8 Replies Latest reply: Mar 11, 2009 2:20 PM by koblesky RSS

    Captivate playback files not linking

    JohnMarshall_PwC Community Member
      I'm running an experiment to see how Captivate files should link to each other during playback. It's failing.

      I've got four Captivate files, each one a segment of an original capture. At the end of each one, the last slide is instructed to "Open other project". I've specified the next Captivate project there, and it shows no file extension, as expected. The first project is Published as an EXE, and goes in an output folder, separate from the Captivate files. The rest are Published as SWFs that go into the same output folder.

      When I start the EXE, it plays through, and when it reached the last slide, I get a beep and a system error box with the heading "Flash Player". It reads, " '$' is not a valid integer value ". After I dimiss that box, an empty Flash Player window is left hanging there.

      I've tried various export combinations, and checked the filenames over several times, but no luck, the '$' box happens every time.

      Can anyone please offer any help?
        • 1. Captivate playback files not linking
          JohnMarshall_PwC Community Member
          No answer yet, but the issue may lie in the file path resolution.
          • 2. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
            jojolina Community Member
            Just a thought, but have you tried pointing at the html files that run with your flash outputs using "open other file' instead of at the "open other project".

            (Sometimes, Captivate she crazy)

            Cheers

            Andrew
            • 3. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
              JohnMarshall_PwC Community Member
              Actually, I would say "Captivate, she not work."

              In a conversation about the "Open other project" function last week, after much discussion about how to link files together, I asked the Adobe technical support rep if that function actually works, and he replied, simply, "No."

              So, yeah.
              • 4. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
                Captiv8r CommunityMVP
                Hi John

                Note there are different ways of linking and each may provide different results. To make things even more confusing, it may also be version dependent.

                I've made links work in many occasions as well as having helped many others sort the same. I'd be happy to work with you to try and get things working. If you are interested, drop me a line at rstone75 (at) kc (dot) rr (dot) com and I'll be happy to try and help you out.

                Cheers... Rick
                • 5. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
                  JohnMarshall_PwC Community Member
                  Rick,

                  Thanks for the offer. I understand all the ways there are, but...

                  My chief question here was, "how is Open Other Project supposed to work?" The answer to which is, apparently, that it doesn't.

                  At this point, my project is probably going to avoid linking altogether, so thanks anyway.
                  • 6. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
                    Captiv8r CommunityMVP
                    Hi there John

                    I'll try and explain what I understand. Note that I don't claim to TOTALLY understand the process and all its different nuances. Perhaps only the Captivate team can do that.

                    From what I understand of it, it is *SUPPOSED* to work this way. You want to link from Project A to Project B. You program a Button object to "Open other project". You browse to and select the other project. Note that you browse to and choose the .CP file of the project you are linking to. Sometimes that little fact really disturbs other folks. They over think it and ponder - I'm pointing at a .CP file. Captivate opens CP files. My user won't have Captivate so I shouldn't use this approach. But that's the approach you often need to use.

                    Assuming things work (and I'm fully aware that in some or many cases it fails) you simply plop both output files in the same folder and off you go.

                    Mr. Wrinkly (AKA Murphy) pops in...

                    Okay, you seem to see different results depending on the way you link as well as the different objects and output types. Note that you may produce .EXE or .SWF/.HTM outputs from Captivate. Your best luck will occur if you link from like to like. (.EXE to .EXE or .SWF/.HTM to .SWF/.HTM) You are mixing output types and seeing mixed results. I assisted someone the other day where she was attempting to link using Open other project from the Captivate 3 skin menu. Try as you like it would NOT link up. So we ended up adding slides and programming the navigation option for each additional slide to open the project of choice. Same option was used with a different result. The skin menu pointed at the slide. The slide was programmed with the same action the menu formerly had. But it worked from the slide action where it failed miserably from the menu. She ended up with the desired result. Click a menu option and open a project. But we had to approach it in a different way.

                    Cheers... Rick
                    • 7. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
                      louise1960 Community Member
                      John,

                      Just ran into the same problem with Captivate 3.

                      Here is what I did to solve it:

                      I saved my Captivate Files in a folder called Videos on my C: drive. I created a subfolder for my exe files called Output inside the Videos folder.

                      I shortened the name of my project files to one word.

                      On my Captivate link button, I chose the 'Open a new project' option and selected the cp file I wanted to open from the Videos folder.

                      I processed my files as exe and saved them to the Output folder. I made sure the exe files had the exact same name than the cp files.

                      Now my links all work: No more $ is not a valid integer message...

                      Perhaps this post will not help you since I'm responding several weeks after you posted. But hopefully, it can help someone else who has stumbled upon this forum in search of a solution.
                      • 8. Re: Captivate playback files not linking
                        koblesky Community Member
                        I have been struggling with this, in Captivate 3, which I just got. It does not seem to work to 'open other project' and link swfs to each other, but i can get .exe's to work together. I thought at one point earlier in the day I had swfs connect, but now I cannot replicate that.

                        It would be very nice if that worked, since linking .exe's together causes a jarring flash when one changes to another, something that does not seem to happen with the htm/swf format...because it is on a web browser, i guess.

                        please tell me that this can work as I have a large project i am working on that I cannot possibly edit all in one file....the preview time alone will kill me...

                        Is this possibly fixed in Captivate 4?