Collector
Scope
- Book Page content object > Collector object
Purpose
The Collector object allows you to use multiple objects to trigger one or more actions against other objects. It is similar to a Counter, in that actions are triggered based on the number of collective clicks (or ‘flags’) on the various trigger objects, but the Collector object is different in that each trigger ‘flag’ can only be used once. This presents some interesting possibilities—although it is limited in that there are only ten possible ‘flags’.
The most common use for a Collector object is to ensure that a user interacts with x objects on the Book Page before triggering an event (such as displaying a completion message, or advancing to the next page).
Use
To insert a Collector object, select menu option Insert > Action Objects > Collector (or click on the Action Objects button and select Collector from the drop-down panel. The Collector object is added as an icon outside the upper edge of the Page. Click on this icon to display its Property Sheet and maintain its properties as described below.
To increase (or reset) the count, go to the Actions properties for each trigger object. Add a new entry for the relevant trigger event (such as On Click), specify the Collector as the target object and select the appropriate action to perform for the Collector (see below). This action will typically be to set one of 10 possible 'flags' that are available for the Collector. Each trigger object should normally set a different flag, as the Collector's Count uses the number of unique flags set and not the number of times a flag was set. This is an important distinction.
Once you have defined the trigger object events that will 'add to' the count, you need to specify what should happen once the count reaches a certain value. Go back to the properties for the Collector object, specify the value that the count should reach in order to trigger the event in the Count property, and the action that should be performed when this value us reached in the On Count property. Typically, you will only want to count up to a specific number, and then trigger an action once this number has been reached, but you can specify up to eight Count/On Count pairs. This is useful for displaying a progress indicator.
Proprties
Available Actions
The following Actions can be selected for a Collector when it is used as the target of a triggered event:
- Disable: Prevent any of the Collector's actions from being triggered. This is useful if you want to temporarily prevent the Collector's flags from being set (for example, during display of a message).
- Enable Allow the Collector's flags to be set (typically, after they have previously been disabled, or if the initial state of the object is disabled - see the Enabled property.
- Flag x: Trigger a specific flag number.
- Reset: Reset all of the Collector's flags.
