Captivate 9 - close button behind glossary.

[faisalimam]

Have a glossary with a closed button - the "place on top" is selected for the close button and it sits above the glossary in the timeline as well. However once published the button goes goes behind the Glossary. It is there and clickable, just can't see it. Any ideas?

Thank you!

[Paul Wilson CTDP]

Difficult to know without more information. Can you post a screen shot of the stage with the objects in question and the timeline?

[Lilybiri]

You have to edit the AdobeCaptivate.ini file to change the default stack order, where widgets are always on top.

Close Captivate and make a copy of that file (is in installation folder of Captivate) to your desktop. Look for the line 6:

Change this line to make the value = 1:

    UseWidget7 = 1

Save the file, it has to replace the original file. For security reasons I would rename the old file, in case you have to reset it again.

Now you have to make sure that both the Glossary and the Close button are timed for the rest of the project, and set to be 'Always on top', because the priority situation for the widgets, where they are automatically on top, is lost.

[faisalimam]

Thanks for the help Lilybiri. I tried your recommendation and although it did fix the close button issue, unfortunately it also made the glossary non-functional. I can no longer click on anything within the glossary, nor can I scroll the terms in the left column.

[Lilybiri]

That is strange, would have to check this. How did you test after publishing? Publish to SWF or HTML? It would mean that a widget/learning interaction is not functional when it is not on top of the stack? That seems very weird. Which exact version of 9 do you use?

If I'm inserting a glossary I will mostly use a toggle button to show/hide the glossary. That button is not on top of the glossary since it also has to open the Glossary. I use a shape button, because it can be put on the main master slide, and a user variable (Boolean) that checks if the Glossary is open (value = 1) or closed (value = 0).  The conditional action triggered by this toggle button is explained in this article:

1 action = 5 Toggle Buttons - Captivate blog

You can use the part to close the glossary as an advanced standard action On Enter for each slide, to make sure the Glossary is closed when entering a slide.

[faisalimam]

I published and tested as HTML5.

To show the glossary, I use a glossary icon/button (shape) on the first slide of the project and set its timing to "rest of the project". It does not overlap the glossary and functions properly.

The first slide also has the Advanced Action to hide the Glossary and the Close button (which overlaps the Glossary) On Enter.

The Glossary button is clicked and opens the Glossary, but the Close button is not visible. A mouse over indicates that the button is there because the cursor changes and clicking in that area also closes the Glossary.

Will try rebuilding it. Thanks!

[Lilybiri]

Did you upload to a webserver for testing? Local testing for HTML output is not always totally functional, especially with learning interactions/widgets.

Which exact version number, please?

[faisalimam]

Yes, tried it on my webserver and also on cloud.scorm.com.

Sorry, forgot to mention the version: 9.0.2.421.

[faisalimam]

I am able to access the glossary items using the keyboard but not the mouse. It's as if something is blocking it.

Also tried removing all slides except the one with the Glossary on it with no luck.

Works fine when published to SWF, just not in HTML5.

[Lilybiri]

That means the Glossary is active, since you can navigate with the keyboard, and choose an item?

What is the setup for the Close button: Infinite attempts? Does it have a pausing point?

HTML is more sensitive, there must be a reason.

[faisalimam]

Yes, I can select items with the keyboard.

The Close button is a shape so it doesn't appear to have the Infinite Attempts setting, I am able to click it as many times as I like though.

So I created a new blank project, added the glossary, everything works fine. Copied and pasted all the master slides and the Filmstrip slides into the new project and the glossary became inactive again (launch and close buttons work fine).

Removed all the filmstrip slides that I had copied over from the original project and left just the new glossary on the first slide and it starts working again (the master slides from the original project are still there).

Added just a single Slide from the original project and Glossary breaks again. Will continue to work on this to track it down.

Thanks!

[Lilybiri]

A shape button has the same options as a normal button: look under the tab Actions to see 'Infinite Attempts'. I knew it was a shape button because it is the only interactive object that can be timed for the rest of the project.

This means it is linked with the timing for the rest of the project, since it works on one slide. If I have some time later on, will try to reproduce the situation here.

[faisalimam]

So the master slide has:

Two Placeholder Text Captions - deleted these from the master and that did not affect the glossary issue.

A PNG image that is used for the header and has content in the top 120 pixels of the screen, however the PNG has transparent area that covers the entire stage/canvas. Once I removed this the Glossary started working again.

The PNG is the bottom most layer in the master, should it not be out of the way for the slide content? All of the other interactive stuff works fine (including the launch and close buttons), but I guess the Glossary is layered below the PNG???

[Lilybiri]

Interesting! Could you try to merge that PNG to the background in the master slide? Why do you want a transparent area on a background? Puzzled.

[faisalimam]

Tried merging the PNG to background and it did not help.

Cropped the header PNG and it helped but now even the text boxes or other clickable items on screen block the Glossary. So if there is a text box on the screen that I launch the Glossary on, the area occupied by the text box becomes unclickable in the Glossary the rest of it is clickable, even though the text box is behind the Glossary.

Any ideas???

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

I would opt for a toggle button that is not on the Glossary as I explained

before. But will certainly try to explore.

[faisalimam]

Yes, went with the toggle button and have it working.

Thanks for all your help!!

[BDuckWorks]

It looks like you've made progress, but I wanted to add a variation that may have avoided some of your trouble.

"To show the glossary, I use a glossary icon/button (shape) on the first slide of the project and set its timing to "rest of the project". It does not overlap the glossary and functions properly.

The first slide also has the Advanced Action to hide the Glossary and the Close button (which overlaps the Glossary) On Enter.

The Glossary button is clicked and opens the Glossary, but the Close button is not visible. A mouse over indicates that the button is there because the cursor changes and clicking in that area also closes the Glossary."

I've built a course that will serve as a model for a(nother) 10-20 course Automotive Skills curriculum.

The difference is, I have the buttons on the first slide, set as invisible, and show 'for the rest of the project.'

A few slides later, I have the Glossary interaction, set as visible AND timeing set to 'rest of the project.' On this slide, I give them a walk-through on how to use the glossary interaction. On exit of that slide I have it hide.

The rest of the project plays with a 'Show Glossary' button visible, that toggles the visibility of a 'Hide Glossary' and the Glossary interaction itself.

This took awhile to design, but it has held up through multiple iterations of the slides.

[RodWard]

One little question if I may...

When you add an object to a slide and set its timing to be for Rest of Project, there's a checkbox on the Timing tab to also Place Object On Top.  Did you check that box?

[faisalimam]

Yes, that box was being checked just for the close button, not for other

items.

[RodWard]

If it wasn't checked for the Glossary then maybe you should try doing that to see if it helps the issue with the Glossary not responding to mouse interaction on subsequent slides.  Make sure your Close button is still sitting higher on the timeline stacking order though.

[TLCMediaDesign]

Just to tag along with what Rod said.

If the object is not at the top of the stacking order, this will have no effect on subsequent slides. The object must be at the top of the stacking order for "Place object on top" to work correctly.