Captivate: Is it possible to pause the slide & stop it from jumping from one slide to another slide?

[Sandyy A.Leo]

Hello!
1) In my Captivate test project, there are two buttons and the two buttons have their own popups and close buttons.

2) The popups are initially hidden and will only appear if the buttons i.e. "Follow us" or "Contact us" are clicked

3) There is a smart shape used as a button called "Exit course" and it has audio inserted into it.

4) While the audio is playing if the learner clicks the "follow us" or "contact us" button, the "Exit course" audio should stop, and when the learner clicks the close button the audio should continue from where it stopped and it works fine.

5) When the whole audio from the "Exit course" smartshape is done playing, the learner clicks the close button which appears after clicking the "follow us" or "contact us" button. The slide jumps to the other slide and how to stop the slide from jumping to the next/another slide.

Screenshot of the slide and timline:

*Advanced action of the Follow us buttons*: 

*Advanced action of the Contact us buttons*: 

Thank you,

[Lilybiri]

The screenshot of the timeline is not complete: is this audio slide audio, it should appear below the slide timeline? Horizontally it is not complete neither, please move the slider to zoom out, so that it is possible to see the complete timeline. At this moment all visible interactive objects have no pausing point. It may be as simple as adding the pausing point to the Exit button. That Exit button has object audio attached, why? If that is the only audio, there is no need whatsoever to make that slide so long.

Can you please post a screenshot of the Advanced Interaction panel (F9)? Make sure to increase the width of the columns 'On Success' and 'On Failure' to allow me to see the links between the events and the actions. 

[Sandyy A.Leo]

Mam the actual scenario of this slide is it has 6 buttons after completing the six buttons the "End Course" button with the audio inserted should appear. But that 6 button part is working fine so didn't post that part.

The issue is after the 6 buttons are clicked and after the "End Course" button has appeared.

When the "End course" buttons audio is done playing and that time if we click any 1 Close buttons which belongs to the "Contact Us" or "Follow Us" buttons, the current slide jumps to the "Next Slide".

So how to stop the slide from jumping to another slide?

Timeline:

Advanced Interaction:

[Lilybiri]

Is it not possible/wanted to disable buttons that you don't want to be clicked? You can include that with actions checking the completion of the six buttons. If you want to revisit the slide, use the On Enter event of that slide to enable all buttons.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

1) Mam the buttons "Contact Us" and "Follow Us" buttons that won't be disabled from the start with the 6 buttons, the 2 buttons are free buttons that will be enabled from the start. 

2) Learners can click the 2 buttons and close the popups whenever they want.

3) Those 2 buttons will contain basic data like contact numbers, addresses, etc. So it won't be a part of 6 buttons.

[Lilybiri]

Without having a more complete view on your actions it is difficult to propose a workflow.

Do you know that the playhead is automatically released when clicking an interactive object (like a button) if that button triggers a simple action. If you convert that simple action in a one-line advanced action that will not be the case.

At this moment I don't see any pausing point in the timeline, which means that there is nothing to prevent the playhead moving to the next slide when it reaches the last frame of the slide. You will need at least one pausing point or even better having multiple pausing points all at the same frame near the end of the slide.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

Mam the issue I am talking about is similarly related to this blog. Will try the below blog and let u know if any issues.

https://blog.lilybiri.com/play-slash-pause-button-extended-classic-captivate

Thank you!

[Lilybiri]

No, that is not related to what you want. That custom play/pause button is fine as long as you don't have other interactive objects on the timeline but that is not the case here.

In which circumstances do you want the slide to proceed to the next slide. List up all possible situations, that will be necessary. At this moment the playhead proceeds throughout the frames of the slide without ever been paused.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

Mam, I hope this explanation will be clear to you. The design may not be accurate.

This is what the exact scenario is.

Scenario Explanation:
1) The slide should not proceed to the next slide as it is the homepage slide and it is the last slide.
2) In the homepage slide with 6 buttons there are two more buttons the "Contact Us" and "Follow Us" buttons.
3) All 6 buttons are disabled initially and will only be enabled when all the chapters are completed and it works fine with no issue with it.
4) The "End course" button should only appear when all the buttons are clicked and this also works fine.
5) The "Contact Us" and "Follow Us" buttons are free buttons and can be clicked when they want and are enabled always.

6) While the "End Course" audio is playing if I click the "Contact Us" or "Follow Us" buttons the audio pauses, and when I click the Close buttons the audio starts from where it last stopped and it doesn't not jump to the next slide and works fine.

Issue explanation:
1) After the "End Course" audio is done playing if I click the close button the slide advances to the next slide which is wrong. And it should not jump to the next slide.

Screenshots:

 1) 

 

2) 

3)  

4) 

[Lilybiri]

OK, I start to understand what you really want to achieve. In the screenshot of the Timeline, this time you added a pausing point to the Exit button, is that new?

May I summarize my understanding? 

• When the course is finished, you want the learner to remain on the Homepage indefinitely or
• You allow to exit the course, maybe by clicking that Exit button at any moment.

Since the audio is object audio and it has a pausing point it was not necessary to make that slide that long, although you tell that the Exit button is not visible from the start? Isn't that causing problems? What happens if you are on that home page and just wait for 19secs? The playhead will move to the next slide.... There is some misunderstanding. You have to make sure that this never happens.

Is the Close button triggering a simple action or an advanced action? Why did you not give it a pausing point?

You really need to (re) read this blog post about the meaning of pauses:

https://blog.lilybiri.com/pausing-captivates-timeline

Since it is the Close button who is creating the issue, I would give it a pausing point to start with (located before the on on the Exit button) and edit its action. But I first need to know its action at this moment.

The idea is to calculate the last frame number of this slide, and add a condition to check the current frame number. If the current frame number is smaller than the end frame number of the slide, it is OK, if not you should Pause the slide indefinitely.

That is indeed a very clunky workaround for a situation which should be solved with setting up the timeline, its pausing points and disable/enable in the correct way.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

a) OK, I start to understand what you really want to achieve. In the screenshot of the Timeline, this time you added a pausing point to the Exit button, is that new?

My answer: Yes I have added the pausing action to the "exit button" on the timeline.

b) When the course is finished I want to learner to exit the course by clicking the "Exit course" button.

c) The reason for the slide being long is by mistake, I mistakenly dragged the timeline too much.

d) After waiting for 19sec nothing will happen as the On Exit for the slide is Paused.

e) The close button has a simple advanced action.

Actually I don't know how to execute the scenario so will follow whatever you suggest mam.

Close button advanced actions:

[Lilybiri]

about d): You tell me that the Exit button is not visible but becomes visible probably based on a conditional action after all chapters have been viewed. If that Exit button is not visible, its pausing point is not active and after 19 seconds the playhead will move to the next slide. I don't think you tested it.

about e): a simple action is one you enter immediately in the actions tab of the Properties panel and has one command, whereas an advanced action is created in the Advanced actions dialog box. Which one is it?

[Sandyy A.Leo]

about d): You tell me that the Exit button is not visible but becomes visible probably based on a conditional action after all chapters have been viewed. If that Exit button is not visible, its pausing point is not active and after 19 seconds the playhead will move to the next slide. I don't think you tested it.

Sorry Mam I did not get what you said.

about e): a simple action is one you enter immediately in the actions tab of the Properties panel and has one command, whereas an advanced action is created in the Advanced actions dialog box. Which one is it?

Below are the On Succes advanced action and the one which I created inside the Advanced action dialog box. I hope this is what you asking mam.

Advanced action screenshot: 

In the below video the exact issue can be found of what happens when the close button is clicked while playing and after the "Exit Course" audio is done playing:

[Lilybiri]

There is a reason why I pointed to the blog about Pausing Timeline. 

You are never using the functionality of pausing points, but always putting Pause and Continue in an advanced action., which is not a good idea at all.

Did you test what I asked for? The pausing point of the exit button will only really pause the playhead when the Exit button is visible. It is the same as the audio: it will only start to play when that  button is visible. As long as it is hidden, if you leave the home page without doing anything on your screen, after 19 seconds it will move to the next slide.

What happens in the video is also due to the 'Continue' command in the action for that Close button. If the playhead is at the pausing point of the Exit button, clicking the Close button triggers the advanced action and 'Continue' will override your pausing point, and playhead continue to the next slide.

Now you may understand why I really need a complete view, like what you finally showed with those actions. You need to understand the difference between the absolute Pause command, and the pausing points of interactive objects. Even if you add a pause to the end of the slide, your close advanced action will override it.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

My apologies Mam. Most of the things I don't know and most of the things I forget to implement. Sometimes I am not able to explain the issues properly which leads to confusion. So I posted a video with working.

Did you test what I asked for? The pausing point of the exit button will only really pause the playhead when the Exit button is visible. It is the same as the audio: it will only start to play when that  button is visible. As long as it is hidden, if you leave the home page without doing anything on your screen, after 19 seconds it will move to the next slide. 

Mam in the below video I have tested out the issue which you told to check, I waited for 19sec without doing anything with "Exit button" hidden in the output with the adding the pausing action to the "Exit button" :

[Lilybiri]

In that video the Exit button is visible! 

I don't understand: why do you attach the audio to the Exit button if it is always visible? Why not use slide audio? I misunderstood that you didn't want to show that button from the start nor wanted to have that audio playing from the start.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

Mam, in that video exit button is visible on stage but disabled on output in the top left corner. 

The Exit button and its audio are not visible in real official projects. It will be visible only if 6 buttons are clicked.

If I start explaining the working on 6 buttons then the topic will be dragged to much and will create more confusions and in real there is no issue with this part in the real project. 

So to make it shorter and easy to understand I created a test project and wanted to ask you on how to deal with the issue after the "Exit course" button is visible after clicking all the 6 buttons and with the close buttons. So I kept it visible from start.

The requirement is for the smartshape audio not slide audio.

[Lilybiri]

I'm sorry but you seem to think that such a project can be solved without seeing the complete picture. Your test project is  not replicating the real situation which will cause problems. I have solved many projects like yours for clients (not for free) and know that first requirement is that I need the complete view of the project before being able to detect possible solutions, and in your case, using Captivate's features in the way they are supposed to being used. Sorry but I cannot help you, and you know that I am very patient.

[Sandyy A.Leo]

No problem mam! 

For now, I will stop this topic, but in the future will come up with a better explanation.

My apologies for wasting your valuable time. You have already helped me a lot. 

Thank you!