Trouble recording key strokes, clicks, pages

[getbackjack]

Greetings,

Although I've successfully created over a hundred demonstrations using Captivate over the last several months, I began having trouble in the last few days. Captivate is acting very stragely and not recording properly.

Strange: In edit mode, the thumbnail displays the proper image, but the edit page displays the wrong image - the image previous to the correct image. This one is very puzzling and I've done everything from going up and down the thumbnails to rebooting - to no avail. It continues to display improperly.

Failure to capture key strokes. After several reboots, closing all other applications, and several captures, I cannot get Captivate to capture key strokes. I have not changed any settings. Could I have pressed the wrong key on the keyboard? A reboot should have changed that if that were the case, but I continue to have the problem. It does not capture key strokes.

Failure to automate captions and highlights. "Enable Auto Recording" is checked, but Captivate is not displaying captions and highlights automatically as it used to. It does it sometimes, but not consistently.

I'm doing straight demonstrations with no sound and no interaction.
I have double-checked my settings. All seems to be in order.

Could the application have become corrupted? Or is it, as usual, all my fault?

I'm in a hurry, of course, to get this application working right again. Should I reinstall?

'Need your advice.

Many Thanks,

[CatBandit]

I can almost guarantee that the answer is not a reinstallation of Captivate. Not quite, but almost.

It sounds like . . . are you recording new movies, or adding new slides ot existing projects?

Anyway, I was going to say it sounds like the project itself is becoming corrupted. Are you running it from a local drive as opposed to a network? You have enough experience that I'm not going to suggest a lot of the things I might otherwise, but I would suggest that you check to see what - if any - new program(s) have been installed on your system during the past few days or weeks. It is possible that a new memory-resident program is performing terrorist activities on your system, or at least on the part of it called the " event handler".

I'd also try creating anew movie the same size and try a copy-paste of all slides from the old movie to the new one (open a 2nd instance of Captivate ot do this quickly and easily). That comment about the wrong image showing up in the Edit view is very disconcerting and kinda ( that's a real word in Iowa - used a lot like "kinder", in Tennessee) indicates to me that the project file is starting to eat itself.

Let us know if any of this helps . . .

[Captiv8r]

Hi getbackjack

I'm assuming you checked Options > Recording Options... and made sure Demonstration was set and that Record Keystrokes wasn't DE-selected? (Might be worth double checking)

Another thing to try (and this is simply a guess as to whether it will work for you or not) is described in the following TechNote:

Click here to read the TechNote

Hopefully Larry or others will have better ideas of what to try.

Cheers and best of luck to you in resolving it! Rick

[Captiv8r]

Sorry Larry, didn't see you standing there!

I'm glad to see you here... Rick

[getbackjack]

'Looks like I'm going to need advice from both of you. I certainly appreciate it.

Yes, like an ID10T, I did de-select Record Keystrokes in my rambling review of my settings. Now that you jog my memory, I remember thinking that it had to do with the keystroke clicking SOUNDS. So thanks for the jumpstart. Maybe they should not put that option in the SOUNDS section????

However, the other problems remain. I've been doing a lot of cut-and-paste to get around it. But that requires re-recording entire pages that were missed. And this has happened to several different demo files.

To answer your question - yes, I've been recording new movies from scratch. But the problems have forced me to cut and paste.

I'm doing the work on my PC's hard drive.

I'll check out the event handler issue.

In Atlanta, we don't say kinda or kinder. We say approximately.

I bet you'll be all over that like a duck on a June bug.

So, I'll go try to make some new demos now and get back to this forum later.

What about my question about new releases? See anything on the horizon?

[CatBandit]

Hmmm. Maybe I'm going blind but I didn't see a question about new releases - still don't, in re-reading the thread. Aw well. Expect Captivate 2.0 to hit the shelves in the 4th quarter of 2006. Then if it is released earlier, it will be a nice surprise for you (no matter when it's released, it is going to be a nice surprise).

I've spent considerable time in Atlanta and - - - "approximately" has too many syllables for a Georgia native to handle, so if you heard it in Atlanta you were eaves-dropping on a long distance phone call at Hartsfield International. Just kidding . . .

[RoboWizard]

Hi all

As my former employer had headquarters in Atlanta, I too spent more than my share of time there. Geez, does EVERY neighborhood or street have to have "PeachTree" in its name? Sorta reminds me of that Bob NewHart sitcom years ago. Hi, I'm Larry. This is my brother Daryl. this is my other brother Daryl.

However, I always thought it should be spelled as it sounds when many say it! Et-Lanna.

Cheers and happy Thursday all! Rick

[getbackjack]

Thanks for the release news. And, no, you're not going blind. I just confused my note to support with my note to this forum.

We call all streets Peachtree down here to make it easier for us to give directions to out-of-towners. "Where's the Coke vault containing the secret formula? No problem. Y'all go on down here and take a left on Peachtree...Look for the Firebird up on blocks..."

With a governor named "Sonny" and buildings named after "Sloppy" Floyd, I think we should start naming the people Peachtree too.

I made a couple of demos today. The only problem I had was misplaced mouse movement. The problems I've seen in the last few days has me scratching my head, hiking up the overalls, and moving the hay straw to the other side of my mouth. But, it's about time to hitch up the mule and head back to the barn for the day. Thanks for your neighborly advice.

[CatBandit]

LOL!!

[getbackjack]

After coming back from vacation, I'm still seeing Captivate make mistakes. It shows the mouse movement and clicks, but they are sometimes on the wrong slide. This has become a far too frequent problem.

[CatBandit]

Hi getbackjack,
We need to isolate WHEN this happens in hopes of finding the cause. I can tell you up front that I have no such problem, nor to most users, so it has to be something specific to your installation (like other programs conflicting) or to the way Captivate is being used, or the environment in which it is used (web or local) - okay?

1) If things appear to be happening out-of-sync, the most likely cause is the speed at which you are moving through the target application - relative to ability of that application to render screen changes on your screen. - in other words, are you capturing a web-applicaiton or a local application?

2) What are your selected Recording-mode settings? That is are you operating in Demo mode or in one of the simulation modes? Or perhaps a "custom" mode that combines some of several other mode-settings?

3) From the suggestions Rick and I offered above, which have you tried and what was the results of those efforts?

Thanks!

[getbackjack]

Hi, Larry,

1. I've been very careful to move slowly due to the problems I've been having. When I worry that Captivate may not be capturing, I press the Print Screen key - or I click on the background. I suppose that Outlook could be interfering, so I usually shut it down when recording. I also shut down any other programs while recording. Could Outlook be the culprit?

2. I'm in Demo mode with no interaction and no sound. I have configured Captivate to produce small file sizes. Video quality 80. SWF conversion 16 Bit.

3. I haven't looked at the event handler yet, but I'll get our IT guy to help me with that. Who are the usual suspects?

I've been very cautious lateley due to the problems. I move through the Web-based application very slowly. I try to keep my demos to under four minutes. The errors occur even with relatively short demos of 30 slides. The error I saw today put the mouse movement, highlight, text box, and click on the slide just prior to the slide it should have appeared on. So it shows all the action happening on the plain background of the prior slide. However, if it had displayed on the correct, subsequent slide, its placement on the slide would have been correct. And the text box displayed the correct instructions as well. Captivate does not allow me to cut and paste the mouse movement or create new mouse movement on the edit slide. That would be a nice new feature, don't you agree?

Thanks for your help. I appreciate your advice.

[CatBandit]

Hi, Do something for me, okay? I'm reading your last paragraph, to wit:

quote:

---

The error I saw today put the mouse movement, highlight, text box, and click on the slide just prior to the slide it should have appeared on. So it shows all the action happening on the plain background of the prior slide. However, if it had displayed on the correct, subsequent slide, its placement on the slide would have been correct. And the text box displayed the correct instructions as well. Captivate does not allow me to cut and paste the mouse movement or create new mouse movement on the edit slide. That would be a nice new feature, don't you agree?

---

No I don't agree but only because your explanation gave me the answer and it is already available. I'd like you to open the NEXT slide - the one with the correct background that is missing on the previous one. Now right-click to get the slide menu and select "Copy Background".

Next, go back to the slide before it - the one with the "plain" background. Right-click and select "Paste as Background".

This slide should now work perfectly as it has the background it was previously missing, and it also has the correct mouse movements and other objects and actions. Right??? Problem solved during editing, and the total time shouldn't have been more than about 6-8 seconds. Let me know . . . but I think that should help out.

[getbackjack]

Larry,

Thanks for the nice work-around, but Captivate continues to malfunction. It puts clicks, highlights, and mouse movement on the wrong slides.

I do appreciate your help. I used the work-around and, with added work and time, I can fix things.

I'll have to put a ticket in with Adobe, though.

Danke schoen