Struggling with variable usage in multiple layers

Mar 15, 2014

Greetings,

I have a defined set of variables.  They all perform perfectly on one slide layer but not on the next.  My questions:  Do variables have to be reset to default value for each slide layer?  Or do variable values start  at default for each slide and or layer?  Thanks 

Chris

3 Replies
Christopher Davies

Tom,

Here is a zip of the portion I was struggling with.  I got it to work, but it was a struggle.  Will help to run a few times to put it into context.

Here are my issues:

First, I tried in vain to figure out a way to prevent activation of my NOPTC engaged message with only one brake application, so I basically had to set it to activate it at greater than or equal to 2 and then tell the user to use the first activation to simulate a running air test.  Not very elegant but works good enough I suppose.

 I would like to allow multiple uses before the simulated motion stops, but I'm hoping the user won't hit the brakes again until they see the track obstruction. 

The bigger issue came up when I wanted to show the "Running Test Successful Message" only after the first use of the brake stand.  It worked fine in layer 6.27 Train Engine but didn't work in 6.27 Rail Car and Mow.  I finally figured out that I needed to reset the variables ahead of the trigger.  I'm struggling with when and how layer triggers get activated (in what sequence)in a layer trigger and whether or not variables reset to default in each layer or do they carry their last value. 

Layer trigger that wouldn't work in 6.27 Rail Car and Mow layer:

Change state of Caption 5 "Running test successful" to Normal when usedbrakes changes  if brakecount = o.

Began to work as intended when I moved reset brakecount to zero and set usedbrake at false to the top of the trigger list.

In a nutshell, I need to find out how previously used variables and copied triggers come into a new layer or slide.  Are the variables at default and do the layer triggers activate sequentially?  Thanks

Chris

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Chris,

Variables will stay at the value you've set (say on the first slide or layer it appears) unless there is a trigger to reset or adjust them to another value. Triggers are also activated from a top down approach or when the element connected to the trigger is clicked, appears, etc. But for example, if you have a jump to slide trigger and an adjust variable trigger - the variable trigger would need to come first or else it would never happen, as you would have already jumped to a new slide. 

Here are the rules regarding the order in which all these triggers get executed when users view your published course:

  • If there are triggers on the master slide as well as the content slide, the master slide triggers get executed first.
  • If there are multiple triggers on the same object that are triggered by the same action (such as "on click"), the triggers get executed in the same order in which they appear in the Triggers panel in Storyline. (You can use the Up and Down arrows to adjust the order of triggers.)

To learn more about adding and managing triggers, please review this tutorial.

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