State and variable changes don't save when resumed
Oct 30, 2013
We have found that courses that include states and variable changes don't save when a course is exited and resumed. The attached Story file includes a very basic example of a course that includes a state change in buttons on the second page of the course. The first page includes a variable that is modified based on state changes on the second page. If the second page is completed so the user returns to the first page, and then the course is exited, the state changes stick. However, if the user only completes part of the state changes on the second page before the course is exited, if the course is resumed, the state changes are not remembered, even if the page is set to resume saved changes. The same situation occurs if variables are used instead of state changes.
This is very problematic in pages that include many tasks resulting in state or variable changes that must be completed before the user completes an overall task. In the attached example, the first page links users to a second page in which the user must view two layers. Once both layers are viewed, the associated true/false variables are changed, which result in the main button on the first change moving to a state of completed. If only one layer is viewed on the second page and the course is exited, upon resume, the work completed during the first attempt are not saved. This action was tested on our LMS.
Is there any way to get the variable and state changes to be written to the LMS so they can be resumed on subsequent course sessions?
18 Replies
Hi Lu,
Not sure if this will work for variables or not (haven't tested it yet!), but you may want to give it a whirl to see if it'll meet your needs:
http://www.articulate.com/blog/save-states-slide-upon-resume-storyline/
Would love to hear if it works!
Mike
This is brilliant and I am very thankful to you and Kate Hoelscher!
It worked beautifully!
Thanks Lu for the update and I'm glad Mike was able to help you out here!
I have a very similar solution to this using a lightboxed slide, which contains a progress bar showing that the course progress was saved.
The functionality I'd like to have would work something like this:
1. Use click "Save and Exit" button on slide
2. Lightbox opens, showing "Saving..." animation, then course closes.
3. Upon resume, user is taken to the slide from which they clicked "Save and Exit" and all variables are restored to their previous state.
I can't quite make this work the way I would like though, as my course resumes to the lightboxed slide. Any ideas on this? This may not be clear to those that haven't experienced this specific issue, so I can post a sample story file next week to illustrate if needed.
Mike, I am not sure infusing a lightbox slide will save the course, it is the jump to another slide that would save the previous slide and variable actions. Kate's example is the best method, number three would be difficult I would use a variable but think that would create a loop that subsequently opening the course would close automatically after it opened.
Hey Phil -
This definitely works:) When the new slide loads in the lightbox, it triggers the variable and state save for the current slide. Eliminates the need to gyrate through slide restore logic. Since the lightbox won't open when the course is reopened, it restores right back to the slide where they left off.
Thanks Steve good to know, I really didn't think that would work.
Hi Mike,
If you're having a difficult time setting this up, it seems like Steve is aware of a method that works so it may be worth sharing your file so that we can take a look and offer some suggestions based on your file itself.
Thanks all. I'm going to do some testing now and will reply back.
I gave up trying to "Save and Exit" in one step, as this just wasn't working. Now when my users click "Save and Exit", they are taken to a slide with a message that reads "Your course progress has been saved." and they are presented with both Resume and Exit buttons, just as in the sample at the beginning of this thread. This is the same slide they see when resuming the course. This has worked well so far in testing, and returning the values of my saved variables. Thanks for everyone's input on this.
I'm going to make a feature request to have variables saved during an "Exit Course" operation, if possible, rather than only when a slide changes.
Hi Mike,
If it's different than the set up here shared earlier above, I'd love to see your working example and mock up. It's always good to have more examples of how to accomplish something like this.
I edited my previous reply to state that it is the same or very similar to the solution above. Thanks!
I am trying the original method of jumping to a 'save progress' slide, but it's not quite working.
My story has 1 slide with 17 objects that change state to visited when clicked. I found that the state wasn't saving when the course was exited and resumed, so I created a new slide, 'save progress' as mentioned above.
When I tested it, I thought it worked. I opened the course, clicked 2 of my objects, then saved and closed. When I resumed the course, the state of the 2 objects was visited, and I thought all was good!
The trouble is continuing on and clicking a few more of the objects and trying to save again. When I save my new progress, exit and resume the course, the course resumes from the first save point, with only the first 2 objects being visited, not the new save point.
Any ideas?
Hi Jen,
Are you able to share a copy of your .story file here so that we could take a look at the set up? It's typically something with trigger order or slide properties - so if you're unable to share you may want to investigate those two areas first.
Hi Ashley,
It would be great if you could take a look at the file and recommend a solution. Thanks for your help!
Thanks Jen for sharing your file here - I'll take a look and see if I spot anything off or unusual that could be causing your problems.
Hi Jen,
I took a look at your file and everything seemed to be in order - although a bit different than the "save progress" set up previously mentioned. It did seem to work for me though - I chose two of the videos (which won't work as I can't use the links to your internal site - but the states changed/saved) and then I choose to save the progress and close out of the course. When I closed the browser window and reopened it in Chrome I resumed to that slide and saw the states still in Red. Test link for course is available there if you'd like to try it as well ( I published for web and used Tempshare.articulate.com as I wasn't sure where you were hosting it).
Let me know if you experience something different or if I'm missing something.
Hi Ashley,
Thank you for testing. When I open the course, open two videos, save progress, close the course, re-launch course, the progress is saved and works up to this point (and it sounds like this worked for you as well). It's after I've re-opened the course and resume by clicking on the next two videos, choosing to save progress, close and resume from a second saved point that when I reopen the course for the third time it returns me to my first saved point of just videos one and two having their state as visited, videos 3 and 4 don't show the visited state, they return to their initial state.
I took a look at your file and everything seemed to be in order - although a bit different than the "save progress" set up previously mentioned. It did seem to work for me though - I chose two of the videos (which won't work as I can't use the links to your internal site - but the states changed/saved) and then I choose to save the progress and close out of the course. When I closed the browser window and reopened it in Chrome I resumed to that slide and saw the states still in Red. Test link for course<http://s3.amazonaws.com/tempshare-stage.storyline.articulate.com/sto
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