Disable next button until user enters text into all text entry fields on slide

My inclination would be not to disable the "Next" button, but rather to attach a conditions. If you select your text entry box in the editor, you'll see (in the triggers list) that by default it dumps the student's entry into a text variable. So one trigger would be:

Jump to slide
next slide
when User clicks
Next button
[show conditions]
TextEntry1 Not equal to [default] 
AND TextEntry2 Not equal to [default]
AND TextEntry3 Not equal to [default]

This gets at the heart of what you REALLY want: The text entry variables must be populated with something other than their default values. If the user has not typed something into each box, the Next button won't take them to the next page.

Then you'll want a trigger to display an error message if the user HASN'T filled in all the boxes. Make a new layer and call it "Error Message". Put a big friendly text box into it that says, "You must enter all the text fields to continue". Also add a button that says "Okay!" and has a "Hide this layer when user clicks this button" trigger.

Now you need this error layer to come up at the appropriate time. Copy that first trigger on the "Next" button, and in the conditions, change the "ANDs" to "ORs" and the "Not equal tos" to "Equal tos". Also change the trigger so it shows the message:

Show Layer
Error Message
when User clicks
Next button
[show conditions]
TextEntry1 Equal to [default]
OR TextEntry2 Equal to [default]
OR TextEntry3 Equal to [default]

I don't know for sure whether Storyline can handle empty space for the [default] variable value, so you'll have to play around a little.

Hi Sarah

can you see that each of the text entry fields are validating correctly?

Might be easier if you upload the slide for someone to help if they can work with your setup

Update: I did a sample based on your image with triggers and its working for me unless I misunderstand what you are doing

You could set up triggers with conditions that only enable the Next button when none of the textentry boxes is blank.

Margaret, check the conditions on the second trigger on your Next button. It's showing for me that the fourth condition is "OR TextEntry4 != Not equal to (blank)". I believe it should be "OrTextEntry4 == Equal to (blank)", like the other three conditions. 

Hi Marcella,

Again, variables are going to help you.

1. Set up a variable, e.g., clickInBox of Number type.
2. Set up a trigger on your text box. so that when the learner clicks into the textbox, have the variable update.
3. On the next button,
   1. change the state to hidden
   2. add a trigger so that it changes states when the variable changes to  a certain number (a add a condition) so that is runs when the variable reaches a certain number.

There may need to be some error captures but it should work.

What object is the "Change State of Next Button To State Normal..." trigger attached to? In other words, is the trigger listed under "Player Triggers", a layer name, or some other slide object?

In my experience, triggers can fail to activate when they're attached to an object that doesn't want to activate triggers. Specifically, I've had to change my triggering event such that a trigger would NOT be attached to a hidden object. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Disabled objects present a similar problem.

Sorry, Marcella! I didn't actually test this I just gave you the steps at I understoond.

THERE IS ANOTHER BUG in this software. For some reason, when you adjust the variable it is returning a non-numeric value (even though the logic clearly says to adjust the variable to a numeric value).

There's a convoluted way around this...as I've found with this application...instead of changing the value of FillBox when user clicks in the TEB, create another variable (ClickedInBoxTF) that is boolean set to false but changed to true when the user clicks in the box. NOW, change FillBox to a value based on the ClickedInBoxTF ==  True. Tested this and it worked but way too cluggy.

Hi Marcella,

It looks like Greg has you covered here, and text entry boxes automatically create variables, and their default is set to empty as a built in functionality, so I'm not sure what element you're having difficulty with? You may want to post what you've got set up so far in terms of triggers and variables, as that way we can take a look at what you've set up. 

Replace the word "default" with whatever you have set as TextEntry's default value. You can view and edit default values in the variable manager (see image).

Also, if you're planning to use these variables later in your course, you may want to give them more descriptive names. For example, "StudentFirstName" or "FavoriteAnimal" (or whatever information you're asking them to enter).

Also also, be aware that you can display these variable values with %[variable name]%. For example, say the variable StudentFirstName is set to Steve. A text box that in the editor that says "Your name is %StudentFirstName%." will publish as "Your name is Steve.". This is great for debugging and for giving feedback to the learner.

That should work as well Marcella. Have you tested to see if this performs as you expect? Without seeing your file, it's difficult to understand, but Greg has explained it well.