Forum Discussion
How to print several slides in Story line
Hi,
I am trying to print about 10 slides in Storyline 360, preferably to a .pdf but presently just to a printer. I can print and pdf the current screen but the only solution for multiple slides seems to be complex java script with an attached html5 file. I can do the design and layout well but this is a bit to technical for my skill set. I was hopping a little bit of JavaScript in the player would print the whole document or just the slides I chose.
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We are currently working on a project for a client where they want to be able to download/email/print the whole Storyline slide deck including pages where the learner has entered notes via text entry or completed surveys etc.
Our solution (which appears to work well) was to:
(a) convert the whole course into a pdf form - we do this by publishing to Word then eliminate the bits we don't need and then save as a pdf. We then open the pdf in Adobe Acrobat and convert it to a pdf 'form' inserting named fields where the learner's input will appear.
(b) in the Storyline we then used a JavaScript library "pdf-lib" which has the ability to open, read and fill out pdf forms. A button runs a JavaScript routine that opens our pdf form template, retrieves the variables we need from Storyline and uses them to fill out the pdf form. Once complete the learner is presented with a button to download or email the pdf - obviously the learner can then print the pdf but I'm sure there must be a clever way of sending it to the printer?
There's a bit of JavaScript programming involved but no modifying the html after publication - and the pdf template can be modified without changing the JavaScript as long as the field names remain the same.
I can provide more details if anyone is interested?
I would love to know the full process on how to do this.
Hi Brian,
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You can use PDFMake to create pdfs it will download the print function only works in certain browsers. But the user can manually print.
I have never used pdf-lib which should like a nicer way to do some of these, would love to here more John
Hi Phil
I've seen your earlier posts on PDFMake - have never used it - but it looks easier than jsPDF!
The BIG advantage with pdf-lib is it's ability to both create and amend existing pdf forms. So if you create your learning journal or certificate using Adobe or some other pdf form maker - you just name the fields and then pdf-lib can read the pdf form template and can use the Storyline variables to fill it in.
I posted a demo using pdf-lib on this thread:
It was a simple 'note taker' demo on the original post and then I followed up with a detailed explanation on how the demo works - plus the pdf form template and story file.
We were aware of pdf-lib some time ago but have only just got round to using it - but it has a heap of possibilities.
Our next demo - which we have working on a client 'proof of concept' will be a slider driven survey and then a downloadable pdf which will show the slider responses with the thumbs in the correct positions - again using pdf-lib.
I have been a fan of your work on this forum for some time, Phil, I'm hoping you will find this useful - I feel I owe you!
10 slides at one time maybe it's not possible with original version, but maybe you can do this by using a third party version... which I suggest you to don't use such version.
