More is in a... hyperlink - Dropdown Menu

HTML Update

A blog post about Hyperlinks in HTML output is published recently. Please check it out:

Hyperlink tips (HTML)

Intro 

In my last blog post I demonstrated how a hyperlink can overcome the limitation of states in Captivate, not allowing to add interactive objects to states.
In older versions of Captivate the widget 'Go to Slide' was available: a dropdown menu with slide names, useful to jump to those slides. That widget has disappeared, is not replaced by a Learning interaction (compatible with HTML5). 
Although this widget can be reproduced, using the Dropdown interaction, that solution has several drawbacks. The formatting of the interaction is limited (maximum font size is 14pt), and you would need a variable and a conditional advanced action with as many decisions as you have slides in the dropdown list.
A much easier solution can be found in this article, using hyperlink events. For a consistent behavior of the dropdown effect,  I also used Micronavigation. 

Hyperlink commands

The list with commands, opening the dropdown list in the Hyperlink dialog box is much shorter than the list with simple actions under the Actions tab. 

Of course the Web page is the first command, since that is what you expect to happen with a hyperlink. 
These commands are not available for a hyperlink event:
  • Continue: since the hyperlink event has no way to prevent 'Continue Playing Project' as is the case for simple actions, this is not that important
  • Return to Quiz: is meant for remediation, normally to be triggered by a Next button
  • Play Audio/Stop Triggered Audio: can always be done using an advanced action
  • Execute Shared Action: which is really a pity :(
  • Pause: can always be done using an advanced action
  • Exit: can always be done using an advanced action
  • Toggle: can always be done using an advanced action
  • Show/Hide TOC: can always be done using an advanced action
  • Show/Hide Playbar: can always be done using an advanced action
  • Lock/Unlock TOC: can always be done using an advanced action
  • State commands: Go to Next State/Go to Previous State cannot be done by advanced action, Go to State is possible.

For hyperlink events some commands have been put together in one dialog box, which is the case for the Slide command:


Example

Watch the movie: after the title slide the dropdown menu 'Go To' appears. When you click on that shape button, another shape wlll drop down. It has 6 hyperlinks, I left them underlined to emphasize their type.

When clicking on a hyperlink you'll be navigated to another slide which has a Back button to return to the Menu slide. The content slides are about the same subject as the previous blog post about popups and Close button. Of course it would be possible to have multiple slides in each 'chapter', and have only selected slides in the dropdown list.


Setup, variables and actions

Objects on Dropdown menu slide

The objects on the slide with the Dropdown menu are visible in this screenshot of its Timeline:

User variable v_start

The shape button SB_Menu (Caption 'Go To') is on top of the originally hidden Smart Shape SS_DropDown, and pauses at 2,6 secs, after all effects have been accomplished. To mimick the behavior of a dropdown the Effect 'Stretch From Top' is applied to that shape. The effect starts at time 0 and has a duration of 1 sec. The arrow shape ArrowGoTo has some explanation and the effect EaseInFromLeft is applied. The second arrow ArrowDropDown has a similar effect, starting bit later, but that shape is not visible until the button SB_Menu is clicked.

One user variable was created: v_start. It will be used to store the frame number of the first frame of the slide with the dropdown menu. I learned from experience that effects are much more consistent when you use micronavigation instead of applying the effect by an advanced action. The content of the variable will be used to send the playhead back to the first frame of the slide, to have the time-based effect being played.

Events and Actions

1. On Enter (Dropdown menu slide): standard advanced action EnterDropDown

The back button on the content slides send the user to this DropDown slide, and the On Enter event of the slide is used to reset everything as it appeared first time: hiding the shape SS_DropDown, the arrow shape ArrowDropdown, and showing ArrowGoTo. Moreover the number of the first frame of this slide is stored in the variable v_start. This is the script:


2. Success event of the shape button SB_Menu: standard advanced action DropAct

This action will hide the arrow shape ArrowGoTo, show the shape SS_DropDown and its arrow ArrowDropdown and return the playhead to the first frame of the slide with the system variable cpGotoFrameAndResume which has 'Continue' built in. That way the effects for the dropdown menu and the arrow with explanation will appear as they are timed from the start of the slide.


3. Hyperlink events

Contrary to the situation explained in the previous blog post where the hyperlink event was used as Close button, in this case it doesn't matter that the playhead is always released when executing a command by a hyperlink because of the navigation to another slide. The command Slide was used, which opens the dialog box slide. Here the LInk is set to point to the correct content slide. In this screenshot you see the hyperlink setting for the navigation with the item 'Decor':