Enter to Submit Removes an Attempt on Fill-in-the-blank

Aug 30, 2018

Lauren Corlett
By Lauren Corlett

I'm creating a Jeopardy style game and encountering an odd error with the enter to submit function on fill-in-the blank questions. (Storyline project attached)

I'm using graded fill-in-the-blank questions so I can type in common misspellings of the correct answers and allow users 3 attempts per question. I didn't set a submit key, but I know fill-in-the-blanks use enter automatically, which is fine for my purposes. The problem is that hitting enter (instead of clicking the custom submit button I created) seems to remove one of their attempts (i.e. users only get 2 tries to answer, not 3.)

I have a custom button on my try again slide, but it's only trigger is to hide that layer and play an audio clip (in that order). I don't understand why that would affect how many tries they get, especially because if users click the custom submit, they get the correct number of attempts.

I have tried setting enter as the submit key and my custom button as the submit key, but neither of those change anything.

Like I said, I don't mind them hitting enter to submit, but if there is a solution that removes this function, that would be even better.

Thanks!

9 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
over 5 years ago08/31/18 at 3:21 pm (UTC)

Hi Lauren

If the data-entry field is on a question slide, pressing the Enter key on the keyboard will submit the learner's response for evaluation. In other words, pressing the Enter key is like clicking the Submit button. This applies to the following question types with data-entry fields:

  • Graded—Fill in the Blank
  • Graded—Numeric
  • Survey—Short Answer
  • Survey—How Many
  • Freeform—Text Entry

So this will be true even for your custom submit button. Once a learner has submitted an answer, that impacts the built-in attempts too. Is there a reason you're looking to track a custom attempt count? 

Lauren Corlett
over 5 years ago09/04/18 at 1:00 pm (UTC)

Hi Ashley,

Oops, I have a retraction to make in my first post: I meant the "try again" layer, not slide. I am not tracking a custom attempt count, I am only using a button on the screen to submit the interaction rather than the one built into the Storyline player.

The problem I was having was that if the user used the submit button they could try to answer the question three times, but if they clicked the enter button they could only answer the question twice. This problem seems to have resolved itself, but I am having a similar problem now.

When the user clicks enter to submit an incorrect answer, they see the "try again" layer, as expected. However, if they hit enter while the "try again" layer is showing it submits the question again and does not hide the try again layer. This is true even if I create a trigger that says: "hide this layer when user presses Enter".

Rory Lavender
over 4 years ago01/21/20 at 7:04 pm (UTC)

Hello everyone! This post is the closest I can find to my situation. Close, but not exactly the same.

I need help understanding Storyline's logic please. We record computer simulations that have text entries, which we import using Try mode. The default for number of attempts per question is unlimited, which we change to two.  We remove the Submit button and let the Enter key process the text entry evaluation for us. 

In most cases, the two tries give us a Try Again layer and an Incorrect layer as expected. Every now and then, including today, I have to bump the number of tries to 3 in order to get 2, otherwise my first wrong attempt jumps to the Incorrect layer, giving the student only one try. 

I've seen in other posts that say "Tip: Only graded questions can be attempted more than once." I don't think applies to me, but I thought I would mention. If I record a simulation and add a results slide, does this make my text entries "graded questions", or is this the logic I am not understanding?

We've been using the same process for developing interactions for years and I just can't figure out why today I have to bump my attempts to 3 to get 2. This has happened in the past, but so infrequently I couldn't find a pattern. I tried adding and removing the Enter key as a submit key in case that was being counted as a try, but it did not make a difference.

Thanks for any insight or correction you can offer.

Vincent Scoma
4 years ago01/24/20 at 5:09 pm (UTC)

Hi Rory,

How odd that the intended layers do not always show correctly. Thank you for including your file!  I tested your file and found that when I adjusted the attempts to 2, I saw the behavior you are expecting: 

  • The try again layer appeared on my first incorrect answer
  • The incorrect layered appeared on my second attempt/incorrect answer

I am attaching a screen recording here to show what I am seeing. When creating your course, are you working on your local hard drive? If not, working on a network drive or an external USB drive can cause erratic behavior, which might explain what you are experiencing here. 

Please let us know if you have any questions! We are happy to help! 

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