Formating cpInfo date...

[Mr5strings]

Hello all,

I have a certificate that I need to put a date on formatted with the "MONTH" in January, February, March format...is there a way to do this? It seems that CP will only spit out NUMBERS...i.e. 03/08/2012...this isn't the desired format for my project...

I'm hoping (even if can be done) that I don't have to use Advanced Actions (i.e. IF cpInfoCurrentMonth IS EQUAL TO "1" ASSIGN January...for all 12 possibilities)...and by using that approach would mean I would have to use all three variables (cpInfoCurrentMonth, cpInfoCurrentDay and cpInfoCurrentYear) as separate text boxes to create the DATE format I want...

...I probably just answered my own question but you never know

Thanks.

[Jim Leichliter · Accepted solution]

You can either use Advanced Actions, but I prefer JavaScript for things like date conversion.  Here's nice JS utility funciton Steve Levithan put together:

http://blog.stevenlevithan.com/archives/date-time-format

Jim Leichliter

[Mr5strings]

Thanks Jim,

It took some finagling but I'm good to go...you're a life saver!

[Jim Leichliter]

Awesome!  Glad it worked for ya!

[pantheraki]

I have tried advanced actions and javascript to make the month appear as a word but no success!

It may sound basic but I need to make sure. When I choose "Execute JavaScript on "Enter" and I add my javascript code (let's say the one suggested by Jim) in the Script_Window what code do I add in an transparent textbox on the slide to call the JavaScript and show the date in the desired format (depending on the javascript)?

I would appreciate any info on that.

When I mentioned I used advanced actions to make the month appear in words, what I did was to use conditional action IF cpInfoCurrentMonth IS EQUAL TO 1 ASSIGN "some text box name" to (literal) January and so forth. What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance,

Dem

[RodWard]

Your don't assign the text box to a literal value of January.  You need to have a custom user variable set up that the text box displays.  Then you assign the user variable to "January" and the text box on screen will display it.

Be aware that Captivate 5x currently has a bug that means any text box that contains a variable will not allow you to correctly set indentation in the text formatting.  If using left-aligned text, all text in the text box will be hard against the left side of the text box.  You'll either need to center the text or else place the variable text in a separate transparent text caption that sits over the top of the text caption containing any other text you wanted to appear at the same time.

[Mr5strings]

Hey pantheraki,

I used Jim's suggestion successfully but I also figured out how to do it with the variables...take a look at an article on my blog and see it that helps you out any...it is more on the "Untiled bar" in the Advanced Actions dialog box but my example is how I converted Captivate's numbers to alphabetic months...

Here's the link:

http://edscorner.com/ecblog/2012/04/13/captivate-advanced-actions-the-untitled-bar/

[RodWard]

Nice blog post Ed.  I agree that the Adobe doco could be much more detailed about this area.  Thankfully we have people like yourself and Lilybiri creating blogs to help others on it.

One little thing I would add for newbie users of Conditional Actions is that you really need to think through the order of your IF statements BEFORE you set them up in each Untitled section.  If you find out too late that the order of executed IF statements is important to the result, you may be forced to rebuild your Conditional Action because you cannot change the order easily.  It would be great if there were some way to move the conditional sections to the right or left in the order, but currently the UI provides no such facility.  You need to use the + and - buttons under the Untitled labels to add and remove sections.

[Lilybiri]

Ed,

Since I cannot post a comment on your blog post (have no WordPress account), I'm a bit puzzled because I have been blogging (since September 2010) and writing articles ( since July 2010 - which are all referenced to in the Captivate Help) about advanced actions. And one of the first things I have been trying to explain are the different decisions for Conditional Advanced Actions. Here is one example:

Advanced Conditional Action for Customized Feedback

It is a little bit more complicated than the way you explain it on your blog, because a decision can also be used as a standard action (have explained that in another article and in different blog posts), and there is also the possibility of conditions with AND/OR.

My blog (http://lilybiri.posterous.com) is rather well known in the Captivate Community, also because a lot of links are IN the Captivate help. I agree that the original documentation is too limited, that was the reason I started writing myself, but you cannot ignore all the links to external resources.

Rod, having the possibility to rearrange decisions, to insert a decision in a certain place is only one of the multiple requests I have been entering since version 5.0. As is also the possibility to create better AND/OR combinations (by using 'parentheses' to define the sequence of execution).

Lilybiri

[Mr5strings]

First, I guess I should have put in a disclaimer...I should have realized that my post would anger some REAL Captivate Power Users...and Lilybiri, a special apology to you...my blog post was only to express my frustration in the mystery of the Advanced Actions Untitled bar and the lack of information on how to use it...but since I used the date example, I thought it would help "pantheraki" with his/her issue...

I am a newbie to Captivate and a GINORMOUS task was dropped in my lap and I had to learn Captivate FAST...and the lack of what you can do with the application without Variables and Advanced Actions irritated me to no end...and thanks to your blog Lilybiri, and also help from Rod and Michael Lund's widgets I was able to squeak this task into fruition...

I have a great respect for you Lilybiri...and please, admit that you blog goes way beyond the Adobe Help files...you actually put certain vague tasks in very clear perspective...but as a newbie to Captivate, your blog ain't exactly a hand-holder...you demonstrate some quite complex tasks...and for someone like me just getting to know Captivate, some of your stuff had my head spinning...I take my hat off to you...REALLY!

I've visited your blog more than any resource I found trying to work out some of the issues with my project, but I still had to do more searching to figure out what I wasn't "connecting" from some of your tutorials...so PLEASE, Lilybiri, accept my humble apology for any disrespect my blog may have implied...as far as I'm concerned, and from my searching on the web, you are at the top of a very short list of Captivate help...

[pantheraki]

Thank you I managed to make it work with advanced actions. Although I had tried using variables before your suggestion, this time did work! so must have been doing something wrong.

The only problem is that the length of the text box varies depending on the lenght of each month, so there is a big space between the month (May is the shortest month and September the longest) and the year, i.e. "2012". Oh well... I decided to display the month as an abbreviation (3 characters), like: Jan, Feb, Mar etc.

One of my questions in my previous post remains unanswered though. If I add JavaScript code (for example the one that shows the date in a particular format) in the Script_Window what is the code that needs to be placed on the slide (in a text box or as a variable or what) in order to show the date?

Thanks everyone.

Dem

[Lilybiri]

I was not angry, just a bit frustrated because of all the many hours I spent to try to explain the hidden features of advanced actions that are badly explained in the Help. You are correct, not all my blog posts are that easy. I have often adviced newbies with which articles (are explained more in detail than blog posts) to start like the two articles about Variables and the video tutorial where I explain the temrinology of the advanced actions (what you reference to as 'title' bar are the decisions). And I do know that those articles are embedded as links in the Help. And then I have to hear that nothing is available for advanced actions, that did really hurt me.

What I regret about blogging is the lack of interaction with readers (which I find in these forums). Why did you never leave a comment, a suggestion on my blog? I have close to 110,000 hits for the moment (in about 20 months), but rarely get inspired by comments, questions on the blog.

Lilybiri

[Mr5strings]

Lilybiri, again I apologize, but my grip was that Adobe help didn't supply the information...I'll re-read, but I thought I was clear on that point...frankly, if not for your blog, I think I'd be lost!

...and moreover, I'm working on a post now on how your blog is basically the cornerstone of Captivate information/help...that's how much I respect what you've done and what you're doing for the Captivate community...believe me, I had no intention of slighting you...

And I have no defense on not leaving a comment or suggestion on your site...I have to give you that as well...

[pantheraki]

@ Mr5strings

Since you used Jim's suggestion successfully (like you said previously) could you answer my question above?

Thanks.

[Mr5strings]

pantheraki,

I'm using the Advanced Actions approach in my current project version...I'll have to check my previous versions to see if I still that solution...which I can't say for sure. I'm not a javascript coder and I was all over the place getting the code to work but I needed something I could come back to a year from now and know what I did which is why I vested time into getting the Advanced Actions version working...I'll let you know...

[pantheraki]

no problem I was asking out of interest. I managed to do what I wanted after I followed your tutorial.

Much appreciated!

[Mr5strings]

pantheraki,

I'm glad my post helped you...but I'll take a look for the JS solution anyway...if I find it, I'll send you a private message.

[AnitaHorsley]

Great post on AA Ed. thanks for sharing