Allowing audio to fully complete before allowing user interaction in a freeform hotspot slide.
Mar 23, 2023
In an assessment for a system simulation, one question may be split over several slides, all triggered/submitted by hotspots. For example, one question may be split over 4 slides, with 4 marks are allocated. No problem…until I add audio.
If users choose to have audio enabled, then the question is read out loud. IF the user decides to click before the audio has finished, then either:
- they get a “Try again Layer”. They click “continue” to return to the base layer, and the previous audio for the question continues. This is acceptable. OR
- they click the correct hotspot and are moved onto the next screen to continue the question. This causes a problem, as the same question is on each of those slides. I don’t want the audio to repeat again, only once the first time it’s seen. But if they move on correctly, the audio for the question gets cut off, obviously because they’ve moved on…
I have tried the following which didn’t work:
- overlaying a shape on the whole slide with 99% transparency with a trigger to be hidden after the audio has finished.
- Overlaying a shape with a motion path to move out of the way after the audio has completed.
- Overlaying a hotspot (that basically does nothing, just gets in the way like the shape idea) with a motion path to move out of the way after audio has completed.
- Creating a separate master slide with the audio added.
None of these solutions work, as for some reason, if a slide is a freeform question (I’m working with hotspots questions) it doesn’t seem to care that I need it to pause before allowing the user to click on something.
Now I have found a way around it, but it’s not ideal. It’s too long and boring to go into here. Let’s just say, it would go against the template we provide. So I thought I’d ask the experts.
Is there anyway, in a freeform slide (hotspot) to let an audio file play fully first before allowing the user to answer it?
***I will upload an example shortly********
6 Replies
For Screen Recordings like this, you might want to have an invisible layer appear when the timeline starts of the slide. Just check the Layer Properties and select "Prevent User from clicking on the other layers. You will just need to hide this layer when you want the user to proceed.
On any other slide this would work and I do use this. My project has a variable "AudioFShouldPlay". When enabled, audio plays throughout the project. If the user selected "no" to the audio, then obviously they don't hear it.
Each slide is configured with what to do if audio is on or off.
Now, if I add a layer called "No click" to my question (and disregard audio for the moment), then this works. However, I do have audio, so if I say "show layer 'no click' when variable AudioFShouldPlay is true" the freeform slide completely ignores this, and the user can still click as if it was on the base layer. Even if I selected do not allow to click other slide layers.
so if I say "show layer 'no click' when variable AudioFShouldPlay is true
Try "show layer 'no click' when timeline starts if variable AFSP is true"
If that doesn't work I'll try to take a look at the example when you post it.
I'd like to thank you both for your responses and apologise for my delayed response as I have been on annual leave.
I've returned to my project, applied both of your suggestions and now it has worked. I am not sure how I ended up having so many problems with this when the answer was so simple.
glad it worked out for you