cpCmndResume causing "issue?"

[HopeTC]

Captivate 2017

Master slide: Smartshape executes advanced action: show content group, Assign cpCmndPause with 1, hide other content groups, set to pause until user clicks. Smartshapes to jump to previous slide and jump to next slide.

Content slide: On first slide, content group (display for project duration): button to hide content group (itself), Assign cpCmndResume with 1.

Content slides: contain audio track and  and may or may not have other interactions.

Problem: when audio is finished and end of slide is reached if the smartshapes from the master slide are clicked, the slide auto-advances to the next slide. I realize this is because we've issues the cpCmndResume, which is necessary to pause the project while these groups display...and when we close them, we do want the slide to resume. However, is there any way of ensuring that we don't auto-advance or does the cpCmndResume override everything?

Any insight?

[Lilybiri]

Please, is it possible to post a Preview of the used advanced action? It will be much more clarifying than a textual explanation. Same with the setup of the master slide and the slide itself (timeline). Are the shape buttons on the master slide pausing the slide or not? By default they will pause, unless you took out that pausing point.

I almost never use the system variable cpCmndResume anymore, since you have the direct commands Pause and Continue (since version 7 if my memory is correct) which do exactly the same. Maybe you use a legacy action from old versions?

[HopeTC]

Yes the Assign statements from before we upgraded to 2017. I didn't bother to change them because they seemed to do the same things.

From the master slide:

From the content slides

[Lilybiri]

Need to see the timeline of the content slide. You have Previous and Next shape buttons, and that About_Button which is hidden in output. Where are the pausing points for those 3 buttons? When is that About_Button shown? Is it part of that About_Group? When the About_Show is done, you have:

• Absolute Pause (with the system variable cpCmndPause, I would replace that by the  command Pause; that pause will happen at the frame that the user clicked, which can be before or at the:
• Pausing point of the shape button on the master slide, which happens at the last frame of each slide, based on that master slide.

I need to see the timeline: if the shape buttons (Previous/Next) have no pausing point, and the user clicks the About_Show button at the last frame of the slide (where its pausing point is), it is logical that you'll have an automatic continue to the nest slide when clicking the About_Button. The Continue command (which replaces since several versions your cpCmndResume assignment) acts for both the absolute Pause and the pausing point. Last week I presented at Adobe Learning Summit about pausing the timeline.... learned (again) that most users, even advanced, seem not to see the importance of understanding that timeline.

To see and explore what is happening, insert a text container with the system variable cpInfoCurrentFrame. Check at which frame the pausing occurs.

[HopeTC]

Thank you for helping me! I appreciate your time.

I think my confusion is with the differences b/w the Pause and the cpCmndPause. I'm not opposed to changing the Assigns to Pause. I'm rereading your blog post on this topic (again).

Content slide: (all groups are set up basically the same format)

Master slide: (the highlighted one is our About..... )(again, all are set up basically the same way)

Previous

[Lilybiri]

Your problem is not linked with replacing the assignments by easier to handle commands, it is linked to pausing.

TImeline of the content slide is incomplete. Why is that slide so long: do you have slide audio?

The About_button has a pausing point at 1,5 secs, but it is hidden, correct? It will only show up when one of the shape buttons on the master slide is clicked. At that moment, the active part will probably already be skipped.  Did you try to insert that system variable?

You have all the other shape buttons on the master slide. Since you cannot time objects on the master slide, they all have their pausing point at the same moment, at the last frame of each slide, whatever its duration.

Try to explain in normal sentences what you want exactly to achieve. I probably will offer you a solution. But please, show me the total timeline, as well in vertical as in horizontal direction.

[HopeTC]

I agree,it is linked to pausing/releasing. I added the cpInfoCurrentFrame. It the pause is occuring at frame 956, end of slide is 958. So, clicking more than one action advances to the last frame and the project advances to the next slide.

Content timeline, yes there is audio:

Master slide:

[HopeTC]

What I would like for the project to do is to remain stopped at the end of the slide until the learner clicks the "jump to next slide" button, regardless of what has happened until that point.

[Lilybiri]

You have 4 buttons (each in a group), timed for the rest of the project but pausing at 1,5 seconds? Why do you need to pause at 1,5secs? You talk only about the About_button, but are the other buttons also hidden? I wonder if you need pausing points for those buttons, because they'll limit their usability to the first active part. What is the purpose of thos 4 buttons on the slide itself?

[HopeTC]

Of course, I inherited this... and multiple people have worked with it before me.

So the purpose of these buttons are to display information... the About Group (button) displays some information about the contents CBT/copyright information. The Navigation contains information about what types of browsers are supported. Reference has bibliographical information. Objectives display the objectives for the lesson... Contents toggles the TOC. There is even one for the Glossary widget which we aren't using right now.

I will play around with the pause timing.

Here is a link  to a stripped down project if anyone is interested.

testproject.cptx - Google Drive

[Lilybiri]

The problem is that you have the Continnue command i(cpCmndResume = 1) the 3 or 4 buttons that are hidden but made visible by actions. Even if you push the pausing point closer to the end of the slide, you'll still be able to navigate till the last frame because those buttons are temporarily hidden, thus disabled. When you show one of those buttons, and the playhead is at the last frame, the Continue command will also override the pausing of the shape buttons on the master slide and the learner will navigate to the next slide.

A possible work flow could be to put a click box on the slide, which has a pausing point before the last frame, and has No Action for the Success event. Set the pausing points of the hidden shape buttons all to happen just before the pausing of that click box. Since the click box is invisible to the user (you can make it really small and in location at top or bottom), it will pause the slide at that frame, whatever has happened with the other buttons. Check it out, have not really time myself at this moment.

[HopeTC]

I will check that out right now!!

[HopeTC]

I tried this. It really didn't have the effect that I wanted. I put the pause action at just before the end of slide...and then moved the button action to a few frames before. I could still get it to move to the next page. It acts like the cpCmndResume is releasing all of the pauses... which could just be the way that it works.

[Lilybiri]

I didn't talk about a 'pause action', but about a pausing point of an interactive object.  You must have missed something. 

I have created that type of setup multiple times for clients, pretty sure about it. Assigning the valkue 1 to cpCmndResume is exactly the same as the Continue command: the playhead will continue until it meets another pausing point or a Pause command. The click box I was talking about need to visible in output! It will provide the necessary 'stop' sign for the playhead.