Questions about using Aggegator

[DouglasDH5]

The course I am building is split up into 5 lessons, one .cptx/swf per lesson. I have used Aggegator to publish this as a single e-learning and am pleased that the Table of Contents gives me access to all 5 of the lessons. At the end of Lesson 1,  I switch over to the second lesson via a button whose Success Action is "Open URL or file" and which points to "Lesson2.swf". When Lesson 2 comes up, I seems to have broken out of the "Aggregator shell" and now only see the table of contents for Lesson 2. Is there a different way I can move between files that will preserve the comprehensive TOC?

Along the same lines, I like that having a TOC makes it possible to have a "bookmark" for where I last left off, because I am asked if I want to pick up where I left off. But I don't know how to manually clear any progress on my testing workstation. Going into Chrome's Tools and choosing Clear Browser cache doesn't seem to do it. What's the secret?

I'm using Captivate 7.0.1.237 on Windows 7

Thanks

[RodWard]

You shouldn't need to jump to the next module in the aggregated set.  It should just continue playing from the last slide of one to the first slide of the next.

[DouglasDH5]

OK, I changed my Action from "Open File or URL" to a simple "Go to the next slide" and it does indeed open up the next .swf. However, it is still doing what I originally complained about: I no longer have a cumulative TOC for all 5 lessons but am seeing the TOC for just that .swf. Is there no way to have the comprehensive TOC once I move off of the first, main swf?

[RodWard]

The bookmarking that Captivate implements under Self-paced Learning is NOT using typical browser cookies.  It uses Flash Cookies (Shared Objects) buried in the user's profile.  So clearing your browser cache will not clear these cookies or their bookmarking.

[DouglasDH5]

Thanks for telling me that clearing the browser cache isn't going to help, but I still don't know what I CAN do. The suggested location where .sol are stored that you reference in your "Troubleshooting Captivate book" is for Windows XP and I'm on Windows 7 and I cannot find WHERE these .sol files are stored on my local machine. I've tried lots of different locations, looking in Macromedia and Adobe folders to no apparent effect. (I've tried in Chrome and IE on Windows). But even if I did find this arcane location, what I need is a way for an end-user on our kiosk machines to be able to "reset" any progress from a prior user. In other words, I do like the "pick up from where I left off  feature" but once a person completes the five modules, and the next person is going to use that machine, I need to be able to clear everything without having admin privileges or doing anything very fancy. Any suggestions?

[RodWard]

If you've set up the Aggregator modules correctly, all you really need to do is allow them to finish playing to their last slides and they should automatically progress to opening the next SWF.  This should not disable your aggregated TOC.

In Win7 the location for shared objects is:

C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects

Other than clicking the button on the dialog that Captivate shows, the only way I know of to clear these Shared Objects is via ActionScript, which would require you to employ the services of an AS3 programmer to create a solution (possibly a widget) to do the job for you.

My suggestion would be just to turn off Self-paced Learning on all modules.

[DouglasDH5]

Thanks for helping to track down the location for Shared Objects.

After considerable struggle I have gotten my Captivate files to work. Aggregator continues to give me fits. if I save an Aggegrator project and then later re-open it or try to add or remove .swf files, I get the following unwarranted error: "

---------------------------

Adobe Captivate Aggregator

---------------------------

Lesson5.swf is a Captivate 4 AS3 file. Upgrade Adobe Captivate project and then add published file.

So I had to be very careful to set up my Aggregator exactly right and publish in one go. The good news is that your suggestion to have the last screen of a module "go to next slide" instead of Open File works and now I have a comprehensive TOC listing for all 5 modules.

One unrelated thing that was puzzling me was why the last slide of any given module was fading out until I remembered that there is a "buried" preference in any Captivate's "Project: Start and End Section" which has a checkbox for "Fade out on the last slide". This cannot be disabled for the Captivate application permananently but had to be disabled for each Captivate file.

I also discovered that there IS an end-user solution for being able to clear progress that is maintained when one enables the "Self-paced Learning" feature from the Table of Contents. There's a checkbox for "Clear Button" in that same TOC setting panel and produces a (possibly?) eraser-like icon in the bottom right of a .swf's TOC which, when clicked, clears user progress, which is exactly what I wanted. So am I glad to be able to keep the persistent user progress and be able to clear it manually when each student completes their e-learning.

Thanks for your assistance.

[RodWard]

You should also be aware that all projects in an Aggregator set should ideally be published from the same version of Captivate, otherwise they may not work.  So you should not try to mix SWF files from different Cp versions in the same Aggregator project.