Multiple Click boxes in Captivate 5

[Guest]

Hi

I'm a new user of Captivate (using 5) and trying to figure out capabilities and suitability to my needs.  I've also searched through the forum and can't find similar so I apologise in advance if this has been answered.

Ideally I would like to produce a slide in my Captivate project where a user is presented with multiple boxes containing text.  Say 6 boxes.  This would initially just be for a learners reflection, so no scoring required.  The User would have to select 3 of these boxes (any box, no right or wrong) to progress to the next slide.  I envisage the user clicking on each box which would then remain highlighted until all 3 selected.

Does this make sense?  and can anybody reccomend a work around?  Is this something which could be achieved with 'click boxes'

Any advice appreciated.

Marek

[Lilybiri]

Hello,

This is certainly possible, you will need some scripting with the built in Advanced actions and using variables. Perhaps, since you are a pretty new user, this sounds frightening. I'm sorry but today I have several deadlines. Could I point you to my blog, where you find also links to some articles that could help you starting. Here is one of the blog postings:

Unleash the power of variables with advanced actions

If no one else pops in, I will try to give you a couple of hints,

Lilybiri

[Guest]

Hi Lilybiri

Thanks for the super advice.  I will have a look through your blog and explore the link.  Really great piece of kit the learning suite.  I'll feedback and also see if anybody else has undertaken similar actions.

Best wishes

Marek

[RodWard]

If you wanted to make this question a little more interactive, you could use a drag and drop widget to have the learner drag and drop the three boxes onto a target as a way of 'selecting' them.

http://www.infosemantics.com.au/catalog/widgets/question/wdgt_dragAndDropLite_AS3

Once all objects are on the target, you can have the question submit automatically to trigger jumping to the next slide or question.

It's not exactly what you were asking for, but you did ask for alternate suggestions and workarounds.

[Guest]

Thanks Rod.  Great suggestion.  I actually picked up the widget on Thursday as the 'drag and drop' interaction was something I initially saw as the ideal route.

Its such a good tool and very simple to use.  There are one or two little additions I would like to see.  Unless you can already do this and I haven't quite figured it out.

- The ability to place a drag item on alternative targets

- allow the drag items to be visable after been placed onto target.

Can this already be done??

I would certainly recommend the widget though. Its excellent.

I'm just getting around to trying some of the initial suggestions and will report back.

Thanks

[RodWard]

Marek,

Thanks for the compliment.  Glad you like the widget.

As for your suggestions:

• Currently the widget only allows you to assign a drag object to one target, though you can have multiple drag items assigned to that target.
• Drag items can remain visible after being placed on a target.  Just ensure that the Hide Drag Objects After Drop preference is not ticked.

We take on board all suggestions for improvements to the widget, but we just don't have a lot of time at the moment to make modifications.  This widget is the "Lite" version. We have in mind to create a more sophisticated "Pro" version later with some really fancy preference options.  But that won't be for a while.

[Guest]

Thanks again Rod.  Really hope you guys can pull together some updates and additional Widgets as this is super.

I'm still struggling with the original request.  I've been through variables etc but just can't think about a logical solution.  Can anybody advise?

Best wishes

Marek

[RodWard]

The simplest way I can think of to fulfil this type of use case is to just use a Hot Spot question to have the user mark the three boxes.  When they've marked them with an animation (by clicking in the boxes) they can click the Submit button (perhaps renamed as Continue) to move to another slide.  Captivate can evaluate the three boxes they've selected and branch to either a Success slide or a Failure one, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

It's not exactly what you were after, but apart from getting a custom-developed question widget to do this (which would cost hundreds of dollars), I can't think of another easy way off the top of my head.

[Guest]

Hi Rod

Many thanks for this super info.  My apologies for not getting back sooner.  I've been out of action the last week.  This works really well as a work around and using descriptive text on slides can come close to achieving the goal.  Im going to investigate the new widget also.

Will upload my results.

A++

[Lilybiri]

Hello Marek,

Because I thought you did not want to go with variables, I did not answer anymore. This is possible, I try to give a quick list of steps:

• create a user variable, p.e. v_counter that starts with a value = 0
• over each Text Caption you put a click box, each of them will trigger an advanced action; I'll call the Click boxes CB1, CB2....CB6; and will call the associated Advanced actions CB_action1, CB_action2.... CB_action6
• if you want to show which Text Captions have been clicked, add something for each Text caption that will be initially invisible; for simplicitiy I will suppose here that you have Highlight boxes, I'll call them HL1, HL2...HL6
• Now the big part: the advanced actions: since you do need a combination of a standard action (to show the HL and to increment the counter), followed by a conditional action that checks if the counter is equal to 3; I recommend to have a look at the article Combining standard and advanced action; here I will summarize this action for the first click box, thus the action CB_aciton1
  • Standard action:    
    • If  1 is equal to 1
    • Expression v_counter = v_counter + 1 (in the THEN region)
    • Show HL1 (in the THEN region)
    • Disable CB1 (to avoid that it can be clicked agan)
  • Conditional action (sequence is important, has to come after the standard action)
    • if v_counter is greater or equal to 3
    • THEN Go to Next slide (or whatever you want to do)
    • ELSE Expression rdcmndGotoFrame = rdinfoCurrentFrame - 1

Attach this action to the clickbox CB1. Create duplicates from this action for the other Click boxes and edit them (replacing the HL and the CB).

I created a sample file (took about 15 minutes) and put it on acrobat.com. If you send me an e-mail addres (by private message) I could give you the link.

Lilybiri

[RodWard]

Marek,

Our newly updated Event Handler widget with options to Disable slide Continue and Reset Success/Failure criteria after Action might also be useful in combination with Lilybiri's Advanced Actions and Variables wizardry.  You don't need to use multiple clickboxes and counters to trigger these events now.  You can use a single widget that can be clicked multiple times.

Read the updated doco here: http://www.infosemantics.com.au/catalog/widgets/interactive/wdgt_event_handler_01 to see if it might be of use.

[Guest]

Lilybiri

Many thanks for this.  Variable had been very daunting up until now.  I've managed to work some way through the copy and feeling confident.  I would love to view the file you created.  As per reply to Rod.  My apologies for not respnding sooner as I'd been out of action.

Super assistance.

Best wishes

Marek