Creating Launchers – Apty Support

Launchers are actionable help icons / buttons that trigger predefined Workflows or redirect end users to additional useful content that can assist with completing their day-to-day tasks. Launchers can be positioned anywhere within a page of a hosting application and upon clicking on them they start a specified Workflow or its fragment, play a Video or redirect a user to a URL which may connect a user to some educational resource, such as another application page, knowledge base article, assisting service, etc.

Reference: What is a Launcher?

This instructions set explains the procedure of creating Launchers and includes 3 steps:

To access Launchers option in the Apty Studio:

1. Login to the the Apty Studio and select the hosting application you plan to work with. The Studio menu opens.

2. Click on the Launchers icon.

3. The system will prompt you to create a Frame, unless it was created earlier. If the required Frame for this page was created earlier, select it from the list.
To learn how to create a Frame, refer to this article.

To create a Launcher:

1. On the Launchers page click Create New Launcher or the +(Plus)button at the top right corner of the screen. You are redirected to the Launcher creator page.

2. Same as with most of other Apty content, we tie Launchers up to a specific element within the hosting application (field, button, heading, etc.). At the top of the Apty Studio click Select Element. The control is now passed to the application page in the browser. Select the input field, check box, radio button, or another interactive element that is going it be tied up to the Launcher you are about to create.

3. Compose your hint text. Tooltips may vary from simple one-line hints to a more complex instructions that may combine text, hyperlinks and images depending on the complexity of the task. The standard toolbar at the top of the text area allows adding text styles (bold, italic, header, alignment).

NOTE: If the toolbar at the top of the text area is invisible, click the text area and at the bottom right corner of the text area the T(Toggle Rich Text Editor) button appears, click it to access the styles toolbar.

4. Provide the name for your Launcher. It should be unique within the Frame it belongs to.

5. There are two Display Options of how a Launcher is shown in the hosting application: as an icon or as a button.

To display launcher as a button check the Show Button box in the Display Options section.

To display launcher as an icon clear the Show Button box in the Display Options section.

6. Define the Launcher content. A Launcher has the capability to launch a:

Workflow,
Video, and/or
URL.

TO LAUNCH A WORKFLOW:

Select a Workflow icon from the LAUNCHER OPTIONS.
Select the Workflow from the Select Workflow drop-down list. Only the Workflows assigned to the same page are displayed at the drop-down list. To create a new Workflow refer to this article.
Select the step from which the Workflow should launch from the Select Step drop-down list.

TO LAUNCH A VIDEO:

Select a Video icon from the LAUNCHER OPTIONS.
You need to upload the video to the Knowledge Store to be able to see it in the drop-down. If it has not been added, click Add new Content and add a name to be displayed and URL to the web page where it is stored. It will automatically get added to the Knowledge Store.

TO LAUNCH A URL:

Select a URL icon from the LAUNCHER OPTIONS.
You need to add the Link in the Knowledge Store to be able to see it in the drop-down. If it has not been added, click Add new Content and add a name to be displayed and URL to the web page where it is stored. It will automatically get added to the Knowledge Store.

7. Define the button position:

Apty Assist offers 12 predefined positions to locate the balloon around the field it belongs to. The preview of the position is available on the hosting application in the live mode.
Icon offset: Allows setting up the proximity of a balloon to a field.

8. Click Save to start using a new Launcher. It is now available as a part of a Frame in the Admin Console, but to make it active, the Frame should be published.

To publish a Frame with a Launcher:

When all the Launchers are added to the required Spotlights in a Frame and are ready to be used, system still preserves them in the Draft status, unless stated otherwise.

To change the Frame status to Ready or Publish:

PATH: Admin Console > on the left side panel select an application you've worked at in the Apty Studio > Publish > Frames

Draft: This state specifies that the content is in the development state and is not ready for testing or being available for end users.
Ready: This state defines that the instructional content is ready for testing in the development or test environment. In this state the content can be seen in the Apty Studio only in the development environment but is not available in the production environment.
Publish: This state specifies that the content has been tested and is ready to be available for the hosting application end users. The content in this state will be visible in the Apty Studio to the production environment.