Enter key trigger not working in EXE Output

Sep 14, 2015

Hi,

I created a software simulation with data entry controls. I added a trigger to jump to the next slide when the user presses the Enter key if the TextEntry box is equal to the correct value.

The simulation works if published for the Web, but does not when published for CD. The stakeholder would like to run it as an EXE instead of HTML.

I'm able to work around this by adding a second trigger of jump to next slide when user clicks the background image if the TextEntry box is equal to the correct value. This works in both outputs, but isn't a great solution.

I attached a stripped down version of my file. Thanks for any help!

22 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Amanda,

Thanks for reaching out here and sharing a copy of your file. This is something that we've reported it to our QA team in regards to the CD published output. The workaround you mentioned or using another trigger to submit the interaction are the two workarounds we'd recommend at this time. I've flagged this thread for update once there is additional information to offer from our team, but I can't offer a particular time frame for that information or update. 

Matthew Paquette

This issue is not specific to text entry fields. While the text entry field does disable Keyboard listeners while active. The enter key trigger does not work in CD publishes, at all. I created a new project, created a layer with a smiley face on it, and a trigger to show said layer when the user presses enter. Works fine in preview, does not work when published for CD. There must be an Event listener in the exe that is listening for enter and returning false.

Matthew Paquette

I have been required to accomplish this functionality for a client, they also use triggers that utilize the function keys (which work fine in CD publish), so I've been banging my head against this issue trying to come up with a workaround. Tried adding listeners to story.js on several of the div's and the flash object itself, got it to work for other keys but not Enter/Escape. Tried making swf's that listen for key presses and make an external interface call to modify a variable in storyline, same results, works for other keys, not escape/enter.

However if I hold down another key, say W for example, then press Enter, the swf I made will succeed at it's external interface call. I believe this is further evidence that the EXE is returning false on an event listener for this key. Once I tie up that event listener by holding down a key I'm free to press a key for my swf to hear. However after I have successfully pressed it, it works from then on, which is not intuitive if I'm following that line of logic.

Could someone pass this info along to the QA team? It might help with troubleshooting. If the exe is a flash projector, are the keyboard shortcuts disabled before publishing?

I really need to get this working in the next few weeks here, my back is really against the wall.

Matthew Paquette

So clicking the submit button on the player is not working? Or is the expectation that the Enter key should submit an Interaction.

If so, the Enter key is being hogged by flash, and no amount of programming on my end was able to circumvent it. I was eventually able to take back the function keys using javascript, but the enter key is completely inaccessible.

Matthew Paquette

I have not played with the TAB key but my guess is flash is hogging that as well, tab is used as an accessibility option to move through the elements on screen (a yellow box should appear when you press tab).

Is flash player a requirement for your project or could you run an HTML5 publish locally? HTML5 will allow you to use Enter key as a trigger, although it is recommended to be run on a server, it is possible to launch it locally.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Richard, 

As Matthew said, HTML5 is not an option when choosing to publish for CD/local as that's relying and based on Flash player. You could as Matthew mentioned publish for web and choose HTML5 - and if you were looking to run the HTML5 specifically point to the story_html5.html output. If you're trying to place it locally you may encounter security restrictions as described here.

RICHARD POLK

Thanks for the input. I appreciate the help. I only seem to encounter this problem when doing CD/Local publish (which solves some other issues that crop up when publishing for the web and running locally).

Is there any plan to resolve this issue with CD/Local publish? This and other forum posts about it go back pretty far.

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.