I have a course which is working beautifully as an exe. I have a customised glossary with a button to view the glossary as a pdf. I have this pdf in the resources folder and have included the code which gives it a relative address to the document in the external resources folder.
This all sounds great. However the wheels fall of when publishing to the web. All of a sudden the relative address has become an absolute address to our server (even though the trigger still contains a relative address. I checked the external resources folder is still ther and still contains the pdf document. Unfortunately the link appears to be inside a swf file so that I cannot manually change it. What can I do?
Are you able to update the trigger or the url to the document? Are you adding this PDF as a resource within the slide or to the player itself? I'm unsure about the piece you mentioned where the link is in an swf file...if you have the original PDF, you could add it as a resource to the player tabs as described here. Or if you'd like to link just to the file on your slide you'll want to make sure you're following the steps here. Lastly, when testing your published web output, you'll want to test within the intended environment as testing it locally could cause elements of your content to fail or behave erratically.
I have already linked to the pdf which is stored in the "external resources" folder using the following format : story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx
Unfortunately when publishing to the web I notice the program is still looking for the document on our server instead of the realtive address described.
Everything works when publishing to an exe. The wheels fall of for this button when publishing to the web.
What I was referring to regarding swfs is it appears that the published page with the hyperlinks is inside a swf so that I cannot change the absolute reference which it is still looking for to a relative one (noting that the hyperlinked reference on the trigger is already a relative reference it justr is not working when published).
I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding your set up, but are you pointing to the document within the published output folder for when you published to CD when you mention the "story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx"? Where is the original PDF located? Are you able to relink it from the original location within the .story when publishing to web?
I don't want it to link to the original location, which is on our server, I want to link to a relative location that will move with the package. When I publish to web that is not happening. The address to the resource is an absolute address. The original pdf is on our server. I have included the file as a resource in the package, as pointed out by you. "if you have the original PDF, you could add it as a resource to the player tabs as described here. " That describes adding a trigger to a button with the following address attribute, "story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx". In my case the address is "story_content/external_files/Celestialglossary.pdf". Unfortunately the trigger entirely ignores this relative address and looks for the resource in its original location.
I really need this file to be embedded in the package and to work from the customised button.
I really need some kind of fix to this. Is there anyone who can help? I am wondering if it is actually a bug because I cannot see that I have done anything wrong.
Below I have included an image for the trigger associated with the "View as PDF" button. The file is called "Celestialglossary.pdf" and is available in the resources tab as well. For professionalism, continuity with client expectations from previous packages and client useability we really want this to be available with the click of our button. Like I have said previously it works fine as an exe so why the problem when we publish to web or LMS?
Sorry for the delay - we were off last Friday for the holiday.
I think I may have initially been confused by your publish to CD set up, and thought you were trying to link to that version in the file that you're now publishing for web or LMS. I apologize if that contributed to your confusion. It sounds like you are linking it correctly, but to know for certain I'd need to see your Storyline course and how it's set up - since resources added to the player aren't included as a part of the .story file, you'll need to follow the directions here to send it to me and then also if you could share the slide where you've set up the link so that I could look at both parts of this (you'll only be able to attach one file to a forum reply, so you can just do two replies - one with just a file).
Does the case of the linked file match exactly between the link and the file? If your web host or LMS is 'NIX / Apache, any difference in case would cause the file not to launch.
Thanks For the suggestion Steve. The file name is exact. I have looked many times with the hope of finding a mistake. Unfortunately I have not been able to find anything wrong.
The default Flash Player security settings will probably block the call. You can test by publishing to CD locally. The EXE will defeat the security block.
It works fine as an exe. If this is a part of the problem how do you get around the default settings? So what you are saying is that the web version can only be tested on a server?
No. The Flash player added a security feature several years ago that prevents the player from communicating with the browser when running locally. You can add local folders to a whitelist using the Flash player security manager or use a wrapper like the EXE to get around it. This feature doesn't prevent communication when run from a web host.
This affects all Flash content. Not just Articulate published outputs.
I am investigating the whitelisting of relevant folders. I am not sure if this is the issue or not because there is no warning at all. It just does nothing.
Steve: Thanks for the help Steve. That fixed it. The problem was with Flash. I was trying to fix a problem that was not a problem. Once it was on a web server there were just no issues.
Ashley: Thank you for your help and patience as well. I fully understand what you were trying to explain earlier. It just took me a while.
19 Replies
Hi Graham,
Are you able to update the trigger or the url to the document? Are you adding this PDF as a resource within the slide or to the player itself? I'm unsure about the piece you mentioned where the link is in an swf file...if you have the original PDF, you could add it as a resource to the player tabs as described here. Or if you'd like to link just to the file on your slide you'll want to make sure you're following the steps here. Lastly, when testing your published web output, you'll want to test within the intended environment as testing it locally could cause elements of your content to fail or behave erratically.
Hi Graham,
I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding your set up, but are you pointing to the document within the published output folder for when you published to CD when you mention the "story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx"? Where is the original PDF located? Are you able to relink it from the original location within the .story when publishing to web?
I don't want it to link to the original location, which is on our server, I want to link to a relative location that will move with the package. When I publish to web that is not happening. The address to the resource is an absolute address. The original pdf is on our server. I have included the file as a resource in the package, as pointed out by you. "if you have the original PDF, you could add it as a resource to the player tabs as described here. " That describes adding a trigger to a button with the following address attribute, "story_content/external_files/MyFile.xlsx". In my case the address is "story_content/external_files/Celestialglossary.pdf". Unfortunately the trigger entirely ignores this relative address and looks for the resource in its original location.
I really need this file to be embedded in the package and to work from the customised button.
I really need some kind of fix to this. Is there anyone who can help? I am wondering if it is actually a bug because I cannot see that I have done anything wrong.
Below I have included an image for the trigger associated with the "View as PDF" button. The file is called "Celestialglossary.pdf" and is available in the resources tab as well. For professionalism, continuity with client expectations from previous packages and client useability we really want this to be available with the click of our button. Like I have said previously it works fine as an exe so why the problem when we publish to web or LMS?
Hi Graham,
Sorry for the delay - we were off last Friday for the holiday.
I think I may have initially been confused by your publish to CD set up, and thought you were trying to link to that version in the file that you're now publishing for web or LMS. I apologize if that contributed to your confusion. It sounds like you are linking it correctly, but to know for certain I'd need to see your Storyline course and how it's set up - since resources added to the player aren't included as a part of the .story file, you'll need to follow the directions here to send it to me and then also if you could share the slide where you've set up the link so that I could look at both parts of this (you'll only be able to attach one file to a forum reply, so you can just do two replies - one with just a file).
I don't want to post my course here. Can I email it to you personally? The file will be around 50 MB. Is that alright for your email?
Hi Graham,
Does the case of the linked file match exactly between the link and the file? If your web host or LMS is 'NIX / Apache, any difference in case would cause the file not to launch.
Hi Graham,
I'll send you directions on how to send your .story file along to me.
Thanks For the suggestion Steve. The file name is exact. I have looked many times with the hope of finding a mistake. Unfortunately I have not been able to find anything wrong.
The default Flash Player security settings will probably block the call. You can test by publishing to CD locally. The EXE will defeat the security block.
It works fine as an exe. If this is a part of the problem how do you get around the default settings? So what you are saying is that the web version can only be tested on a server?
No. The Flash player added a security feature several years ago that prevents the player from communicating with the browser when running locally. You can add local folders to a whitelist using the Flash player security manager or use a wrapper like the EXE to get around it. This feature doesn't prevent communication when run from a web host.
This affects all Flash content. Not just Articulate published outputs.
Thanks Steve,
I am investigating the whitelisting of relevant folders. I am not sure if this is the issue or not because there is no warning at all. It just does nothing.
Nope. You won't get a warning. It fails silently.
You can verify by adding a javascript trigger to alert("hello"); That'll fail silently too. Should work fine from web host.
Steve: Thanks for the help Steve. That fixed it. The problem was with Flash. I was trying to fix a problem that was not a problem. Once it was on a web server there were just no issues.
Ashley: Thank you for your help and patience as well. I fully understand what you were trying to explain earlier. It just took me a while.
Hi Graham,
Glad we were able to assist and if you need anything else just let us know!
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