Interactive widgets not working in Chrome, firefox and Edge

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Hi,

I am trying to use interactive widgets (e.g., accordion).. It shows up properly in IE brower, but not in Edge, Firefox and chrome... It keeps saying "Loading..." and then nothing appears.

Any suggestions?

Thank you

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Did you upload the Learning Interaction 'Accordion', the widget is incompatible with HTML/

How did you test: locally after publishing, in preview, or after uploading to a webserver?

Are you on the most recent version of Captivate,

Report · Sep 10, 2021

I am using 11.5.1.499 version of captivate (2019).

It works in preview, it works in IE browser after publishing. It does not work in Chrome, Firefox, & Edge after publishing.

I also changed the "UseWidget7 " to 1. No joy.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Is there a work around? Thank you.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

The HTML5 Tracker is not saying that this widget is incompatible.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

For the accordion property Linkage it says "1_accordion.swf" . Is this the correct widget or should I use another accordion widget?

Report · Sep 10, 2021

That depends. How did you originally insert the accordion? Was it via the Insert > Widget menu item? Or via the big button for Interactions > Learning Interactions?

The first method inserts an SWF widget. The second shows you a dialog with HTML5-compatible widgets.

Looking at the Linkage property is a bit deceiving because the interface dialog used to configure the widget is actually an SWF object, but it is NOT published with the final output.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Second method using the big buttons.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

OK. That is the correct way. Does the interaction work if you set your default browser to Chrome and then use the Preview in HTML5 method to view the content? I'm willing to bet you a beer that it does work in Chrome when you view it this way.

This is because the Preview in HTML5 method creates a temporary localhost web server environment and HTML5 works best from a web server. Modern web servers like Chrome and Edge enforce certain things that IE does not. That's probably why you can play it locally from IE but not from other browsers.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Thanks for the quick response. I appreciate.

I am publishing. I then unzip the file and click on the index.html file to view it in browser.

Should these widgets (accordion, tab etc.) work in 2019 captivate on all browsers?

I wish I had a sample cptx file that worked on all browser with a accordion widget in it. Then I could manuplate it for reuse.

Have a great evening!

Report · Sep 10, 2021

The method you just described (unzipping and running locally in a browser) does not use a web server environment. So, you are not viewing the HTML content the way it was designed to work, and that's why it is not working.

Try the method I described of using Preview in HTML5. Look for the LocalHost word in the browser address bar. If you do not see that then you are NOT in a web server environment.

Try the method I suggest.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

I will definitely try the Preview in HTML5 method you mentioned. But eventually I have to publish this training for a LMS (LX system) I think its the SABA Training system. It is my responsibility to make sure the training will work in the LX system because it is being maintained by a different group of people. I don't have the luxury to go back and forth if something does not work.

In addition to Preview in HTML 5 are there anyother was of testing this out on the local computer to make sure it works eventually on the LX (SABA) system?

Thanks!

Report · Sep 10, 2021

An LMS is always a web server as well. It's a database-driven web application that allows content to be delivered over the internet.

If you haven't got access to a TEST instance of your company LMS to upload content for testing purposes then the easiest way to confirm whether or not your Captivate SCORM module should work in another LMS is to just sign up for a free test account with SCORM Cloud online LMS. Upload your SCORM to SCORM Cloud and then you will be able to see how it functions in a web server as well as an LMS.

It is specifically because Adobe knows you would need to test your content locally on your PC in a web server environment that they have built into Captivate the Preview in HTML option. Also, if you do not select the ZIP option in the publish settings then when you publish and accept the offer to view the content, you will also be seeing it as it would look in a web server environment.

If you do not want to use the inbuilt temporary web server environment that Captivate provides then you can certainly set up a working web server on your local PC for testing. My recommendation would be that you just download one of the Moodle LMS install packages that contains everything you need to set up a working Moodle instance installed on your PC. The install package installs an instance of Apache web werver, PHP, and MySQL database before then installing a working instance of the Moodle LMS. However, to pull off this install I would suggest you are probably going to need the help of someone from your IT department. It requires a certain level of technical knowledge. Using the Captivate Preview as HTML method requires no such technical skills.

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Thank you for all your inputs!

You were so right about preview in other browsers . I was able to change my default browser to Edge and the accordion widget rendered gracefully with no problem. I can only change my default browser to IE or Edge, cannot change to Firefox or Chrome but I am sure it will work with those. So this gives me confidence that it will work in the LMS system.

My next hurdle is how how do I publish this package such that it can be review by my team internally, without hosting it on LMS. So far we forward the zip file to the team and they unzip and double click on the index.html. Everyone in the team does not have Captivate installed so they cannot preview in a html browser. Installing a web server is a far cry.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Report · Sep 10, 2021

Never mind I can request the team to one the index.html in IE browser as there are no problems displaying any of the interactive widgets in IE browser. I do find that strange, that the widgets work in IE browser and not in Chrome, Firefox and edge.

Does changing the "UserWidget7" to 1 from 0 matter?

Report · Sep 10, 2021

As I mentioned earlier, more recent browsers handle security somewhat differently (and better) than IE.

UseWidget7 has to be set in the AdobeCaptivate.ini file buried in the Adobe Captivate install directory. It does not determine whether or not the widget runs at all. It relates to whether or not the iFrame in which the widget is displayed will be at the very top level of the slide hierarchy at runtime. If it is, then you will find objects placed on top of the widget in the Captivate edit window will appear below the widget's iframe at runtime. Setting UseWidget 7 value to 1 instead of the default value 0 is a way to have more control over the widget iframe obeying the layer ordering.

Report · Sep 11, 2021

Just FYI Accordion (like most Learning Interactions) is not an 'interactive' one, but a static interaction. The only interactive ones remaining in versions before 11.5 were the games, but they have been taken out.

UserWidget7 change is meant to allow the interactions below other objects, which is certainly not recommended for the type of interaction you used.

The HTML tracker is not always correct. Previous versions did allow both insertion of widgets (from the Insert menu) as inserting Learning Interactions because they still were used for SWF output. That is the reason I asked about the correct term. Have a look at this blog:

http://blog.lilybiri.com/tips-learning-interactions

It was written when the games were still available, they are in the free table.

I wanted to ask 'which Preview', but Rod already mentioned that you should use ony F11, Preview HTML in Browser if you are on a non-responsive project.

Some of the interactions will only work perfectly when they are uploaded to a webserver. I mentioned that already before, it is the only way to have full functionality. Local viewing (using localhost) is not always sufficient.