Click Project > Variables. The Variables dialog-box displays.
Last updated on
Dec 27, 2022
How to create user-defined variables in Adobe Captivate
Like all programming languages, Captivate uses variables to temporarily store values, which can be used by other components of Captivate. In Captivate, there are two types of variables, system and user-defined.
System variable: System variables come pre-defined with your copy of Captivate. For example, cpCmndMute , which mutes the audio in a slide. For a list of all system variables, see Captivate variables list.
User-defined variable: These are variables that you can create and assign them to customized actions. The name you assign to a user variable must not conflict with Captivate’s internal functions, reserved keywords, exposed system variables, or other hidden variables.
There are some conventions while naming a variable. They are:
- Do not begin the name with a blank or a numeric character.
- Do not use any reserved keywords. The table below displays variable names that are reserved by ActionScript.
- Use unique variable names.
- Use intuitive names for a variable.
- Always add descriptions to a variable.
Creating a user-defined variable
In this example, we will create a user-defined variable and associate the variable with a button. When you click the button, a name displays.
To create the variable:
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To add a variable, click Add New, and enter the variable information in the Name, Value, and Description fields.
- Name: Specify a unique name for the variable. Ensure that the name is intuitive enough to help users guess its content. For example, a variable storing the version number of a product would have the name ProductVersion or VersionNumber .
- Value: Specify a value for the variable. The value that you specify occurs at all instances of occurrence of the variable in the document. You can also choose to set the value later by leaving this field blank. Variables with undefined values appear as blank spaces in the project.
- Description: Optionally, add a description for the variable. For example, you could add a note for the authors instructing them about when to use the variable.
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To save the changes, click Save.
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In the Captivate project, insert a button, a text entry box and a text caption, as shown below:
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In the text entry box, you insert the variable you had created, as shown below:
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With the cursor after the “:”, click [X] in the Property Inspector, as shown below:
Also, make the text caption hidden.
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After you click Insert Variable or [X], in the Insert Variable dialog, click the Variables drop-down list, and choose the variable you created.
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After you insert the variable, the variable name gets enclosed within $$...$$, as shown below:
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Some of the variable names are reserved by ActionScript. Do not use the following variable names when creating your variable:
alpha
currentframe
droptarget
focusrect
ramesloaded
height
buttonMode
byte
cacheAsBitmap
case
cast
catch
filters
final
finally
float
focusEnabled
focusRect
mouseX
mouseY
name
namespace
native
new
switch
synchronized
tabChildren
tabEnabled
tabIndex
textSnapshot
highquality
lockroot
name
parent
quality
rotation
char
class
const
constructor
contextMenu
continue
for
forceSmoothing
framesLoaded
function
get
goto
null
numChildren
opaqueBackground
override
package
parent
this
throw
throws
to
totalFrames
trackAsMenu
soundbuftime
target
totalframes
url
visible
width
currentFrame
currentLabel
currentLabels
currentScene
debugger
default
graphics
height
hitArea
if
implements
import
private
protected
prototype
public
return
root
transform
transient
true
try
type
typeof
x
xmouse
xscale
y
ymouse
yscale
delete
do
double
doubleClickEnabled
dropTarget
dynamic
in
include
instanceof
interface
internal
intrinsic
rotation
scale9Grid
scaleX
scaleY
scenes
scrollRect
use
useHandCursor
var
virtual
visible
void
abstract
accessibilityProperties
as
blendMode
boolean
break
each
else
enabled
enum
export
extends
false
is
loaderInfo
long
mask
menu
mouseChildren
mouseEnabled
set
short
soundTransform
stage
static
stop
super
volatile
while
