Adobe Captivate 5 system variables

Adobe Captivate 5 gives you access to the same system variables as with Adobe Captivate 4 as well as three new ones. These variables allows the Captivate developer to add extra functionality to their projects. The system variables in Adobe Captivate 5 have been assigned to some different groups than in Captivate 4 so here is a new updated list of the available variables and their function.

The layout of this site isn’t handling tables very well so the complete list of Adobe Captivate 5 system variables and examples of how to use in Adobe Flash can be downloaded as a PDF at the bottom of this post.

The System Variables in Adobe Captivate 5 are divided into different groups:

MovieControl lists variables for events that control the movie like pause, resume, previous, next slide, and so on.

MovieInformation lists variables related to the movie such as variables for the current slide, current frame, and so on.

MovieMetaData lists variables that provide information about the project such as project name, author, and company.

SystemInformation lists variables that can be picked up from your computer such as current date and current time.

Quizzing lists variables related to quizzing, such as the variables that capture the number of attempts and the percentage of questions answered correctly.

MovieControl Variables:

These variables can be manipulated through Advanced Actions, Flash animations and Widgets.

Variable name	Default value	Description
cpCmndCC	0	Enable/disable closed captioning (CC). Set value to 1 to display closed captions.
cpCmndGotoSlide	-1	Assign the slide number that the movie should move to before pausing. Index begins with zero
cpCmndMute	0	Mute the audio. set 1 to mute and 0 to unmute
cpCmndPlaybarMoved	0	Set to 1 if the playbar has moved
cpCmndShowPlaybar	1	Provides info about the visibility of the playbar. Returns 1 if the playbar is visible, and O if not visible
cpCmndVolume	50	Control the movie’s volume. Value can range from 0 to 100
rdcmndExit	0	Exit the movie. set 1 to exit
rdcmndGotoFrame		Assign the frame number the frame should jump to before pausing. Index begins with zero.
rdcmndGotoFrameAndResume		Assign to this variable the frame number to jump to and play. Index begins with zero
rdcmndInfo	0	Display information about Adobe Captivate
rdcmndNextSlide	0	Go to the next slide. Set 1 to jump to next slide
rdcmndPause	0	Pause the movie. Set 1 to pause
rdcmndPrevious	0	Go to the previous slide. Set 1 to jump to previous slide
rdcmndResume	0	Resume playing the movie. Set 1 to resume.
cpLockTOC	0	Enables/disables user interaction on TOC

MovieInformation variables:

These variables can be accessed from Advanced Actions, Flash animations, Widgets and can be inserted in Text Captions to display their value.

Variable name	Default value	Description
cpInfoCurrentSlide		Current slide number. Index begins with 1
cpInfoCurrentSlideLabel		Name of the Current Slide
cpInfoCurrentSlideType		Type of slide playing currently. (Slide type can be Normal Slide, Question Slide, or Random Question Slide)
cpInfoHasPlaybar		Information about presence of playbar. Returns 1 if visible and 0 if not
cpInfoIsStandalone		Used to detect if the movie is playing back as a stand-alone Windows (*.exe) or Mac (*.app) executable rather than as a SWF embedded in a web page. Default is 0. Returns a 1 when playing back as an *.exe. (Thanks James!)
cpInfoLastVisitedSlide	0	Last visited slide. Index begins with zero
rdinfoCurrentFrame		Current frame number. Index begins with zero
rdinfoCurrentSlide		Current slide number. Index begins with zero
rdinfoFPS	30	Frame rate of the movie in fps
rdinfoFrameCount		Total number of frames in the project
rdinfoSlideCount		Total number of slides in the project
cpInfoElapsedTimeMS	0	Time elapsed, in milliseconds, since the movie started playing
cpInfoPrevSlide		Slide Previously playing before current slide
CaptivateVersion	5.0.0	Shows the Captivate version

MovieMetaData variables:

These variables can be accessed from Advanced Actions, Flash animations, Widgets and can be inserted in Text Captions to display their value.

Variable name	Default value	Description
cpInfoAuthor	author	Name of the author
cpInfoCompany	company	Name of the company
cpInfoCopyright	copyright	Copyright Info
cpInfoCourseID (new)	-1	No idea where this comes from
cpInfoCourseName (new)	Course Name	No idea where this comes from
cpInfoDescription	project description	Description of the project
cpInfoEmail	author@company.com	e-mail address
cpInfoProjectName		Name of the Adobe Captivate project
cpInfoWebsite	www.company.com	URL of the company website in the format www.companyaddress.com

SystemInformation variables:

These variables can be accessed from Advanced Actions, Flash animations, Widgets and can be inserted in Text Captions to display their value.

Variable name	Default value	Description
cpInfoCurrentDate	dd	Current Date: The date as set on the user’s computer
cpInfoCurrentDateString	mm/dd/yyyy	Current Date as set on the user’s computer in the mm/dd/yyyy format
cpInfoCurrentDay		Day of the week as set on the user’s computer. Values range from 1-7 starting with Sunday. Sunday=1, Monday=2, and so on)
cpInfoCurrentHour	hh	Current hour: The hour set as on the user’s computer
cpInfoCurrentMinutes	mm	Current minutes: The hour set as on the user’s computer
cpInfoCurrentMonth	mm	Current month: The month as set on the user’s computer
cpInfoCurrentTime	hh:mm:ss	Current time as set on the user’s computer in the hh:mm:ss format
cpInfoCurrentYear	yyyy	Current year as set on the user’s computer
cpInfoEpochMS		Time elapsed, in milliseconds, since Januar 01, 1970

Quizzing variables:

These variables can be accessed from Advanced Actions, Flash animations, Widgets and can be inserted in Text Captions to display their value.

Variable name	Default value	Description
cpQuizInfoAnswerChoice		Chosen Answer
cpQuizInfoAttempts		Number of times the quiz has been attempted
cpQuizInfoLastSlidePointScored		Score for last quiz slide
cpQuizInfoMaxAttemptsOnCurrentQuestion		Maximum attempts on the current question
cpQuizInfoPassFail (new)	1	Will return 1 for a passed quiz and 0 for a failed quiz.
cpQuizInfoPointsPerQuestionSlide		Points for the question slide
cpQuizInfoPointsscored		Points scored in the project
cpQuizInfoQuestionSlideTiming		Time limit in seconds for current question
cpQuizInfoQuestionSlideType		Question slide type(Multiple-Choice/True-False/..etc)
cpQuizInfoQuizPassPercent		Passing percentage for the quiz
cpQuizInfoQuizPassPoints		Passing points for the quiz
cpQuizInfoTotalCorrectAnswers		Number of correct answers
cpQuizInfoTotalProjectPoints		Total project points
cpQuizInfoTotalQuestionsPerProject		Number of questions per project
cpQuizInfoTotalQuizPoints		Final quiz score
cpQuizInfoTotalUnansweredQuestions		Total number of unanswered questions
cpInfoPercentage		Scoring in percentage

Accessing variables in Adobe Captivate 5:

The majority of the variables can be used in Text Captions to display their value. They can also be used in Advanced Actions to perform an action based on the value of the variable. From Advanced Actions it is also possible to manipulate the Movie Control variables.

Accessing variables from Flash in Adobe Captivate 5:

In Adobe Captivate 5 the runtime structure have been changed  a bit so you now have to access the “root” through a proxy. Furthermore Adobe Captivate 5 only uses ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) so the way you access variables are a bit different from Captivate 4.

In short this is how you can access variables from a Flash Animation inserted into Adobe Captivate 5:

For example this would pause your Adobe Captivate SWF:

I haven’t tested all the variables with Adobe Captivate 5 yet. In Adobe Captivate 4 some of the variables were not accessible on the main root. They were contained within a movieclip called “movie”. I’m not sure if this is the case here but I will update the post once I have confirmed it.

You can download the list of variables as a handy PDF file here: