Developing Flash-based Certificates for Adobe Connect Curriculum Module

This article serves to describe a template that can be used to develop certificates specifically for the Adobe Connect Curriculum Module.  In following the article and using the template, Administrators can insert a Flash-based Item into an Adobe Connect Curriculum that will present learners with a printable certificate of completion.   

Easy to Use

Even if you are not a developer – as long as you understand the purpose of this article, you will be able to use this template to create your own customized certificate.

In an effort to make this easy to use, I’ve written the first part of the article (after the overview with EASY steps that can be taken to use the template for your own purpose).  The template may only require you (or a developer) to replace just three images in the Flash-based file (which are for the certificates) and to move the order of the text objects on the stage to accommodate your certificate images

The template is developed so that the certificate does not need to be inserted with any pre-requisites.  It will dynamically determine the status of the Curriculum to determine whether the certificate should be displayed or not.

Technical Babble

The template and corresponding sample files provided with this article use the Adobe Connect XML-API’s to communicate with and retrieve data from Connect.  This makes the article very specific to Adobe Connect Curriculum Module and does not apply to use within any other Learning Management System (LMS).  The template does not use the AICC or SCORM-based standards to communicate.  The result of creating a Curriculum Certificate based on the template provided with this article is not intended to be inserted into an individual content file (e.g. Adobe Captivate or Adobe Presenter).  A separate article has been written for how a certificate can be created and inserted into Adobe Presenter or Adobe Captivate that will work within any LMS environment, including Adobe Connect.  Please see “Adding Learning Certificates to Presenter and Captivate Courses” found on the ConnectUsers website, for more information.

The Certificate for Connect Curriculum template is based on ActionScript 2.0 and is not currently available in ActionScript 3.0.  The component is provided “as-is” and may or may not be suitable for your environment or use.  It has been tested with Adobe Connect 6, 7 and 7.5. 

Requirements

• Flash 8 or higher is recommended
• Flash Player 8 or higher is recommended
• Familiarity with ActionScript is recommended
• Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro account with the Training Module
• Files associated with this document are available for download.  These files may be compressed in .zip format and may require you to install an extraction program such as 7-Zip available from http://www.7-zip.com.

• Certificate for Adobe Connect Curriculums – Customizing the Template (Walkthrough SWF)
• Certificate for Adobe Connect Curriculums – Demonstration (Walkthrough SWF)
• Certificate for Adobe Connect Curriculums – Template (ZIP, 1.145 MB)
• Certificate for Adobe Connect Curriculums – Samples (ZIP, 312 KB)

Overview

The Curriculum Certificate template is created in Flash and uses the XML-API’s of Adobe Connect.  It’s the XML-API’s of Adobe Connect that provide the data that you can use in a certificate. 

NOTE:  Do not be intimidated because of references to Flash, XML or Adobe Connect’s XML-API’s.  Please review “Customizing the Template” and “Demonstration”, above.

Figure 1: Example of a Certificate in Adobe Connect

The figure above, displays a certificate created in Flash based on this Curriculum Certificate template.  It has been inserted as an Item and launched from a completed Adobe Connect Curriculum. 

The template and the sample files are designed to specifically work with Adobe Connect and even more specifically the Adobe Connect Curriculum Module.  The certificate attempts to:

• Determine if the file was even launched in an Adobe Connect Curriculum Module
• Determine if the user is enrolled in the Adobe Connect Curriculum
• Queries Adobe Connect for the name of the Curriculum, the status of the Curriculum, the date the Curriculum was completed; and the Certificate ID of the Curriculum.

For example, if you just double-click on the SWF file that is provided as part of the template – you’ll see the message shown in Figure 2, below:

Figure 2: Attempting to Launch the Certificate outside the Curriculum Module

All of the ActionScript (code) has been provided for you.  All you need to do is to replace three images and move some text objects around the stage to format them with your own custom certificate. 

Using the Curriculum Certificate Template

The Curriculum Certificate Template is easy to use. As a reminder – please review these two demonstrations to see the Curriculum Certificate in Adobe Connect; AND to view how to customize the template for your own purposes:

• Using the Curriculum Certificate in Adobe Connect
• Customizing the Curriculum Certificate Template

Here are the steps to customize and use the Curriculum Certificate:

• Extract (unzip) the contents of the template on your local machine
• Open the template in Flash
• Open the library and look for the three images found in the Certificates folder
• Replace the three images with JPEG’s of your own certificate
• Modify the text objects from three Movie Clips in the library
• Publish the Flash-based certificate to generate a SWF
• Import the certificate SWF into the Content Module of Adobe Connect
• Reference the certificate from a Curriculum Module of Adobe Connect

Extract (unzip) the contents of the template on your local machine

Download the template from this article.  Extract it by using your favorite zip extractor.

Open the template in Flash

Double-click the template FLA (called “index.fla”) file to open it in Flash 8 or higher

Open the library; look for the three images in the Certificates folder

In Flash, open the library by selecting Window > Library from the Menu; or by pressing <Ctrl> + L on the keyboard.

Once opened, expand the “Certificates” folder and expand the “images” folder

There should be references to three image files in that folder:

• certificateLandscape.jpg
• certificate Portrait.jpg
• certificateScreen.jpg

Figure 3: Expanded Library of the Curriculum Certificate template file in Adobe Flash

Replace the three images with JPEG’s of your own certificate

Replace the images associated with each of the certificate files, in the Curriculum Certificate Template Library.  This is accomplished by:

• Double-clicking on the icon associated with each of the Bitmap references in the “images” folder of the Library
• In the “Bitmap Properties” dialog, click import and select a JPG or other image file that represents your own custom certificate.

NOTE:  You should do this for each of the three Bitmap references in the library.  You should also match-up the size of the images, so there are not any conflicts with formatting during the display or print of your certificates.  The image file sizes are as follows:

Modify text objects from each of the three Movie Clips in the library

Not all certificates are created the same.  For example, the name of the user won’t appear in the same location (and you may want to modify the font and other styles, etc).  After importing your custom certificate images, insert, delete, move, or otherwise modify the available text objects that can be displayed on the certificates.

The Template provides a number of text objects that can be displayed and dynamically updated in your certificate, including the name of the learner, title of the Curriculum, etc.  If you insert Flash Text Objects on the stage with specific instance names, that data will be displayed on your custom report. 

Figure 4: Text Object selected on Stage; Properties Window showing its instance name (name_txt)

For more information on “instance names”, please see the Flash documentation.

Text Objects

Here is the list of Text Objects that can be inserted in your Curriculum Certificates:

Publish the Flash-based certificate to generate a SWF

Publish your custom certificate to generate a SWF file.  This can be accomplished by selecting Control > Test Movie from the Menu OR; File > Publish.  The SWF file will be inserted into Adobe Connect as your Curriculum Certificate.

Import the Certificate SWF into the Content Module of Adobe Connect

Import the resulting Curriculum Certificate SWF into Adobe Connect.  This is accomplished in the Content Tab of Adobe Connect.

Figure 5: Content Tab of Adobe Connect

Reference the certificate from a Curriculum Module of Adobe Connect

Once the Curriculum Certificate has been inserted as Content, you can either create a course, or simply reference the Content Object from a Curriculum in the Training Module. 

NOTE:  The Training Module might not be purchased/available by all organizations.  Please contact your Adobe Connect Administrator for more information on Connect Training.

Figure 6: Curriculum Certificate inserted as an Item in an Adobe Connect Curriculum

Sample Files

There is only one sample file provided with this article.  All of the code is available for you to review and modify, for your own purposes. 

Sample 1

This certificate is simply the “template” file that has been published as a Flash SWF file.  It displays a certificate with most of the Text Objects that are available in the template, including Name of Learner, Title of the Curriculum, the Curriculum ID and the date the Curriculum was completed.

This certificate provides both a print and quit button is provided (the latter may not work in all environments)

Conclusion

These prototype files are provided “as-is”, though I expect to be making changes to them.  Feel free to contact me with any updates and suggestions you might have for these files.