Forum Discussion
Build Custom Search within Storyline using JavaScript
Using JavaScript, follow these instructions to add a Custom Search Engine to your course. In 2018, I shared this functionality via a 5 minute Spark Presentation at the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase in Naperville, IL.
Note: The instructions below were programmed using Articulate Storyline 2, and I have ensured they are applicable in Storyline 3 and Storyline 360 as well. These instructions are specific to jumping to a specific slide when a user enters specific search terms, however you could also have other actions occur when this happens, such as displaying a layer or changing an object's state to show applicable search results.
Build Custom Search Engine in Storyline:
1. Add a "search" slide (your slide 1.1) in Articulate Storyline.
2. On this slide, add a Text Entry Field and edit the variable associated with the entry field. Click the + sign within the variable popup to add a new variable.
3. Name the new variable: searchfield and make it a Text variable with an initial value of (blank).
4. Also on your search slide, add a button and add "Search" as the button's text.
5. Add a new variable: placement and make it a Number variable with an initial value of 0.
6. Add a reference to the placement variable on your slide by adding a text box and entering the text: %placement% into the text box.
7. Create your content slide(s).
Optional: On each content slide, add a button which contains a trigger to jump to slide 1.1 when the user clicks it so that the user can easily return to the search slide.
8. For each content slide, think about the keywords that the user might enter into a search bar in order to find that content. List out these keywords in a notepad and make them all be in lowercase letters. (JavaScript is case sensitive and this example only works with lowercase letters for ease of programming).
9. Return to the search slide and edit the search button's default trigger.
Action: Execute JavaScript
Script:
var player = GetPlayer();
var parameters = player.GetVar("searchfield");
var lower = parameters.toLowerCase();
var key = "(insert your slide's keywords here inside the quotes without the parenthesis)";
var termlocation = key.search(lower);
player.SetVar("placement",termlocation);
When: User Clicks
Object: Search Button
On Condition: searchfield != Not equal to (blank)
10. Publish your course to HTML to test it.
Note: You cannot preview JavaScript programming in Storyline, you have to publish it to test it.
11. Enter each of your keywords, one at a time, into the text entry search field and click the search button.
12. Note the value of the placement variable reference on the slide for each of your keywords.
Ex. keyword 1 = 0 keyword 2 = 10 keyword 3 = 20
13. On the search slide, add a trigger on the search button to:
Action: Jump to slide
Slide: (appropriate content slide corresponding to the first keyword(s))
When: User Clicks
Object: Search button
On Condition:
placement == Equal to (insert placement # corresponding to keyword)
Ex. Jump to slide 1 when placement == Equal to 0
14. Repeat step 13 as needed to add any additional triggers to jump to additional slides when the placement variable is equal to the correct corresponding keyword #.
Ex. Jump to slide 2 when placement == Equal to 10
15. Remove the placement variable reference (%placement%).
16. Publish to HTML.
Finished result: User enters a keyword into the text entry search field, clicks search button, and the corresponding slide displays.
Happy programming!
Wow, Bridget... this is amazing! Thank you!
Do you have an example source file? With this working? It'd be good to see it if possible?
I am trying to build this into a storyline example at the moment but I keep returning 0 when it comes to the %placement% variable and thus I must be doing something wrong.
Hey Bridget,
Thanks for chiming in to share :)
This was a great presentation. Nice job showing the power of Storyline and JavaScript!
Hi Troy,
Unfortunately I don't have an example source file uploaded as of yet - need to find a good place to house my courses.
Can you copy and paste your JavaScript code into the discussion? I can take a look and see if I can spot the problem.
One easy thing to check is: does each line end in a semicolon ; ?
Also, you may need to manually re-type the code shared above into your JavaScript. Sometimes if you copy and paste the code, it pulls in extra programming that you can't see that prevents it from working. But if you manually type the code in, you will not pull in any extra programming and it should work properly.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for sharing this! I was at the Showcase but missed the Spark presentations, so it's good to see you decided to share it again here!
Hi Bridget,
This is great and exactly what I need. I am having trouble when I add more than one word. I am thinking it is in the code. Please see below and let me know what I am doing wrong.When I type in the word development, the search function works beautifully, but not when I type in test. Assuming because code reads right to left.
var player = GetPlayer();
var parameters = player.GetVar("searchfield");
var lower = parameters.toLowerCase();
var key = "test = 10 development = 40";
var termlocation = key.search(lower);
player.SetVar("placement",termlocation);Thank you for any help you can provide.
Hi Andrea,
I will look into this and hopefully be able to figure out what is causing the error.
The code is read top to bottom and left to right.
One quick question about your code - why are you including = 10 and =40 within the key string?
Also, another item to note is that the word "test" will give you a value of 0.
This is the correct value. So if you are getting a value of 0 for the word "test" that is correct. You can build your programming to occur when placement = 0.
I get the following values when testing your code:
test Placement = 0
= 10 Placement = 5
development Placement = 10
= 40 Placement = 22
Let me know if this helps.
Final thing to test/check is the trigger order. You will want this JavaScript trigger to be the first one in your lineup.
So, on your search button, from top to bottom, the triggers in the right panel should be ordered:
1. Execute JavaScript programming
2. Do _____ according to Placement Value
Ex. JavaScript Programming gives me a value of Placement = 0 when the user has entered text and a value of 10 when the user enters development
Your next trigger should be to do something with those values by jumping to a slide or showing a layer, etc. Ex. Jump to slide: Text when placement = 0
Next Trigger: Jump to slide: Development when placement = 10To explain what is happening in the JavaScript code, see explanation below:
var player = GetPlayer();
This sets up the communication between JavaScript and Storyline and allows JavaScript to see and set Storyline Variable Values.
var parameters = player.GetVar("searchfield");
This declares a JavaScript variable called "parameters" (you could name this something else as long as you pull the name into the next line of code) and its value equal to the Storyline Variable "searchfield" value (aka whatever the user types into the Search bar). So if the user types in "cat" the JavaScript variable "parameters" is now equal to cat.
var lower = parameters.toLowerCase();
This declares a JavaScript variable called "lower" (again, you could name something else if desired as long as you carry it through the code wherever lower is) and its value is equal to the variable value of "parameters" but in lower case. So, this converts whatever the user has typed into the search bar into lowercase and that is the value of the "lower" JavaScript variable. So if the user typed in Cat, it is now cat and the value of the "lower" variable.
var key = "(insert your slide's keywords here inside the quotes without the parenthesis)";
This declares a JavaScript variable called "key" and you can make its value whatever you want the search terms to be, within the " ". Ex. "cat dog horse" Ensure you put these in lowercase since we're only working with lowercase letters.
var termlocation = key.search(lower);
This declares a JavaScript variable called "termlocation" which is equal to the position of the user's search entry within the overall search terms. Ex. If the search terms are "cat dog horse" and the user searches for cat, it will return a value of 0, dog a value of 4, and horse a value of 8.
player.SetVar("placement",termlocation);
The final step is to set the Storyline variable "placement" value = the JavaScript variable "termlocation" value. This way we can use the number determined in the last step within Storyline. Without this, the programming will not work.
Then, in your course the user enters a search term, clicks search, and the placement variable shows a value. Use this value to make triggers happen - ex. jump to a slide when placement = #, Show a layer when placement = # , Change a State of an Object when placement = #.
