Change Text Entry Variable without control losing focus?

Hey Curtis and to anyone else who finds themselves here. 

The code below detects when anyone types into any number of text input boxes on a Storyline slide. Whenever a key is pressed the text boxes lose focus for a millisecond and trigger the relevant 'lose focus' trigger in Storyline.

The 'console.log' line can be omitted from the code. If you keep it in, a message is displayed in the browser for testing purposes.

Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.acc-textinput')).forEach(el => {
    el.addEventListener('keyup', () => {
        console.log('someone is typing in a box...');
        el.blur();
        el.focus();
    })
});

A Storyline file is attached to demonstrate. Simply publish to HTML (web) or SCORM. 

I thought I'd put this here in case anybody finds it useful. This problem was driving me crazy and I didn't like any of the suggested solutions. I solved it using jQuery because I'm still using Storyline 3, but I'm sure you could achieve the same thing in a slightly more long-winded way with straight javascript.

I created an Execute JavaScript trigger to run at timeline start:

$(function() {
  $("input").keyup(function() {
    $(this).blur();
    $(this).focus();
  });
});

Basically it causes the active input element to lose focus very briefly after every keystroke, thereby activating the "control loses focus" trigger, to which you can attach any action you like on a case-by-case basis. In theory the split second loss of focus could cause problems but in practice I have yet to experience any.

Because it works on any unspecified input element you can also put it inside your Slide Master to apply to every slide.

Hey both. It's great to know this code is generating ideas. :-)

Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.acc-textinput')).forEach(el => {
    el.addEventListener('keyup', () => {
        console.log('someone is typing in a box...');
        el.blur();
        el.focus();
    })
});

'Blur' and 'focus' only triggers a 'when object loses focus' event in Storyline. It doesn't do anything else. So you must accompany this code with the aforementioned trigger on your slide—otherwise it won't do anything.

The reason why I came up with this code is because the built in trigger in Storyline only triggers ordinarily when a learner clicks on something else on the slide after typing into the box. This is often impractical for creating certain interactions—such as a function where you want to check what someone has typed while they're doing it.

The above code works for a slide where there is one or more text entry boxes. 

If you only had one text entry box, and you wanted to analyse what someone has typed while they are typing it, you could use the code below. It's a type of search I suppose. You wouldn't actually need blur and focus with this example, because we don't need to trigger a 'when object loses focus event in Storyline. 'JavaScript can do the work and simply update a variable in Storyline directly.  

const player = GetPlayer();

document.querySelector('.acc-textinput').addEventListener('keyup', (e) => {
    if (e.target.value.toLowerCase().includes('secret')) {
        player.SetVar('secretFound', true);
    }
});


This code works as follows. Every time a key is pressed, the code runs. It checks what is typed in the TextEntry box by looking for a word or phrase—in this case 'secret'. If it finds it, it sets a variable inside Storyline to 'true' (boolean). A trigger in Storyline makes a layer appear when it detects a change in that particular variable ('when a variable changes'); 

I've attached the Storyline file should you wish to play around with this bit of code. Change the value in quotes after 'includes' to whatever word you want.

You could theoretically do any analysis in JS of what someone has typed and then set a variable in Storyline to trigger something to happen—whatever you want.

Hi everyone, 

thank you all for sharing your code! After finding out where to insert the script (-> Use the Javascript Trigger) it was quite easy to do. 

Let me share my scenario: I wanted to trigger a new layer after a specific letter was inserted as I wanted to build a software simulation where results are presented according to the letters I put in a search bar.

To do so I used Simon Allistones code as a JavaScript Trigger.

Secondly I set up the trigger that my Text variable loses focus (I believe this trigger is a default trigger when inserting a text entry box.

Thirdly I set up a trigger to show a new layer when my text entry box loses focus AND ADDED the condition that the entry must have the value of my specific letter. An it worked perfectly.

I hope this is understandable. 

Thanks for the help, Gavin! And for following up directly. Confirming that his solution works, for anyone else that may need it :)

You all are rock stars! I know just enough JavaScript to be dangerous, though I love the extensibility it adds to Storyline. Inspired by your code, I wanted to use the contents of the input box to simulate a search box, so I added this.

Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.acc-textinput')).forEach(el => {
    el.addEventListener('keyup', () => {
        console.log('someone is typing in a box...');
        el.blur();
        el.focus();
    })
});
var player = GetPlayer();
var searchentry = player.GetVar("SearchEntry");
searchentry= Array[1] + Array[2] + Array[3];

player.setVar("SearchEntry",searchentry);

Hi Curtis,

Variables, in this case, are case-sensitive. I used "SearchEntry" for my Storyline variable and "searchentry" for the JavaScript variable. The first part of the code adds the input to Array, then assigns it to the "searchentry" variable one letter at a time.

Back in Storyline you can test this by outputting the variable to a textbox using %SearchEntry%. After that you can use the variable in anyway you need.  You must publish to test JavaScript.

Good luck!

Hello Paul!

I've seen users ask this before, but not sure that I've seen a solid solution shared. I know one user ended up utilizing a web object.

Not sure if the suggestions shared in this thread may be helpful as well.

Hello :-)

Has a solution been found for this (outside of using a web object)?

Hi Garfield,

I haven't seen any other solutions for this - the text entry is waiting for the user to click outside or onto something else to confirm that they're done typing and continue on. 

It may be something that you could setup using Javascript - so I'd suggest searching ELH for examples using that, or post a new discussion specifically asking for ideas! It's well above my head, so sadly I'm not much help there. 🙃