Developers Blog

Captivate fails test in ADL 1.2.7 test suite

2011-12-15T13:18:00.000-05:00

I just had a customer ask me to test a Captivate SCORM 1.2 course in the ADL 1.2.7 test suite for them and as the test suite launched the content SCO a permission denied JavaScript error came up. I was confused because I had the test suite and the content both on the C:\ drive and my internet explorer 8 settings were to allow active content. So I went looking around in the code and I noticed some comments and an DOCTYPE declaration at the top of the main .html file that launches the captivate SCO (this file is usually the same name as your captivate project). I deleted the top 3 lines (shown below), saved the file and retested and it worked fine.

2011-06-23T14:23:00.001-04:00

ADL ImplementationFest 2011 August 2 through 4 at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, http://ping.fm/P1cvN

2011-05-14T14:30:00.001-04:00

In Jacksonville at the "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages" (TSOL) conference with the wife. Learning a lot of new free training technologies.

BlackBoard 9.1

2011-02-06T12:10:00.000-05:00

Just had some clients needing to load content into BlackBoard 9.1. We created a very simple SCORM 2004 package for them using Simple SCORM Packager and sent it to them to post onto their LMS. They imported the content and then sent an email back to us saying that the course did not show a Table of Contents once the SCORM 2004 content package was loaded and running in the BlackBoard 9.1 LMS. We ran the package through the SCORM 2004 3rd Edition Test Suite and Sample Run-Time Environment and the course passed with flying colors. This told me that the issue was with the BlackBoard LMS. I searched the internet and came across this tutorial on how to upload content into the BlackBlard LMS "http://www.blackboard.com/quicktutorials/SCORM2004.swf". In the tutorial there is a screen that allows the admin to select whether they want to set Control Mode to Choice or Flow. It must be set to choice fi you want the student to be able to select items from the table of contents. That was the solution to the issue. I hope that you find the tutorial helpful.

Articulate SCO to SCO SCORM 2004 sequencing

2011-01-06T15:50:00.001-05:00

This week the question was asked "How to get sequenced Articulate published to SCORM 2004 3^rd Ed flies to move from each SCO to the next SCO correctly?". This is easily accomplished within SCORM by first publishing your multi-SCO articulate package. Then when you want to move from one SCO to another SCO automatically you will have to use adl.nav.request

doSetValue("adl.nav.request","continue");

The line above will move from the current sco to the next sco in the activity tree as soon as the current sco session is terminated.

In the Articulate SCO packages set this on line 169 for the "SCORM2004Functions.js" file

blnResult = blnResult && SCORM2004_CallSetValue("adl.nav.request","continue")

UPDATE 12/13/2011
---------
Once you make the change then you will need to package up the Articulate sco packages into a single course with Simple SCORM Packager. Once do that then test it on cloud.scorm.com.

If it works on cloud.scorm.com and not on your LMS then the issue is with your LMS. If it does not work on cloud.scorm.com then you did something wrong in your code.

LMS Quirks, Issues, and Work- Arounds : LRN Learning System (part 2)

2010-03-05T12:09:00.003-05:00

Now that we have the SCORM 1.2 package running on the LMS there has been another issues that has popped up. The issue is that the single SCO SCORM package automatically "completes with no score" in the LMS when the student launches the course. The SCORM data is clearly NOT sending cmi.core.lesson_status [see below ---SCORM DEBUG REPORT ---].

Now here is the FUN part. In this particular LMS (LRN Learning System) if you do not set the lesson status at all as soon as the course launches then the LMS ASSUMES THAT YOU WANT IT MARKED COMPLETED !!!

This kind of stuff is what makes me rant on this blog :)...

There is even a comment in the LMS javascript to this effect [see the bold text below]:
IN FILE: wrapperEscape.js
Method:persistData:

if (this.isInitialized) {
            /*set the lesson status to completed if the SCO doesn't set the lesson_status*/
            if(!this.isSCOSetStatus){
                if(!this.prevStatus){
                    this.prevStatus = this.CMIDataModel["cmi.core.lesson_status"].cache;
                }
                this.CMIDataModel["cmi.core.lesson_status"].cache = "completed";
            }
            this.persistData();
            this.isInitialized = false;
        } else {
            this.errorCode = SCORM12_ERR.NOT_INIT;
            message += "failed!";
            SCORM12_UTL.logAPI(message,this);
            return "false";
        }

--- One possible solution ---
        isInitialized = doLMSInitialize();
        v = doLMSGetValue("cmi.core.lesson_status");
        if(v == "not attempted" || v == "" || v == "incomplete")
        {
            //every session you have to set the lesson_status = incomplete, failing to do this will cause the course to automatically be merked completed by the LMS            doLMSSetValue("cmi.core.lesson_status","incomplete");
        }

This debug report can be generated by adding ?debug=true to the end of the sco launch file name OR issuing the following command in the IE8 debugger:
top.location.href="http:/LMS_URL/lrn_start.html?debug=true&aicc_sid=xxxxxxxx&aicc_url=http://LMS_URL/app/a
icc/xscorm_handler&mode=preview&media=off&mode=preview";

---SCORM DEBUG REPORT ---
11:35:30 DEBUG - debug starting...
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSInitialize()--succeed!
11:35:32 DEBUG - result:0--No error
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSGetValue(cmi.core.lesson_status)--incomplete!
11:35:32 DEBUG - result:0--No error
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSGetLastError()--0
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSGetValue(cmi.suspend_data)--0,0,0,0!
11:35:32 DEBUG - result:0--No error
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSGetLastError()--0
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSGetValue(cmi.suspend_data)--0,0,0,0!
11:35:32 DEBUG - result:0--No error
11:35:32 DEBUG - LMSGetLastError()--0
11:40:09 DEBUG - LMSSetValue(cmi.core.session_time,0000:04:37.41)--succeed!
11:40:09 DEBUG - result:0--No error
11:40:09 DEBUG - LMSCommit()--succeed!
11:40:09 DEBUG - result:0--No error

ADL Test Suite 1.2.7 Bug cmi.core.score

2010-02-24T13:11:00.001-05:00

Leaving off the .raw from cmi.core.score.raw does not result in an error in the ADL Test Suite 1.2.7. The operation LMSSetValue('cmi.core.score','100'); should returnthe following errors.

LMSSetValue('cmi.core.score', '100') returned 'false'

LMSGetLastError() returned '201'

LMSGetErrorString('201') returned 'Invalid argument error'

But instead in the ADL Test Suite 1.2.7 it returns:

LMSSetValue(cmi.core.score,100) has been invoked
LMSSetValue() finished successfully

Package is SCORM Version 1.2 ADLCP-PIF1 Conformant

Mantis Bug Tracker IE 8 Accelerator

2010-02-07T11:12:00.001-05:00

I just took a few minutes and wrote an IE 8 accelerator that post data to Mantis. It is fairly rudimentary, but it is a good example and it gets the job done. To make it better I think it would be good to add a PHP page to the Mantis install that asks for a little more information like project, assign to, and maybe a more descriptive summary.

NOTE: This accelerator does not contain a login script so for seamless execution you should already be logged into Mantis.

Below is the code to create a link to install the accelerator:
<button id="myButton"
onclick="window.external.AddService('http://www.jcasolutions.com/bugtracker/mantis_ie_accelerator.xml')">
Post bug to mantis</button>

Below is the XML for the accelerator:
[file name: mantis_ie_accelerator]

<os:openservicedescription xmlns:os="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/openservicedescription/1.0">
<os:homepageurl>http://www.your_site.com/bugtracker</os:homepageurl>
<os:display>
<os:name>Post Issue to Mantis</os:name>
<os:icon>http://www.your_site.com/bugtracker/images/favicon.ico</os:icon>
<os:description>Quick way to post an issue to Mantis.</os:description>
</os:display>
<os:activity category="Bug Tracker">
<os:activityaction context="selection">
<os:execute action="http://www.your_site.com/bugtracker/bug_report_advanced_page.php" method="post">
<os:parameter name="summary" type="text" value="{selection}">
<os:parameter name="description" type="text" value="{selection}">
</os:parameter>
</os:parameter>
</os:execute>
</os:activityaction></os:activity></os:openservicedescription>

LMS Quirks, Issues, and Work- Arounds : LRN Learning System

2010-01-19T17:25:00.004-05:00

We just had a conversation with one of our clients regarding the fact that out content package would not launch in the LRN LMS. Well the package passed the ADL Conformance Test Suite 1.2.7 and ran on Mike Rustici's Test Track (www.scorm.com) so I was a bit perplexed. After some discussion and emails it came down to the fact that the LRN system requires a file called csd.txt to be placed at the root of the package ALONG WITH the imsmanifest file. It uses this file to find the launch page for the course. This raises the question, what does it do with the manifest file and what does it do if there are multiple SCOs in the content package?

I will post a sample of the csd.txt file soon.....
Here it is:

Date of this Request
date=[01/11/2010]

Type of Course (enter SCORM or AICC)
type=[SCORM]

LCEC Site Names (enter a comma separated list of sites)
sites=[site name here]

Course Base Catalog Id (limit: 10 characters - see Notes above)
basecatid=[catalog-id-here]

Course Full Catalog Id (limit: 15 characters = see Notes above)
catid=[full-catalog-id-here]

System ID (to be filled in by LRN at installation time)
sysid=[ ]

Course Title
title=[Course Title Here]

Course Language Code (e.g.: zhCN. See LCEC's Administrator's Reference Guide)
language=[en]

Course Description
description=[This course covers XYZ and ABC.]

Course Entry Point (e.g.: index.html)
entry=[index.html]

Course Launch Parameters
parms=[none]

Course Vendor Name
vendor=[JCA Solutions]

Library Course? (enter true or false - Should be true only for licensed 3rd party library courses)
islibrary=[false]

Technical Contact Name
name=[Brian Caudill]

Technical Contact Phone
phone=[Office: 1-800-305-8159 x201; Cell: 407-222-5432]

Technical Contact Email
email=[bcaudill@jcasolutions.com]

LMS Quirks, Issues, and Work- Arounds : SkillPort LMS

2010-01-11T16:44:00.008-05:00

The SkillPort LMS by SkillSoft supports AICC, CTT, Dialogue 2.0 and 3.0, e3, LOT Passive, SCORM, SCORM 1.2 RTE 2, SCORM 2004, SkillStudio, LCMS input, and NLO+. This blog entry will be concerned with SCORM 1.2 RTE 2.

First off, SkillPort does not support all of the mandatory and optional RTE data model elements for the SCORM 1.2 package. It only supports a subset listed below:

You will also need to get on the SkillSoft Community site http://community.skillsoft.com/Products/sct/ccps.asp "SCORM 1.2 Authoring Guidelines" AKA(scorm_auth_doc_v_1_2 (2).pdf). This document (pg 9-11) will explain to you what SkillSoft means by completion, passing score, and failing.

Also, you will need to download the SkillSoft Compatability Toolkit (SkillPort_Compatibility_Toolkit.exe) from the SkillSoft community site. Run your content package throuth this application for 2 reasons. 1) to verify that it is compatible with the SkillPort system and 2) to create the appropriate sppub.ini metadata file and the correct SkillPort input file which is a .par file.

A NOTE ABOUT THE SCT:
[edit] Since you will need IE 6 for this task I suggest you go to spoon.net and use the run anywhere browsers http://spoon.net/Browsers/. It will stream the app to your PC so you dont have to install it. That way you can run all the IE versions side by side if you like.

The SCT is only usable in IE 6.0 and is unusable in IE 7, 8 because the use type=file on all of their input boxes so you can not copy and paste the path to your folder into the input area AND if you press the browse button it makes you select a file when the application wants a folder. I tried to get around this by using FireFox, however, when you complete the run-time compatability test the next button never displays so again you are dead in the water.

Create your own sppub.ini file. Name it "sppub.ini":

# [ SP Publishing Settings formatversion="1.0" ]
window top=0
window scrollbars=no
window resizable=no
default ids=no
enable download=no
content version=0.5
course code=001
prerequisites=Unknown
window height=768
target audience=Unknown
course duration=2
publish version=1.0
window toolbar=no
window width=1024
language=enUS
description=BP Alpha Course
company code=regis
vendor=Regis Learning
title=BP Alpha
window left=0

The SkillPort Course Completion Criteria
The issue was that not of our courses were completing and we were sending cmi.core.lesson_status and setting it to completed. Well the answer was in the way courses are administered within SkillPort. More below....

"SkillPort provides a capability that allows the client to set their Course Completion Criteria (CCC)
either globally or on a per-course basis. These settings set the criteria, which determine whether a
course is marked complete.
SCORM 1.2 courses report two different values - a score and a lesson status. The following list of
elements is a setting or checkbox in the SkillPort Administrator page and describes how the SkillPort
CCC uses the two values to determine the completion status of the course:"

This paragraph above is an excerpt from section "Completion Criteria" in the SkillPort document "SCORM Authorizing Guidelines.pdf"

It is a good idea to discuss this with the LMS admin. Also, if you can have them provide a screenshot of the CCC page and what is selected that is always very helpful.

LMS Quirks, Issues, and Work- Arounds : Intro

2010-01-11T16:40:00.002-05:00

I am going to begin to post little quirks, issues, and work-arounds that have to be used in order to deploy content on different Learning Management Systems. I will try to keep it so there is one LMS and LMS version per post since some LMS have many different versions in production. I will not be specific about the project or customer, but I will try my best to detail the issue and any resolutions.

Updated: Force the SCORM 2004 3rd Edition Sample Run-Time Environment Version 1.0.2 to launch your course in a new window

2009-11-03T18:05:00.002-05:00

The issue that was driving me crazy was that I have a course that is set up to be launched in a new window. The issue was that it was calling window.close() from FLASH and I dont have the source so the easiest fix was to make the Sample RTE launch the course in a new window. What I did was open the folder "C:\ADL\SCORM_2004_3rd_Ed_Sample_RTE_V1.0.2\Sample_RTE\apache-tomcat\webapps\adl\runtime"and made changes to the following files

mtmcode.js
pleaseWait.jsp
sequencingEngine.jsp

Here are the modified files [http://www.jcasolutions.com/codeRepository/adl_popup_plugin.zip]