Default text in TEB

[ricgINX]

I have recently upgraded to Captivate 2017 from 5.5 and have previously use a widget "Variable in the default text for TEB (AS3) Version 5.0 by Jim Leichliter and I cant find an update for this widget

The use case is the user is asked to enter details to complete a form field - if they pressed enter default text would appear, but the widget is not working in the latest version of Captivate.

In the TEB I have the variable $$v_defaultTEB$$ (The default TExt) which is assigned to a variable 'v_eventDesc' and an advanced action of

IF 'v_eventDesc' is equal to $$v_defaultTEB$$ >>> Action Assign v_eventDesc with "This is where I enter details" and GO to Next Slide

ELSE Go to Next Slide.

When playing the slide the default text of $$v_defaultTEB$$ is showing on the screen and the user starts typing after the default text or can delete it - this is not acceptable.  It should not be showing on the screen

Like I said this worked fine in Catpivate 5.5 and I need to find a solution as I am doing a number of software simulations that have a large number of TEB's.

[RodWard]

If your intended output is now HTML5, you might find the CpExtra HTML5 widget can replicate the functionality you require.

http://www.infosemantics.com.au/adobe-captivate-widgets/cpextra/help/preference-variables/teb-behavi...

[Lilybiri]

You definitely should have a look at the CpExtra widget by InfoSemantics, not only for this feature (Jim is no longer in the business) but for many, many other features. It is a real Swiss knife, that any Captivate developer needs to have in the toolkit.

[ricgINX]

Thanks guys.  We have used Infosemantics widgets in the past.

[ricgINX]

Ok - the CpExtra widget hasn't helped and I am at my whits end here.

I cannot see why its not working.

I am concentrating on html5 output but still cannot get the variable assigned with the default value.  The image on the OP showed the SWF output.  If I publish as SWF it does the same stil, ie: showing the default variable, but it does assign the value to the variable correctly - It DOES NOT assign the variable in HTML5 output

The variable $$v_defaultTEB$$ is a pre-defined variable with a null value.  This what I have been advised to do yet it still is not working - I've spent days on what used to work with no problems in Captivate 5.5 - strongly considering dumping captivate 2017 and going back to 5.5

[Lilybiri]

I used the CpExtra widget successfully as described in these articles:

Playing with Numbers - part 1 - Captivate blog

Playing with Numbers - part 2 - Captivate blog

It doesn't prove anything for your use case, just wanted to show examples. You gave too little detail (about the advanced actions and their triggering events) to see if there is a human error or not.

Since you want to publish to HTML5, going back to 5.5 will certainly not be a valid alternative.

[ricgINX]

thanks lilybiri - there's no human error - the only thing different between how I had it previously in Captivate 5.5 (which published as SWF and HTML which will still suffice ehich is why considering going back) to now is I had the old widget of Jims on the slide - the set up is exactly the same - apart from having the CPExtra widget installed.  If I play it back in SWF it assigns the variable as expected - so why doesn't it in HTML5 - this I cannot understand.

Ive added some screen shots - The ELSE on the action is 'Go to next slide'

[ricgINX]

The types in TEB and presses Enter to advance to next slide where v_eventDesc should populate with either the default text as shown above or whatever the user has entered in the TEB

Thanks

[Lilybiri]

In the articles I pointed to, I will change the value of the associated variable to the TEB, in your example v_eventDesc. I never inserted a variable as Default text. Since the default text is empty, why do you insert that variable? I described the use of an empty variable in a very old blog post, which is still daily visited:

Where is Null? - Captivate blog

If you want to check if the entry is empty, no need to insert a default text. Maybe I don't understand fully why you do this. Do you ever change that variable v_defaultTEB?

BTW Jim was a great developer, and a friend to me (although we never met IRL), he even developed some widgets based on my request (you can find their description in my blog as well). He decided for personal reasons to leave the business, a great loss for the Captivate community. I still cherish his JS training....

[ricgINX]

Thanks Lilybiri

I had tried removing the default text and it still didn't work.  so I gave up Friday night and went home for the weekend all stressed and upset at myself for not being able to work it out.

Thinking at 8:30pm Sunday night and dreading returning to the office in the morning, I thought id take a quick look again with a fresh mind with a break of  over 50 hours and ....

I again removed the default text as you suggested - used the 'null' variable idea Rod mentioned - but this didn't work -  after the first TEB worked, the second didn't, nor did each subsequent one , then it clicked - I had been using the same 'null' variable for each text box.

I guess that what happens when you keep going around in circles and your brain is fried - still don't no why it did everything as expected in SWF output but not HTML5 - but I don't care anymore - I finally won, but I wont get those 3.5 days back of stressing out over what used to work and should've been easy to replicate.

Thanks for your help Lilybiri and Rod - I finally got there....

[Lilybiri]

Did you read my article about the empty user variable v_null? I don't know, since you referred to Rod if we meant the same thing, but I published that blog post 6 years ago and it is still valid. You can use that variable over and over again in the advanced actions, no problem. It is one of the default variables I have in any project I'm creating (using shared actions from an external library to avoid having to recreate it every time). I don't understand what you mean in your last answer, sorry. To avoid confusion for other users, please can you clarify? I think there is still a logical bug in the conditional action which you use.