Adding download audio file option to actual layer in storyline 1

Tracy:

Are you saying that linking to a resource from a slide (outlined here: How to link to a resource in the course player) won't work for you? Or that having the link in the Resources tab won't work for you? 

Hi Steve,

Having the link in the resources tab is not an option for this project :( . As I am using audio clips,I would like the user to have the option to both listen and then download the individual audio clips within the slide so they would not have to search through the resources.

Thanks for the rapid reply :)

Tracy

Tracy:

Linking to a resource as outlined in the tutorial should still work for you then. Essentially, you would:

1. Add the audio file as a resource.
2. Create a download button on the slide with a trigger that links directly to the file. Clicking the button would download the file.

There would be no reason for the user to access the Resources tab if you do it this way.

Thanks for all your help. I have taken a look and tested this. This actually opens the audio file in a new window but doesn't give the user the option to download the audio file onto their machine.

Would you have any other ideas?

Thanks,

Tracy :)

Unfortunately, this is out of the hands of Storyline (as far as I know). If the user's browser is able to play/display the file, it will. Unless the user changes their browser settings.

The only other possibility I can think of is to create zip files that contain the sound files. Those should download without a problem. But that is not particularly user friendly.

I could be missing something, though.

Hi Tracy!

Looks like Steve beat me to it, but I agree that the browser is controlling what to do with the file.

Its a tricky one :S Is there any JavaScript that you would be aware of could work for it?

Thanks again for the replies :)

Tracy

If your server is running Apache you can use FilesMatch. Add the following to your site's .htaccess file:

<FilesMatch "\.(?i:pdf)$">
 ForceType application/octet-stream
 Header set Content-Disposition attachment
</FilesMatch>

OR

<FilesMatch "\.(pdf|PDF)">
 ForceType application/octet-stream
 Header set Content-Disposition attachment
</FilesMatch>

The above is for PDFs. Change pdf to whatever the extension is for the movie file.

I haven't used either of these so can't vouch for their effectiveness. Note the the server .htaccess file is very powerful. Be careful when/if you modify it.

You should be able to use the above with the standard Storyline link outlined in the tutorial because the server is interpreting and modifying the file request and the filename is not required.

While it is technically possible to force a download with Ajax I don't think it will work with the way Storyline creates links.

If you are running ASP on your server something similar seems to be possible:

How to force download in classic ASP

Note that that example requires the filename of the file listed in the code so likely won't work for you. I'm not sure if there's a blanket ASP option.

Hope that helps.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for all your help, unfortunately either of these options will not work to achieve my end goal  :(  I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. Would you have any other suggestions or know anyone who might have any suggestions?

Tracy

Hi Tracy,

You could create a web object with a hyperlink to the audio file within it and instruct the user to right-click the link. When the pop-up menu appears, the user would then need to select "Save target as..." or "Save link as..." Here's a quick example: http://www.gantekmultimedia.com/sl_test/download_audio/story.html

This isn't real user-friendly but with some additional instructions in the web-object, you could guide the user through the steps.