Software Simulation

[djquimoso]

I made a software simulation and I am having problems with the assessment.  In the demo (video) I explain that in excel to calculate the average you type "=av" and then double-click "average" in the drop down menu.  However in the assessment I have to type "=av" and press enter to be able to to double click "average" from the drop down menu.  This can confuse the learner, he may think than he needs to to click enter after typing "=av" in excel.  Is there anyway to fix this?

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

The field that is added in the simulation for the user to type av will be a Text Entry Box.  If you select the TEB object and look in Properties, there is a button for More Options.  Set the Maximum Length to 2 characters and then you will see the Auto Submit checkbox become available.  Select that option.  If the correct answer the the TEB is set to av, then this setup will mean that as soon as the learner types the correct characters into the TEB its Success action will fire.  You will need to set this Success action to jump to the next slide where you can show the drop down menu. A Click Box over the top of the correct menu item should be set to have a double click action.

If you set everything up correctly it should look fairly seamless to the user.  However, be aware that you cannot always perfectly replicate the behaviour of actual software applications with a Captivate simulation.  Sometimes you just have to let the learner know that the actual software will behave somewhat differently.  They usually understand this.

[djquimoso]

Thank you for your help. I used your suggestion for a case that the user needed to type ",", and it worked. The only problem is that it takes a wile to jump to the next frame.

[Lilybiri]

I think you mean 'to the next slide'? Captivate is published at 30 frames per second, and the default duration (can be changed) of a sliide is 3 seconds, which means 90 frames.

Look at the timeline of the slide: you'll see the pausing point (pause symbol before the real time of the pausing which is a thin vertical line).  Move it closer to the end of the slide, if you kept the Success action set to 'Continue', which means that all the frames after the pausing point have to be visited before getting to the next slide. Or change the action from 'Continue' to 'Go to Next Slide'.

More info about pauses and pausing points:

Pausing Captivate's Timeline - Captivate blog

[djquimoso]

Hello

I solved the problem. I had the problem because I had set the Maximum Length to 2 (on More Options), I changed the Maximum Length to 1 and the problem was solved.