Digital Workshop

Wanted to get a demo downsized and so published to Flash. Nothing special in it that should not work. However, Show/Hide works the first time and then does not. Extremely strange.

I've tested it several times with the same result.

Thoughts?

Image is code that works once, then no more. Works perfectly in professional and preview.

Dave

Okies, a little weirder than I reported. I realized that show/hide was working fine in the somewhat simpler first pages of this pub. The action are are as shown. So apparently it has something to do with the relative complexity of the actions...but why it would work on the first and then not again eludes me. I put a "back" button in and the first one that works does NOT work the second or more time after it's first been invoked.

EDIT: I can see WHAT, but not WHY. I added a text field to monitor the variables. As mentioned, works fine on the first one but after that it does not change but remains the same as the first page. Again, all works fine as Opus Pro. I do not recall issues with Flash and variables. I am wondering if it has something to do with changing the pub type "on the fly." I've done this in the past without problems.

I am no big flash fan, but I thought it appropriate here due to the simple actions involved and the fact that it's 315k in as a flash file, but around 4mb as an exe with the player.

Dave

Okies, time for a guru to have a look. Just realized this whole thing is small so attached is the complete file, submitted for your approval.

If you publish to Opus Pro, I think you will find it works fine. Publish to Flash, and only the first multiple choice question will work, and that only once. Note there is an invisible "Back" button just above the page title variable in the lower left side. If you select performance/conditions/criterion as the answer on the first one, the variable will show "3" as it should. However, going forward or backing up and doing the page again it will always show "0." Well, at least it does here...

Dave

I cannot open your 'objectives' sample Pub to take a look, as I do not have Opus 8 installed yet.
That sounds to me like you are using Page variables rather than Publication variables... unless you have built-in some On-Show initializations.

I do think there may be something to what you said earlier about starting the Pub as Full Opus Prof. and then changing the Type to Flex Pub. Could be something in the conversion process, or you could have implemented some feature that is not supported in Flex.

From the Help File, there are even some basic issues with text in Flex/Flash.
Edit/Add: See the topic "Planning an Opus Flex Publication" since these adjustments are to be done once you make the Pub a Flex Type.

Nope, these are not page variables. However, they could be in that they are set to clear on show of each page and reused. That 'backup" example is a bit of a red herring. If you go past the first time it works every other page displays "0" as well. I just did that to see if there was something causing that one page to work and the others not to work. Bear in mind that published in "pro" all works perfectly. If it were something isn't implemented in Flex it would not work the one time it does.

However, you may be on to something worth exploring in the "changing on the fly" thing. While I've done this in the past with other pubs and it worked fine, it still may be a problem this time and should be a suspect until proven innocent. I think I'll declare a Flex pub and copy three or so of these question types into it and see if it works.

Actually, your third point might support this as the Flash text options are not showing up in this pub, suggesting the change of put type might be dicey.

Thanks for the tips...I'll report back on the results.

Dave

So maybe you must create the Text Object when the TYPE of Pub is already Flex. (see my 'edit/add' above).

Issue is that I am not using any text objects for anything other than checking the variable status (programmers aid). I am guessing they are working OK as the observeable results are consistent with the programmers aid visual value.

Unless something gets in the way I'll have a go at duplicating a few of these today in a new, Flex, pub and see what happens.

Dave

Well, it was the pub type change. Don't know how many times I've done this. Intuitively, one would think that as long as you are not invoking any functions not possible in Flash you should be able to publish to Flex without a problem. In fact, I've done this many times without a problem. Why it cropped up in this very simple pub I have no idea...but it did. I declared a new Flex pub, copied over a few of the offending pages and their variables, ran a test first and found everything working. Then, I copied the rest batch at a time into the new Flex pub. That occasionally creates problems in itself, but not this time, thankfully. Everything worked just fine. Opus is an incredibly complex machine and when you "color outside the lines" you have to expect problems. Often, however, it may not be obvious to some when they are "outside the lines."

I think it would be good to through up a nag screen when changing pub types "on the fly" that suggests testing each and every function immediately in a published version. I'll undoubtedly do this again, and may or may not have a problem. Perhaps by this time I'll guess what it is instead of wasting time fighting it...perhaps not. A warning would help.

Dave

It does - and the help page as well:



Mack

Dave,
Glad you pinned-down the cause and were able to take your existing Pages and work over to the new Pub.
Also, I hope others here will follow your example: I appreciate that you reported back on your success, put closure on your issue. That contributes to the knowledge base and helps us all.

Not sure why it's attributing the quote to you, Mack...

Anyway, I always try to get back when something is resolved for precisely the reasons you mentioned, Lar.

Mack, I've seen that...but it is inadequate, IMHO. Much as I hate nag screens they can be appropriate. It would not be hard for the program to simply look to see if there is an "autosave" which would indicate an existing pub and through up this warning as a nag screen requiring dismissal.

Not a big deal, but when we write apps here we generally try to figure out not only the right directions people might go but also the unexpected things they might try. One persons "intuitive" is another persons "clueless."

Dave