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qamara65867926
Participating Frequently
April 25, 2018
Answered

Widgets not functioning in Captivate 2017 (non HTML5)

  • April 25, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 564 views

Just downloaded 2017 and opened a file from Captivate 8. We have created our own widget that navigates through our modules, allows the audio to muted, and jumps to a menu page. It was created as a widget in Adobe Animate CC. It works great in 8 but in 2017 it shows up and no longer functions. I know it is being seen as one of the buttons has a roll over function that has some animation on it and that works fine. We are NOT putting these out as HTML5. I am aware that the widgets will not function in HTML5, but I need them to function, for now, as SWF files and .exe files. We have a second widget that functions similar to the YouTube playbar and that one functions as designed.

Has there been some change to the actions in 2017 that might be preventing this?

Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer RodWard

The grim reality of building custom widgets for Captivate is that each new version (and sometimes even minor version) update will likely break something in your widget.  Adobe will not give you any heads up about such changes to underlying code BEFORE they release the updates.  You just have to be ready to react quickly afterward.

Since you jumped Captivate 9 version entirely to get to Cp 2017 it is quite possible that the underlying code changes that are now breaking your widget were in that version, not the current one.

If SOME of the functionality of your widget is still working, it's not all bad news.  You may simply be using some type of AS3 function or code that is now deprecated, or else you had a bug in your code that Captivate 8 was more forgiving about and that loophole has now been closed in Cp9 or 10.

You're going to need to get the original AS3 programmer/s that created your custom playbar / widgets to look into this.  You are not likely to be able to fix it without changing code.

But since Flash hits End Of Life in just a couple of years from now, I would suggest you ditch the AS3 widgets altogether and use this as an opportunity to move completely over to HTML5.  That's likely to give your company a better ROI in the long-term.

1 reply

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
April 26, 2018

The grim reality of building custom widgets for Captivate is that each new version (and sometimes even minor version) update will likely break something in your widget.  Adobe will not give you any heads up about such changes to underlying code BEFORE they release the updates.  You just have to be ready to react quickly afterward.

Since you jumped Captivate 9 version entirely to get to Cp 2017 it is quite possible that the underlying code changes that are now breaking your widget were in that version, not the current one.

If SOME of the functionality of your widget is still working, it's not all bad news.  You may simply be using some type of AS3 function or code that is now deprecated, or else you had a bug in your code that Captivate 8 was more forgiving about and that loophole has now been closed in Cp9 or 10.

You're going to need to get the original AS3 programmer/s that created your custom playbar / widgets to look into this.  You are not likely to be able to fix it without changing code.

But since Flash hits End Of Life in just a couple of years from now, I would suggest you ditch the AS3 widgets altogether and use this as an opportunity to move completely over to HTML5.  That's likely to give your company a better ROI in the long-term.

Q
qamara65867926Author
Participating Frequently
April 26, 2018

Thanks for the information. We did use 9 for a bit and the widget worked in that so that gives me some idea where to look. We are planning on going to HTML5, hence the move to the latest version. Our problem is we have some "partners" that can't move to the new one just yet. We also have a lot of interactivity in our modules that HTML5 and JavaScript just won't support. It will be a hard sell, even though we have no choice, to convince management that they need to make this change "now".

Thanks again for the help.

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