Captivate Simulation Tutorials

How do I actually create a simulation in Captivate? I can see that I can in this video around 2:08, but I cannot find a tutorial that teaches me! http://tv.adobe.com/watch/from-our-evangelist-/application-simulation/

Hi there
One way is to record a simulation by clicking File > Record New Software Simulation and ensuring one of the Simulation options are selected.
The other way is to simply insert Click Boxes and Text Entry Boxes into existing slides. These objects will normally cause the project to pause and wait for the user to interact before the project continues playing. Thus "simulating" the experience of working with the application.
Cheers... Rick

Similar Messages

Interactive Captivate simulations not working correctly in Presenter

Hi,
I'm looking for a fix for what appears to be a bug with
importing interactive Captivate 2.0.0 (build 1177, originally a
trial verson) files into Presenter 6.0.432 (in PowerPoint 2000 SP-3
9.0.8952 on a Windows XP computer).
The course works fine when I publish the Presenter file to My
Computer, but doesn't work correctly when I publish to Adobe
Connect (hosted version). What happens is that the interactive
Captivate simulations are already done. (It seems like Presenter is
somehow completing the simulations before the end user gets to
those slides.)
Each course I've created is approximately 40 slides in length
with approximately eight Captivate demonstrations and eight
Captivate simulations spread out through the course. (A few slides
of content with voiceover, then a slide with a Captivate
demonstration, then a slide with a Captivate simulation slide, etc.
etc.)
Captivate Project Preferences are set to:
Advanced project compression
508 compliance
Compress compiled SWF file
Publish Adobe Connect Enterprise metadata
Captivate Publish settings are:
(unchecked) Export HTML
Flash Player 7
I tried switching the Flash Version to Flash Player 8, but it
didn't help at all, and instead caused an additional problem which
was that the text entry part of the interactive simulations stopped
working altogether.
I'm inclined to think this is a problem with the Connect
server (since the course runs fine when published to My Computer,
just not when published to Adobe Connect), but suppose it could be
a Captivate or Presenter issue. In any case, I'm open to whatever
gets it fixed.
Thanks,
Ruth

Thanks Art,
I tried it, but it didn't help.
Given TechNote #46b77621 (recommending people link to
Captivate files rather than embed them in Presenter), and the
problems I'm having, I'm starting to wonder if this is a known
problem.
If it is, it's a big one, as a major selling point of
Presenter has been that you can embed Captivate files within the
slides. Linking out to them would be a different experience for the
end-user (and not as nice).
Another problem is that the TechNote says text entries won't
work in Captivate files embedded in Presenter (I have had some
inconsistent issues with this). Serious feature problem if it's
true. (As I'm sure you know, it's a very common aspect of computer
training courses, which is what many people are using
Presenter/Captivate for.)
Hopefully this all gets sorted out sooner rather than later.
(Or you never know, perhaps, hopefully, there's just something I'm
missing. :))
Thanks,
Ruth

Having trouble implementing Captivate simulation in an iFrame

Hi all, hoping you can give me some pointers.
I'm trying to implement Captivate scalable html5 simulations in a proprietary LMS that requires that I place it in an iFrame. It works, but the scaling is not working properly. Immediately upon loading, the Captivate content is too large for my frame, although it does resize (still too large) when I scale the page.
Are there any known tweaks for this kind of issue?
Thanks in advance,
Jill

Not sure if you still need this, since it has been nearly a month.
But I just ran into this same issue.
Require using HTML5 with Captivate inside of an iFrame.
The "Scalable html" was ignoring the iframe's dimensions, and using the full window dimensions instead.
What I ended up doing is stop using the "scalable html" option when publishing from captivate. and then i used the following javascript inside the html that the iframe was placed:
    <script type="text/javascript">
        var iframeName = 'trainingVideo';
        this.FindZoomHeight = function () {
            var slideshow = $('#main_container', $('#' + iframeName).contents());
            var showHeight = $(slideshow).height();
            var frameHeight = $('#' + iframeName).height();
            if (frameHeight >= showHeight) { return 1; }
            return (frameHeight / showHeight);
        this.FindZoomWidth = function () {
            var slideshow = $('#main_container', $('#' + iframeName).contents());
            var showWidth = $(slideshow).width();
            var frameWidth = $('#' + iframeName).width();
            if (frameWidth >= showWidth) { return 1; }
            return (frameWidth / showWidth);
        this.SetZoomLevel = function () {
            var zh = FindZoomHeight();
            var zw = FindZoomWidth();
            var zoom = 1;
            if (zh < zw) {
                zoom = zh;
            } else {
                zoom = zw;
            var container = $('#main_container', $('#' + iframeName).contents());
            $('body', $('#' + iframeName).contents()).css('-moz-transform-origin', '0 0 0').css('-o-transform-origin', '0 0 0').css('-moz-transform', 'scale(' + zoom + ')').css('-o-transform', 'scale(' + zoom + ')');
            $(container).css('zoom', zoom);
        $(document).ready(function () {
            $(window).resize(function () {
                SetZoomLevel();
        $('#' + iframeName).load(function () {
            SetZoomLevel();
    </script>
This uses the css zoom property. (uses transform scale in firefox/opera..but captivate doesn't support those browsers anyways)

How do I configure Captivate simulations to treat captured keystrokes as textboxes?

I am using Captivate 7 to capture command-line interactions on a Windows 8 system and need it to treat the keystrokes used for each command as textboxes when the simulation is run. Is there a way to configure this? If not, is there another Adobe product that will do it?
Thanks.

Here are the settings I'm using when creating the training simulation. If you want to look at an example of how these settings behave differently in Notepad.exe vs. PowerShell. I've uploaded to short simulation files to the link below. The behavior in Notepad is what I need to happen in PowerShell.
Thanks.
http://sdrv.ms/1jbRhGe

Problems Playing a Captivate Simulation

I have published a project using Adobe Captivate. Some users have the first slide play and then the simulation automatically stops, if you press the next button in progress to the next slide but the slide stay on the screen and the audio continues. On other users computers the complete simulation plays from beginning to end with slide and audio in sequence. Any ideas or solutions.

There are actually a few different versions of Flash 10 floating around right now. One in particular caused all of us a lot of headaches some weeks back.
Are you able to get exact details on the Flash player version numbers for those that do and those that don't work?
This may not be the issue, but it's an easy one to put to bed first. My boss used to always say: Check the easy things first.

Adobe Reviewer buttons interfere with Captivate simulation

Utilizing the Reviewer buttons (forward, back, Add comment) affects the simulation in Captivate 4. For example, after adding a comment, the buttons on the screen no longer work. Utilizing the back and forward buttons can result in you getting stuck on a page and not being able to move forward either by clicking the Forward button or by following the instructions in the training. The only workaround we have found is to close Adobe Reviewer, reopen the .crev file, and go through the training without clicking on any of the Adobe Reviewer buttons. Do you have any insight into this issue?
Note: our training is a simulation where the user needs to click on a button or click box to progress to the next slide.
I am also wondering whether this issue occurs in Publish mode? Should users utilize both the Captivate buttons and the instructions on the screen to move through the slides?

Hello TheMan and welcome to community,
The issue is with the software compatibility with firefox.
Kindly install the updated hot key and power management driver and check if it resolve the issue.
Best Regards,
Tanuj
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Captivate Simulation doesn't seem to stream

I created a simulation regarding some processes we use in our
Saba LMS, but the content piece seems to load in full before
playing. It doesn't load the first page/s and then load others in
the back ground. Is there something I am doing incorrectly. I
believe that this is a function in Captivate as it is with Adobe
Presenter.

The preloader is pre-defined to load, I think, 60% of the
project before
moving on to the first slide. The preloader counts up to 100%
but that
just indicates the percentage of what it's pre-defined
preload spec is...
So it's set to 60% and the progress you're seeing is how much
of that
60% is currently loaded.
To change that percentage, as I understand it, you need to
edit the FLA
for the preloader in Flash and somewhere there you can change
that
preload limit - say down to 10%, or whatever.
Then if you use that customized preloader in your lesson, it
will count
up from 0 to 100% of that defined 10% preload.
If this is a large project, I can see where the default 60%
preload time
still seems to be a long wait.
Erik
Ryan McH wrote:
> I have tried with the preloader and still seems to load
the whole piece before playing.
Erik Lord
http://www.capemedia.net
Adobe Community Expert - eLearning
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/
http://www.awaretips.net -
Authorware Tips!

Adding drag and drop to Captivate 3 simulations

Hi,
I'm trying to design short simulation which involves moving
comments icons in a pdf file. Does anyone have any idea how this
drag-and-drop functionality could be built into a captivate
simulation?
Thanks

Captivate community contributor Paul Dewhurst offers a
drag-and-drop starter file on his website that you can use to build
drag-and-drop interactions.
As Paul mentions on his site, you need to use a 3rd-party
tool to create the actual interaction, though.
You can find the file on Paul's website here:
Drag-and-Drop
at RaisingAimee.co.uk

Captivate 2 right-click and drag and drop in simulation

Captivate has been suggested as a suitable replacement for
Authorware since the announcement that Adobe doesn't plan to
continue with Authorware. I find myself in the position to put this
to the test. I'm in the process of recreating a course that had
been created in Authorware in a toolset comprised of Artuculate
Presenter, Articulate Quizmaker, Articulate Engage, Captivate, and
PowerPoint.
The simulation created in Authorware has these feautures:
-learner right clicks on items on screen to see a context
menu then selects option from the context menu
-learner drags toolbar and other items on screen to another
screen location
-learner selects item from Windows Start>>Program and
other application menus. As the learner's mouse moves over the
menu, menu options highlight and flyout menus appear even if
they're not directly involved in the simulation
-learner logs into course with an employee ID number. This
information is stored and is used in the simulation in which they
log into the system being simulated.
Can I do any of these things in Captivate?
I suspect I can simulate the flyout menus with a number of
mouse over hotspots - exactly the way it's done in Authorware.
However, I haven't found any way to do simulate the other items:
-use of drag and drop where the learner performs the action
-use of a variable value to check validity of what has been
entered in the text field
-use of right click to advance Captivate simulation.
I'd appreciate any help you can give me. After all, I've
heard many people claim that Captivate can replace Authorware.
Thanks
Grace Daminato

Hi Grace,
Captivate is indeed a replacement for Authorware, but only in
the way that an Audi is a replacement for a Ferrari. They do the
same basic job, but you need to do some after market modifications
to the Audi to level the playing field somewhat.
1) Flyout menus are indeed possible, if you're willing to
create "rollovers" that display a picture of the expanded menu when
the user mouses over. You are limited to exposing only first-level
menus, however. Captivate does not allow for rollovers on
rollovers, except possibly via Captivate 3's Slidelet
functionality.
***EDIT***: You can also use Paul Dewhurst's rollover widgets
to fake multi-level menu behavior. They are available from Paul's
site here:
http://www.raisingaimee.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=29
2) Drag-and-drop in Captivate is currently only available as
an add-in Flash object, each of which must unfortunately be built
by hand in Flash. Adobe Community Expert Paul Dewhurst offers
source files for such interactions on his website:
http://www.raisingaimee.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=29
3) Captivate has built-in checking of field values, but you
are limited to hardcoded values only. If you need variable-based
input checking, you must create it yourself in Flash and insert it
as an animation.
4) Right-click is possible in Captivate, but must be added
manually. Captivate community contributor William Heinz has created
a nifty right-click solution for HTML/SWF publication and Paul
Dewhurst again comes to the rescue with a solution for .EXE-based
output:
HTML/SWF-based Output:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/captivate/articles/rightclick.html
EXE-based Output:
http://www.raisingaimee.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=29
Unfortunately, making these modifications to Captivate files
comes at a cost. First, there's the overhead of tracking down and
implementing the custom enhancements. More importantly, Captivate
has no way of "scoring" custom enhancements, so any such
interactions will not be reflected in the user's reported results.
If you're willing to live with these limitations, and a few
others, Captivate can indeed be a suitable replacement for
Authorware.

My animated gif keeps pausing in captivate and flash

Hi guys, thanks for your help.
I made an animated gif in Photoshop CS4 and inserted it as an animation into captivate 6. The animation works (I played it several times by opening it with internet explorer and safari). But when I open it in Captivate the animation goes black for a split second-several times, before it reappears-several times. It gives it almost a "reloading" or pause look when I play it. The same in flash, but in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional the timeline shows black dots once in a while, as you can see in the screen shot below.
See those black dots? I will insert a picture of what happens, when the player lands on one of those black dots:
It's the same animation, but only shows a little. Like I said, it plays fine when I open it with an internet browser, it plays fine when I play it in photoshop, but it just won't work with flash or captivate.
Any thoughts? Thanks so much!! I really appreciate your help guys!
Nat

No problem. Building a simple animation in Flash isn't that bad. You could save each "frame" as an image from PhotoShop and then import these into Flash and place one frame at the time on a keyframe in the flash timeline (press F6 to insert a keyframe).
If you want your animation to loop then you don't have to do anything as this is the default behavior. If you want it to stop at the last frame you insert a command in ActionScript to stop it. Select the last keyframe and hit F9 and type stop() in the ActionScript window.
Good luck!
www.cpguru.com - Adobe Captivate Widgets, Tutorials, Tips and Tricks and much more..

Captivate 6 Actors copyright question

Our company often launches Captivate simulations from with a course shell developed in another tool. Would we be able to use the images of the new actors from the Captivate 6 simulations in our other tool as well without violating copyright?

Hello,
Welcome to Adobe Forums.
Content published using Captivate can be inserted as part of a larger course (possibly created using a third party authoring tool). But you cannot remove the images of Actors alone, and use it
Thanks,
Vikram

How to add a Captivate 5 Project into RH for Word?

I have to add a captivate simulation project into my Help project, and was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible. I searched Captivate's help, and they say you can with RH HTML, but I am currently using:
1. RH for Word Build 8.0.0.203
2. Captivate 5.0.0.596
The Help project is a Single Source Layout with WinHelp 2000 primary layout. Any ideas?
eangel

Hi Rick,
I did test the url from my browser's address bar, and it worked fine. I cannot get this to work from the help project.
Hope someone can help.
Thanks,
eangel

Using the Tab Key in Simulations

Hi, I am new to this forum and new to Captivate 5.
I am creating online courses that teach people how to use our company's software programs so I use Captivate simulations often. We use Captivate to record the simulations and then we use Articulate Presenter to create the course.
Problem 1
I still can't figure out how to use Tabs smoothly with Text Entry boxes all together. I've been reading all of the forum information and trying everything and the Tab won't work correctly for me.
I have only placed one TEB on a slide but when I get to the second TEB on the next slide, I start typing the text and the system moves forward to the next action before I finish typing the text. Or, I have to press the Tab key twice to get to the next TEB on the next slide. I am totally confused.
Problem 2
I have been able to successfully create a simulation using the Enter key to validate text entry boxes. I publish the simulation and use the swf file to create a web object that gets placed in Articulate. The web object holds the swf file and the html file below.
Here is an example of the html file:
This works just fine when I use the Enter key to validate text entry boxes. However, we decided to use the Tab key and now I have to deal with the seamless tabbing issues in Captivate. I figured out how to add the seemless tab info to the published file, Can I use the Captivate html file to create a web object? If so, how do I do that?
Please help!!

I have had success using TAB in Captivate 5.
I learned:
Dont put Text Entry Boxes on the timeline appearing at 0 seconds. Have them appear at 0.2. This gives it time to load.
Make sure they are on the top layer.
Appear for the duration of the slide, no transitions, and pause until the user clicks.
I noticed if you type fast (as the learner) it kinda messes everything up. Add a distraction so you learner slows down on their typing speed.
Also make sure you have the update installed. There were some bugs fixed in the TEB area.
Good luck. email if you have any more questions.

Captivate Facing Problem - Opening a PDF

Hi,
I am using Captivate 4.0. I have developed a course which has a link to open a PDF file.
I have created a link and also I am able to open the PDF, but the problem is it is opening in a new browser window. I want the PDF to open in a new tab in the same parent window.
Pl. help me in resolving this issue
Thanks

There is no way to do that from within Captivate so you can only open it as a new window.
If I am not mistaken there is a new property in CSS3 that allows you to open a new tab, but this would require that you have pretty good experience with writing HTML, CSS and JavaScript to make it work. You could then write a JavaScript function that will open your PDF and in Captivate have a button that calls that JavaScript function when the user clicks on it.
It would be a lot of trouble just to get a new tab though and you should also keep in mind that this would fail in all non-CSS3 compliant browsers.
/Michael
www.cpguru.com - Adobe Captivate Widgets, Tutorials, Tips & Tricks and much more..

Using Actionscript or Javascript to unload movie using Captivate 5.5

I have an application an agency built that houses my training videos (created with Captivate 5.5). Now users can click to start a video and then immediately close it and the application shows that they viewed/completed the entire movie. I need to find a way for Captivate to send a call (or something) to the application telling it that the movie has finished.
I do not know much Actionscript or Javascript but I am a fast learner. I read in past posts where this was accomplished in Captivate 2.0 and 3.0 by
1) coping the captivate movie into Flash and adding two lines of code (Actionscript)
import flash.external.Externalinterface;
External Interface.addCallback("unload", this, unloanSQF);
2) the following would be added to the HTML page
//Detect Flash container movie
function getFlashMovie(movieName) {
   if (navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1) {
      return window[movieName];
   else {
      return document[movieName];
//Function to be called by Captivate
function captivateUnload() {
   //Calls "unload" method established in ExternalInterface Actionscript code
   getFlashMovie("simpleSwfLoader").unload();
3) Add the Javascript call captivateUnload() to the Captivate button.
I am hoping that the procedure has gotten better with 5.5; plus I do not want to use a button. I want the unload event to occur automatically when the movie ends. Plus, I can't see how to produce a fla version to be imported and edited in flash.
Any help or direction would greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Jim

It sounds like you will need to change some functionality in the application that launces your Captivate SWF's. Currently they will be set to "completed" once they have been opened. The correct approach would be to have your application set them to "Incomplete" or "In Progress" and then have Captivate execute a JavaScript on the last slide calling a function in your application that sets the module as completed.
/Michael
www.cpguru.com - Adobe Captivate Widgets, Tutorials, Tips & Tricks and much more..

Captivate Simulation Tutorials

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