input-text blurred in imported swf's

[Guest]

hello,

i have a slide where users can type in their names. this i've done by importing a swf-file i've created in flash8.
the font in this flash-animation is embedded to avoid problems with missing fonts on the client-side.
if i play the swf-animation in the flash player, the fonts look sharp.
as soon as i import the movie into captivate and publish or preview the project, the input the user keys in is blurred while the static caption looks ok.

i've tried to set the publish-options to high-quality, but it did not solve the problem.

are there further options i've overlooked?
is this a bug?

regards,
freakward

[Captiv8r]

HI Freakward

When you import the SWF animation, are you keeping it the same size as it was when you created the Flash? My guess is that perhaps resizing it might be causing the issue.

Can you expound a bit on why you need Flash to create a place for users to type? Hopefully you are aware that Captivate provides a built in object called a "Text Entry Box" that does the same thing. What does your Flash created object do that Captivate's cant?

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

thanks for your assistance!
yes, i've verified that the size is correct, also i've tried NOT to embedded the font in flash, did not work either.

the reason for this is simple, i have to develop a software-sim where users have to enter a specific username in a login-form .
depending on the entered value the captivate-movie advances to the corresponding slide, which works quite well so far.

i've posted a question some time ago in this forum, regarding a validation of text-entry-boxes, but nobody seems to know how to do it, so i flashed my self a little bit ;-)

regards,
freakward

[Captiv8r]

Hi Freakward

Hmmm, seems odd unless you are wanting something unusual. With a Text Entry box, you simply enter the text you want to compare against what the user enters. You then choose actions to take if it's correct VS incorrect. You can even check case sensitivity.

Obviously I'm missing something.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

i'm sorry, i did not explain the whole thing, indeed, it is a bit unusual.

the user enters the username, then he enters corresponding pass, then he has to click 'login'.
examples:
if the user keys in 'engineer_noc' and as pass 'ticketing' he is lead to slide a.
if the user keys in 'engineer_sls' and as pass 'monitoring' he is lead to slide b.
if the user makes a mistake, by entering a wrong username, he is lead to slide c.
if the user makes a mistake, by entering a wrong pass, he is lead to slide d.

additionally i have needs to simulate a form which consists of 15 Entry-Fields and a submit button.
i found no way in captivate to let a user type in the requred fields and have it all validated by hitting a single button, get all fields validated and force a navigation on these conditions.

this captivate-simulation will be a part of a training-application for a network-emergency-team, so the complete layout has to be 100% the original.
due to the nature of captivate it is still the best piece of software for the situation i'm in (keep ya hands off of government-projects, believe me ;-)

that's the situation.

regards,
freakward

[Guest]

Hi,

any news on this?

meanwhile i've tried to build a simple user/pass-login sim within captivate 2 trial, but it seems that i have no luck.

maybe it helps if i provide you the login-fla i have created, then you can have a closer look,
and maybe other community members are interested in this kind of solution too.

regards,
freakward

ps: by still supporting the rdcmnd-variables in combination with swf-imports captivate keeps the restricted-plugin-possibility, so maybe it's a good idea for the developers to release plugins which fullfills basic needs like login-sims or similiar, since most of the captivate users are not flash/action-script-experienced (like me).

[rbLearning]

You said you are creating your Flash-based input activity in Flash 8, but didn't say what Flash Player version you are outputting. However, since it seems that you haven't yet upgraded to Captivate 2, you're probably publishing your Flash activity as Flash Player 6.

Captivate 2 will import Flash Player 8 content.

If you can upgrade to Captivate 2 and output your Flash piece for Flash Player 8, you might see a remarkable difference. However, regardless of which Flash Player you're targeting, the following tips will give you the cleanest text possible.

1) To avoid anti-aliasing, make sure every object in your Flash movie is on a whole pixel. (ie: x=3.0, y=5.0 versus x=3.1, y=5.3)

2) On each of the input fields, set the "anti-alias" option to "Bitmap text (no anti-alias)" -- that seems to render small fonts (10-11pt) very much like you would see in other Windows applications.

3) The font I most often use in this case is Arial, but you may have other preferences depending on what the application you're simulating uses.

[Guest]

thanks for the hints, rbLearning.

you're right, ihaven't upgraded yet, but i use the trial and i've tried now all imaginable possibilities with no luck.
if i use bitmap-text i have to embed the font, arial in my case.
publishing the flash animation for fp6 and importing to c1 brings the blurred fonts as usual
publishing the flash animation for fp8 and importing to c2 it's not possible to get a cursor into the field, i cannot type in anything.

however, using c2/fp8 i get a clear and sharp text if i use the fonts _sans, _serif, _typewriter, located in the very top of the dropdownlist in flash8. with these fonts there is no selection of antialiasing or bitmap-text, and there is no difference, they are all the same font, looks like 'times new roman', but i need a non-serif (should be sans) font like arial.

using the 3 fonts mentioned above in c1 things get weird, c1 makes textentry-boxes disappear when i preview the project, in editing-mode the fields are visible, moving the mouse over the hidden fields the mouse-cursor changes to the text-cursor, outside the field it changes to the 'click-hand'.

finally , if i get a non serif font working i have a good reason to upgrade ;-)

regards,
freakward

[Guest]

Hello Freakward,

Did Captiv8r's suggestion of using the built-in Text Entry box work for you? If not then please provide us with some more details of what you it is you are trying to achieve and one of us will be happy to look into this for you in more detail.

Regards,
Mark

[DilbertG]

Just an observation, Captivate 2 links the SWF files of version 8 or more, in comparison to embedding them in Captivate SWF for version 7 or below. Since it links the file, so the integrity of SWF should remain as it is. Could you please share your SWF with us, for this.

[Guest]

Hello DilbertG,

yes, of course, on friday i will post a link as soon as i am in the office again.

thank you all for your kind support, i appreciate that very much!

regards,
freakward

[Guest]

sorry, did'nt make it on friday, suffered from illness.

now here's the link:
http://www.netmaniacs.at/captivate/sample.zip

the zip-file contains:
login_test.cp - the login-test (captivate2 project-file)
moviepause.fla - (flash 8 project-file)
moviepause.swf
movieplay.fla - (flash 8 project-file)
movieplay.swf
test_login_sans.fla (flash 8 project-file)
test_login_sans.swf

movieplay- and moviepause-animation is used inside the cp-project to play/pause the movie without any clickfield or button.
if you play the cp-file the correct user is "user", and pass is "pass" (without quotes of course). the fonts look clear as long as i select the _sans-font (or any starting with _) in flash8.

another thing i do not understand is the sizing of fonts, a setting of 12p in flash looks like 8p in captivate2.

regards,
freakward

[DilbertG]

I am able to use other fonts also. I tried Arial and Freestyle Script. I am using Flash Player 9, not sure if that makes any difference. Will try on Flash Player 8, and will let you know.

The size becomes little smaller in Captivate. I tried 21 point size,a nd it appears as if 19 or 20.

thanks

[DilbertG]

It worked in Flash Player 8 also. I noticed that the font size change is relative to fonts also. For e.g. Arial font in embedded swf looks more closer to when its played independently. where as _sans looks smaller. Or is it my Eyes' problem :)

thanks

[Guest]

2 questions:
1) what's the trick to have the flash-player 9 in the publishing options? I have installed the plugin, but i don't have the option to choose it, not in flash, not in captivate.
2) i think my problem is to embedding fonts, what do i have to enter in the font-symbol Link/URL field if the movie is played via harddisk only?

regards,
freakward

[DilbertG]

1. There is no trick for that. Captivate does not publish to Flash Player 9. I only used the Flash Player 9 plugin to run my SWF.

2. I am sorry but, am not sure about which font-symbol link you are referring to. In Flash the font rendering method (Inside properties pane) was set to Use Device Fonts. But i tried Bitmap-text with font embedding also, and that also seems to be working fine.

thanks

[Guest]

thanks for your replies, DilbertG.

i referred to insert a new font-symbol into the library, rightclick the new font symbol, last entry on the context-menu, "link" it should be in english.

i will test the next days on several maschines/os, just to be sure there is no kind of font-issue on the production-maschine i am using for development. maybe things get a bit more clearly then.

regards,
freakward

[sirrahe]

We had the same issue when importing Flash into Flash. By converting the text boxes to Graphic Symbols the text cleared.

[DilbertG]

As I have been informing others, try using flash files of version 8. When these files are imported in Captivate, they are linked to captivate swf at runtime, rather than embedding them inside the captivate swf. This has improved the rendering of flash files and keeps the contents of child swf intact.

thanks

[Captiv8r]

Hi DilbertG

Could you please expound on that? When you say "The files are "linked at runtime" and not embedded in the Captivate .SWF", does this mean the Captivate author has an additional .SWF to track and remember to include and whatnot? What (if any) warnings does Captivate issue? What happens if you fail to include the additional file and run the movie?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks... Rick

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

I have definitely found this to be the case. In the project I worked on recently I added a Text Area component created in Flash 8. Only if I included the published swf of the text area in the same folder as my published Captivate file did the text area box show. From what I understand Captivate 2 does this to ensure that the published Captivate file remains nice and small. This is also true of Flash Video files, which as I am sure you have observed do not get added to the Library panel. The only time when FLV et al are embedded is when you pubish your project files as EXE's

Warmest regards,
Mark

[DilbertG]

Yes, there is an Extra file to be taken care of. But this happens only when the imported animation (SWF) is of version 8. For version 6 and version 7, there is no extra file.

Please note these are not the versions in which Captivate is publishing the SWF, these are the version of your imported animations.

If you fail to include the additional file and run the movie, then the imported animation will not be displayed. Captivate does not generate any warning for the same.

thanks

[DilbertG]

Yes, There is an additional file to be taken care of. This will happen if the imported Animation (SWF) is of version 8. For version 6 and 7, no additional file is required.

Please note, these versions are of imported Animations, and not the Captivate Publishing versions.

If you fail to include the additional file and run the movie, then the animation will not be displayed. Captivate does not raise any warning for the same.

Also, if you publish captivate swf to version6, then you can not use animations of version 8. Captivate gives you warning at the publish time for this.

Hope I am clear here :)

thanks

[DilbertG]

Sorry for duplicating the message. For some reason, I didnt see my message after posting, and I had to retype everything. And then I could see both of my messages :). Looks like time ofr me to go to bed.

thanks

[Captiv8r]

No worries DilbertG

I think it's simply the way the forums work these days.

So, what is the person's name behind the DilbertG moniker? Inquiring minds want to know!

Cheers... Rick