Any updates on using relative URL paths?

Apr 10, 2014

I've read many posts by searching this forum on this topic, but it's been a while since it was last raised, and the software has been updated since I last checked. The inability to use relative links is a real problem for developers like myself who have courses moved from development servers to production servers multiple times. Each time all links that target a specific web page must be updated to reflect the placement of the web files on the server.

So here it goes one more time:

Is it possible to use relative URL links in Storyline, or must you always have an absolute, fixed address.

If the answer is no, then this issue should be a high-priority feature request.

16 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Richard, 

Relative URLs aren't supported for web objects, so you'll need to use full (absolute) URLs when adding web objects to your content.

The jump to URL/file trigger would support a relative URL though, and if needed there is also this possible workaround for using relative URLs which can be found in the forums. This method may work for your scenario, but please note that we don't officially support it.

Richard Chasin

I successfully was able to use a relative link with the URL/file trigger, and it works perfectly on a desktop browser. The web page i'm linking to is inside a separate folder with its images and CSS file within the SL published folder.

However, nothing happens if you click the link using the Articulate app on the iPad. Does the app block this link from connecting? That would defeat the whole purpose of being able to use a URL/ relative trigger.

Alexandra McCormick

I have a question when wanting to use relative URLs via the "jump to file" trigger. It appears the trigger can only be applied to an object, not text. What do you do if there are to be links to files, e.g. PDFs in several places withing a text object?

It's important to use relative URLs as we are having an issue with employee IDs being inserted into any absolute URLs. This means if someone else edits a Storyline file, the link breaks due to a different employee ID.

Alexandra McCormick

Thanks Ashley. I didn't think of hotspots, which is a great idea.

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but I am having a problem with the relative url. I have a pdf in the same folder as my .story file. I added a hotspot onto the text and used the "jump to URL/file" trigger. I used the ... icon to locate my pdf, then I removed everything before the name of the file. e.g I changed "D:\Alex\LNiP\Testing\ChangingYou to I.pdf" to be just "ChangingYou to I.pdf" But it doesn't work. With the pdf in the same folder as the .story file I assumed this would work. Should I add something else? 

Wendy Farmer

Hi Alex

dropping in with a suggestion and with absolute ignorance of Sharepoint setup...is it possible to have a share folder that is not linked to a User ID where you could drop the pdf and link to them that way OR is it possible (and I haven't tested it) to leave the links as they are (broken or not) and place the pdf into the external_files folder post publish?

Alexandra McCormick

Hi Wendy

The way this client is set up it's a share folder in SharePoint. However we access the files via our own login. There is no shared login.

The problem is when linking to files in the folder, your Employee Id is added to the URL. That causes a problem when anyone else edits Storyline files which contain links to files.

It's a pain to search to see if there are any links, as there are a number of Storyline files.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Alexandra,

I also don't know much about Sharepoints set up or the share folder you're using, but we always recommend to link to documents locally, and I would think removing the file path would cause an issue with the file link. If it's in the same folder as you're .story file, that does not automatically include it in the .story file itself - it's the link that does so and then will pull it in as a part of the publish. But if you were to move the associated PDF file or share the .story file with another colleague before publishing that link to the file would no longer be valid. 

Wendy's suggestion is a good one in terms of allowing the files to live within the published output folder as shown here. 

Alyssa Gomez

Hi Tracy,

As with earlier versions of Storyline, Storyline 360 doesn't support relative URLs for web objects. Be sure to use full (absolute) URLs when adding web objects to your content.

Can you tell us more about your need to embed HTML into your Storyline content with a relative path? I can certainly share your feedback with our product team!

Gary Krueger

The problem we're having (and would be true for those not using SharePoint as well) is that the path to linked file is absolute. E.g. C:\Users\gkrueger\Desktop\SLProject\PDF\filename.pdf

When someone else publishes my Storyline file, the absolute path is invalid. So all the links have to be updated, again using an absolute path on the next person's computer. If they forget to update the links, they won't work.

I have found that using a relative path to a PDF file in a Jump To File trigger on a slide does work. However it does NOT work in the Player Resources. Storyline produces an alert message saying "The file does not exist". This should be fixed in Storyline.

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Gary,

Since that file is stored locally on your computer, your colleague would need to have access to that file separately to link inside Storyline. 

If you add a file to the resource tab, that should pull it into the Storyline file for sharing with another colleague. Linking the file onto the slide keeps it separate. Once you have a file linked in the player, that would allow you to link it into a new slide following the directions here.

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