Arabic variables not working

Hi Lulu,

I haven't heard of that font before, and even when I tried to look for it through Google, I didn't find it, so I can't say if it has to do with the font. Would you be able to submit a Support case so that our team can take a look at what is happening with your variables though? 

Hi Ashley, 

I'm actually seeing that the variable displayed in the screenshot (and all other instances) automatically adds "&_player." to the beginning of all of our variables. In addition, we see boxes when trying to display arabic characters that were stored in a variable as a string. (see second screenshot). 

This string is stored in a variable. The strings stored outside of a variable have no problem displaying. This is regardless of what font we use, including Arial Unicode, which seems to work for other characters. We are not sure why this is happening... 

Also, you can see that the variable %BEPStartupCosts% and %BEP% is displayed as "&_player.BEPStartupCosts" rather than showing the numerical value. Can you advise? 

Hi Bingjie, 

Thanks for the screenshot, and the additional information about not it being affected by the font. I've opened a Support case on your behalf, so that you can share the actual file with our team. I'll follow along in your case as well. 

Thank you Ashley! I think we have narrowed the issue even more. I've attached another set of files that can help to explain the issue. 

Edit mode: 

Proper display mode: 

Edit mode switching text display to RTL: 

Now, the variables are ALL not displaying properly: 

Unfortunately, this will NOT work for us because we are doing Arabic translations which need to be displayed from right to left... We did not expect to see this problem, and it is occurring on all versions of Arabic that we have. I've also attached the files I used to do a quick test on this... 

Thanks Bingjie, I shared the file with Justin who is assigned to your case and he'll do some further testing. I'll continue to follow along to keep this thread updated. 

Hi Bingjie, 

I just wanted to follow up, as it seems that Justin has let you know our QA team will be looking in to this. He doesn't have a timeline yet, but we'll keep you posted if we find one out. Thanks!

Hi Ashley, 

Thanks for the follow up - apologies for my late response on this as well. 

For all others who are having this issue, here is the latest update from Justin and the Storyline development team: It appears that the variable display problem with RTL text is a Storyline bug (applies to all RTL languages including Arabic and Hebrew) It is unclear when this problem will be resolved and what version of Storyline will feature the fix. 

For now, our team has opted for the following to work around the problem: 

1. Separated all instances of number-variables being displayed in a text box - we put these number variables on a text box all by themselves, leaving a space in the Arabic sentence where it would show up. The Arabic sentence was displayed RTL, while we display the number variable LTR (this shows up fine with no problem)
2. Removed all instances of text-variables from our activities. This created the largest problem for us, since we often use variables to display dynamic text feedback for our users depending on what they do in the activity. Instead of using dynamic text displays using the text-variables, we created text objects with lots and lots of states. Each state would contain what the text-variable used to contain - i.e. we'd have one state for each possible sentence that the user could see in their activity feedback. 
3. Forced users to type limited text-input. In the original English activities, our users could type as much text as they wished in text-input boxes, and then see the text displayed later in the activity. In the Arabic versions, they cannot type anything except a very specific line of text, since we can't dynamically display their typed input. 

Justin updated that the Storyline developers are now aware of this problem, and will be working on it. However, there is no timeline for which this will be fixed. 

No apologies necessary, and thanks for including the full update here on what you're team has decided to do! 

Hi Bingjie,

Thanks SO much for posting the solution to the variable problem. I too am working with several translations and so far Arabic is the only one that has caused issues in Storyline. Your solution to the number variable did the trick for me.

Donna

Glad to hear it Donna! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for great info here!

Any idea when this will be corrected? (I installed update 4 today with my hopes pretty high, but no luck).

thanks, 

john

Hi John and welcome to Heroes!

I don't have a time frame to offer in regards to future updates, but we'll share information here in the forums and you can always find out what the most recent update is by looking at the Support page or you can check for updates from within Storyline ( Go to the Help tab -> Check for Updates).

Hi all!

We're working on an Arabic file and having the same issues with variables so I'm glad I found this thread! I appreciate that solutions have been provided as well - very helpful!

I'm having an additional issue. When we imported the Arabic translation, all the slides that have links in the text boxes became distorted - i.e. the links displayed incorrectly. I have been able to take out the links, but can't seem to be able to select specific Arabic text within a text box in order to add the link back in. This is also true in terms of trying to bold specific phrases within the text. Has anyone else had this problem? Any workarounds or tips?

Thanks so much,

Corey

Hi Corey,

In regards to the links, are they removed entirely from your trigger panel or just look off within the Storyline text box? Are you able to share a slide or two that demonstrates the behavior with the Arabic text and hyperlink? 

Hi,

Here is a screen capture for an Arabic course we created. The Arabic fonts are not displayed correctly. Can you please help to resolve this.

Kind regards

Joseph

Hi Joseph and welcome to Heroes!

I'm not sure that you attached the right screenshot - as I don't see where you'd like the Arabic fonts to display. Maybe could you share the .story file here with us or at least that one slide?

Hi everyone,

Great news! I wanted to stop by and let you all know that Storyline Update 6 is now available.

Click here to view the list of changes made in the new update.

Click here to download Update 6.

Thanks and have a great day!

Christine

These posts are 5 years old and this problem still exists for Farsi which is a RTL language too.  We are using Storyline 360. Any solution for RTL texts in variables not being shown correctly?

Thanks,

Hey Vahid,

Thank you for reaching out! This thread is a bit old, so I would like to start fresh and gather some more information from you. I am sorry that this is happening to you. We have an open issue in Storyline where the variable reference displays Arabic characters in reverse order. Could you share what you are seeing in your course?

Our team is looking into its cause, and I'm tagging this discussion to our report so we can keep you posted on any new developments.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with in the meantime!

Thank you Vincent. That's exactly my issue too. Farsi uses Arabic letters for writing- with a few differences. So I think it can be fixed for both languages at the same time. Can you give me any time estimate of when it is going to be fixed? This doesn't seem to take a long time to be fixed and if it is fixed, it would really change the elearning material that I am making now.
Thanks
Vahid

Thanks for confirming, Vahid.

I wanted to share some information on how we define bugs and how we tackle them when they occur.

Thank you Leslie for explanation.

Hey again, Vahid!

I'm circling back here as well to share that we just released Build 3.33.20697.0 for Storyline 360. It addresses the issue where variable references in right-to-left text displayed in the reverse order.

To see all the enhancements this version has to offer, follow these steps to update your software. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!