Toggle Closed Captioning

[kennetht72107201]

I've created a Closed Captioning button and have tried two methods to turn it on and off. The problem is, that when clicking the CC button to turn on the CC, it doesn't continue on the next slide. It's as if the the button resets every time. 

The first method I tried was toggle cpCmndCC. I can turn it on/off while in the slide. But if I toggle on, it toggles off when the user clicks the Next button.

The second method was to create and Advanced Action. I did a conditional action: 

• IF
  • cpCmndCC is equal to 0
• ACTION
  • Toggle cpCmndCC
  • Assign cpCmndCC with 1
• ELSE
  • Toggle cpCmndCC 
  • Assign cpCmndCC with 0

Am I missing something?

[Lilybiri]

Your action has two superfluous commands, use either Toggle or either Assign. Have a look at:

1 action = 5 Toggle Buttons - Captivate blog

However that will not solve your problem. There is a small bug in CP2017: such a custom button to toggle CC will reset itself on the next slide if the default playbar is not turned on. I am sure that a fix will be created soon by the team.

[kennetht72107201]

So there isn't a work around? This project goes to the client on Thursday. Do I tell them they need to wait for a fix? Or, should I use another version? Thanks, Adobe!

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Yes, have a workaround:

• Make a playbar visible using the Skin Editor
• Be sure to set it in Overlay
• No borders in the Skin editor
• Use an action On Enter for each slide, with the command Hide Playbar

That should normally keep the custom CC toggle button working.

Sorry, am a bit tired, it is after midnight here. FYI, I am NOT working for Adobe, just a user like you. No need to rant against me.

[kennetht72107201]

It wasn't a rant against you. You've been very helpful. It's a rant against Adobe. I thought they would have beta tested for these things before releasing it as a payed version. I don't want the playbar to be visible (kind of makes the Next and Back buttons redundant) and it's not what the client wants. 

Hopefully they won't notice. Not a very professional way to work but it looks completely amateur to have the playbar. Plus, it's not up to specs for the client's request. 

[Lilybiri]

They will never see the playbar, I tested out the workaround. Since you hide the playbar on each slide. I would use a one-line advanced action, easier to apply to all On Enter events of the slides.

[kennetht72107201]

So hiding the playbar on slide entrance works. But either toggling the CC on the custom button or using the AA to toggle is not changing the variable to either 0 or 1. This is why I created a variable in the first place. Since I can't change the CC variable and use a play CC Action, I used Toggle. Is there a way to go into the code and write it by hand? I read the article posted above but I seem to be doing everything correctly per that article.

[Lilybiri]

Did you correct the AA for the toggle button, I mentioned it is not correct. Or you can use the shared action which I explained in this article and which is working fine:

1 action = 5 Toggle Buttons - Captivate blog

When this bug was discovered I double-checked the work flow explained above and am sure it is working fine. It is meant only for a custom button, not for the button on the playbar.

[kennetht72107201]

I got it working somewhat, in that it is 'on' when I launch. Support must have read this thread because they sent me a 'do not share' hot fix. I appreciate your help with this. Thank you.

[Lilybiri]

Yes, I have that fix as well, is not public yet. But I could not share it with you.

[brianc31707504]

Here we are more than five months later no fix has been released or did I miss it? I've used the workaround but the client rejected it so I had to revert to Captivate 9 for the time being. I'd love if Adobe would release an update so I can use 2017.

[B-ace]

Thanks Lilybiri! You saved the day

[natehorton1]

i'm still looking for a fix as well. any way Adobe could share out this hot fix they shared with folks a few months ago with the rest of us?

[RndyWDn]

My job recently updated to Adobe Captivate 2017 and we also have a very customized project with this functionality for closed captioning. I looked at the Adobe Captivate (2017 release) known issues and couldn't find this issue until this post.

We have until April 2018 to get this project updated, but I was wondering when an update will go out to fix this bug? I know we also got another customized project coming next year. So, sooner the better if possible.

Excellent resolution until the patch goes out.

[JTobes]

I am new to posting here, but I had this same problem with my customized closed caption button. It was set to toggle the cpCmndCC whenever it was clicked. It would reset to zero on every slide requiring you to click the button again to turn the CCs back on. I tried the Skin Editor work-around that was posted by someone else on this forum, and that didn't work for me. If you have the time to do it, you can do what I did and create completely customized closed captions using Smartshapes. The benefit to this is that you can make those Smartshapes look however you want, and they can be placed wherever you would like them on the screen, and there is no pesky "X" button up in the corner of them. It is labor intensive, and you need to know how to use the Advanced Actions, and create variables in Captivate, but this method makes sure the captions work correctly every time. Here was my process in case you are interested:

I created a Smartshape that would contain the slide's closed caption. In some cases more than one shape would be used on a slide depending on how much audio there would be, and they would be timed to show up in synch with the audio that would be "reading" the caption. This way the captions would not overlap one another when you tell them to show up.

I would then create two buttons, one would be used to show the caption(s), the other would be used to hide them. The "show" button is placed directly over the top of the "hide" button on the slide, and I made the “show” button a simple “CC” button, while the “hide” button was the same size and shape as the “show” button and even had the CC on it, but had a red slash through it, denoting that when you click that button, the captions will hide. You need to make note of the name of the "show" button and the name(s) of the Smartshape(s), as these will be used to create the actions for the "show" and "hide" buttons.

I then went into "Project" and clicked the "Variables" button and created a new variable called "Caption1" that was set to have a default value of "0". Then, I went to the Advanced Actions tab and created actions for each of the "show" buttons and "hide" buttons. For slide 1, I called the "show" action CC1 (slide 2 was CC2, and so forth), and the "hide" action I called CC1Off (CC2Off for slide 2 and so on). CC1 would simply hide the "show" button, show the Smartshape(s) used for the captions, and either Assign Caption1 with 1, or Increment Caption1 by 1, either way works. CC1Off would show the "show" button, hide the Smartshape(s) used for the captions, and either Assign Caption1 with 0 or Decrement Caption1 by 1.

I then created actions for each slide that I called "Forward1", "Forward2" etc. that would I set to run on enter of each slide. This action will check the state of my "Caption1" variable. So, I set it to check If Caption1 was equal to 1, then my "show" button on that particular slide would be hidden, and the Smartshape(s) with the caption(s) for that slide would be shown because I am saying that when Caption1 =1, then caption(s) will be shown. Else, my "show" button on that slide will be shown, and the Smartshape(s) used for the caption(s) will be hidden. In this way, when the student uses the "back" button, or when they go to the next slide, the state of the Caption1 variable will be checked and your "show" button will either be hidden or shown, as well as your captions.

Don't forget to go back to your slide and set the actions for the "show" and "hide" buttons to Execute Advanced Actions, and pick your "show" action (mine was CC1 for slide 1) for the show button and your "hide" action (mine was CC1Off) for the "hide" button. Also, you will need to set each slide to execute its corresponding "Forward" action "On slide enter".

As I said, if you have a ton of slides, this could be very labor intensive and you will probably need a spreadsheet to keep all of the names for your buttons and captions on each slide straight, but I really think that once you get it set up for one project, it could be used as a template for other projects. There may be easier ways to get the same effect, and if anyone has shortcuts figured out, I would love to hear about them.

[d.matheis]

I have Captivate version 2017 Release 10.0.0.192.  Can I get the hotfix sent to me or has it been published?  This is the first project that I am using CC for our users. 

[Lilybiri]

Did you try Help, Update? There has been a patch released for 10.

[d.matheis]

Hello Lilybiri - My Update option is grey so I can not check for an update.  I didn't know which release included the fix.

[Lilybiri]

Do you have administrator rights? The hotfix was included in that patch.

[d.matheis]

No, I don't so I will ask my IT dept to apply the update.

Thanks for your help.

[LarryranTX]

I simply threw out Adobe's CC, and created my own.  I placed a black bar at the bottom of the content slide master.  Then, on the first content slide, I set a bar (<smart shape xxx>) of the same size that is on top and visible for rest of project.  Then I created a variable, and a CC button.  The advanced actions use a conditional to test state of variable and toggle it if clicked.
IF <variable> is equal to 1,

Hide <smart shape xxx>, toggle <variable>, Continue

ELSE
Show <smart shape xxx>, toggle <variable>, Continue

CC are text boxes that are always visible (i.e., timed to audio, but not state changed) -- but hidden if the bar is visible.  Thus, CC "ON" = bar not visible, CC "OFF" = bar visible.  
NOTE:  In some cases (e.g., KC slides), you may wish to have a larger "cover bar".  Simply add that smart shape to the Show and Hide commands by adding an action to both "Actions" and "Else".

[Lilybiri]

Was already posted in this thread, I use a shared action because it can be used for more than just the CC toggle button.

Duplicate post.

[LarryranTX]

Here is a more elegant solution, with one tiny line of Javascript&colon;

On slide 2, "on enter", execute Javascript

cpCmndCC=0

Create CC Button

On CC Button

If ShowCC = 1

Toggle ShowCC

Toggle cpCmndCC

Continue

Else

Toggle ShowCC

Toggle cpCmndCC

Continue

(The conditional test stops a race condition.)

ShowCC is a user variable that is not strictly necessary, if you change the conditional to test cpCmndCC.

[Lilybiri]

Many superfluous commands here. OK for me but the shared action I provided is much easier to use. BTW you didn't show JS at all, that is an advanced action. Why use a user variable when there is already a system variable which has exactly the same information. 

[LarryranTX]

The Javascript is on slide 2

Action = "Execute Javascript"

cpCmndCC=0 initializes the syatem variable to a known state

/a good programming practice

As I mentioned, the User variable is not strictly necessary.  It is used in my implementation -- but for a special purpose.

This allows the normal CC entry and timing, using the Notes area.