Because the Prev and Next buttons are part of the player nav, there is no way to just hide them when someone is on a slide layer, unless you want to hide them for the entire slide which means they wouldn't be present when the learner is on the base layer, either.
Seems like I saw a screenr posted, maybe by Jeanette, that showed a work around for this, but I haven't been able to find it.
Hey Hal! Brian's right, there isn't a way to make the prev/next buttons invisible on your slide layers, but a couple workaround would be:
Make the buttons inactive when the learner is viewing a layer, so that if the learner clicks on the buttons, they don't do anything. (Or you could alternatively cause a different layer to appear, which indicates they can't advance yet)
Or, turn off the prev/next buttons from the player, and make your own buttons on the slide itself, but turn off their visibility on the individual slide layers.
If either of these sound like a workable option and you need a little more guidance, give a shout and we can help.
Making the Prev and Next buttons inactive when a learner is viewing a layer is probably the best approach. I am not clear on how to do this so some guidance would be great.
Sure thing Hal. Can you say a little more about the slide you want to build? Or even attach a sample here? Like, what exactly do you want the learner to be able to do or not do... Do you want them to be able to click Next anytime they're on the base layer but not on the other slide layers? Do you want to require that they view ALL layers of your slide before they can click Next?
OK, cool. I see that your sample only shows one layer on that slide - but you are going to have multiple layers, right? And you want the learner to click all layers of a slide before going to the next slide? If that's the case, the easiest thing to do would be to add a condition to the trigger attached to your Next button. Here's a quick example that Brian shared: https://player.vimeo.com/video/204929624
With that approach, the learner needs to visit each layer before they can move on. Does that help?
1. I have two text boxes on the base layer; the link to the layer is in the 2nd text box
2. I have one text box on the layer with a close button in the upper right
I set one condition for Next: close button = visited. However, after clicking the close button I am brought back to the base layer; however, the Next button does not function.
Would you be able to attach the story file here so we could take a look? If the file contains a lotta other stuff, you could do a Save As and save just that slide & attach it.
Thanks Hal! In your case, I think the issue is that there's no visited state on the text box. Also, an additional wrinkle is that if you do add a Visited state to the textbox so that your conditional trigger works, the visited state applies to the whole text box (not just the 'Deep Energy Retrofit' part). Which is a problem, because it means if the learner clicks anywhere in the textbox (even an area other than the 'Deep Energy Retrofit' phrase), the textbox is considered visited, and then the learner would be able to click Next without viewing the layer.
So here are a couple approaches you could try instead, and there's an example of each in the attached file.
Method 1: Change the conditional trigger on the Next button. Instead of using the visited state of the textbox as your condition, use the visited state of the layer's "close" button. This is probably the simplest method, but it would require the user to actually close the layer before they can click Next. Maybe that's okay with you though. Scene 1 in the attached file shows an example.
Method 2: Another approach would be to create a true/false variable which monitors whether the learner has viewed the slide layer or not. Set the variable's initial value to false, and then use a trigger on the slide layer which changes the value to true as soon as the layer's timeline begins. Once the value switches to true, the learner can click Next. (And they wouldn't need to close the layer first.) Scene 2 in the attached file shows an example.
I'm glad Hal's all set too, and I thank him for the question because it got me to thinking. Of course, I made things more complicated because before I got back to look at Hal's sample, I'd already created a slide with several layers, rather than just one, AND I want a warning layer to appear so Learners understand why Next isn't working.
I watched Brian's video to see if it would answer my question, but it didn't.
So, I'm attaching my story. It has 2 scenes: one where I'd created variables for the next button conditions, and one where I'd used conditions. The problem I have is getting the warning to work properly with the sublayers.
I tried to resolve it in 2 different ways: with a Warning Layer (Variables Scene) and with some warning objects that start out as hidden (Conditions Scene). In both cases there are problems with how it works with the sublayers.
If you look at the Notes on the first slide in each scene, I've explained it in a bit more detail there.
Becky, I think for what you are trying to accomplish, you would need your warning layer to display simultaneously with whatever other layer the learner is viewing. So in the layer properties of the warning layer, you would unmark the box that says "Hide other slide layers." Otherwise, only one layer displays at a time. This means that if the warning layer appears, it's the only layer displaying (besides the base layer), so when you click Go Back, it just closes the warning layer and you find yourself back on the base layer.
I'm starting with the pursuit of my question here, after reviewing other strings which haven't answered my question.
Can I use the next button to show/hide layers?
Whenever I try to add a trigger for a layer, it adds it to the base layer and is not specific to the layer function. What I simply want to do is, is change call-out box text when a user clicks the next button...and then on the last layer, jump to the next slide. Each call-out box text is on an individual layer.
18 Replies
Hello Hal,
Because the Prev and Next buttons are part of the player nav, there is no way to just hide them when someone is on a slide layer, unless you want to hide them for the entire slide which means they wouldn't be present when the learner is on the base layer, either.
Seems like I saw a screenr posted, maybe by Jeanette, that showed a work around for this, but I haven't been able to find it.
Hey Hal! Brian's right, there isn't a way to make the prev/next buttons invisible on your slide layers, but a couple workaround would be:
If either of these sound like a workable option and you need a little more guidance, give a shout and we can help.
Hi Jeanette,
Making the Prev and Next buttons inactive when a learner is viewing a layer is probably the best approach. I am not clear on how to do this so some guidance would be great.
Hal
Sure thing Hal. Can you say a little more about the slide you want to build? Or even attach a sample here? Like, what exactly do you want the learner to be able to do or not do... Do you want them to be able to click Next anytime they're on the base layer but not on the other slide layers? Do you want to require that they view ALL layers of your slide before they can click Next?
Yes, I want them to be able to click Prev or Next at any time on the base later but not on the slide layers.
I do want them to click all layers before clicking Next.
Per the attached examples of the base and later I have create a custom button the layer with a trigger to go back to the base.
Thanks for this helo.
OK, cool. I see that your sample only shows one layer on that slide - but you are going to have multiple layers, right? And you want the learner to click all layers of a slide before going to the next slide? If that's the case, the easiest thing to do would be to add a condition to the trigger attached to your Next button. Here's a quick example that Brian shared: https://player.vimeo.com/video/204929624
With that approach, the learner needs to visit each layer before they can move on. Does that help?
Yes, this helps and I am part of the way there:
1. I have two text boxes on the base layer; the link to the layer is in the 2nd text box
2. I have one text box on the layer with a close button in the upper right
I set one condition for Next: close button = visited. However, after clicking the close button I am brought back to the base layer; however, the Next button does not function.
Any ideas?
Would you be able to attach the story file here so we could take a look? If the file contains a lotta other stuff, you could do a Save As and save just that slide & attach it.
Yes, slides attached
Files attached
Thanks Hal! In your case, I think the issue is that there's no visited state on the text box. Also, an additional wrinkle is that if you do add a Visited state to the textbox so that your conditional trigger works, the visited state applies to the whole text box (not just the 'Deep Energy Retrofit' part). Which is a problem, because it means if the learner clicks anywhere in the textbox (even an area other than the 'Deep Energy Retrofit' phrase), the textbox is considered visited, and then the learner would be able to click Next without viewing the layer.
So here are a couple approaches you could try instead, and there's an example of each in the attached file.
Hope that helps!
Jeanette - this is GREAT - thanks. I will use Method 1
Yah, that's what I'd do too, since it allows you to avoid having to fuss with a variable.
Glad to hear you're all set now! Take care.
Hi Jeanette,
I'm glad Hal's all set too, and I thank him for the question because it got me to thinking. Of course, I made things more complicated because before I got back to look at Hal's sample, I'd already created a slide with several layers, rather than just one, AND I want a warning layer to appear so Learners understand why Next isn't working.
I watched Brian's video to see if it would answer my question, but it didn't.
So, I'm attaching my story. It has 2 scenes: one where I'd created variables for the next button conditions, and one where I'd used conditions. The problem I have is getting the warning to work properly with the sublayers.
I tried to resolve it in 2 different ways: with a Warning Layer (Variables Scene) and with some warning objects that start out as hidden (Conditions Scene). In both cases there are problems with how it works with the sublayers.
If you look at the Notes on the first slide in each scene, I've explained it in a bit more detail there.
Thanks!
Becky, I think for what you are trying to accomplish, you would need your warning layer to display simultaneously with whatever other layer the learner is viewing. So in the layer properties of the warning layer, you would unmark the box that says "Hide other slide layers." Otherwise, only one layer displays at a time. This means that if the warning layer appears, it's the only layer displaying (besides the base layer), so when you click Go Back, it just closes the warning layer and you find yourself back on the base layer.
Brilliant! Never would have gone there. I think if I live to be 200 I'll still have questions about SL. Thanks, Jeanette!
Hi Jeanette...
I'm starting with the pursuit of my question here, after reviewing other strings which haven't answered my question.
Can I use the next button to show/hide layers?
Whenever I try to add a trigger for a layer, it adds it to the base layer and is not specific to the layer function. What I simply want to do is, is change call-out box text when a user clicks the next button...and then on the last layer, jump to the next slide. Each call-out box text is on an individual layer.
Thank you for a great forum!
Jeanette, I kept up my search through the forum and found a solution (adjusting a variable when the Next button is pressed) that works exquisitely.
http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/24067/162048.aspx?mod=False#162048
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