Exit button issue in Captivate 5

[Guest]

Hi,

This is regarding the exit button on the playback controls. I have been using Captivate from version 2. Recently, started using version 5. When I published my simulation, the exit button is not working as earlier. It is also not working from- web server(IIS, Apache), when opened as pop-up as well. In local too however not working. I tried in both IE 7 and Firefox latest version.

I have seen the response from Adobe on this issue on this forum. It was quite surprising; it did not talk about the solution at all;

What I am not sure about is -

1. Why the exit button was working earlier versions.. why is it not working in latest?

2. Why should when simple code like top.close(); works fine (when coded inside the Captivate)?

3. Why is Adobe not acknowledging the issue?

4. Why there is no working around provided in the forums for this issue?

Could anybody please help me understanding this problem? I am really frustrated.

Thanks.

[Guest]

Hello Rick,

Thanks for your reply but the fullscreen option doesn't work if reporting is turned on. If reporting is turned on (in my case for an AICC based LMS), Captivate still publishes a *_fs.html file but it is orphaned/does not link to any of the other files.

- Doug

[Captiv8r]

Ahhh, bummer that!

One thing I'd like to stress to anyone reading this thread and having the issues is that it's absolutely crucial that all of you report the undesired behavior to Adobe as a bug or a desired feature. ( http://www.adobe.com/go/wish )

As some of you claim that other authoring tools allow it to work just fine, that would seem that perhaps Adobe could do something as well.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Thanks Rick.

I've been a Captivate user off/on for a few years now and I first reported this problem back in 5.0 (I swere this worked in version 4 - though not 100% certain).

http://www.adobe.com/go/wish

I will again but I am not convinced that anyone reads this. 😞

I worry that there are very few Captivate users that build LMS based lessons that are not just simulations (i.e. we do not use the slider bar in our content).

- Doug

[Captiv8r]

SeatacDoug wrote:

http://www.adobe.com/go/wish

I will again but I am not convinced that anyone reads this. 😞

Trust me, EACH submission is noted and cataloged by the Captivate team. Contrary to your suspicions, submissions DON'T just fall into a big bit bucket leaving you with only a warm feeling that you had your say.

That's why it's so crucial for folks to report things. The more any given item is reported, the higher the priority it gains for being fixed or added.

Cheers... Rick

[RodWard]

Doug,

It's not as simple as just writing a LITTLE bit of JS code.  The SCORM and AICC APIs communicate lots of different variables and their related values over to the LMS.  In order for your child windows to accurately and reliably hand this information on they would need to pick up and transfer every bit of data for each of these variables.  And it doesn't stop there...typically the course will wait for the LMS to confirm that it has received that data before it moves on.  So your communication conduit (via your child window) must be TWO-WAY, not just one way.  This is why tossing a child window into the mix breaks everything.  And this is (one reason) why Adobe chose to make it more difficult to use child windows when you turn on reporting.  They DON'T need the support calls.

If you look carefully at the code behind an LMS that DOES allow you to launch Captivate content in a child window you will see that it's NOT actually just the Captivate window.  It's more than likely a frameset running the Captivate content inside an iframe or similar, and in the parent window of this child frameset there will be code to pick up and maintain the SCORM API connection between the course and the LMS.  So looks can be deceiving sometimes.

By all means log an enhancement request.  Adobe has some clever boys down there in India and maybe one or two of them will be put to work on this.  But as you've noted, this issue has been around for years.  So perhaps the wisest course is just to save your hair and work around the issue.  I've still got all my hair, despite working with Captivate since before version 1!

[Guest]

RodWard wrote:

Doug,

It's not as simple as just writing a LITTLE bit of JS code. 

Hello Rod,

I've have acknowledged that time and time again. But regardless of the 'complexity' several things are true:

1) Every other elearning allows launching in a child window (see my Lectora screen cap).

2) Not allowing a child windows, breaks the ability to close a lesson in an elegant manner (via EXIT button).

3) The methods employed to maintain two way communications are tried and true... at least in my experience working with multiple LMSs and multiple eLearning tools like Lectora.

4) I mean no offense by this but just because (I suspect) most of you are not harmed by this flaw doesn't make diminish the fact that this is a serious short coming in Captivate 6 that none of the other tools have.

5) $%&$!@ if I understood javascript, I would find my own solution and share it with the Captivate world!

Also, I pointed this problem out in version 5 and heard nothing from Adobe. Then I dumped Captivate... but now I am back and I have no choice but to find a solution.

RodWard wrote:

So perhaps the wisest course is just to save your hair and work around the issue. 

The biggest problem is that I must follow a corporate standard. We have 200 or more lessons that have a corporate standard look/feel - all with working EXIT buttons, they all ask a returning student if they would like to start over or continue where they left off, and force a lesson to start in a child windows with the LMS screen left intact on the parent window.... Now I am forced to tell my manager that Adobe Captivate cannot do any of those things (when reporting/LMS is turned on). Do you understand how difficult it would be to explain this when I am the first employee they have hired that cannot do any of that! I am the one who suggested that Captivate would save the organization money instead of purchasing the other tools.

That is the reason for my extreme frustration. I feel stupid and let down by Adobe!

[RodWard]

So Lectora doesn't have this problem??

http://lectora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11885

[Captiv8r]

LOL!

Thanks for sharing that, Rod!

[Guest]

Captiv8r wrote:

LOL!

Thanks for sharing that, Rod!

Seriously, come on guys... you're making light of a serious situation (for me and a few others). Not very nice!

I didn't come here to disparage a product or any person, I came here hoping to find answers. I must work with this product one way or another. I believe the answer is easy for someone with good JavaScript skills.

BTW, Rod... talk about cherry picking. That really was not a fair example. I am well aware of the Lectora forum and if you were a little more honest, you acknowledge that nearly every thread regarding difficulties with a properly working exit button (a function built into Lectora) is resolved in a satisfactory manner. Humor me, go search again. I am willing to bet that the poster rxmeds solved his problem because this person never came back.

Anyhow, I am sorry I named another product. My intention was to never make claim that one is better than another. Heck, Lectora is frustratingly old-school with its severe lack of graphics (shading, gradients, etc.) and poor HTML5 support. But what it is very good at is compatibility on all LMSs.

[RodWard]

No one is making light of this issue.  It dogs anyone working in e-learning.  I simply pointed out that the assertion that Captivate is the only tool that hasn't solved this issue is simply NOT true.

I've done quite a bit of Googling on this today and find that forums of all tools I came across report the same issue to a greater or lesser extent.  No one claims a definitive solution that will work in ALL circumstances in ALL browsers in ALL LMSs.  Any solution falls short somewhere.

A very worthwhile explanation of the nuances of this issue was actually posted several years ago by Claude Ostyn (considered by some to be the "grandfather of SCORM"):
http://www.ostyn.com/standards/docs/ToCloseOrNotToClose.htm

In a previous thread I pointed you to a Google group frequented by people that are all world class Javascript and SCORM experts.  I watch that forum too. Even they don't claim to have this issue put to bed.  There are also some JavaScript experts on this Adobe Captivate forum (not me) but I don't see them claiming to have it beat either. 

I don't think this is any discredit to their skills or to to the quality of the coding in Captivate.  It's a KNOWN ISSUE with elearning and LMS content in the browser environment.

Rage against the injustice of it all if you want.  The universe isn't kind sometimes and there may simply be nothing you can do about it.

[Captiv8r]

Doug, it was never my intention to "make light" of your situation. I'm pretty sure Rod would say the same thing. I'm sure it's very frustrating for you. All I've ever tried to do here is to point out that (at least to the best of my own understanding) it's not an issue that is easily resolved.

But you did make the claim that seemed to openly state that Captivate is the ONLY tool of all of them out there that exhibits this Exit button issue. Admittedly it was refreshing to see Rod point out that not only does another tool actually HAVE the issue you stated it doesn't, but the person trying to help in the thread is answering by basically citing the identical reasons I've been citing for Captivate and being painted as not knowing what I'm talking about when I simply try to explain it.

Cheers... Rick

[jimitodd]

People have mentioned it hasn't worked for years.

The 6 pc's in the office I work in were all working fine until about 6 months ago,

then all started failing over a period of 2 weeks.

I put it down to a service pack update that had the bug or it seemed to go hand in hand with the release of v6.

We are running win xp, win 7 and Mac OS 10.8 with various browsers all have the same issue.

Also around that time the spellchecker stopped working, I haven't been able to figure out what causes it to stop working yet.

Jimbo

[Guest]

Captiv8r wrote:

But you did make the claim that seemed to openly state that Captivate is the ONLY tool of all of them out there that exhibits this Exit button issue. Admittedly it was refreshing to see Rod point out that not only does another tool actually HAVE the issue you stated it doesn't,

Hello Rick, If I ever stated that Captivate was the ONLY tool, I am sorry... because I cannot possibly know that for fact. However, my issue was that Rod took the trouble to find a rare thread where a nearly one-time user posted a message about having a problem. That was a misleading link! I've used Lectora for many years on about 15 different LMS's (AICC and all versions of SCORM) and I have never encountered an Exit lesson issue. Furthermore, unlike Captivate, Lectora actually includes a built in EXIT function. Obviously, the Lectora people had enough confidence that it would work in most situations.

In Lectora, it really is that simple to use. Assign the On Click Action, "Exit Title/Close Window" and Lectora will send the appropriate LMS commands and close the window. It simply works in almost every situation. The exit type function is also available in many other rapid eLearning tools.

Why is Captivate missing such a crucial function?

I'm not here to whine about Captivate and compare it to other tools. I goal is that maybe I can help make this a better tool... or for purely selfish reasons, find solutions to my problems so that management agrees that my decision to use Captivate for eLearning was the best one.

Perhaps we got off on the wrong track with me getting so emotional about this but seriously, I'm in a real pickle here. I cannot exit my lessons cleanly and therefore reporting isn't working properly.

I'd be even happy to, at least, have a solution for forcing an AICC completion string to the LMS. Again, something that doesn't seem very obvious with Captivate.

Thank you for reading,

Doug

[RodWard]

I reject the idea that I posted a "misleading" link. I found several such threads with even a quick search and posted the one that seemed to contain the most relevant information.  The point was to show that Lectora users also encounter this issue.

As I said, no solution for this issue can be guaranteed to work in all situations, in all browsers, in all LMSs.  And Captivate is NOT the only tool where authors are complaining.

All tools I saw included some kind of Exit button functionality.  Captivate isn't "missing" this functionality.  Like the other tools, it just doesn't work sometimes, especially where LMSs are involved.

We're going round in circles now with issue and I'm tired of repeating myself.  If there were a perfect solution for this issue I would have seen it by now and I would have shared it with this forum the same way I freely give any other information I can to solve issues.

I'm officially DONE with this thread.

[Guest]

Truly sorry if I have offended you.

I was just looking for a solution.

Hopefully someone else will eventually suggest a solution.

[SethXP]

Can you not package your CP courses in Lectora?

[Guest]

SethXP wrote:

Can you not package your CP courses in Lectora?

I have already designed a custom Cp6 template, themes, etc. and applied the learning content (videos and text slides). There is no way to wrap Lectora around this content. The only way to employ Lectora is to start over and that isn't a workable solution in terms of time and money.

I am determined to find a solution to this.

Like I asked earlier, even a way to send a AICC "complete" string would be a good enough solution for now. Oddly, Captivate 6 doesn't 'seem' to offer a whole lot of support for AICC LMS publishing. The options are extremely limited and there doesn't seem to be any options for customizing the AICC data sent to the LMS.

Currently, the LMS only reports an incomplete on the lesson. Even setting the Status Representation to "Incomplete ---> Complete" and Slide views to 50%, Selecting Interaction Data... doesn't help!

I wonder if Captivate is sending "Incomplete/Complete" capitalized? I once worked with a LMS that would only accept lower case strings. But as a top authoring tool, I expect that Captivate should allow the developer to customize these strings!  I won't have the details on what this LMS requires until Monday.

Thanks to all. When I find a solution to all this nonsense, I will report back!

[tegan719]

Hi SeatacDoug,

I've been following this thread and have the EXACT same issue and I am in the same scenario as you. If you find a solution, or even a workaround, please post it here. Thanks!

[shawninvancouver]

Hello Tegan719, check out my previous post.

I suggested using "history.back(-x)" to Doug a few days ago and he reported that it works for him.

An actual EXIT is a tough one that I am still working out but the JavaScript history might be a better alternative in many cases anyway.

Take care,

Shawn

[www_cpguru_com]

I know this isn't going to be of much help and I don't have the solution for this Exit button problem however..

In our LMS the Exit button works well enough if we open up the window in a pop-up. If we play the course "embedded" in the LMS (which is how we normally do it) then the Captivate Exit button doesn't work, but our LMS has its own Exit Course button so this is not a problem.

We are using IE8 as our Corporate browser and users cannot install anything else on their machines. I have FireFox, Chrome and Safari on my machine for testing purposes and the Exit button works there as well. Maybe it's the way our LMS opens the course in a pop-up window (this is handled by the LMS when you set up the course) that makes the Exit button work, but I can't say for sure.

I haven't actually tried to create a Captivate 6 course that opens in a pop-up window in our LMS, but I'll try that today and let you know if the Exit button works as it should.

---

www.cpguru.com - Adobe Captivate Widgets, Tutorials, Tips and Tricks and much more..

[www_cpguru_com]

When I posted earlier I didn't see that there was a second page and that the problem was actually solved

Anyways - I just tested a CP6 course in our LMS and the Exit button works perfectly well without me having to change anything at all.Guess I'm just lucky that I don't have to fiddle around with JavaScript to make it work.

/Michael

[shawninvancouver]

www.cpguru.com wrote:

When I posted earlier I didn't see that there was a second page and that the problem was actually solved

Anyways - I just tested a CP6 course in our LMS and the Exit button works perfectly well without me having to change anything at all.Guess I'm just lucky that I don't have to fiddle around with JavaScript to make it work.

/Michael

Hello Michael,

I have been in this nasty predicament myself so I am building a matrix of when/where/what makes an exit javascript work. When I am 'done', hopefully this will help others *and* provide insight to the Captivate team.

First, I will guess that your LMS supports opening the Cp6 course in a child window. Is that true?

What LMS are you using and what Javascript do you employ to close the course?

[www_cpguru_com]

Hi Shawn,

We use an LMS from a small Danish vendor so it's not one of the big enterprise LMS's out there.

And yes the LMS supports opening the course in a child window. When I upload the SCORM package I can select how to display it in the LMS. Normally we run the content "Embedded" in the LMS itself and avoid opening courses in a child window, but I can change this behavior to "Pop-up", which makes the course open in a child window.

I'm not doing any modifications to Captivate, SCORM or Javascript at all. I simply created a Captivate 6 test project, published it to SCORM and uploaded the ZIP file to the LMS and the Exit button works out of the box.

For sake of comparison I just tried to switch the course from opening in a child window to "Embedded" and the Exit button actually still works and unloads the course and returns back to the LMS course menu.

/Michael

[jimitodd]

Hi Everyone.

I'm trying to establish the differance between the systems that work and not work to find a pattern.

Can you answer a couple of questions:

Does the exit button work

Does the Java button work

Operating system

New install or upgrade and versions

Full elearning suite or just captivate and version

[Captiv8r]

Hi Jimtodd

You can study all you like, but in the end I believe you will find the pattern is this:

Exit button works = The output was opened in a child window

Exit button does NOT work = The output was just opened in the browser

All the rest is moot.

Cheers... Rick