Link to URL/File
Jul 09, 2012
By
David Demyan
I am attempting to link 9 lessons together on a website. The website developer told me they were using relative pathing and would like me to create action links from the end of Lesson 1, for example, to /Pages/TrainingVideos/Lesson2/Lesson2.aspx. I put that code under the button in that format. The developer tells me the link is trying to go to /Pages/TrainingVideos/Lesson2/story_content/external_files/Lesson2.aspx instead. What am I doing wrong? Does Storyline always look for content in /story_content/external for such links? Other than using a fully qualified path, can I fix this? (They REALLY do not want to use full paths.)
17 Replies
Greetings, David.
It looks like the topic of Absolute vs. Relative Paths has come up a few times in the community:
http://www.articulate.com/forums/articulate-presenter/15741-attachments-relative-links.html
http://www.articulate.com/forums/articulate-presenter/4820-inserting-flash-movie-absolute-path-problem.html
http://www.articulate.com/forums/articulate-engage/8793-relative-path-images.html
http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/1965.aspx
Although none of these scenarios precisely match your own, the definitive resource seems to be here, where Jeanette tells us to enter the full URL (AKA Absolute Path).
For your sake, I hope someone else can prove me wrong on this. Good luck!
Thanks, Justin. It answered part of my question. It is apparent the relative URL, since it contains no "http://" as an opening string, is being interpreted as a reference to a file stored in story_content/external_files and thus the error. Perhaps if I write an HTML file with javascript in it to open the relative path on the target webserver in same window/tab, I can reference that HTML file name in the URL/File field and it may work. However, I have no idea how to write that script. Has anyone done this and can help?
Hello again, David.
I don't think any Javascript is necessary--you should be able to accomplish this with basic HTML. Let's say, for instance that you have an HTML file located at:
/story_content/external_files/Lesson2.htm
...and you want this file to redirect the user to:
/Pages/TrainingVideos/Lesson2/Lesson2.aspx
Per W3Schools, your HTML would look like the attached file.
Give it a try and let us know how it works. Good luck!
That looks good; I will try it. My only concern is the sample from W3Schools shows a fully qualified URL. I wonder what their server will do with a relative path URL instead....
Justin, the redirect HTML worked fine. The developer reported no problems now.
Thank you for an elegant workaround for establishing links using relative pathing.
Love it--so glad to hear this worked for you!
I am having a similar issue with Presenter. Justin, I tried to look at your link "sample_html.txt" but it says page not found. If possible could you let me know what you did? This is a major issue for us. I am in the process of testing Storyline as well, and the modules never load it just shows the loader spinning around.
Hi, Blake!
I'm still able to access the Sample HTML file via the link above, but I can certainly email it to you as well. If you'd like to email me, I can reply with the file. Thanks!
Thanks Justin... I got it. I used the example you sent, but now when the player.html file loads. It keeps refreshing instantly and never plays. I know this is a user error because I am in no way an expert with html. What I did was take the meta tag you sent and change the url to my url and it just keeps refreshing over and over. Any suggestions, would be appreciated.
I'm not entirely certain that my solution applies to your situation, Blake.
Do you have multiple stories that you are linking together? What are the URLs of two stories that you are attempting to link, for example? What is the URL Path that you are using in your Action link?
Thanks!
Hi guys
I am having the same problem, but linking local files.
Currently i have a course that opened up a PowerPoint PPT file, when a user clicks a button. These are for mini testing on a click pad system. the whole system is stored localy and i have structured it so each test is seperate and i have added the link to the file to the open url/filepath option:
X:\\meh\meh\\meh\\ClikaPad Test\\Food Safety Level 2\\Lesson 3 mini quiz\\Test.pptx
When i build this as an LMS or web course it then changes the path to:
x:\Meh\Meh\Meh\ClikaPad Test\Food Safety Level 2\story_content\external_files
Also note that as a web course, the files will not open, unless you use the html_5 file.
Is there anyway to change the Path AFTER building the file?
Good Morning, Keith.
Here is a Forum Thread that discusses a similar question. In summary:
Please let us know if you need anything else. Thanks!
I'm having an issue linking to a File Path. Here is the situation:
We have an html file (index.html) that is setup like a portfolio that links to several storyline published files. At the end of each storyline published file, I have an exit button that I want to redirect back to the "index.html" file but the "Jump to URL/File" doesn't work. The path I use is "\b-displayrm-dt7\displayroom\index.html"
All files are one one PC and just need to be used locally and no internet. I hate to sound like a newb but I've researched several fixes and tried them to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.
Good Morning Kelly, and welcome to Heroes!
Can you please share your .story project file with us so that we can take a closer look at the problem? Thanks!
I have a document that is 14 pages but want to make sure once the user has scrolled to the bottom of the doc. they will have a check a box that confirm they had read it hopefully. Once the check box is checked the next button will appear allowing them to continue. I am not sure how to handle the the multiple page document. If i use a web object I can not place a check box into my scrolling panel. What is the best way to handle??
Hi Paula,
There isn't a method built into Storyline to track if the user has scrolled to the bottom of a PDF or web object. Hopefully someone in the community will be able to weigh in here and share some ideas with you.
Paula your best bet is to save the PDF into a web-friendly format, either straight HTML or using responsive CSS to adapt it to the device where it will be viewed. That will allow you to use javascript to determine when they have reached the bottom of the page. Something like this would do:
$(window).scroll(function(){
if ($(window).scrollTop() == $(document).height()-$(window).height()){
alert("We're at the bottom of the page!!");
}
});
Instead of the alert, you can set a variable that notifies Storyline that the person has reached the bottom of the page. For a most robust solution, you can disable moving away from the slide until the person actually selects the check box. My favorite, however, is having a keyword in the middle of the document that must be typed into an input box: "Type this word inside the box at the end of the document: agree" If the person does not read the text, he or she won't be able to move past that slide.
I hope that helps.
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