Touch Triggers

A touch trigger is a trigger that is activated via a physical touch on the display of a smart device. The trigger can be activated through, for example, a Tap, Long Press or Drag. Other multi-touch gestures, such as Pinch and Rotate, are also supported.

Tap

An action where the tip of a finger touches the touchscreen and is raised immediately.

Trigger Property

Number of Fingers

Up to five fingers supported

Double Tap

An action where the tip of a finger touches the touchscreen twice rapidly.

Trigger Property

Number of Fingers

Up to five fingers supported

Touch Down

An action where the tip of a finger touches the touchscreen.

Trigger Property

Number of Fingers

Up to five fingers supported

Touch Up

A Response is activated the moment a user physically lets go of a layer. This differs from a tap in that if a layer is dragged and let go, a Response is activated.

Trigger Property

Number of Fingers

Up to five fingers supported

Long Press

An action where the tip of a finger is raised after a certain amount of time touching the touchscreen.

Trigger Properties

Number of Fingers

Up to five fingers supported

Pressing Time

The amount of time during which a finger touches a screen

Fling

A response is triggered when a layer is swiped across a direction set in the layer’s properties at a speed faster than a system-assigned default speed.

Trigger Property

Direction

The region towards which the finger moves

Pull

The Pull Trigger is a Trigger with true/false properties. True properties are acknowledged when a layer is dragged to a certain point or at a certain speed. In that case, the layer moves the amount of distance set by the user from its origin. If false properties are acknowledged, the layer returns to its origin.

Trigger Property

Direction

The region towards which the finger moves

Distance

The amount of space a layer moves

Follow Over Pulling

A reaction that takes place when a finger moves beyond a preset region

Easing

Change of acceleration of layer movement

Drag

An action where the tip of a finger moves across the screen while touching the touchscreen.

Trigger Property

Number of Fingers

Up to five fingers supported

The response properties linked to drag triggers

Direction

The area towards which a layer moves

Limit

The minimum and maximum values under which a layer can move

Ratio

The ratio between the distance a layer is dragged and the distance a finger moves on the screen. When the value is set to 100, the two distance values are equal in other words, a layer covers the same distance a finger moves. When the value is higher, the layer moves farther compared to the finger, and vice versa

Pinch

An action where two fingers pull away from or come toward each other while touching the touchscreen.

The response properties linked to pinch triggers

Direction

The area towards which a layer moves

Pivot

The reference point from which a layer undergoes rotation or resizing

Limit

The minimum and maximum values under which a layer can move

Rotate

An action where two fingers turn in the same direction while touching the touchscreen.

The response property linked to the Rotate trigger

Pivot

The reference point from which a layer undergoes rotation or resizing

Conditional Triggers

As the name implies, conditional triggers activate Interactions based on specific conditions, such as when a prototype is run, a specific string of text is received or a layer is moved to a specific location.

Chain

An action where the changes of a property of one layer changes the property of another layer.

Trigger Property

Property

Layer attribute values as a reference for changing other layers

Response Properties after Chain

Trigger’s Layer Mapping Range 1

A movement range for a chain’s target layer

Response’s Layer Mapping Range 2

The range of values for a layer that will move within the movement range for a chain’s target layer

Range

The Range trigger fires when an object’s property or variable transitions into a range (hence the name) you define. This trigger will only fire once as the property transitions into the range. For example, you might define a Range trigger that fires when the x property of an object becomes 200 pixels or greater. The trigger will fire once as the object transitions from 199 to 200. This won’t fire again as the x property remains 200 or greater, and it won’t fire when the property drops below 200 (e.g., 200 to 199). However, it will fire again if the property once again transitions from 199 to 200.

Trigger Properties

1. Greater than or equal to

When a target layer’s value reaches a certain value

2. Less than or equal to

When a target layer falls under a certain value

3. Between

When a target layer’s value lies between two certain values

4. Not between

When a target layer’s value is outside the range between two certain values

Start

A type of trigger that is activated automatically when a prototype is run or when jumping to a scene.

Trigger Properties

Start After Jump

After a Jump response has been completed, the Start trigger will be activated

Start With Jump

During the Jump response, the Start trigger will be activated

Restart Every Time

Each time when jumping to a scene, the Start trigger will be activated

Detect

A response is activated when a layer property or variable changes.

Mouse Triggers

A mouse trigger is a trigger that is activated via mouse movements on a computer. Mouse triggers can be used to create interactions where the cursor is brought into our out of an object.

Mouse Over

A type of mouse event. A response is triggered when the mouse cursor is brought over an object.

Mouse Out

A type of mouse event. A response is triggered when the mouse cursor is brought outside of an object.

Key Trigger

Press

A response is activated when a key on a physical keyboard or an Android device is pressed.

Trigger Properties

Keyboard

All letter, number and arrow keys, the Esc and Tab key, and the space bar can be selected.

Android

The back button as well as the volume buttons can be selected.

Input Triggers

An input trigger is a type of trigger related to the input layer.

Focus

A response is activated when a focus in or out takes place at an input layer. A focus in entails that the blinking cursor appears and for smart devices the native keyboard becomes visible. A focus out would be the opposite of a focus in.

Trigger Properties

Focus In

A response is activated in case of a focus in.

Focus Out

A response is activated in case of a focus out.

Return

A response is activated when a user presses the Return key on a native keyboard on smart devices or a physical keyboard.

Sensor Triggers

The values from sensors used in smart devices and the mapping of Responses from layers can be mapped to activate Interactions that react to sensors.

The response properties linked to the Sensor trigger

Smoothness

The layer movements that are mapped to sensor values can be smoothened. The Smoothness setting as indicated by 1 is set so that the sensor values are not smoothened. The values in 2 and 3 represent the smoothened movement. More smoothing is involved in 3 than 2

Mapping Range - Device's Sensor 4

The range for a sensor that activates Interactions

Mapping Range - Response's Layer 5

The range for a layer that will be moved in sync with a sensor

Tilt

A status where a Response runs based on the angle a device is set.

Trigger Property

Compass

A status where a Response runs based on the direction a device is pointing towards.
For example, to create a realistic compass prototype like this one, Compass is used with the Rotate response. The movement of the needle (Angle) is then determined by the detected compass angle (Degree), a value between 0 and 360, and the set rotation direction (clockwise/ counterclockwise).

Sound

A status where a Response runs based on the volume of sound registered.

3D Touch

Layers are changed depending on the strength of the force applied on the touchscreen. The value for the force can be set from 0 to 6.7.

Note that 3D Touch is only supported by older Apple devices such as iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max.

Proximity

A device’s proximity sensor is used to make a Response run based on how close or far something is from a proximity sensor.

Trigger Properties

Far to Near

A Response runs if the proximity sensor becomes close to a physical object

Near to Far

A Response runs if the proximity sensor becomes far from a physical object

Receive

Receive triggers make interactions among devices possible. These triggers cannot be used by themselves, and must be used with Send responses. A response is activated when a device with the Receive trigger accepts a message sent from a different device using a Send response. The message received on one device should match the one sent from another device.

Furthermore, Receive triggers in combination with Send responses can be used in one scene to modularize interactions or reuse a set of responses avoiding repetitive work.

Trigger Properties

Channel [Component]

Inside the component, you can use the Send response to send a message and this can be received by a Receive trigger outside the component. This also works the other way around. Refer to Components for more information.

Channel [ProtoPie Studio]

Select ProtoPie Studio as a channel to allow interactions among devices (it works the same way for ProtoPie Connect).

Channel [Current Scene]

To modularize interactions or reuse a set of responses avoiding repetitive work, you can use Receive triggers and Send responses in one scene.

Message

A message is a string that is transmitted. When the message in the Receive trigger on one device matches the message in the Send response, interactions among devices can take place.

Assign to Variable

It is possible to send a value together with a message. This value would have to be assigned to a variable upon receiving.

Voice Command

To trigger responses based on voice commands, you have to use the Voice Command trigger. You can set the Voice Command trigger to be triggered either while someone is speaking or after someone finished speaking. Also, you are able to include and exclude phrases as commands.

In order to use the Voice Command trigger, you need to enable listening with the Listen response.

Learn more about voice prototyping.

Trigger Point

After Speaking

When the prototype is not picking up speech anymore, meaning when someone stopped speaking. This trigger point does not work when Continuous has been checked in the Listen response.

While Speaking

When the prototype is picking up speech, meaning when someone started speaking.

Command

Phrases - Include

This means that a voice command needs to include one of the phrases listed. You can enter various words, phrases, or sentences and separate them using line breaks.

Phrases - Exclude

This means that a voice command needs to not contain one of the phrases listed. You can enter various words, phrases, or sentences and separate them using line breaks.

No Phrases Detected

This means that the incoming speech does not contain any phrases. It could be that there was noise in the speech or other sounds that cannot be interpreted as human language.