Refresh Web Object

It seems like 4 years would have been enough time to get this issue resolved.

Has it been?

Hi Brek,

A web object is external to Storyline - so it's not something controlled from within the Storyline course. If you change what is included at the URL and it's still the same URL that Storyline is pointing to, the web object should be showing you the latest content. What may occur is a user sees a cached copy of it based on their browser not reloading the page - so they'd want to manually refresh, clear the cache or look at using a private/incognito window. Since all that behavior is controlled at the browser and individual user level you could look at providing directions to users at the start of your course for how to modify their browser behavior or use the cleared cache/private browsing options. 

Hope that helps clarify and feel free to let us know if you need anything else! 

Hi Ashley,

It would be great if this issue that the original author mentions is addressed as it is still occurring in the latest version of Storyline. I've seen a workaround in this discussion for the first issue (web object updates are not being published) but it seems a bit clunky.

I agree. All that is really needed is a "Refresh Web Object" option. SL would have to store the original file location so that it could go get the updated file when asked to do so.

Hey Ashley,

The 'Refresh Web Object' is a great idea, but it seems like an extra step that shouldn't be needed if web object files were being included during publishing and not at configuration.

I think links to web content are working fine.

The problem seems to occur in Storyline for web objects used with local files. It seems that web object content is added or cached at the time the web object is configured, and not at the time the course is published. Changes made after the web object is configured are not included when published afterwards.

Being able to use local files for web objects is very useful. There have been numerous occasions where we could have prevented republishing/reuploading course content by configuring local web objects that Storyline treats as a relative path rather than an absolute path.

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts. You can share ideas/suggestions with our development team here as well.

Not sure if the following will assist any of you:

Relative URLs aren't supported for web objects. Be sure to use full (absolute) URLs when adding web objects to your content. If you need to use relative URLs, see this article for a possible, though unsupported, workaround.

Hi Leslie,

Thanks for your response, I should have just gone straight to the
development team instead of reopening this issue but definitely think that
adding a Refresh Web Object for local files would be very useful so I've
submitted a request.

Thank you Jhuny :)

This is indeed the only way to do it. Very annoying. 

It would be good if web objects were included in the media library as all objects in the media library recognise if the source has changed and offers to update the content.

if I am linking local html files as web object into storyline - I would expect that files are LINKED.. and not copied into some temporary&renamed&whoknows where SL folder

I see two options:

- either make a "refresh web object" button

OR

- dont rename web objects in "story_content\WebObjects" folders.. that would leave me option of copying it from my source

Hi Sebastjan!

I can see how that would be aggravating. We appreciate your input! 

I'll make sure to share this with our development team! In the meantime, submitting a feature request also helps our developers understand the gravity of the issue.

original post was initially published 7 (seven!) years ago.. and you want me to submit a feature request?

good one ;)

I had this issue 2 years ago. I remember struggling to find a solution.

Amazing it's not been sorted out yet. Unbelievable.