long, for which I apologize. For that reason I will write out some use cases, to illustrate the just described theory in later posts. You're welcome to post some ideas as well. Here are some appetizers:

Instead of creating very long slides to fit the narrations, use the Play Audio command and have a pausing point on the slide. That can be a Next button, which offers total control to the user.
Question slides with narration as slide audio: you need to move the pausing point.
Create custom navigation: use shape buttons on the main master slide, only one of them needs a pausing point to give each user all the time needed to watch the slides.
Create a slide with light boxes.
Have multiple TEB's on one slide with a unique Submit button.
Create a dashboard with buttons to display multiple vodcasts, images, podcasts.

Custom Failure Messages/Attempts - Drag&Drop

Intro

This article is written as an answer to a question on the forums: Drag&Drop with Advanced Action

For quiz slides you have the option to show more than one Failure message, linked to the attempts. That functionality is not available for Drag&Drop slides. As you can read in the thread, another user posted a solution using the Object actions which are executed after each drag action. The solution I describe here is more similar to what happens on other quiz slides: the messages will appear after clicking the Submit button. This work flow is only valid for Knowledge Check slides, which was the goal of the user on the forum. As you can read in one of my former blog posts, a D&D slide which is not scored, is reset automatically when leaving the slide. This functionality is used here. You'll also see that I used the InBuilt states for the drop target, which i described in this post.

Example

Watch this interactive movie to see the result. It is Flash-based, do not watch from a mobile device, please.

Setup D&D Slide

The Drag&Drop slide's Timeline looks like this screenshot:

From Bottom to Top you find these object timelines:

DragOne, DragTwo and DragThree which are the 3 Drag sources. Those objects have only one extra InBuilt state: the transparent DragOver State. D&D is set up so that the drag sources disappear behind the drop target.
DropContainer which is the unique Drop Target. It has 3 states as you see in this State panel
Text Tx_Question which has the Question
Gr_Feedback with several objects; the whole group is hidden in Output

I_Fail and I_Success are the two sticky images
Shape button SB_Continue with a pausing point at 2 secs, which is later than the (default) pause of the D&D (1,5secs)
FB_One, FB_Two and FB_Three are the failure feedback messages for the 3 possible failures. The first two have an inserted variable v_attempt.

You don't see a Success feedback on the timeline, because I kept the default Success message for the D&D slide (unchecked the Failure message)? That Success message has just be edited (freeform shape).

The D&D panel, tab Actions has been set up as visible in this screenshot. Although the user provides 3 attempts, you see that I set the attempts to 1 in this panel:

Variable, Events and Actions

I used only one variable: v_attempt, with a starting value of 3. If you want to have more attempts than 3, just change that starting value. You can see its value in the example movie, center of the bottom bar. That variable is also inserted in the first two Failure messages.

SubmitAct, triggered by the Failure event of the D&D (see panel above)

This conditional action has 4 decisions, can easily be edited to have more than 3 attempts

Decision 'Always' is a mimicked standard action, decrements the value of v_attempt by 1
Decision 'First' checks if v_attempt is equal to 2, which means the first attempt (because the original value has been decremented in the first decision). If that is the case 3 objects out of the feedback group are shown: the first feedback message (FB_One), the image I_Fail and the continue button SB_Continue
Decision 'Second' checks if v_attempt is equal to 1, which means the second attempt. The actions are identical to 'First', with the exception of the feedback message (now FB_Two)
Decision 'Third' checks if v_attempt is equal to 0, which means the third and last attempt. It has similar actions to the previous two decisions.

Here is a screenshot of the complete action:

SuccessAct, triggered by the Success event of the D&D (see panel above)

This standard action will set the variable v_attempt to 0 (necessary to have the last action ContAct executed correctly), shows the image I_Success and the Continue button. The success message appears automatically, since it is de original embedded message.

ContAct, triggered by the Success event of the Continue button

Here is the 'trick'! After each attempt I want the D&D slide to reset automatically. This is only possible when you leave and re-enter the slide. To achieve this, I used a similar (but easier) approach as explained in the blog post ReplaySlide. I inserted a dummy slide before the D&D slide, with a very short duration (0,1secs). Have a look at the script triggered by the Continue button, which is a one-decision conditional action:

When there are attempts left (v_attempt > 0), these commands are executed:

Expression cpCmndGotoSlide = cpInfoCurrentSlide - 2
The first system variable cpCmndGotoSlide has an index starting with 0, whereas cpInfoCurrentSlide starts with 1. That is the reason why 2 is subtracted. In human language this command means Go to Previous Slide.You can replace it by 'Go to Previous slide' as well, but I like to repeat explanations like this. Sorry!
Alternative: Go to Previous Slide
Continue: is necessary so that the playhead is released. It will quickly speed over that dummy slide (0,1 sec) and you'll see the D&D slide almost immediately, freshly reset because it was re-entered and not scored.

When no attempts are left the user is navigated to the last 'End' slide.

Tips

If you want to allow the same scenario for this slide, when the user revisits the slide, you have to reset the variable v_attempt to its original value, which can be done with the ELSE part of the action ContAct. It will have 2 commands in that scenario:

Assign v_attempt with 3
Go to Next Slide

To change the number of attempts, for example from 3 to 4:

Change the default value of v_attempt to the new literal
Create an extra Feedback message FB_Four and include it in Gr_Feedback (select both new message and group, followed by CTRL-G)
in SubmitAct

Duplicate the last decision 'Three', and label it 'Four'
Edit 'Four', replace 'FB_Three' by 'FB_Four'
Edit 'Three': replace the literal '0' in the condition by '1'
Edit 'Two': replace the literal '1' in the condition by '2'
Edit 'One': replace the literal '2' in the condition by '3'

No other changes are necessary.