Master slide with scenario, hint, reference toggles

[Tara_Aukerman]

I have a master slide with this little purple overlay built in:

The three icons are image-filled smart shape buttons that fill in white in rollover and down states.

I'd like to use these on non-guided practice slides for:

• Scenario - text caption toggle. Scenario is already given on a previous slide in full, this would be a reminder for the slides it applies to (good for several slides)
• Hint - text caption toggle. Used when learner gets stuck, some kind of workflow-specific hint (changes slide to slide)
• Reference - link. Would open a job aid with step-by-step instructions.

I'd like to use variables so I could control what exactly would Show when these toggles are used on each slide, and I imagine I need advanced actions on my master slide.

How do I do this?

[Lilybiri]

Sorry, but you cannot control items on master slides because they do not have an ID (name) at all.

To control shape buttons you need to put them on the first slide, time them for the rest of the project, always on top. They will get each a unique ID, and that will allow you to use the On Enter action of a slide to hide those buttons. Same to re-show them. Have a look at this pretty old blog post (no states at that moment):

Why I like Shape Buttons - Captivate 6! - Captivate blog

The drawback of this work flow (timed rest for project) is that you cannot have a pausing point that is always at the end of each slide, independent of the duration of the slide. So be careful if you want pause to choose its timing.

If you ever upgrade to 9: states are at this moment not supported for shape buttons on master slides. I sincerely hope this will be fixed soon

Maybe I didn't understand your question correctly?  You don't want these buttons to be controlled, but what is popping up? Can you explain this more in detail?

For the Hint Text Caption: this caption could be timed for the rest of the project, but fill it with one variable. The variable can be populated by the On Enter action of the slide. That way you could leave the button on the master slide, the caption needs an ID.

The Scenario.... is not clear to me.

Reference link: pointing to a file or URL?

[Tara_Aukerman]

Good info. Good food for thought. Thank you for the quick reply!

Couple of responses to you:

Lilybiri: The drawback of this work flow (timed rest for project) is that you cannot have a pausing point that is always at the end of each slide, independent of the duration of the slide. So be careful if you want pause to choose its timing.

Tara: Not a problem. I have click boxes/interactions pausing the slides I want to pause.

Lilybiri: For the Hint Text Caption: this caption could be timed for the rest of the project, but fill it with one variable. The variable can be populated by the On Enter action of the slide. That way you could leave the button on the master slide, the caption needs an ID.

Tara: Can you tell me more or point me to an example of what you suggest for the hint? This sounds like the direction I want to go.

Lilybiri: You don't want these buttons to be controlled, but what is popping up? Can you explain this more in detail?

Tara: See Details, below.

Details:

I'll have, let's say, three practice scenarios in a project. The sequence would be:

1. Lesson A
2. Practice A
3. Lesson B
4. Practice B
5. Lesson C
6. Practice C

For lesson A, let's say there are 10 slides of content... then we want to practice.

I give the intro and scenario, instructions. Learner clicks Get Started.

On the next slide, the practice starts. Let's say there are 5 slides in this particular exercise, which I'll call A1-5. We're going to be simulating the software we're training and leaving the user to click correctly through the simulation with no guidance.

I'd like the icons to do the following:

• Scenario: Show/hide a text caption with a reminder of the scenario (just a paragraph of patient story and clinician responsibility). This would be the same the whole way through Practice A, but would change for Practice B and C.
• Hint: Show/hide a text caption with a hint for the user if they get stuck/can't remember what to click. This would be different on every slide.
• Reference: Pointing to a URL, which would change from Practice to Practice like the scenario does.

Ideally, I wouldn't have that overlay on each slide - I'd rather have the buttons just call an advanced action that uses a variable... I just don't know how to do it.

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Long time ago I explained a similar work flow in these forums, and blogged about it:

"Beat the system" - save time creating Advanced Actions (Captivate) - Captivate blog

That is the work flow I certainly would use for the Hint:

1. create a user variable v_hint
2. insert that variable in a text container on the first slide where you need it (shape or caption, I always mention that, because shape is so much more flexible for styling) and be sure to set the length as high as possible; in previous versions maximum number of characters in a variable used to be 256, but Rod points out it is now lower (about 150)
3. make that text container big enough, so that it can have your longest hint and time it for the rest of the project, always on top.
4. Create the action for the button to show/hide that container (have several blog post about toggle shape buttons)
5. Create a shared action or an advanced action that will have to be triggered by the On Enter action for each slide where you want the functionality; it will be pretty simple: Assign v_hint with "............" (text you want for that slide to be in the hint); I would prefer a shared action over a bunch of duplicate advanced actions because they save on file size and you can manage them from the Library

You could use the same approach (with a different user variable) for the Scenario, but due to the limitation of the length of a variable, and the fact that you have only 3 different versions, I would plead just to have 3 different text containers, but again timed for the rest of the project and always on top.

As for the URL, I'm afraid you'll have to use JS. I think TLCMediaDesign (David Crawford) posted about that work flow.  Do you publish for HTML or for SWF? There may be widgets around.

[Tara_Aukerman]

Thank you SO much for the time and help. Your advice is always so useful!

[Lilybiri]

I hope you can figure it out?