Hi there. As the title says, I was wondering if there was any way to set an expiry date for published content, which would basically stop users from being able to view the content after a specific date? I've used this feature in KnowledgePresenter before but can't find such a thing anywhere in Storyline. It would be very handy, as we are basically looking to put our course on disc to send out to people to trial them, but we don't want them having access to our courses beyond the trial period. Thanks again for any support on this.

I think I found somethint that might work using Java Script Create a trigger that runs this script when the first page timeline starts: var currentDate = new Date() var day = currentDate.getDate() var month = currentDate.getMonth() + 1 var year = currentDate.getFullYear()player.SetVar("day1", day);player.SetVar("month1", month);player.SetVar("year1", year); This sets numeric variables in Storyline for day, month and year from your computer. I created numeric varaibles, day1, month1, and year1 initially set to zero Then I created a trigger that would show a layer when the timeline starts if: day1 is greater than a specific number, in my example, 7 and month1 is greater than or equal to a specific number, in my example, 2 and year1 is greater than or equal to a specific number, in my example, 2013 That layer displays text that the content expired and has a close course button. I disabled the next button and added a continue button on the first page. If the Expired layer is visible, I prevented users from clicking items on the base layer. I included the variables on the first page for testing, but they need not display. Here is the file, you must publish to test. To test the expiration, set your computer for a date in the future beyond your expiration date.

Now that I think about the logic of the trigger, you may need to create 3 separate triggers to launch the expired layer. The first trigger is if year1 is greater than or equal to a specific year show the expired layer. So if the course expires in 2014, that would be the year. The next trigger shows the expired layer if the month1 and year1 has been passed. This covers a scenario of a course expiring within a calendar year, for example, June 2013. The final variable is as in my previous post. This covers a course expiring mid month within a calendar year. This is a 3 point date validation: The year is less than the expiration date, The month and year are less than the expiration date, and The day, month, and year are less than the expiration date. Any expiration will show the expired layer.

Jim, SCORM Cloud has a rather unique pricing strategy that I think you might have misunderstood. Check out: http://scorm.com/scorm-solved/scorm-cloud-pricing/scorm-cloud-pricing-all-of-the-details/ "Do I have to keep paying for registrations each month once I have created them? Great news! We want to be awesome to you, so you only pay for the registration when it was created. After that, learners can access the course as often and as long as they like (or you want them to) without any additional registration fees." This means that you pay only for the registrations "purchased" that month. They even send you an email right before you are billed, I believe so that you can go into your account and change your plan accordingly if you have had a lot of registrations that month. This easily gets the cost per registration down to $0.10 each for large numbers. You should at least set up a trial account to check out their functionality, We've worked with Geoff at Rustici (SCORM Cloud) quite a bit and their guys are amazingly helpful. Oddly, they don't really seem to be in it to make money, just to be SCORM evangelists. They do sell an Enterprise product though, if you would like your own SCORM Cloud. Thanks, Mike

Hi Alyssa, We deliver content to clients to host on their LMS, so this feature would be extremely useful. Thanks for your reply.

I am happy to see that so many people are requesting this functionality to be in the software, but a little shocked that we are in the same place as the first request 6 years ago. We also sell SCORM packages in 1 and 3-year contracts and need a better way to ensure the files are disabled or expire so we aren't losing money.

Setting an expiry date for published content

AshleyT-Pollard
Staff
12 years ago

Hi Erin and welcome to Heroes!

I'm not sure if Garth is subscribed to this thread, but you may want to PM him just in case.
GarthYorko-TE
Community Member
12 years ago

I'll be honest with you guys, I don't actually speak Java, I just found that code with a google search and by sheer brute force I got it to work.

If your varaibles are displaying 0, I think it means that the varialbe has not been adjusted, since those are the initial values.

Check to see that there is a trigger to run the script on the first page start. I've also noticed that sometimes Java script does not run unless it is on a server, so you may want to try it on a server and not your local drive.

Lastly, publish the file I uploaded and see if the behavoir is the same.

Sorry I couldn't be more help, maybe someone who speaks JAVA can help you out.
MartinHernqvist
Community Member
11 years ago

Here comes another one who very much would have liked to see this in Storyline. We will be producing contents for web, CD and IPAD (for online and offline viewing) and the contents will only be valid for one year at a time and should not be accessible after the end of the year. Access via web we may control - I guess it is delivery via CD and offline viewing in IPAD that will cause problems.

We are unfortunately no e-learning programming heroes :( and would have liked to see a built-in function in the Storyline software. Are there any news if/when this feature will be launched? I'll keep my fingers crossed for a positive response.
AshleyT-Pollard
Staff
11 years ago

Hi Martin and welcome to Heroes!

I haven't heard of this becoming a feature, or even one that is talked about here in the forums as a feature request, but you're welcome to submit one. I would suggest the best method to restrict users from accessing your content past a pre-determined date would be to host within an LMS or web server where you could restrict their access to a course.
MartinHernqvist
Community Member
11 years ago

Many thanks for your quick answer Ashley. It is a good suggestion but we have many clients who will be using the material in remote places and sometimes on board ships where internet connection may be poor or non-existing. Hence the need for CD or offline IPAD solutions. I'll submit a feature request.

Any other suggestions, that non-programmers may understand and use, still welcomed of course.
JayMetzger
Community Member
11 years ago
Ashley - I will definitely post it as a request, but I think this is something that you should definitely consider. We create courses for clients that host the courses on their own LMS. I do not have the ability to set the expiration date that way, so I need to be able to do it in the code. Lectora and Captivate both have this feature, and I am inclined to use these products until this is a feature for Storyline (although I would like to use Storyline more), as I cannot create a great product only to give it away forever because I can't expire it when a contract is up.
AshleyT-Pollard
Staff
11 years ago

Hi Jay,

Thanks for sending in a feature request, and I can see where this feature would be used by a lot of users. There may be something you could include in a Javascript trigger at the beginning of the course to check the date - but I'm not equipped to help write those. There may be someone in the community who could assist.
RaymondM
Community Member
11 years ago
I've been working with Javascript more in Storyline and have also been programming date related events. If I get some spare time, I'll try and post up a solution.
JohnPieterse2
Community Member
11 years ago

Hi Ashley,

As we also deliver our software to remote areas I strongly agree with Jay and others that this feature would be very useful, if not essential. I love SL and use it a lot. But like Jay, I am forced to use Captivate if I want to set an expiry date. I already made this a feature request.
AshleyT-Pollard
Staff
11 years ago
Thanks John for sending this in as a feature request, and I certainly understand the reasoning why this would be essential, so the more feature requests the better!