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erikvolk
erikvolk
Known Participant
September 7, 2023
Answered

Hand Cursor Disappearing on Enable Action/Captivate Classic

  • September 7, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 667 views

Hello! I am hoping someone may be able to assist. I have created custom navigation buttons which work fine.  The buttons are stored in one of my early slides and then are set to display for the rest of the project. All the buttons are set with the Hand Cursor and Disable Click Sounds options. On certain slides, I wanted to Disable the Next button and have created an Advanced Action to do that and also dims the button using the Apply Effect/Alpha option.  I have a corresponding action to Enable the Next button and uses the Apply Effect/Alpha button to return it to its normal state which also works fine. The issue is when the button is re-enabled, the Hand Cursor disappears and I cannot find a way to turn it back on. I prefer to have the Hand Cursor and Disable Click Sounds enabled for my buttons. Any suggestions? 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Lilybiri

    Hi!  Thanks for the warning about the update.  Regarding the visibility issue, I have the buttons and the colored playbar background and border on the same slide where I have placed the navigation buttons early in my presentation with all elements marked as "Display for Rest of Project."  If I try to place a "fake" disabled Next button graphic on another slide where I have marked the main Next button as hidden, the new "fake" Next button is not visible because it appears that the playbar and buttons on the main slide are placed on the top layer.  I tried turning off the "Place Object on Top" option for the navigation button but then I ran into other issues as I have some elements that are placed behind the playbar as I had difficulty getting background images to look seamless when trying to size them exactly to the edge of the playbar. I could probably place the playbar background on the Master slide without the buttons but did not experiment with that. Not sure if all that makes sense! I am sure in retrospect I could have done it differently but that was my thought process at the time.


    Screenshot please? Indeed, I think you should implement the use of the (main) master slide. You cannot turn off 'on top' except if you are sure to keep the necessary space for your custom playbar free on all slides. The static object (mimicked disabled button) could also be displayed for the rest of the project. I seem you tell that you have individual instances on each slide? If you stack it under the real button, it will show up only after you hide the real button. Can you try? I am a bit busy at this moment.

    1 reply

    Lilybiri
    Lilybiri
    Legend
    September 8, 2023

    Some questions for you. First of all which exact version do you use, I just know it is not the new one (12) since you cannot time for the rest of the project and customisation is a pain. You find the full version number under Help, About Captivate.

    Second question: when I use custom navigation which cannot be put on the (main) master slide(s) because the buttons need an ID to be able to control them, I would never use disable/enable but Show/Hide. Is there any reason why you didn't try that out? Have a look at one of my recent posts:

    https://blog.lilybiri.com/custom-navigation-basics

     

    erikvolk
    erikvolkAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 8, 2023

    Thanks so much for responding. I am definitely not an expert so I am probably not necessarily doing it the best way. I am using Captivate 2019 Release 11.5.5.553.  I will be getting the new version as well to run concurrently soon. I was not using Show/Hide because I wanted the button to appear dimmed (rather than disappearing) so people could clearly see their forward navigation was restricted and the button was inactivated as opposed to it just being missing. I have used the Hide function in the past but it seemed to confuse people who thought the button had erroneously disappeared (despite instructions) and a dimmed button seemed to make for a better user experience.  I tried placing a dimmed version of the button on the individual slide but it seemed to screw up the tabbing order of the navigation and also created visibility issues since the playbar background from the main screen where the buttons resided overlayed the button. That is why I was using the Apply Effect action with a super long duration because I could not seem to find another solution other than placing all the buttons on every slide. I also tried creating a "disabled" state for the button but the function did not seem available to me on any other slides than the main slide. My module is also non-linear so your blog entry is very interesting! . I was adding conditional Advanced Actions to the Previous and Next buttons on the main slide where I placed the buttons which was working but your solution seems like it would likely be much more efficient!  As I mentioned everything seems to be working swimmingly except for the disappearance of the hand cursor once the button is enabled.

    Lilybiri
    Lilybiri
    Legend
    September 8, 2023

    To give you a more appropriate answer, how to achieve what you want, I have to do some testing. 

     

    But I wanted to answer this quickly: please do NOT upgrade unless you dispose of another system. You are at this moment using the most stable, bugfree release I have ever known for Captivate (and I use it since almost two decades). If you install the 'all new version 12' you would need to update your present version to 11.8 (Captivate Classic' and that version has a lot more bugs. From your thread here I see that you have no 'urgent' need to create responsive projects, which is the only output possible with version 12. Custom buttons, timing for rest of project, advanced/shared action are completely missing in version 12 to mention only those I see you are using.

     

    Using a disabled state will still mean that you have to disable, because the hand cursor would remain active. Like you I also think about having a static object for the outline to allow Show/Hide. Can you elaborate a bit on the problem of the visibility issues? 

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