horizontal sequence drag and drop - is it possible?

May 11, 2012

Hello

Is it possible to have a horizontal sequence drag and drop question rather than the existing vertical sequence?

(I would like to drag a word into the correct place in a sentence, or reorder all the words in a sentence)

Hoping this is possible in Storyline!

thanks in advance

Nyree

11 Replies
n w

Hello Eric

Thanks for responding so quickly,

If I've understood you, this will produce a simple drag and drop ex where there is a correct position and the drop boxes remain static, but what I'm looking for is the functionality of the vertical sequencing question where the other items slide / shuffle according to where you drop your word.

can this be done?

here's a jQuery example of what I'm trying to do in Storyline

http://jqueryui.com/demos/sortable/#display-grid

Nyree

Jill McNair

Hi NW, 

Storyline is so versatile, there's yet another way to do this - by creating a freeform drag and drop question.  The method bwlow will be goods if you need to grade the students.

In a nutshell:

1. Start with a blank slide.  

2. Add all your elements to the slide

3. Under the Insert tab, click "Convert to Freeform" and select Drag and Drop.  This will open a window that will let you set the targets and draggable objects.  There's lots of options here - so be sure to check out the settings on the top and at the right.

I've made a really basic sample file for you.  You can add whatever you want to your slides.

Hope this helps!  

Jill  

n w

Hi Jill

Thanks for your help, unfortunately your example is still a simple drag and drop exercise

I'm looking for a sortable, horizontal set of items, which shuffle/ slide into the gap (as in the jQUery example I posted previously).

It seems that Storyline can only do this as a  vertical sequence drag and drop question type, not horizontally. Disappointing.

Thanks again for your help

Nyree

Phil Mayor

The answer to your question is above , there is no way to change the sequence drag and drop to horizontal.

It is possible to build a drag and drop interaction that does this, but it will not look like the sequence drag and drog.

Simple answer is no you cannot do a horizontal sequence drag and drop, but you could build similar using a freeform question.

Kevin Thorn

Hi Nyree,

I'm not sure I quite understand what you're wanting to build. The jQuery example is a random drag and drop grid where one drag item dropped on an existing drop target swaps the existing element occupying that target to the active drag element. If that's the exact interaction you're wanting to build, it is possible but would require extensive variables to evaluate not only each drag item's position but also evaluate that no drop target is left unoccupied.

I put together a quick custom drag and drop that shuffles a collection of words that form a sentence. The dotted outline drop targets (shapes) are in the correct sentence order.

Perhaps this is what  you're wanting to do? (attached)

n w

Hello Kevin

Thanks for your example, yes you are right its the 'swappable' functionality (I called it sort/ shuffle) that I'm after. I can recreate a drag and drop to a fixed place fairly easily, but I would like to be able to give a sentence with 1 or more missing words eg:

'This a horizontal drag and sentence'        Drag the word 'is'  and 'drop' to the correct places in the sentence

So, no clues or spaces given for the correct position of the words to be dragged, the words 'swap/ shuffle into place as in the JQUery example.

It seems to be too complex for Storyline at the moment, but maybe for future development?

Thanks again for taking the time to respond

Nyree

Kevin Thorn

Hi Nyree,

I'm still not sure it's a limitation of Storyline so much as it's more to do about logic.

I understand what you're wanting to do. "This a horizontal drag and sentence" has six (6) elements or drop targets. What you're wanting to do I believe is dynamically expand on those six drop targets to accommodate the missing words "is" and "drop" making it eight (8) elements. If that's the case, no, Storyline can't do that. The interaction logic needs one drag item per drop target.

Referring to the jQuery example, it too does not dynamically expand. The grid is three rows of four with each square occupied by a number ranging from 1-12. Meaning, each target (square) has an existing element. When a number is moved from its current position onto another, they swap positions.  I believe you can do this in Storyline but not using the default drag and drop interaction. You'd have to employ a number of variable to evaluate positioning of all the elements.

Unfortunately, i don't have time right now to build out a prototype. Perhaps someone else here can take on this challenge? Phil? Bruce?

Mel Ruth

Kevin Thorn said:

...........

Referring to the jQuery example, it too does not dynamically expand. The grid is three rows of four with each square occupied by a number ranging from 1-12. Meaning, each target (square) has an existing element. When a number is moved from its current position onto another, they swap positions.  I believe you can do this in Storyline but not using the default drag and drop interaction. You'd have to employ a number of variable to evaluate positioning of all the elements.

Unfortunately, i don't have time right now to build out a prototype. Perhaps someone else here can take on this challenge? Phil? Bruce?


Hi Kevin,

This is very similar to what I am trying to build - would you happen to have time now to build a prototype?  I am trying to get this to work on my own but I would appreciate if you could show me what you were thinking for this as, although I consider myself a pretty robust user of Storyline, you would have a much more in-depth knowledge than me!  Just a note, my usage does not necessarily require the elements to be horizontal but it would be fantastic if they were!

Thanks in advance!

Mel

Mel Ruth

Hi Kevin,

Thank you so much for the offer - I was thinking that you are Articulate staff and this would be part of your job!  I apologize - I'm sure you are busy!

I kind of need this figured out asap but I'm getting pretty deep into figuring out all of the variables - there are a few different workarounds that I've come up with after being inspired by Tim Hillier on another thread (http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/21075/116577.aspx#116577).  If I can get this functionality to work, I can use it in several different places in the courses that I'm building and I'm soooo close yet so far right now!  I figured out a way that I thought was perfect until I realized that each of the answers in the "Ranking Drag & Drop" don't actually count as separate elements, which is confusing because they do with any other interaction (where you can move around or resize each individual question in the "Multiple Choice" or other question types, you cannot do that with the Ranking Drag & Drop one).

I have to keep working on my builds, but if you want to try it, I'll send you a couple of slides I'm working on.  If this will work, I'm sure I'll have other opportunities to use this again.  Thanks!

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