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Navigation structures let users select the path they want to take through a piece. Most navigation in Authorware is handled with the navigate and framework icons. The two icons work hand in hand. (For more information, see Navigation structuresstep !y step procedures for specific procedures." The navigate icon takes Authorware from one place on the flowline to another place that#s inside a framework icon.
A navigate icon can !e on the flowline outside a framework, !ut the destination it directs Authorware to must !e inside a framework. The navigate icon is much more sophisticated and fle$i!le than the Authorware use the navigate icon to do the following& 'o to any specific icon inside a framework 'o to an icon (ust !y identifying its location relative to the current icon (for e$ample, the ne$t icon or the previous one" )eturn to the last icon a user looked at *isplay a list of all the icons a user looked at recently *isplay a dialog !o$ that a user can use to search for an icon and then go to it %ou can place a navigate icon anywhere on the flowline or use it anywhere you#d use any other icon& inside a map icon, attached to a decision or interaction icon, or attached to a framework. A navigate icon#s destination must !e a page attached to a framework. %ou can#t select an icon on the main flowline as the destination. +ts destination can !e a page attached to a different framework, !ut not attached to a framework that#s in a different file. +f you nest one framework inside another, you can select a page attached to the nested framework as the destination of a navigate icon, !ut if you attach a map icon to a framework, you can#t select a specific icon inside the map as the destination.
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November 1
The environment has three components& the framework window, a set of default navigation controls, and the icons attached to the framework icon. (Any icon attached directly to a framework icon is called a page +*." The framework window has two parts& an entry pane and an e$it pane. The framework environment works like this& -hen Authorware enters the framework, it first goes to the flowline in the framework window#s entry pane.
The icons in the entry pane affect every page that#s attached to the framework icon. For e$ample, if you set up a display icon in the entry pane to display a !ackground, the !ackground appears on every page. The default navigation controls are part of the entry pane, so they appear on every page as well.
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November 1
Authorware goes to the flowline inside the entry pane whenever it enters the frameworkno matter where it#s headed. +f Authorware is coming from somewhere outside the framework directly to, say, the third icon attached to the framework, it still goes to the flowline inside the entry pane first. That#s how Authorware makes sure that the environment you set up in the entry pane affects every page in the framework, no matter what order they#re displayed in. .efore Authorware e$its the framework, it does two things& +t returns to the framework window and goes to the flowline in the e$it pane. Anything you set up there happens each time Authorware leaves the framework. For e$ample, if you want to change the value of a varia!le each time a user e$its the framework, you#d set up a calculation icon in the e$it pane to do that. +t erases everything in the entry pane and in any page in the framework. This includes any !uttons you#ve set up as perpetual. +n short, it returns everything to the way it was when it entered the framework.
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November 1
Although, it#s easy to change the controls or to replace them entirely with a set of custom controls. 3ust open up the framework window and edit the navigation control#s interactionor delete the interaction and create a new one. %ou can even make a set of custom controls a permanent part of the framework icon. The framework iconand the default navigation controls inside itare contained in a model named Framewrk.a6d that#s in the same folder as Authorware. +f you want to make a custom set of controls a permanent part of the framework icon, replace the current model with a model that contains a framework icon with the new navigation controls inside it. %ou can customi4e the framework icon model even further if you want. For e$ample, if you use a layout template to lay out the screen, you can include it in the model, and it will appear on every page you attach to the framework icon.
-ith the piece organi4ed that way, users can (ump directly from the !eginning of one chapter to the !eginning of the ne$t. They don#t have to page through all of one chapter to get to the ne$t.
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November 1
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0reating custom navigation controls 7. Attach a navigation link to hot te$t Navigating with hyperte$t 8. 0reate hyperte$t Navigating with hot te$t 9. 0reate a hot te$t style 0reating a hot te$t style :. Apply the hot te$t style to te$t Applying a hot te$t style
*isa!le <revious and Ne$t !uttons so piece doesn#t go from last page to the first or from first to last
<rovide a key that a user can press instead of clicking a navigation control
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November 1
Adding or deleting a default navigation control Adding or deleting a default navigation control
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November 1