Adobe Captivate: Text Entry Boxes Gain More Options

Text Entry Boxes are great. I find them particularly handy when creating an eLearning lesson and you need to simulate the process of typing text within a form field. Text Entry Boxes allow learners to type text just as they would in the actual software.

When setting up a Text Entry Box, you can set the Correct entries by selecting Validate User Input from the General group on the Properties panel and then specifying the terms in the Correct Entries dialog box.

Like I said at the outset, Text Entry Boxes (TEB) are great, but they're not new (they've been around since day 1). If you've used TEB's over the years, you know that they've changed very little even as Captivate has evolved and grown in both features and power.

If you're a long-time TEB fan like me, you'll be delighted to see that with Captivate 7, TEB's have finally been improved a bit. With a TEB selected on a slide, check out the More Options button in the General group of the Properties panel. The options that appear, thanks to this simple button, solve one of the issues that has frustrated me in the past. There is now a check box where you can specify some general restrictions on what a 'correct' entry may be.

For instance, if you choose Numbers, your learner will only be permitted to type numbers within the TEB. Select Lowercase and any characters typed will always appear in lowercase letters. Select Uppercase and any typed text will automatically be put into uppercase letters.

If you have specified either Lowercase or Uppercase and your learner tries to type in a number, the box will not accept it. If you specify a Maximum Length, when the learner tries to enter more than the specified number of characters, an error message appears. And even cooler? You can force the text to automatically be submitted after the specified number of characters by choosing Auto Submit (the learner won't need to press any additional keys on the keyboard or click a Submit button).

I encourage you to play around with the new TEB options. I'm sure you'll find the perfect settings that will allow you to simulate your computer software like never before.