Review variable values in preview mode so that you can monitor trigger impacts
Apr 27, 2019
There might be a way to do this already so if anybody knows please tell me!
I have found when I am trying to find and fix issues with variable settings in storyline it is time consuming switching between preview and design in a trial and error type method. Especially when there are multiple variables in use in a project that have a complicated set of triggers.
It would be really useful if there was a panel option in the preview that displayed the name and values of the variables so that as you tested: triggers that adjust variable values; or objects dependencies to variable values you could see all triggers at work in preview to understand what is working correctly and what is causing objects or slide layers to not behave as intended.
It would also be great if you could edit triggers from the variables window > use count view. This would mean all triggers in one place that call out variables could be edited at once without having to go between every slide where the trigger is stored.
4 Replies
Hi Alex! Thank you for sharing your ideas. I'm going to create a feature request for your thought about editing variable triggers from the Use Count window.
When I'm testing variables, I like to have text references to those variables so that I can watch them change during Preview. Here's some information about getting references set up. If you need that view on every slide, it might be helpful to add it to slide master layouts during your testing phase. Let me know if that helps!
Hi Crystal,
Thanks for raising the feature request for the use count editor - being able to edit the variable settings from this panel will be super helpful if it gets legs :D
In regards to the text references to see the variable values, I had been doing just as you suggest but I recently started developing a course with a large amount of 'gamification' which has lead to having a tonne of variables :| if they were all text references I wouldn't have any canvas space left for the content and if the text references are off canvas they don't show up in the preview (which I still tried anyway #DesperateTimes)
My logic was that if you could monitor all variable values in a variable panel/window whilst previewing then you could see the triggers in action to flush out any missing or flawed trigger logic regardless of the number of variables allowing you to make note of the trigger issues in a single preview and then go back and correct them all. The variables panel wouldn't be part of the player content but a tool feature that appears with the preview controls. This way, regardless of how many variables the course contained, content developers had a go to place for monitoring them all during testing without the need to add and remove text references and potentially mistakenly removing content.
This means faster development from less time spent pre-release testing and post-release error trapping :)
I would put a slide master layer that is activated by CTRL+D with references to all my used variables.
A debug screen would be great until we get one this is what I use.
Good shout! I'll use that for time being. I still crave a debug screen mind :P
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