Exporting text from text entry box

Hi Everyone,
I am building a responsive project in CP8 and want to be able to extract (and store) the text that people type in the text entry boxes.
Is there a way that you can export or store the content. Perhaps the LMS can store the information and I can extract from there.
I have used window.print(); to print the page, but this is not ideal as not only does the learner need to save to PDF, but also it is in portrait orientation.
Thanks in advance.

Hello,
For me i found 2 ways to to store text entries from user-input.
1. Currently i am testing the moodle-lms and it is able to track the text-entries. In order to do so it is necessary to enable "check user input" (dont know if its correct namend, because i am using the german captivate version). Unfortunately, it was hard to find. In the evaluation / analysis part it was "hidden" under the "cmi.suspend-data" tag which consists of almost unreadable sequence of figures, signs and characters.
2. Moreover, i am testing the adobe quiz result analyzer on an own server. The software itself is not able to output these entries, but every single xml-file that is created for every single user is storing the date entered by the user. As well you need to enable the "check user input" box, otherwise it is not possible to enable the checkbox "include in quiz" that is necessary to transmit data.
cheers
Andreas

Similar Messages

How to remove pause from Text Entry Box

Saw a discussion on this in the archives, but didn't exactly address what I was hoping. Basically I'm hoping to use a Text Entry box to allow a user to save notes for the project. Yes, I know that there is a notes widget, but I'm not a fan of it. Is there a way to remove the automatic pausing of the TEB? Or is there something else someone else has done to allow users to take notes rather than the Notes widget?

Hopefully I'm not missing something, but other buttons and such have a checkbox next to the "Pause After" portion of timing. TEB boxes do not seem to have this and indeed, even if I set it to 0 or whatever, it just defaults to 0.1 seconds.
I'm hoping to try and use the text I collect from their notes added into this TEB to be able to display at a final review slide before a quiz. Not sure if it's going to work, but I don't want to force a user to use the notes box, hence the disabling of a pause.
I'm open to other ideas of how to allow taking notes without using the notes widget. If there's anything better.

Text Entry Boxes and their content not being captured in Automatic Recording

I have searched the forums here and elsewhere extensively and whilst I have found people with similar issues, I have yet to find a solution. My problem is this:
I am trying to record myself using a piece of software which contains numerous text fields. In the past, when using Captivate 3, I would simply fill out these fields and Captivate would record my entries automatically. When the project was played back, the training simulation would pause and allow the user to type in the text field and provided the entry matched the options I had defined, the simulation would continue to the next step.
So, my colleague and I have since bought Adobe Tech. Comms. Suite 2 and have upgraded Captivate 3 to version 4. Ever since doing this we have both been unable to successfully capture text entry boxes with their content when recording automatically in any mode. We have checked and triple checked the settings to make sure that the automatic capture of text entry in fields is turned on yet we still cannot get Captivate to perform this task it once so easily could. We both suffer from the same problem on both of our installations of Captivate 4. We have tried recording in all modes with no success.
I am tearing my hair out as I need to come up with some sample content for a major Governmental client which would be worth a 5 figure sum to my company and I really don't relish having to manually create every text entry box as there are a LOT of them in this application!
I have also reported this as a bug to Adobe using the correct form. As yet, no response.
I would really appreciate any genuine help that can be offered by you guys.
In desperation,
Rob.

Ok, I think I've sussed it!
I've been pulling my hair out for weeks on this and after posting on here, I decided to try something and I think I may have found the problem.
I work with a laptop as I am a Trainer and therefore quite mobile. When I'm in the office, I dock my laptop and use the Extended Desktop functionality of Windows so I have my laptop screen and a second 19" monitor which i find incredibly useful as screen real estate is always at a premium. And this is where I believe the problem lies.
I performed a simple test and have repeated this test with identical outcomes everytime. Here is what I did. I fired up Captivate and Outlook and opened up a new mail window in Outlook. I then set Captivate to record the new mail window and hit record. I typed some text into the To field and the Subject field and then stopped the recording. I then previewed the results. When the new mail window was on my primary screen, (i.e the laptop) the Text Entry Box recording worked 100% fine. However, if the new mail screen was residing on my secondary screen, i.e. the monitor, the Text Entry Box recording failed!
So it would seem that Captivate 4 has an issue with seeing the text entered on a secondary monitor when Windows is running in Extended Desktop mode. I am absolutely certain this wasn't an issue with Captivate 3 as I created plenty of content without any of these problems and I was using the Extended Desktop back then.
So, if anyone else is having the same issue, and you are running an Extended Desktop, try what I did above.
In the meantime, I am raising this issue with Adobe in the hope they can get this fixed, but at least now I can carry on with my content creation
Regards,
Rob.

Text Entry Box not showing all text

I am creating a simple exercise where I would like the user to copy text from the course, paste it into word, and report back what the word count is. I thought perhaps the Text Entry Box would be the best way to go, since if you click on the existing (default) text, you can copy it. However after I place the paragraph of text in the box, and resize in the editor so that all the text shows, it does not show all the text when playing back, either previewd or published. It only shows the last few words of the last line at the top of the box.
Is there something I am missing? Or, is there an easier/better way to do what I need?
Thanks

Hi all
If this is Captivate 4, there may not be any need for a widget to do this. I'm guessing you haven't tried enabling the Scroll Bar for the Text Entry Box (TEB)?
When I just plop a TEB on a slide, I get this in edit view:
During playback it looks like this:
But if I edit the TEB properties and enable the Show Scrollbar option:
I get this in the output:
Cheers... Rick
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Text Entry Box not working right??

This is strange…. If anyone has any thoughts…
that would be great.
I have a slide that tests someone's knowledge for inputting
into a text entry box. I want to give them 2 tries for doing this
task - and if they don't perform the task correctly, I want an
error message to display. However, I want the error message to be
different based on the 1st time that they try and the second time.
The method to accomplish this.. I have done many times, and has
always worked. However, for some reason, it's not working this
time.
In order to customize the error message based on whether it's
the 1st try or the second - I have created 2 text entry boxes.
The first text entry box is set to display at 0 seconds, is
set to display for 2 seconds and is set to pause after 1.5 seconds.
If the user enters a successful text entry the user will be
navigated to the next slide, if the user enters an incorrect text
entry they will continue on the same slide and a failure caption is
selected to display (this is the first error message that displays
for the first try.)
The second text entry box is set to display at 2 seconds, is
set to display for 2 seconds and is set to pause after 1.5 seconds.
If the user enters a successful text entry the user will be
navigated to the next slide, if the user enters an incorrect text
entry they will continue on the same slide. No failure caption is
selected to display. This is the important point... I have not
selected for a failure caption to display for this text entry box.
I have a text caption that displays at 4 seconds - this is
the second error message that the user will see if they input an
incorrect text entry into the second text entry box.
Everything seems to work fine except... for some reason, when
I enter an incorrect text entry into the second text entry box, I
get the failure message that I set for the first text entry box.???
Very strange. I have recreated this 3 times - each time it works.
Then, all of a sudden, it stops working. I’ve even tried
recreating the movie from scratch… but same results.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Lynn

Hi again
Okay, makes sense. I suppose in this case, I'd simply use
another slide. From what you have explained, it would appear there
is a possible issue Captivate is having with multiple text entry
boxes on the same slide.
So I would insert a slide following the existing slide. Then
on failure of the first text entry box, direct to the next slide.
On success of the first text entry box, skip over the new slide to
the proper "continue" slide.
Hopefully that makes sense... Rick

Text Entry Box not displaying

Hello,
I apologize if this has been answered prior, but I've searched and couldn't find a solution (although I might just be terrible at searching).
Whenever I do a software simulation recording in a particular Captivate project (I'm running 5.5), the recording doesn't seem to auto-insert the TEB's for the text fields I've used (at all). Instead, when the slide that's suppoesed to require text-entry is shown, it just auto-fills all the text I entered during the simulation and skips to the end of the slide. I can't for the life of me figure out why; there are no TEB's on the timeline either for that slide.
I do have my Custom settings setup to "Automatically Add Text Entry Boxes for Text Fields"
Any idea why this is happening?

Hi there
Unfortunately there are a few variables in this equation. Captivate may not understand that a text entry field is a text entry field. It sometimes misunderstands other controls it encounters. I believe that it largely depends on how the application developer elected to name the element. I believe that's how Captivate knows what an element is. By its name. So if an application developer created a Text Entry field but named it something obscure, Captivate fails to recognize it as such and insert the appropriate element.
The good news here is that you are free to add any element you like after you have recorded. So even though Captivate failed to catch it, there's nothing preventing you from manually adding it. It's a hassle to have to do it, but at least you aren't prevented from doing it.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Adobe Certified Captivate Training
SorcerStone Blog
Captivate eBooks

Font specified in Text entry box not what shows in playback

Hi,
I specified 10pt. Arial in my text entry boxes, but the text
shows up much smaller. Only sometimes. Any idea why? Is this a bug?
Thanks,
Deepali

Try selecting all the text in the caption and setting it to
10 pt arial even if it is already set that way. Sometimes there are
invisible formatting characters embedded in the text. Be sure to
delete any blank characters or lines that appear after the text -
these can hold formatting characters also.
If none of this helps delete the caption and start again
making sure your font is set correctly before you start typing.
Also be sure not to copy and edit a caption that has give you
trouble, even if it is fixed now.
A useful hint:
If you are cutting and pasting text from another application
(such as Word) copy it to Notepad first, then reselect it and copy
it to Captivate. This strips spurious formatting characters.
HTH
Carol

Captivate 4 AS2 Text Entry Box not working with Flash Player 11

I am having issues with text entry boxes not working at all in flash 11. I am using Captivate 4 and exporting an AS2 swf. When you get to the slide you can type but you cannot see anything nor does the button or keystroke to move on. Also there is no cursor. Any ideas?

You said it is not working with Flash 11, so does that mean you tested with previous version and that worked?
While publishing choose Flash player as 9 and publish that, verify if that plays in a compatible web browser.
AS 2 is a legacy scripting, it has been said not too be supported with even Flash Player 10 --
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AS2LCR/Flash_10.0/help.html?content=Part2_AS2_LangRef_1.html
I believe if you switch back to version 9 while publish your project, it should work.
Thanks,
Anjaneai

Text Entry Box--Advanced Actions--Conditional Statement--Double quotes in literal input value

Hello forums,
I'm new to the forums (and Captivate in general), but I'm having a real problem carrying out a tutorial design and I think you may be my only hope. Let me explain what I want to do and the difficulty that I'm having:
I'm an instruction librarian at a university, and I'm designing an interactive tutorial for English 100 students to complete in order to become familiar with how to search the library catalog. What I've done is taken a screenshot of the catalog search page, made it the background of a slide in Captivate (vers. 6), and placed a text entry box over the search bar in the screenshot. The idea is for the students to conduct a simulated search by choosing one of three suggested search string formulations, and depending on the search string they enter, the tutorial will jump to a slide featuring a screenshot of what the actual search results would look like. The idea is to emphasize the use of keywords over full-sentence phrases, and the use of double quotation marks to enclose multi-word search terms.
So I've set the action for the TEB to "Execute Advanced Actions" and then created some IF/THEN statements in the "Advanced Actions" pop-up window (with action type set to 'conditional'). The script is such that if the student enters the first search option (how does sleep affect college students) in the TEB, the tutorial jumps to 1 slide, if they enter the second option (college students AND sleep), featuring a Boolean operator (AND), the tutorial jumps to a 2nd slide, and if they enter the third option ("college students" AND sleep) with the double quotes around "college students" and the Boolean operator, the tutorial should jump to a 3rd slide. This action script works fine for the first two input options, but I can't make it work for the third search option.
I think that it has something to do with the fact that the third input option features double quote marks, and this seems to throw off the script (I tried a quote-less input value for the third IF/THEN just to make sure that it would work jumping to the 3rd slide and it did), and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can get around this issue. Again, I need it to work so that if the student enters "college students" AND sleep, with the quote marks and the Boolean operator, the tutorial will jump to a slide showing the search results if those search terms were used in a real search of the catalog.
I'd be extremely grateful for any help that anyone here can give me, we've been trying to make our online tutorials more engaging and interactive (and therefore more interesting), and I think this would be a great way to teach students about using quotes in their catalog searches.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Andrew Wilk
College Library
UW-Madison

The tutorial is for a "how to use catalog searching" instruction in an undergraduate library session. We use boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine search terms, ex. to search for books about the sleeping habits of college students, I would enter "college students AND sleep." Because "college students" is a multi-word phrase to describe one concept, I need to put quotation marks around the phrase to prevent the catalog from searching for the individual words separately, so the most correct search becomes ["college students" AND sleep] with quotation marks around only "college students," a user-typed "AND," and the word "sleep" (no q-marks).
A colleague of mine worked out a pretty cool (if complicated) solution that I'll share if anyone is interested. Since the q-marks where the problem, we've set it up so that the TEB validates the response for the search string with q-marks around "college students." If they enter it correctly, the tutorial jumps to the corresponding slide. The attempt # is set to 1, and if the user fails to enter the validated phrase (they misspell or use one of the other response options) then the TEB is set to run an Advanced Actions Script in which the other two options are scripted in IF/THEN statements that cause, when the term is entered correctly, the tutorial to jump to their corresponding slides. We've created another tab of IF/THEN statements that say that if the response is NOT equal to one of these response options, then the slide restarts (technically the slide "jumps" back to itself and starts over) and the user gets another chance to start the cycle over again.
I know this is confusing (I had a really hard time explaining it in words), so if anyone is interested I could make a Jing video when I have some time.
Thank you for all your suggestions

Text entry box instead of typing

In order to capture the screens I need, I have to enter text by typing it into a form. But I don't want the text I'm typing to appear in the final project. Instead, I want remove the typed text and replace it with a text entry box so that the learner can type in their own text.
Is it possible to convert typed text into a text entry box?
Is there a preference setting that would prevent the typed text from showing or convert it to a text entry box?
I hope someone can help with a suggestion.

You can add the text entry box (TEB) on top of the required field, assign a variable to this TEB and in later slides, insert a smartshape and call this variable wherever required.
However I see some challenges in this, depending on your specific requirement.
1. If this variable is called 50 slides later, you should add a smartshape and call this variable 50 times. A bit tedious task.
2. Depending on the UI color changes, you should also change the smartshape color as many times in as many slides if you want to match the colors. Same with smartshape positions. Again, a tedious task.
3. What if this value is partially shown on a slide? A good lot of graphic editing work there. Use case: The user is creating a child node for some tree structure and you want to use this feature to let the user enter any node name he wants. Later in some other screen, this node (as part of the tree) appears on the right pane and the pane is partially hidden, then you will have to hide this new text also partially.
There may be few more challenges you might want to consider before deciding this.
Sreekanth

Text entry box actions based on value

Hi there..
I am currently working on a software simulator where users search for orders by typing an order number in a search field... In Captivate I have created a Text Entry box with "submit" button, what I am trying to achieve in is if the user type specific value (numbers) and click "submit" button it will take them to a specific slide in the project BUT if they type difference value (in the same text entry box) and click "submit" button it will take them to different slide in the project ?
hope I have explained the question clearly.. btw I am using Captivate v5
thanks

OK, you know how to add the correct entries. Set attempts to infinite, and create this conditional action to trigger by Success for the TEB:
I created a user variable to associate with the TEB instead of the generic one, it is labeled v_order. I labeled the slides to jump to as well, makes it easier to use in an advanced action. Screenshots are from CP8, so will look bit different for you, but what you hneed is the same.

Text entry box

Where in Captivate 5.5 is data stored when I input to the "text entry box" field? I want to capture data (e.g., name or employee number) and then output it to a file upon a person's completion of quiz.

It would appear from the name of the text box that you have changed its Item Name. As I said before, the TEB and its default associated variable have the same name at time of insertion. However, if you have been working on this course module, it's possible that the variable was deleted or no longer associated with the TEB. Selecte the TEB and check in the Properties tab for the name of its associated variable. If there is none, then create a user variable and select it via the drop-down menu in the TEB's Properties tab to associate the two.
Remember that these are only variables INSIDE the Captivate module at runtime. They won't be accessible via command line interfaces as environment variables.

Text Entry Box - On losing focus?

Hello fellow Captivators. I'm being thick-headed, I guess, but I'm trying to figure out how I might use the new feature of Text Entry Boxes on the Advanced tab:
I tried the setting as in the graphic, then when I preview, I click in the text entry box to give it focus, then I tab out of it (focus shifted to the playbar), but nothing happens.
Is this how it's supposed to work? And I'd love some suggestions about how to use this new feature.
Thanks very much.
Mister C.

Thanks for your insight, Rick. It is as you say. If I type a character in the TEB first, then the on focus lost action on the Advanced tab takes place.
But it doesn't quite make sense to me. I'm doing a little testing. The more I test, the more confused I get!!!
I configured a TEB with a Submit button. On success, I set it to go to the next slide. On the Advanced tab, I configured the on focus lost action to go to the previous slide. Then I tried it ---
If I type the correct text and click the Submit button, I'd expect the go to next slide action to take place. Instead, since the focus was lost when I clicked the Submit button, it went to the previous slide. If I type the incorrect text and click the Submit button, I'd expect to get incorrect feedback. Instead, again, since the focus was lost when I clicked the Submit button, it went to the previous slide. If I type correct text and use my shortcut key of Enter, the first Enter does nothing, then a second Enter executes the on success action and goes to the next slide. But, if I type incorrect text and use my shortcut key of Enter, it shows incorrect feedback --- I assume because focus is not lost just by pressing Enter. But --- this doesn't make sense either, because the help file says "On Focus Lost Select the action that should be performed when the user presses Enter or Tab, or moves the pointer away from the object." If I configure the shortcut key to be Tab instead of Enter, regardless of whether I type correct or incorrect text, the on focus lost action happens and I go to the previous slide.
So it looks like the Advanced tab on focus lost is taking precedence over the submit button validation process. That is, except for the Enter key shortcut.
Does this behavior match with your experience? Or does it even make any sense?

Using Value in a Text Entry Box for Calculation in a Variable

I have a project where I ask the user to fill in their name in one entry box and their two-digit age in another text entry box. Later in the project, I want to ask them to think back to when they were 6 years old and how they would describe themselves at that time. (the project is on self-awareness). To make this as personable as possible, I thought it would be neat to say. "(Name Variable), think back to about (Years Since 6)years ago, when you were just about 6 years old". I am having trouble getting the "Years Since 6" variable to work, and would like to know if it is possible.
I have set up the text entry box variable as "v_age"
I have set up a variable as "v_age6" with a value of "6"
I have set up the result variable as "v_result_age6"
I have set up a standard action with a mathematical expression that reads "v_result_age6 = v_age - v_age6"
The variable output does not show on the stage in project preview mode, and I think it's because there is only one variable with an assigned value in the equation. The "v_age" variable does not have an assigned value because that is a text entry box.
Is it possible to use a value typed in from a user as a variable to do math with?
Thanks.

Welcome to the forum,
Each TEB has an associated variable, its generic name is the same as the TEB. But you'd better link your variable with the more significant name to the TEB. Have a look at this real old blog post, still valid (although maybe the screenshots are bit out of date):
http://blog.lilybiri.com/timesaving-tip-create-associated-variable-for
BTW: you didn't need to create an extra variable for the number 6. This action would have done as well:
Expression v_resultage6 = v_age - 6
How do you trigger the action, by which event?
http://blog.lilybiri.com/events-and-advanced-actions
Lilybiri

How do I show a hand cursor for a text entry box button

I'm using Captivate 5 and have run into an annoying problem...
For a general click box, there is an option for "Show hand cursor over hit area" which will result in the cursor changing to a hand when rolling over the click box region in the published presentation. I want to do the same for the 'submit' button in the text entry box. Is this even possible? I'm hoping to keep things consistent as a user is clicking through the presentation.
I find it odd that it doesn't have the same property as found on the clickbox considering it has the same purpose. I'm using a background screenshot image to simulate an entry in an application, so I'm actualy hiding the submit button, but the button I want them to press lacks the hand cursor that would indicate it is clickable. I don't want to use a click box to allow the user to move on because I still want a failure in the text entry box to prevent the user from moving on.
Hope that all makes sense.

Hi there
Another approach is to use a Rollover Caption. Just remove any text and configure the caption as transparent. Then layer the Rollover area over the part where you want the hand to change to a cursor. The net effect will be that the cursor change will occur. Clicking will then result in triggering the underlying Submit button, which appers to be invisible and layered over an image.
Cheers... Rick
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Exporting text from text entry box

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