Next button doesn't work after Previous button used

Sep 26, 2018

Hello everyone,

I've published several Storyline360 courses using SCORM 1.2, and I'm noticing a similar bug in many of my courses, though I can't figure out what's causing it.  

When I go through my course straight through, everything functions properly.  But then, if I use the Previous button to return to a previous slide, the next button doesn't return.  See short screencast HERE.

Can anyone tell me what is causing this, and how to fix it?

Thanks!

19 Replies
Tara Laughlin

Hi Tom, thanks for the reply.  I do have a trigger to hide the next button when the slide starts and to appear after the final object is visited.  It's there in response to some client feedback on not wanting learners to just click-click-click through the pages.  

Is that trigger what's causing this to happen?  How can I make it so that once the learner has triggered the next button the first go-round, even if they go back to a page, the next button is just there from then on?

Thanks!

Tom Kuhlmann

You can create a T/F variable for each slide that tracks if the slide was viewed. Then on the trigger for the next button it would be something like:

Change state of next button to hidden when timeline of slide starts on condition that slide1var = F.

If the variable is T, then the next button wouldn't change states.

Mary T. Collins

I'm having this same issue, and I can't find a solution that works. I've attached the problem slides here and I'm hoping someone can help! When I hit the next button on the first slide, then the previous button, the next button on slide 1 is permanently disabled. Thanks!

Lauren Connelly

Hello Mary!

Thank you for sharing your project! Here are 2 changes I've made:

  • Added a variable called, Revisit, which is set to True when the user clicks the Previous button on the second slide.
  • Added a trigger to change the state of the Next button when both Ovals are visited; if the Revisit variable is equal is False.

I was hoping you could take a look at the project and let me know what you think!

Lance  Lynch

Hi Lauren!  This is very helpful, as I have the same issue.  Thank you for responding, however, I don't have a "revisited" option to choose from when I try to duplicate what you did.  And I can't get a screen shot because the drop down menu vanishes when I try the snipping tool and my printscreen collects all 3 of my monitors, blurring the drop down menu.  Also, Alt printscreen cuts off the dropdown box altogether.  Under Project, my only option is "Completed" under built in, my only options are: "Player: accessible text", "Player: display captions" and "Player: zoom to fit".  Do you happen to know how I can get all of the options that you have?  Thank you for any help you can give.

Becca Levan

Welcome to E-Learning Heroes, Lance! ⭐️

I appreciate you walking me through what you see! It sounds like you're trying to replicate the Revisit variable Lauren created in her revised file into your project. Happy to help here!

You'll need to add a variable:

Let me know if this is what you had in mind! You can also share a Peek recording with us if needed 😊

Lance  Lynch

Hi Becca!  Thank you.  That's very helpful.  I have everything figured out BUT....it only works for 1 slide.  I have 5 interactive slides that are all button oriented.  What I need is for the next button to be disabled until the user clicks all buttons and then become available afterward.  Then on the next slide, the user needs to be able to click "previous" and not have to do any of the interactivity again, and have the next button be ready to advance once again whenever they're done doing whatever they wanted to do again on the interactive slide (or not).  I have this figured out on one of my slides.  It works perfectly with the triggers listed in the image below.  I entered these exact triggers in the exact order and went over it over several days with a fine tooth comb to be certain they're identical and the other 4 behave differently.  The next button isn't even disabled.  I'm at my wits end with this one.

Maria Costa-Stienstra

Hi, Lance. 

Thank you for sharing your screenshot with your triggers! If you can share the .story file here, I'm happy to take a look and test for you, but in the meantime, here's what I noticed:

  • Your slide triggers are canceling each other. The first one has no conditions attached, so it's telling Storyline to disable the button as soon as the timeline starts. You also have two triggers that change it to Normal when the variable is False and when the variable is True. 
  • You are using layers, not slides, so the timeline will not re-start (causing the triggers mentioned above not to work as expected, even if the conditions are correctly set). 
  • The button's visited state is built-in, so you don't need to add a trigger to call it. As soon as the button is clicked, the visited state will be automatically triggered.

Let me know if this helps or if you'd like us to take a look at your project.

Lance  Lynch

Thank you again Becca and Maria.  Maria, that was very helpful.  I have also found that each interactive slide needs it's own variables with their own names.  For example if you're using NextButton, the first slide would be NextButton, then the next interactive slide should be NextButton1, the next NextButton2, etc. otherwise only the first slide will behave how you want and not the subsequent slides.  It's working famously now.  Thank you so very much again for your time, i appreciate you!

Stephanie Kulferst

Hi,

I am having similar issues to the above people but in Storyline 3. I have tried the above solutions with limited success. I think the issue is around the layers. I have lots of slides where when the previous button is pushed and it takes you back to slide with layers the next button then does not work. I tried added the variable but that causes the next button to not work at all. I think I am just missing something small but I can't figure it out. I have a large project with lots of scenes and it happening on all of them.  I have attached one of the scenes here to see if anyone can see what I am doing wrong. I suspect I am a bit confused about how the variables work. 

Maria Costa-Stienstra

Hi, Stephanie.

Thank you for sharing your .story file!

I noticed a few of your slides were set to advance automatically:

Windows 10 (1) 2022-05-27 at 9.47.05 AM

Changing them to By user should work as expected.

I also suggest adding this trigger to the slides that disable the Next button when the timeline starts:

Windows 10 (1) 2022-05-27 at 9.51.54 AM

This will allow the user to move back into that slide and still access the Next button.

I hope this helps!

Stephanie Kulferst

Hi again,

I am struggling to get the next button to work correctly on this Infection control section now. It seems to work ok for me if I go through the section exactly as intended but the moment do click slightly differently the next button will no work. This issue is mainly on the slide 1.5 (the one with the big stop sign). My testers are struggling to get past this page and I can't seem to figure out what the issue is. I am wondering if it is a revisiting issue? It seems to work fine if you go through and don't accidentally or purposely revisit any of the pages but as soon as you do the next button won't activate. I tried adding a revisit variable but that didn't seem to help. I have attached the story file here for you. 

Also on a related note you will notice I was only able to get the previous button to work on slides not connected to a quiz. As soon as it hits a quiz a previous button will not function properly so I ended up just putting the previous buttons around the quizzes which works but it's ideal.   

Any help is greatly appreciated!  

Best,

Stephanie

Maria Costa-Stienstra

Hi, Stephanie.

Thank you for sharing your .story file!

On slide 1.5, you want the Next button to become active only when all the layers and sub-layers are visited. The way you set up the trigger will only work if the last layer visited does not have sub-layers:

  • Change the state of Next to normal when all the layers are visited IF all the sub-layers are visited.
    • If not all sub-layers are in that state when the last layer is visited, the trigger won't execute. 

The alternative is to use a custom state to check, instead of Visited. You have two options:

Option 1: Create a state (let's call it FullyVisited) for all your buttons on the base layer and the buttons on the other layers.

Windows 10 (1) 2022-06-15 at 10.17.05 AM 

  • Add triggers on your base layer to change the state of the button to FullyVisited when the three layers that don't contain sub-layers are called.
  • On the three sub-layers, add the trigger to change the state of those related rectangles to FullyVisited when the timeline starts on the layer.

Windows 10 (1) 2022-06-15 at 10.18.39 AM

  • On the base layer, change the state of the Next button to Normal when all the rectangles are in the FullyVisited state.

Option 2: Create a FullyVisited state only for those three rectangles connected to layers that have sub-layers.

  • Create two triggers to change the Next button to normal: one where three rectangles are visited if the three others are FullyVisited. Another one where the three rectangles are FullyVisited if the other three are Visited.

Windows 10 (1) 2022-06-15 at 10.17.55 AM

  • On the three sub-layers, add the trigger to change the state of those related rectangles to FullyVisited when the timeline starts on the layer.

I'm attaching an edited version of your file with the second option above. 

I hope this helps!