Forum Discussion
hint button appears despite trigger
Hi,
I am using an arrow to direct users' attention to a transparent shape hotspot that triggers an animation. The arrow drops in at the 1 sec mark and is triggered to occur at start of timeline of slide. If the user clicks the hotspot the arrow changes states to hidden. However, if they click the hotspot before the 1 sec mark the arrow still drops and is in its normal state. Am I missing anything?
Thanks,
Martin
Hi, Martin,
I can't explain why the program shows the item to execute its motion path. I can show you how to get around that.
The attached file is edited to work.
- I set the arrow's Initial State to Hidden.
- I gave a Visited state to the "hotspot." This allow for tracking whether it was clicked.
- Note: This is only possible because you're using a transparent shape. The built-in hotspots don't have states. So if you were using one, you'd need a variable to track whether it was clicked or not.
- I used triggers to show the arrow and move it on its motion path with the condition that the hotspot/button isn't Visited.
Thanks for taking the time Judy! Works like a charm! I'll remember states on transparent objects as an option in the future. Now to apply this work around to forty layers. :)
It suddenly occurred to me: The moving object didn't appear on the timeline until 1 second. If the user clicked the "hotspot" before then, the trigger to hide the object couldn't work, because, as far as the program could tell, the object didn't yet exist!
In another slide in the attached file, I simply adjusted the start of the arrow to 0 on the timeline, and then edited the trigger to run its motion path when the timeline reaches 1 second.
- Click the hotspot before 1 second, and you'll never see the arrow.
- Click the hotspot as the arrow is moving into position, and it will disappear (which could be confusing).
Sorry I didn't think of this sooner. It's probably too late to help with your 40 layers. Well, the original option is probably better, since the arrow won't disappear partway thru its journey. But I did want to document the issue for future troubleshooting.
Best regards!
The reason it doesn't work if the learner clicks before the arrow appears at 1 sec is that the state of an object before it appears is hidden. So the hotspot sets the hidden state to hidden and when the timeline reaches 1 sec, it sets the object to Normal state.
For further information, a trigger that sets the state to normal will cause an object to appear, even before its entrance time on the timeline.
It's not that the object is hiding off the slide waiting for its entrance time. It's on the slide waiting to become visible.
Thanks for that context. That helps. I like the way it functions now. Much appreciated.
The amazing Walt Hamilton must have been typing his response while I was typing mine, because I didn't see it last night. His explanation of the issue makes more sense than mine. Fortunately, the fix remains the same.
And, as Walt likes to say, "PIFWYC (pay it forward when you can)."
