Downselector

Apr 21, 2016

Hi All,

We are trying to develop a 'Down selector' with storyline and was wondering has anyone done this before where they may be able to share some ideas or templates.

Basically we want users to be able to select from certain criteria and depending on what they select/turn on or off then different options or solutions will be appropriate.

The challenge that we have is the infinitive amount of permutations that could be possible to use layers or states.

It is simple if one choice is made then 1 layer or slide is shown. But if 2 options or 3 options are shown how do we show all of the variations on results.

I hope that this makes sense.

16 Replies
Alan Maguire

Hi Michael,

Thanks for helping. I will work up a sanitised vanilla  version of what I am trying to achieve.

For now imagine an excel doc. On the left hand side there is a list of options.

Along the top are criteria with filters that when selected or filtered will filter out the option on the left that satisfy those criteria.

Whatever options match all of the filters selected will display but they must satisfy all of the criteria selected. It is a Yes or no option on the filter.

Hope this helps.

Alan Maguire

Hi Michael,

Attached is a sanitized version of what we are trying to achieve.

Slide 1 and slide 2.

On slide 2 there will be various images representing the various options.

When a requirement is selected the option on the left will either satisfy that requirement or not. The Yes and No display now and can display in the end result but it is not necessary.

We basically want to filter the option by the yes and no and whatever options satisfy all of the req picked then their images will display but they must satisfy all req.

Eg if I select req 1-4 we see that options 1 and 7 satisfy all therefore their images would show.

Eg if I select re 1-3 then options 5 7 8 and 10 would satisfy so all of their images would display.

 

Michael Hinze

It'll take a bunch of variables and triggers but it can be done. See attached slide 1. I set up the first two reqs. Whenever a checkbox is selected/unselected, a layer is called which calculates the numer of matches for an option vs. the number of selected checkboxes. If they match, an option is considered true. You should be able to extend this concept to the remaining reqs.

Alan Maguire

Hi Michael,

Thank you so much for the effort you have put into this. I would be lying if I said I fully understand the variables behind what you are trying to achieve immediately.

However I will study this and if you don't mind come back to you with any questions as it would be great if we could make this work.

Thanks for that Michael.

Alan Maguire

Hi Michael,

I cannot seem to get the rest of the options working.

2 questions. What does the ReqSelectionChanged variable do in this case. It seems to be set in there to toggle form True to False but referenced nowhere else?

Also is there a reason why calculate is on a separate layer. Could all the triggers be on the base layer?

I am hoping the answers to these 2 will give me more clues as to why it is not working for me.

Thanks Michael.

Michael Hinze

I use the ReqSelectionChanged variable to indicate that any of the checkboxes has been clicked, in which case the calculate layer is called. Keeping all the triggers to adjust varibales on one layer is just my personal preference. To me this is a much cleaner way to keep all the logic in one place, especialy when you may end up with dozens of triggers. Of course, you could have the triggers on the baselayer. Hope that makes sense.

Alan Maguire

Michael,

I am still at a loss as to why the attached is not working. Slide 1.2 is not really needed in the end it is just in there to show me/you which options need to be true (Image shown) or false (image not shown) depending on which req is selected.

I am controlling the option images with states. Grey box for normal and image shown for when the number of req selected matches the number of trues for the option.

For some reason I cannot get 3 onwards to work. Can you help with this and shed some light. I thought I had just mimicked what you are doing.

Also when no req are selected I want all the images to be a normal state of grey boxes. Simply I want to toggle between the various reqs and the images that meet those reqs to come up or disappear as required.

I would appreciate any help with this to try and get it finished on this side.

Thank you for all your expertise.

Michael Hinze

There was an issue with trigger order on the calculate layer. You had added a bunch of triggers AFTER the Hide This layer trigger, which then never get executed. Also, the revisit setting of the layer needed to be set to Reset to initial state. And then there was a number of small adjustments needed. The Restting of all items when no checkbox is selected now also works. See attached. I'm not familiar with the subject matter and may have misinterpreted something. have a look...

Alan Maguire

Michael,

On behalf of myself and the team I would like to thank you very much for your openness, helpfulness and expertise in solving this problem. Without your help we would not have achieved this goal. It is because of people like yourself that we have been successful with this product. I look forward to working with you in the future on equally as interesting challenges. Until then, thank you very much.

Alan Maguire

Hi Michael. Quick question for you on this. The customer has come back and asked for another layer of complexity. What we have now is as you created.

If a requirement or requirements is selected, the option that meet those are changing state from normal to meets requirements and the rest are remaining as normal. The customer was getting confused as people were trying to click on the ones that remained normal too!!

 What the customer wants now is if a requirement(s) is selected, the options for that requirements present themselves and they want the ones that are not relevant to almost have a 3rd state of greyed out or an X on them.

Each of the 10 options will have 3 states, normal, meets requirements and greyed/crossed out. Does that make sense? I have spent all day yesterday trying to get it to work with the variables we have but with no luck. I am resorting to ask for the experts help or tell the client it cannot be done. Let me know your thoughts.

Alan Maguire

Hi Michael. Thanks for getting back. That makes perfect sense. I had got that far. The problem I am having is that I do not know how to add a trigger to identify 'unselected' options in this case. It is difficult as each of them could be normal(no requirements outlined), selected (meet the requirements) or disabled( do not meet the requirements). Maybe it is easier than I think? Can you help with an example of this trigger?

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