html freezes/disappears after 45 seconds

Report · Feb 22, 2017

Hi,

I'm not a Captivate expert so could well be doing something wrong here. I've published a project with 800+ slides to swf/html5 and when the end user runs the .html file the project always freezes/disappears after 45 seconds (In Google Chrome the screen freezes, in Firefox and IE the content disappears completely).

It doesn't matter if I navigate to 10+ different slides during that 45 seconds or if I just sit on the original opening slide for 45 seconds or if I click lots of buttons or don't click any buttons etc. .... every time, after 45 seconds, the project freezes or disappears and I have to kill the browser.

My slides are all set to a length of 10 seconds. Is there anywhere else in the project where I might have a setting that says "kill project after 45s?"

Thanks,

Kevin

Report · Feb 22, 2017

For starters, this problem will be easier to debug if you're NOT dealing with two different types of outputs.

So just publish to HTM/SWF and see if the issue still exists. If it doesn't, just publish to HTML5 and see if it's doing it there.

When you find which output the issue seems to be, try hiding groups of slides and then republish (to just that output) to see if you can eliminate the issue by cutting out some section.

Report · Feb 22, 2017

Thanks Rod - I published as swf and got the same problem. I then published as html5 but when I open the published folder I can't see the usual *.html file. I can see one called Index.html and Goodbye.html but neither works.... do I need to do something else to publish solely in html5?

Report · Feb 22, 2017

Have you tried uploading your HTML5 content to a web server and testing it from there?

If this is the latest version of Captivate 9, you also need to make sure your web server is set up to allow JSON files.

Report · Feb 22, 2017

No, I've just been running the content locally from my machine. To test on a web server will require additional people and I just want to play about with draft versions until we're at that stage. Will running the html5 content locally on my machine be different to a web server? ... not clued up on this sort of stuff.....

Report · Feb 22, 2017

For HTML5 content to run properly it MUST be run from within a web server environment. If Captivate is properly set up on your PC you should be able to use one of the preview options to view it in a faux web server environment. But ideally you should either have access to a web server that you can use for testing purposes. Either somewhere on the web, or else set up a XAMPP server or WAMPP server on your own machine. If these are foreign concepts to you, then you may need to enlist the aid of an IT person to help.

Report · Feb 22, 2017

In short:

xxxx.htm launches the SWF version (xxxx=same name as SWF file)
index.html launches the HTML5 version
multiscreen.html let Captivate decide whether to launch SWF or HTML5 if published to both, depending on used device.

If the HTML5 version is not launching, something is really going awry. Try to upload to a webserver for testing as well.

Report · Apr 07, 2017

Hi Lilybiri and Rod,

Thanks for these replies. I've been trying to get our IT to look into this for a few weeks now but they're not getting back to me and I really need to get this project published and sent out. The user is taking the project to parts of the world where they're not going to have internet access anyway so uploading to a web server was really just for debugging ... the project would have to work locally on his machine eventually.

Are there any other options that would help fix why this project freezes after 45 seconds?

I've always just published these to a zip folder and then run the html file and it's been fine. we added a bunch of slides recently and this seems to have done something to make the project freeze at the 45 seconds mark ..... is there a size limit to Captivate projects?

I tried uploading to the ../Preview/Upload to SCORM cloud option (again just for debugging) but it's just been loading for the past hour with nothing to show.

Any ideas? If I send you an ftp link with the project would this help? I'm in a real bind here and need to start get something to clients....

Thanks,

Kevin

Report · Mar 13, 2017

Hi Rod,

our project has a bug in it somewhere too. I was about to divide the project into five or six smaller projects and test each of the smaller projects individually. Hiding large groups of slides would be a lot easier however, Is it impossible for a "bug" on a hidden slide to infect a project? If it is, I will just take the "hiding slide" route.

Report · Mar 13, 2017

That would depend on exactly where the 'bug' is located in the project. Most corruption issues are confined to specific objects and slides. So hiding slides is usually the best way to find the offender.

However, if the issue is connected with an Advanced Action or something in the underlying code for the entire project (e.g. the Theme) then it might not be dependent on any given slide.

You'll just have to take a copy of the project and try hiding slides and see what happens. If that doesn't work, try removing Variables and Advanced Actions.

Another way to strip out corruption is to copy slides into a new blank project shell of the same dimensions as the old one.

Report · Mar 13, 2017

Great. That sounds like a good route to go. Thanks.