How to Change the State of a Group with a Single Trigger?

The way to handle this is as follows. Let's say you have a rectangle with text (Your main button). You also have an image that will be part of the button. You currently have them grouped together. First, ungroup the button shape and image. Now, Select the image, Cut it (Ctrl X). Now click on the rectangle with text (main button) and select the "States" tab. You paste the image into the state of the button. Now, when you want to change the states with triggers, you are controlling the rectangle and the image because they are one piece. See the video attached.

That's because groups do not have states.

Question to Articulate 360 staff: Could it be possible to create a functionality that enables the state changing trigger to affect a whole group? Sometimes it feels really frustrating to add "change state of" triggers to each element separately. For example: I'm building a menu slide to a course that includes 11 buttons and each button includes shape + image. The initial state is disabled so that the learner clicks the buttons in correct order. Lots of clicking and trigger adding in this case... :) 

It's not that you can't apply a variable to a group, it's that you can't apply a state to a group.

Change the variable based on the learner reaching the end of the branch (that has the added advantage of not giving them credit until they finish the content). Use whatever mechanism that returns them to the starting point to change the variable. WARNING: If you use a jump to slide trigger, the trigger that sets the variable showing that segment is complete must be ABOVE the jump trigger in the trigger list or it won't be executed.

Then on the starting point, allow them to progress if all five variables are True. That way you don't have to fight with groups and states.

Hi everyone... I'm babystepping into working with variables for my latest project. I have 5 grouped items that trigger different branches. Once each branch is complete, the learner is routed back to the starting point. I would like to use a T/F variable to keep the learner from progressing unless s/he has visited all 5 branches.

However, I can't apply a variable to a grouped object, only elements of the group. Is there any chance that the development team would work to allow a grouped object to trigger a variable? It seems odd to me that a grouped object can function as a target for a trigger but not a variable.

Also, any ideas on how I can work around this issue in the meantime?

Not at this time, Marcel.

I have created a feature request on your behalf and attached this conversation so that we can share any updates with you here in the future.

I wanted to share some information about how we manage these feature requests, which may be helpful. 

Hi All - Thank you, Michael, for your advice. It saved my day! I had a complicated slide that involved layers with audio, progress indicators and pop-ups with state changes that was doing my head in before I found your advice. I made this video to show how I implemented your advice and encountered some other fixes that might be helpful to other people.

https://360.articulate.com/review/content/97019ac3-a279-4b43-abcc-39b8f07ed868/review

I would LOVE a new feature that would allow you to change the state of a Group with one trigger.