Forum Discussion
Pick Many Freeform Question
Here is the default behavior:
When you convert a slide to a Freeform Pick Many, you have to indicate in Form View what objects are selectable.
- If the objects used as responses don't already have a Selected state, Storyline automatically adds one. (The Selected state gets a glow added to it.)
- If the objects already have a Selected state, Storyline maintains that state as is.
When a user answers the question, a response changes to the Selected state when they click it. Additional clicks toggle between the Selected and Normal states. Thus, if the Selected state is different from the Normal state, the user can see which responses are Selected.
- Except, obviously, if the Selected state looks exactly like the Normal state, the user can't see what's been selected.
If the question provides immediate feedback, each response remains in the state it was in when the user clicked Submit. So the user can still see which responses were Selected.
If the user gets to the Results slide and then reviews the questions, Storyline shows each response in the state it was in when the user clicked Submit. So the user can still see which responses were Selected.
- This won't happen if the Slide Properties for the question slide are changed to "Reset to Initial State."
- That's why I recommend keeping "Automatically decide" for standard and Freeform graded-question slides. Storyline will know whether to reset the slide (when the user needs to answer the question) or resume it (when reviewing).
Bottom line: Storyline already does what you're asking for (at least, as I understand the queston).
Something seems to be broken then, because this is not happening:
-
If the objects used as responses don't already have a Selected state, Storyline automatically adds one. (The Selected state gets a glow added to it.)
I tried using hidden shapes and I tried using hotspots. No glow. Nothing visible to show anything selected (I double-checked and everything's listed in Form view as selectable).
When I add my own selected states in, that solves that part of the problem. But then this doesn't happen:
If the question provides immediate feedback, each response remains in the state it was in when the user clicked Submit. So the user can still see which responses were Selected.
I checked and slide properties are set to "Automatically decide." I'm stumped.
I think I have it figured out.
- Storyline will not add the glow if the shapes do not have borders around them. No big, solved that by doing my own selected states.
- I tried creating new shapes to replace the old. Set them up the exact same way, but now they stay selected. Very weird - maybe the existing shapes got corrupted somehow? At least it's working now. :)
I was just about to reply to mention the issue with glows and to suggest you design your own Selected states.
FYI: I prepped this to demonstrate the potential weirdness of glows:
The transparency setting of the outline also impacts the transparency of the glow. And, as you discovered, if there's no outline on a transparent shape, you won't see the glow at all.
As for your number-2 note: any shape with a Normal and Selected state should automatically toggle between those states when clicked, without using any triggers.
- Be sure you're using the built-in Selected state, and not a custom state with a similar name. (Here's more info about built-in states.)
- Don't add triggers that duplicate what should happen automatically. Those can mess up the functionality.
- Sometimes, objects do get corrupted. So, sometimes, the "fix" is to start over and rebuild a slide. 🤷♀️