How to use Content Triggers

Learn how to trigger specific content at specific times using content triggers in the layout builder

Dan Thody avatar
Written by Dan Thody
Updated over a week ago

Triggering content is useful when you want certain content to display when other item is showing, for instance if you wanted a certain image to display when a specific piece of text is displaying.

We are going to use this scenario as an example to demonstrate how to use content triggers.

Example Content Trigger Setup:

Firstly, we need to create two zones. 

  • One zone for the images (Zone A)

  • Another zone for the text (Zone B)

In our example we are going to add content triggers to the text items to trigger the relevant image. 

Zone A:

We need to make sure our images don't move onto the next image in the playlist without being triggered. We do this by setting their 'Timings' to 'Repeat'. This can be done individually or in this case, by selecting all and then applying 'Repeat' to all.

Zone B:

In Zone B, we insert the relevant text items and set specific timings to determine how long each one will show for. In this example we have set all our text items to play for 10 seconds then fade onto the next one.

Adding the Triggers:

We want to add the content trigger(s) to the text items, so in Zone B we need to select the 'Triggers' option. This can be located on the playlist item itself in two places:

  1. In the playlist view

  2. On the item options, when the item selected 

We now have two options of when we want our trigger to happen 'when the playlist item starts' or 'when the playlist item ends'. 

As you might expect, if you choose to add the trigger when the playlist item starts then it will trigger the action when the specific playlist item starts. When the playlist item ends it will activate when the playlist item has finished (determined by its timing setting of that item).

Setting a content trigger - 'When Playlist Item Starts':

We are not going to add a content trigger using the 'when the playlist item starts' option. We want to add a content trigger on the 'Show the Frog' text to trigger the frog image to display in our images zone.

To add this content trigger, we need to first click 'Add New'

Now we select an 'Action' from the drop down panel. In our case, we'll choose 'Activate Specific Playlist Item'

Finally, we choose the 'Target' which in this case is 'Images - (1) Frog.jpg'.
Note: the naming convention of playlist items when listed as targets is 'ZONE NAME - (POSITION IN PLAYLIST) NAME OF ITEM'

What we now have set up is: When the Frog text Item starts playing, it will activate the Frog.jpg in the other zone.

Setting a content trigger - 'When Playlist Item Ends':

Another way to trigger the frog image to display when the 'Show the Frog' text is showing is to add the content trigger to the end of the previous item.

We need to locate the previous item in the playlist, which in our zone is the last item, number 5, called 'Show the Wolf'. Now we click onto the Triggers section for this item and add a content trigger 'When playlist item ends'

We configure the Action to 'activate a specific playlist item', then choose the Target as 'Images - (1) Frog.jpg'

Once the 'Show the Wolf' text plays through, it will move onto the next playlist item in the playlist (our frog text item) and will activate the content trigger.

Doing more with Content Triggers:

There is no limit to the number of content triggers you can add to an item, either at the start, at the end or both. This means you can use content triggers to activate multiple actions such as showing items in several zones, hiding some zones, showing others that are hidden etc. 

We hope you enjoy this feature and can start experimenting with some cool and clever content using content triggers

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