Unpublished Captivate variables
A recent post in the elearning development forum reminded me that I forgot to post some unpublished Captivate variables I dug up a while back.
These were gathered from the class file captivate.monalisa.rdMovie.as. Anything marked with a (?) means I don’t know what this variable does. 
For this table, “containerMC” refers to whatever Flash movieclip you’ve loaded the Captivate SWF into.
| Variable | What it does (or best guess) |
|---|---|
| Captivate Functions (commands) | |
| containerMC.rdcmndResume = 1; | resume() |
| containerMC.rdcmndPause = 1; | pause() |
| containerMC.rdcmndPrevious = 1; | gotoPreviousSlide() |
| containerMC.rdcmndNextSlide = 1; | gotoNextSlide() |
| containerMC.rdcmndRewindAndStop = 1; | rewindAndPause() |
| containerMC.rdcmndRewindAndPlay = 1; | rewindAndPlay() |
| containerMC.rdcmndExit = 1; | exit() |
| containerMC.rdcmndInfo = 1; | showInfo() |
| containerMC.rdcmndCC = 1; | showCC() |
| containerMC.rdcmndMute = 1; | mute() |
| Captivate Functions (queries) | |
| containerMC.rdinfoFrameCount; | getFrameCount() returns number |
| containerMC.rdinfoSlidesInProject; | getSlidesInProject() returns number |
| containerMC.rdinfoCurrentFrame; | getCurrentFrame() returns number |
| containerMC.rdinfoCurrentSlide; | getCurrentSlide() returns number |
| containerMC.rdinfoSlideCount; | getMovieSlideCount() returns number |
| containerMC.rdinfoHasPlaybar; | hasPlaybar() returns boolean |
| containerMC.rdinfoFPS; | getFrameRate() returns number |
| containerMC.CaptivateVersion; | getVersion() returns number (?) |
| Assorted properties (variables) | |
| containerMC.rdinfocurrFrame; | Stores current frame number |
| containerMC.rdinfostate; | “State” of movie (?) |
| containerMC.rdinfoCurrentSlideInProject; | Stores index # of current slide |
| containerMC.rdinfoCurrentSlide; | Stores index # of current slide |
| containerMC.rdcmndPlaybarMoved | Boolean (1 or 0) indicating whether playbar has moved |
| containerMC.isWaiting() | Returns boolean indicating playback state (?) |
| containerMC.rdIsPreview | Returns boolean indicating if SWF is a preview (?) |
| containerMC.info_mc.playInfo(); | (?) |
| containerMC.m_Sub_mc_array | Array containing info for nested MCs (?) |
| Assorted properties (commands) | |
| containerMC.rdcmndGotoFrame = num; | Jumps to specified frame # |
| containerMC.rdcmndGotoSlide = num; | Jumps to specified slide # |
| containerMC.rdcmndGotoFrameAndResume = num; | Jumps to specified frame and resumes play (?) |
| containerMC.rdcmndNext = 0; | Same as next slide, or is next frame (?) |
| containerMC.endMovieFunction(); | Used by Captivate to select appropriate end of movie action |
| Question pool props | |
| containerMC.m_quizPoolColl[slideInfo.selectedPoolName]; | var quizPoolData = … |
| containerMC.cpQuestionPoolsInitialized; | Boolean indicating whether cpQuestionPools is ready |
Standard MC props are also available: _width, _height, _xscale, _yscale, etc.
Another unpublished but useful variable is rdcmndHidePlaybar.
You can see the official list of Captivate 3 variables here (page 201 in PDF link), and you can also see Paul’s famous list of Captivate variables here.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I am working on a Captivate project and would like to display the running total score on each frame as the user proceeds. Do you know the variable for score or raw score? I would like to build a .SWF code widget to display this info.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Hi Mark
Sorry, I don’t know the variable for score; as far as I know, it isn’t a public variable, and may not even be accessible.
If you find out, please let me know.