PreSales questions
May 10, 2012
We are considering using Storyline for an upcoming project and have the following questions about its capabilities. Please note that all of the questions pertain to both the web player and the iOS mobile player.
- Can text input fields be used to update fields in a database? If so, how? We would also want to retrieve contents from the database to re-populate fields upon returning to a page where fields have already been submitted.
- Can web services be used in a trigger? Primarily we'd want to use this for user tracking and data retrieval.
- Can the player controls (next, previous, global play/pause) but fully customized?
- Are there any hooks for adding our own custom progress marker? Something that shows percentage of completion.
- Can the size of objects be manipulated in a trigger? For example, we have several screens where video needs to play full-screen, and then shrink to a smaller size and move to a different position at a certain point on the timeline.
- Is creating a custom, possibly co-branded iOS player a possibility? Our client would prefer that their courses not mingle with other courses.
- Can users be authenticated prior to launching a course? Specifically, our client will require a subscription for all users. If the subscription isn't valid, users should not be able to view the course.
Thanks very much for your assistance!
3 Replies
Hi Chris
I can offer a few pointers ...
1. Text (and other variables) can be tracked throughout the course, e.g. ask learner for name on slide 1 and then show it on slide 10. Not sure how you'd send this data to an LMS or other system though.
2. Web services ... for user tracking and data retrieval? Why not just use an LMS?
3. How customised is "fully customised"?
4. I don't think there's anything native within SL for this. But you could build your own. it could even have, for example, have multiple states based on any variables etc.
5. You can define the size of the course window and pretty much play video at any size you want. Therefore yes, you can simply set the video size to whatever you want (on a given slide or layer) and call it by trigger or variable etc.
6. Not sure.
7. An LMS will do this for you. If you want to do so within the course, then you could have slide 1 ask the learner for a code - it will only progress if they enter the correct one. But that's going to mean sharing the same code with everyone. Hence an LMS (or a web form) will handle that for you.
HTH
Thanks for the reply. Regarding #2 & #7, the important feature is for tracking/authentication to happen in the iOS mobile player as well, and that's why we're talking about web services, because in that scenario the course won't be launched in an LMS.
RE: #3, we want to do something like the attached layout with custom next/back buttons, global replay, and global pause/play.
RE: #5, What we are currently doing in a Flash version of the courses is starting the page out with the video full screen. I see how this can be done in Storyline, but then, at a certain point--while the video continues to play--we shrink the size of the video and re-position it to make room for on-screen text. The important functionality is that the video shrinks to the new size/position smoothly (animation) while it continues to play. Is this something that can be done with layers as you describe?
Hi Chris,
I am pretty sure some other more experimented people will give you extra information but here is what I can tell you :
#3 - since you have full control on the size of the story/work area, you can make it bigger and add to it any control that you want. You will find trigger for almost anything like, "jump to", "play media", "pause media" etc.
#5 - if I had to do it, I would probably insert the video to the place and size that I want it in the second place. Then, I would add a zoom on the video for it to fill the screen. You place the zoom at the beginning of the slide so as soon as you get to it, it is zoomed. Then, you make it zoom out at the required moment directly by modifying the lenght of the zoom on the timeline.
Hope it helps. Don't hesitate if you have further questions.
Have a nice day!
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