I am prototyping a user interface and I would like to present the prototype as a set of linked canvases in PDF format.

Assigning an action that jumps to a different canvas in the document works fine when I export to PDF.

However, if I assign an action that shows/hides a layer within a canvas, the PDF does not act on this assigned action.

Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

[marc]

The PDF has no 'notion' of the Layer from OmniGraffle, it's just a representation of the page.

To achieve the desired effect you'll instead have to set up another Canvas with the area you want to show/hide, and set the Actions to switch back and forth between this page, and the original.

Think of each Canvas as a static scene/image of each UI state you want to show; this can also be useful if you want to be able to print and mark up comments for individual states, and particularly multi-step processes.

[aliza-g]

Thanks for clearing that up marc. I've created interactive pdfs using Jump Elsewhere before, and I was expecting it to work with Show/Hide layers, but no.

Sadly this sucks for what I was trying to do, which was have a layer of explanatory text overlaid on a complex diagram. I wanted to make it so that in the pdf you could click the text box to make it disappear, and have just the diagram remain. To do that with two cavases, as I'm doing now, you have to have the diagram in both canvases. So that if the person viewing the file has the pdf in continuous view, you see the diagram in multiple if you scroll. Definitely not ideal.

If anyone knows of a way to accomplish what I'm trying to do in an exported pdf, please show me the way. Thanks!

[Rneal]

I'm having a similar problem.

OG Actions help me make a simple prototype for guerilla testing, when exported to PDF or HTML.

While OG helps me simulate a basic click path for a Web site, Actions do not behave consistently when exported. For example, I set an Action to toggle on/off a navigation flyout menu (created on another layer) when a user clicks on a link's label, but the action did not work when exported to HTML or PDF, but did work in presentation mode.

Is there a fix?

Also, I'd really appreciate the ability to have an action start when a user mouses or hovers over an object, not just on click.

That would open a universe of possibility for interaction simulations, including hover windows, Quick Looks, navigation menus, flyouts, and tool tips.

A few more for the wish list to help make OG a useful testing tool:

• Ability to embed rich media into OG documents, like a QT or Flash movie
• Smart stencil elements (e.g., a text field that users can type into when exported in HTML or PDF).

Thanks.

[gabefriedman]

OMG (oh my graffle), being able to export intra-layer actions would be sooo useful!! Please add to the feature list!

[lharley]

It would be so incredibly helpful if OmniGraffle respected interactive PDFs completely.

PLEASE - Get OmniGraffle to Export layers so they show up in Acrobat PDF.

[HaL_Bauer]

Exporting to HTML also does not work when using show/hide layers? Why is this?

I bought OMG to make easy flowcharts and prototypes but the extreme lack of standard, stable, working sharing formats is making me second think my decision.