text entry box on focus lost and on success

[jay fresno]

Can anyone explain the different between On Focus Lost and On Success action for a text entry box and why you would want to have a different action for these two settings which seem, at least on the surface, to perform practically the same function?

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

There is a difference.

On Success for the text entry box means that the text they entered was validated as correct.  On Failure means the text was not correct.

On Focus Lost allows you to trigger an action if the user types something into the text box and then does not click the Submit button.

For example, you might want a caption to appear telling them they need to click the Submit button to have their text evaluated or validated. So you add a caption to the stage, turn off Visibility, then set On Focus Lost to SHOW that caption and give appropriate instruction.

[jay fresno]

Rod, Thanks for this clarification.

[EvBB]

In a text entry box, why can I only get a "Failure" caption if I select "Validate User Input"? For example, I could have a slide where I want someone to select the text entry box and type anything they want before they move on. Meaning, I don't want to validate their input. But if they click elsewhere on the slide, I want a failure caption saying "Hey, you gotta put SOMETHING" in that text entry box." But Failure and Hint are both disabled unless I validate. Any workarounds?  Is there a way to validate, but allow wild card input, so anything they input is "validated"?

[Lilybiri]

Where is Null? - Captivate blog Maybe helpful?

And used similar approach but for Scrolling Text interaction: Custom Short Answer Question - Captivate blog

Lilybiri

[RodWard]

Text Entry Boxes also have an ON FOCUS LOST event which fires when the user clicks away from the TEB.  You could possibly use this event to execute an Advanced Action with checks for the NULL value Lieve refers to in her post, and then based on whether or not the TEB's associated variable IS in fact empty, SHOW a caption that tells the user to go back and enter some text.  So in a way, you are validating the TEB variable, but you're not using the default Validation option.  The trick here is that you need the user's cursor to be IN the TEB to start with before the ON FOCUS LOST event can be used.

[donalall]

Hi Rod,

Re. "On focus lost"

I have a screen with just a text caption and 1 TEB - validation is selected (1 character, autosubmit, no Submit button).

User needs to enter correct option in TEB to proceed i.e. jump to next slide.

A TEB has the cursor active in it by default.

So when the screen loads and if the user doesn't enter anything in TEB and clicks outside it - I'm assuming that the "On Focus Lost" event will NOT be performed. It is only performed when something is typed in TEB but the Submit button is not clicked?

My workaround for my use case is to have a click event that covers the whole screen and will show a "You need to type X" text caption when clicked.

Is this the right way to go?

And just to confirm that the "Failure" is only displayed when user types incorrect option in TEB, is that right?

CP9, Responsive simulation project.

Donal.

[RodWard]

Donal,

I haven't tested your specific use case so I cannot tell you whether it will work or not.  Give it a try.

Failure captions only appear when the user's answer is incorrect and they have no more allowed attempts.  So if you want to see a Failure caption, don't mark the TEB as having Infinite Attempts, otherwise they can never fail (in theory).

[donalall]

Hi Rod,

I gave it a try and it worked.

Click box with "Failure" caption as Success when user doesn't type in anthing in TEB but clicks elsewhere.

(CP9) A Failure caption (the same failure caption) does appear on each incorrect entry even if Infinite Attempts is selected.

Maybe you're confusing it with the "Last Attempt" option which kicks in when user has used up all his/her attempts.

Donal.

[RodWard]

Yes my apologies.  I was confusing the Failure caption with the Failure Action (ON Last Attempt) that gets triggered after all attempts are exhausted.