Triggers, states and variables

Dec 02, 2015

I am trying to build a process view that has 8 different steps.  I have set the initial state of each step to 'Hidden'.

I want the user to click on an image called Salesperson to change each of the 8 steps to Normal, in order. 

I create the Trigger to Change State of Step 1 to Normal when user clicks on Image Salesperson.  (So that reveals step 1)

I then created a 2nd Trigger to Change State of Step 2 to Normal when user clicks on Image Salesperson - added variable Step 1 is equal to Normal.

And so on and so forth.  This does not work.

Is it because I am having the user click on a single image salesperson for all of the triggers? 

Mary Ward

 

 

23 Replies
Leslie McKerchie

Hi Mary! 

Sounds like that would work if there was a subsequent click on your salesperson, then each would reveal? Is it working like that?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'in order'? Do you not want them all to appear when the sales person is clicked once or am I missing a step? If you want them to appear one at a time, you could put the triggers on the buttons as well.

Step 2 to Normal when Step 1 is clicked, etc.

Brian Allen

Hello Walt,

In some situations I would agree with you, however in this situation the problem ended up being that the same button/image needs to be clicked several different times to change the state of various different items on the slide.

To make this work with just one button you have to get a little more sophisticated and go with a good ol variable that increments each time the button is pressed.

Walt Hamilton

Normally, I would agree that variables are the only reliable method.

However, in this case, no.

Take Cary's ForMary.story and on the first slide give each button a NewState.  Go through the triggers, and change every Normal to NewState. When you preview it, one click, and they all change state. BUT if you go in and reverse the order of the triggers, it works just as well as the one with variables.

In real life, variables might be a better choice if she has her user leave this slide.

 

Walt Hamilton

The second slide is the one.

The problem is that if you click 3 times on either slide, leave it and come back, none of the states persist.

When you revisit them, neither slide shows any of the objects because the initial state is hidden.

The difference is that the one without variables will reveal them again, while the one with won't.

I realize that in reality, unless all the clicks bring up layers, she will need the variables to reset her objects when the slide opens.

My point is still that the Normal state is not reliable in conditions. Slide 1 shows objects 1 and 3 when the character is clicked, but if you change the states without reordering the triggers, one click will reveal all 3. The difference is that Normal is not reliable in conditions.

Mary Ward

Thank you, Brian for your explanation.  I had only opened and previewed Cary's - didn't have a chance to review his method.  I need to review both and understand.

It is so amazing to have all you HERO's literally at my beck and call!  I so love Articulate!

BTW, The Chicago user's group is having our first meeting Saturday! 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

No worries Mary - we all do it and you can always come back to the thread to edit and update if need be. Just a reminder if you do respond via email, you can remove the signature from your email message so that it's not posted here and any attachments or images you include in the email reply also won't be posted to the forum thread. 

Walt Hamilton
Mary Ward

Should I use the ForMaryWH.story from Walt or use the ForMary.story from Cary?

 

Mary, It really depends on what you want to happen after the user clicks the character.

If they stay on the same slide and just see new layers, mine will work well. If they go to other slides, use Cary's. I'm like Brian, personally I prefer variables because they give more control and very precise control.

On the other hand, using states may be less work. To create them, click Edit States, New State, Type name, click End editing states, and you are done. Use Format painter to copy the new state to the other objects,. Go through the triggers, click on Normal in each trigger and change it to NewState.

If you are going to use this concept on several different slide in the presentation, you can duplicate the states slide and be OK, but if you duplicate the variables slide, you will have to create new variables.

Truthfully, I created my version more to show why using Normal in a condition is a bad idea.

Mary Ward

To Walt:

They do go to other slides, I used Cary's and everything worked great. 

......If I'd just stuck to the original 8 steps.  But several of the steps had some additional information I wanted the user to view.

So, I made 'game cards' with the additional information.  Which meant I had to add an icon to the steps with more info, hot spot the icon to reveal each card..... 

The user would have been entirely confused between clicking the Salesperson Character to reveal the step, then clicking the icon for the card, then, oh yea, click the Sales Character again....

That's what happens when you get in your own way.  On the good side, I learned many new methods for future use.

Oh, and I agree Normal is not to be trusted.......In Storyline as well as people in general.

Thanks again!

 

 

 

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