Issues with SCORM 2004 (both with launch and completion recording)

Apr 18, 2014

Hello,

I republished a module recently for a client who has a unit overseas. They used to be able to use modules published using SCORM 1.2, but now need to use SCORM 2004. It's unclear which edition of SCORM 2004 was the best edition to use. However, with this new republished module, they've been having issues with error messages appearing upon launching the module which say that a server error has occurred. The course is also not recording as completed or passed once a user has finished the module.

I've published using editions 2, 3, and 4, but none of them solved these issues. I've also tested the module in both Google Chrome and Internet Explorer using a dummy account, and the same issues occurred with both.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard back which LMS and browser the client is using, or what edition of SCORM 2004 works best with their LMS. I ran the edition 3 module in a test on Scorm cloud, and I have the error debug log. The only strange thing that came up was the the interactions are not setting correctly.

Has anybody encountered similar issues before, or have any advice on how to fix these problems? I realize that without knowing the LMS, options are a bit limited, but any help would be great.

Thanks!

Anna

21 Replies
Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

It's true, it would be helpful to know what the LMS supports. However, if you're seeing issues in SCORM Cloud as well, it may not be specific to the LMS servers. I'm not quite clear on what happened when you tested on SCORM Cloud - did the project load properly? From what you described it sounds like the project loads, but not the interactions. Is that right, or are you referring to the log errors, if any?

Also, what version of Studio are you using, '09 or '13? What versions of Chrome and Internet Explorer did you use for testing?

Are you able to share a link to the project that's hosted in both the LMS server and on SCORM Cloud? 

How are you uploaded the content to the server? Are you overwriting previous content, or uploading to a new directory so that a new URL is generated? 

If you hear back from the LMS, please share any details that may help in troubleshooting this. 

Thanks!

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

When I tested it in SCORM Cloud, the project loaded without an issue, and I didn't have any problems with the interactions as I was clicking through. SCORM Cloud also recorded that I had completed and passed the module after I finished. I'll include the debug log here. Even though the debug log showed that the interactions weren't setting properly, that didn't seem to affect how well the module worked in SCORM Cloud. The support representative from Rustici that I spoke with also said that the error that appeared in the log wouldn't cause either of the issues that my client was having. I'm a little confused about how there could be an error with the interactions that appears in the log, but doesn't seem to be causing any issues.

I'm using Studio '13. I used Version 34.0.1847.116 m for Google Chrome and 11.0 for Internet Explorer.

I'm a little unsure about what you're looking for with the link. We upload a published presenter file directly to an LMS, so there isn't a common link between what I used for SCORM Cloud and for the client's LMS, just the file.

The client potentially could be overwriting previous content. They had an almost identical module before, which no longer was compliant with their LMS. I sent them a republished module, with the SCORM version that supposedly was compliant with their LMS. I can't answer this question with much certainty, but since the module existed before in an earlier version, it might have simply been overwritten rather than uploaded to a new directory.

I haven't heard back yet about which LMS they're using, which makes troubleshooting tricky. Hopefully by later this week I'll have gotten a response, and be able to share more details about what might be causing the problem. I've included the link to the SCORM debug log below.

Thank you for your help,

Anna

https://cloud.scorm.com/sc/guest/ViewDebugLog?logId=1a8f772b-649f-4730-ba3c-baf0852453d9&courseTitle=%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F%3F

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

"When I tested it in SCORM Cloud, the project loaded without an issue, and I didn't have any problems with the interactions as I was clicking through. SCORM Cloud also recorded that I had completed and passed the module after I finished. I'll include the debug log here. Even though the debug log showed that the interactions weren't setting properly, that didn't seem to affect how well the module worked in SCORM Cloud. The support representative from Rustici that I spoke with also said that the error that appeared in the log wouldn't cause either of the issues that my client was having. I'm a little confused about how there could be an error with the interactions that appears in the log, but doesn't seem to be causing any issues."

Oh, that's actually pretty good news. If it functions properly - with the exception of the interaction ties - it may be specific to the client's LMS. Though we're not sure what that is, yet, at least this helps and confirms that the content is not the issue. 

"I'm using Studio '13. I used Version 34.0.1847.116 m for Google Chrome and 11.0 for Internet Explorer.

I'm a little unsure about what you're looking for with the link. We upload a published presenter file directly to an LMS, so there isn't a common link between what I used for SCORM Cloud and for the client's LMS, just the file."

I had asked for the links so that I could test the functionality on my end, with my collection of installed web browsers. This is mainly to see if the issue might be browser-specific or system-specific. I realize there's no relation between the two hosts - I was hoping to test and compare. 

"The client potentially could be overwriting previous content. They had an almost identical module before, which no longer was compliant with their LMS. I sent them a republished module, with the SCORM version that supposedly was compliant with their LMS. I can't answer this question with much certainty, but since the module existed before in an earlier version, it might have simply been overwritten rather than uploaded to a new directory."

If that's the case, that could be the cause of the issue. It may help to recommend they remove the original content, or upload to a new file directory. If the same URL is pointing to the new content on their servers, it could be causing issues with the new and old content and keeping the content from loading properly.

"I haven't heard back yet about which LMS they're using, which makes troubleshooting tricky. Hopefully by later this week I'll have gotten a response, and be able to share more details about what might be causing the problem. I've included the link to the SCORM debug log below."

I agree, it's a little difficult when you're not working directly with the issue. It's a little like leapfrog - and it's never possible to know what's happening with each hop of the process. Let me know what you hear from them and whether or not they're able to provide specifics on how they're uploading, or what type of SCORM content is supported by the servers.

Thanks, Anna!

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

That is helpful to know, especially if this issue comes up in the future with other modules. We were able to get in contact with our overseas client, and so I have the name of the LMS they're using. It's Cyberware, which is an LMS provider in China (website is cyberware.net.cn). I haven't been very successful in contacting the provider, but it's good to know the name. Cyberware is compliant with SCORM 2004 both 3rd and 4th edition. Our client is using Internet Explorer 8.

Oh, ok, I understand what you were asking now. Since it's the account of an administrator, I don't think I'm permitted to provide access via their LMS server, but I do have the JS API and the Demo course of the system they use, if those have information that would be helpful.

Our client walked us through how they uploaded the course, and it looks like they tried uploading it to a new file directory. There still might be interaction with the old module, though, so I will let them know that that might be interfering with the new module.

We have a back up plan which isn't as ideal as an online module, but allows the client to view the content. We'll be deciding on a solution by the end of today, so I think for now I'll have to leave this as somewhat unresolved. I apologize I wasn't able to get as much information to you as would have been the most helpful. Still, similar issues might come up in the future. Is there anything else you noticed that I should consider first if this problem appears again?

Thank you for all your help, and for your patience! You've helped narrow this problem down a lot, which makes an enormous difference.

Anna

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

To be honest, I've never heard of that LMS, but I'm not that surprised. If it's overseas, that explains why :)

Hopefully you won't run into this issue again. However, if you do, it would be best to get as much information about the LMS and the client's machine (that's experiencing the issue). For example, using Internet Explorer 8 could be a contributing factor. It would help to know if they were able to test in any other versions of that particular browser, or if they see something different when they use an entirely different web browser. 

If you run into trouble with this, or decide to revisit it for troubleshooting, please just let us know. 

Thanks so much for communicating so quickly and providing the detailed responses. It helps a lot, and it may help others further down the road. 

Best,

Christine 

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

It seems I'm revisiting! I'd never heard of them either, but they seem to be an LMS provider local to the area. Luckily, we were able to get into contact with the folks at Cyberway. IT at Cyberway identified the issue as unrecognized code, like the example they sent me below:

Is this something that we can fix on our end? I have not had much experience with code, so I'm not sure the best course of action would be. I am very glad that they were able to find what the issue was.

This might be an odd question, but would language character differences cause any kind of miscommunication in code? Or, perhaps a failure to read/transfer those characters? The module was published using Chinese characters as the title, although the file itself is titled in English. I only ask because I've noticed that when uploading the course to test it out in Scorm cloud and e-learning sites that we use, the title appears as fourteen question marks, same as in the picture above.

IT at Cyberway ended up finding an issue with the browser that they resolved, but after checking with our client they determined that the browser issue they had fixed was not causing the issues our client was having. I've asked them to check to see if perhaps there still might be something with the browser that is contributing to the problem.

Thank you for your help! We're still having the client stick with the back up plan while we work to figure this out in the meantime. Even though this problem isn't as easy to resolve as I would like, if it helps others figure out similar issues, I'm glad it can be put to good use!

Best,

Anna

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

First, it appears there was an issue with the code that was inserted. If you're sharing an image, please be sure you use the "Insert Image" option along the top of your response. I think there may be issues if the content is pasted in from another source. If it's a line of text code, that may be the issue too - you could take a screenshot or paste it into a document and attach it - that should do the trick :)

Without seeing it, I can't really say what the issue is with the code - but from what you've described it's just that the Chinese characters aren't displaying properly. It would seem a little odd if a server in China was having issues with a Chinese title - but it may be that they function similarly to others. The question marks usually signify an issue loading the accents or characters and could be contributing. A quick way to find out would be to modify the content and place an English title or test with a course that's been translated/created in English. If the same errors occur, then we can rule that out.

 Thanks Anna!

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

Ah, I'm sorry! I see the insert image icon now. The picture should appear this time.

It would, and Scorm cloud and another LMS I used to test the module both launched the course and recorded the completion without being affected by the title, but I know that each LMS has its own settings and preferences. I've sent the client a version with English titles instead to see whether anything changes. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have heard back if the title change made any difference.

Best,

Anna

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

That makes a world of difference. Thank you for sharing that - that does make sense. 

And yes, you're totally right - none are exactly the same and if that's what's causing the issue for that specific server, hopefully changing it will correct the issue. If so, it may be a good idea to ask if their system will eventually support those characters. Not to push the issue, but if you're going to need to have the characters and/or accents in future projects, it might help.

Let me know if you hear anything! :)

Thanks,

Christine

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

I apologize for the delay! I republished in SCORM 2004 edition 3 with the title changed to English characters, and it resolved the error messages, which is great. I'll remember in the future to be aware of characters. The module is still not recording as completed, though. I've been doing more research and found that sometimes SCORM 2004 has errors in the manifest templates. I looked through the imsmanifest file, and this is what I found:

 From the description, it didn't seem like the manifest errors were the same as the issue here, but I thought I would check anyway to make sure.

Thank you so much!

Anna

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

My main concern is actually that title. Though it doesn't contain the Chinese characters anymore, it does contain some special characters that might cause some trouble. I see eight instances of the "_" symbol in that name. Special characters include those, dashes, etc. Anything that isn't alphanumeric can cause some issues. Also, the name is a bit long. 

I realize when you want to make it easier to organize files, it's a good idea to make them stand out. However, that can cause some issues with files and reporting in some cases. 

Here's more information in regards to files:

  • Avoid using special characters, accents or symbols in your file names (this includes spaces and underscores).

Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.

Now, when you're uploading to an LMS, the first word of a title should always be alphabetic, not numeric and not contain special characters.

Also, sorry to jump back again - but are you seeing the completion reported successfully outside of this LMS? For example, after changing the title does it report successfully in SCORM Cloud?

Thanks, Anna!

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

Thank you for the link! I've noticed in the past that sometimes files won't save properly if the title is too long or if they are being saved into too long a sequence of folders, but I didn't realize that even underscores and spaces can cause issues.

That's ok! Yes, it still reports successfully in SCORM Cloud even after the title change. I noticed there's still Chinese that appears in the debug log, though. I've included the link to the debug log here.

https://cloud.scorm.com/sc/guest/ViewDebugLog?logId=958d9e80-29ec-461c-be3a-5f4d5ca65514&courseTitle=Workplace+Tools+for+Preventing+Global+Bribery+and+Corruption

Best,

Anna

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

I looked at the debug logs a little more for the module with the Chinese title and the module with the English title. Is this something?

[12:38:20.233] SCORM ERROR FOUND - Set Error State: 406 - The cmi.interactions.0.objectives.0.id value of '结业证书' is not a valid long identifier type.

Both debug logs have it. "结业证书" is "certificate," and we use a quiz designed as a certificate of completion as the way for the LMS to record completions.

Best,

Anna

Anna Groebe
Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna,

I am by no means an expert with those reports, but I can see the statuses changing to "True" and it looks like it's communicating properly (unless I'm missing something). 

I'm glad it's passing the completion in SCORM Cloud, but perhaps it would be best to see what the issue is on the LMS side. 

Have you viewed the debug logs from that server? If not, that might help get a better idea of what's happening when completing the course on that server.

By default, LMS debug mode is disabled in Articulate Studio '13 content, but you can enable it for troubleshooting purposes.

Here's how.

Also, I'm curious about the LMS - have they responded or let you know if those characters will be supported in the future? It might get a little hectic if the server requires communication in all English, because as you've seen, the titles for quizzes and interactions are pulled into that data.

Thanks, Anna!

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

I'm hoping that maybe there'll be some change with the change in the title.  I haven't seen any debug logs from the server, or that the LMS provider might have run. That would be very helpful, though! Thank you so much. I republished enabling the debug mode and sent it to the client to test.

I haven't heard from the LMS provider about whether they'll be able to support those characters in future modules. I agree; if there's a way to stick with one language consistently, it'd be much easier for everybody. So far the other interactions seem to work fine with the Chinese characters, it's just with the launch and maybe with recording the completion there are complications. I've inquired into it, so hopefully I'll find out in the next few days what characters will work best with the LMS.

Thank you!

Anna

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

Not a problem! Thank you for your help and your patience. No word yet from the LMS, but we did get the debug log back. I'm not quite sure what to make of it; it looks like the LMS is having issues connecting well to several different aspects of the module. I've attached the log here.

Best,

Anna

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna!

I hope you had a great weekend :)

I asked a colleague of mine to look over the log with me on this issue, to see what's happening. 

Looking over the debug log, it appears that no matter what the content attempts to communicate to/from your LMS, the LMS is consistently responding with “undefined.”  For example:

On line 42, the content asks the LMS for the value of cmi.success_status.  The LMS responds, “undefined.”

On line 59, the content asks the LMS for the value of cmi.completion_status.  The LMS responds, “undefined.”

On line 85, the content attempts to set the value of cmi.exit to “suspend.”  The LMS responds, “undefined.”

In total, the LMS returns the phrase, “undefined” 221 times within this LMS Debug Log. That's happening too often, as I'm sure you've seen. 

We think it may be that the LMS doesn't support the specific SCORM version or edition being used when published. If that's not what's causing the trouble, it might be a good idea to ask the LMS why the "undefined" responses are being sent conistantly, no matter what the content attempts to communicate to/from the LMS server.

If, however, you find something else or have heard back over the weekend, please do let us know.

Thanks again, Anna, and have a great day!

Anna Groebe

Hi Christine,

Thank you! I hope you had a great weekend as well .

Oh, dear...When I looked through the debug log, it did not look like there was much of anything in the module that could communicate with the LMS properly. According to the provider, the LMS should support SCORM 2004 3rd and 4th editions. We republished initially because the LMS didn't support SCORM 1.2, and we tested the module with SCORM 2004 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions with unsuccessful results each time. The issue does seem to be SCORM related (perhaps with characters complicating the problem as well?). I haven't heard from the LMS provider, but I'll ask them to see if there is some setting or compliance issue I'm missing that would cause the LMS to respond with 'undefined'. We've been in contact with the client, and we are encouraging them to use a PDF we published to use for this training instead. For future modules, we'll be working with the client, LMS provider, and a vendor local to the client to re-work the module so that it will be able to communicate with the LMS.

For now we'll be sticking with PDFs, but if or when I find out what the underlying issue is and how to fix it, I will let you know! Thank you so much for your help. I have a much better sense of the nature of the problem I'm dealing with and what questions to ask, and I will definitely be using that debug mode option in future troubleshooting! Thank you again. I hope you have a great day, too!

Best,

Anna

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Anna!

Excellent - I'm happy to hear that PDF is a viable option for the client, at least for the time being. 

Also, that sounds good - I'm certainly interested in hearing what the LMS has to say about this. It could also help with any others that encounter this type of issue when using that particular service and (hopefully) it will save them some time! :)

Again, thank you so much for keeping me updated. I appreciate it!

Christine

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