some base layer objects don't show after hiding layer

Sep 27, 2012

I have a slide that has 3 buttons on it. Each button opens a layer. Each layer has a 'close' button that hides the layer (via trigger). The base layer objects are hidden on the layers. The problem is that the 3 buttons on the base layer don't display when the layer closes.  Example: Start on the base layer, which has 3 buttons. I click on button 1 to show layer 1. I click on 'close' to hide the layer. I'm return to the base layer but only button 1 is showing.  This has worked in the past. Has anything changed with Storyline that I'm missing?

Thanks!

50 Replies
deb creghan

Mike - THat workaround works, but I'd like to know when it changed.  I have a course that I published in July that works fine. What update changed it? And does this mean I can't use the checkmark shape any longer?

Also, I noticed that there are several pixels being cutoff from the top and bottom of my slides now. I'm uploading snaps of before and after. This must have changed with an update too. I have to go through every slide in my course and make adjustments so it appears correctly when I publish - which is quite time consuming.

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Thanks for all the posts and hard work here. I have had some weird things happen with buttons and states, especially when creating a new custom state. Reading through all this helps. Am I correct that a couple things to watch out for with buttons are:

1. Use the default SL button sequence? I know I've run into a similar issue here.
per KT
Button: Normal, Hover, Down, Visited, Disabled.
Selectable Button (check box): Normal, Hover, Disabled, Selected

2. Don't customize the visited button with separate clip art? Use the Button Tools >Format buttons, Button Icons group?

Can someone confirm or refute? I know it will save me - and others - a LOT of time in the future.

Angela Forero

Hi all, I read your postings since I am having a similar issue with my presentation, but instead of buttons and objects it has to do with animations. Seems simple, but I am not sure if it is that I am missing a step or something here. 

My base layer has some text animated, it looks good; then I go to my second layer which has animated text as well. When I preview the whole thing, I can see everything in my base layer working fine then it goes to the second layer but of course I can seee everything from base layer. So I go back to slide properties to layer 2 and hide base layer. 

I preview again, but this time the animated text in base layer doesn't show up >:O; it triggers layer 2 after timeline ends, and everything looks good and base layer doesnt show up this time.

So basically the problem is that if I hide the base layer, the animations I have in that layer don't show up!  

Thanks.  

Angela Forero

Mike, maybe here you can see a version of my presentation, but this is the published file. The slide I am talking about is: 1.5. Methods for Global Systems...

http://tempshare.storyline.articulate.com/p17a4logjo1rivlk0o7q44a15t4/story.html (In this example, the base layer is not hidden in the second layer. That is why you can still see the base layer content)

So like I said before, if I hide the base layer on the second layer, then the animated text you see appearing on the base layer, won't appear at all. Just the animations. 

Angela Forero

Mike, I tried again to attach my file but I keep getting the same error, however I think I made a discovery. 

This is what I have in my slide:

base layer: text that appears with animation "Grow" (by first level paragraph) (since I want to make each line of text appear one by one)

layer 2: text and images that appear after timeline of base layer is over. 

Problem: after choosing the option "hide objects on base layer" in layer 2 slide layer properties, the animations from base layer dont appear when previewing. Layer 2 looks fine. 

Something I found:

If I change the animation option from "By first level paragraph" to "All at once" on my base layer, then my base layer animations appear, and the base layer objects are hidden while layer two is playing. 

However, I need to animate line by line of my text (instead of using a separate text box for each line), reason why I was using the "By first level paragraph" option.

Question: Is this a glitch of the program? or Am I missing something here?

Angela Forero

I got a response from the Articulate Customer Support Engineer about the issue I had with the animations on the Base layer. This is what he answered: 

Hi Angela, Thanks for contacting ArticulateSupport and for uploading your file for testing. I just found out that this is a bug that hasbeen submitted to our Quality Assurance Team already. It happens if you use "By First LevelParagraph" in your text animation. A workaround that I could think of is to use anobject or a shape in particular to block the text from showing up in the layer. We'll see if this will be fixed in a futureupdate. I'll email you if there's any update from our Quality Assurance Teamregarding this issue.

Regards, 

Jonathan Reque
Customer Support Engineer
Articulate Support - 
http://www.articulate.com/support/

Peter Zaidel

Adrian,

The file you were working with was just a test file.  We're seeing this problem across all of our courses.  The latest workaround we've been using is to create a  "Base Layer" that has nothing on it with a trigger to put the learner on a secondary layer when timeline starts.   This allows us to hide objects as needed on any subsequent layers without worry that they won't reappear.  

Peter Zaidel

Adrian,

I can send you some files, but I'm not sure they'd be helpful.  We've moved on with the workaround across hundreds of slides and multiple courses and will continue to hack it together until there is an update with a working fix.   That's why I created the proof of concept project that shows the problem.  Was that not sufficient to show what's going on?  What are you looking for in another example that wasn't demonstrated in the simple one?  

My thought is if we can reproduce the issue with the least number of elements and confounding factors you get  an ideal example.  Once you start throwing in multiple layers and countless triggers, it just muddies the issue.   Thank you for the offer to look at another project, but we'd just have to re-create it for you manually to show the problem, unless you're getting some incremental value from looking at multiple examples....

Tonia Skantzouri

Hi,

I came across this post while searching for the same issue.

When I hide the base layer all objects disappear, including the buttons and layout.

I tried copying the buttons and layout to the other layers, which worked fine, however I am experiencing other problems. When I click on the buttons once they work fine, but when I click on them again, to go back or just view them again, they get mixed up or they don't work.

Also, I can't go back to the base layer, it seems that I can't create a trigger connecting a button to it.

Any ideas for solving this issue?

Thanks.

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