Triggers not working

Apr 15, 2022

Kristen Bjork
By Kristen Bjork

Hi all, I have an issue with triggers. I want to show a series of annotations to a video as the video progresses, however I want the user to be able to turn the annotations on and off. I thought it would be pretty simple--have the annotations hidden when the user selected the "off" state and have them normal in the "on" state. Unfortunately, I found that changing the state of the annotations to normal resulted in them appearing even if they were not supposed to appear based on their position on the timeline (weird). So, I created cuepoints for the beginning and end of each annotation and a true/false variable to say whether or not the annotation should appear.  I set up a conditional that was based on whether state of the "annotations" checkmark was normal and the caption's variable was true and thought that would work, but it just doesn't. The captions do not appear even though the state of the checkmark is normal and the variable that indicates the time window is true. Help! 

3 Replies
Walt Hamilton
2 years ago04/15/22 at 8:33 pm (UTC)

You said:

I found that changing the state of the annotations to normal resulted in them appearing even if they were not supposed to appear based on their position on the timeline (weird).

Objects that appear later in the timeline are actually on the slide from the beginning; they just are set to Hidden state. So when you change their state they show up, regardless of what the timeline says.

Check the attached sample, where I simplified some.

1. I put the checkmark in the selected state of the Show annotations rectangle. That way, the built-in superpower of Selected state shows the check when clicked, and hides it on the next click. It works the same as toggling a T/F variable, but without the need for a trigger.

2. I created triggers to show the annotations "when timeline reaches". It's just a personal thing, but I find it easier to get an exact time typing rather than dragging a cue point. Besides, I create one trigger, and don't have to create and place a cue point. Understand, there are times when cur points are not only valuable, but irreplaceable, but when you have only one object depending on them isn't it.

3. I connected the triggers for the annotations to clicking the rectangle, but they would work just as well connected to the variable change.  I changed the name of the variable as a matter of personal preference, to make it easier for me to track what the variable means, and what is going on.

4. I moved the annotations from a layer to the base to avoid having to fiddle with the layer and its visibility.

5. I added triggers that show/hide the annotations when the rectangle is clicked during the time they should be showing.

6. I didn't write any triggers to hide the Corrects annotation because it ends when the timeline ends. If there are things that go on after this section of video ends, you need to create those triggers. Just copy them from the ones that end sweetie.

Any questions, just ask.

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