lmsAPI Functionality in HTML5 Output

Apr 28, 2017

Adam Trosper
By Adam Trosper

Hey all,

I've been searching through the forums and haven't been able to find anything solid.  I'm using Storyline 360, outputting to both HTML5 and Flash to cover my bases, since the audience doesn't have dedicated machines that they are taking this from.

I'm relying heavily on external Javascript that I wrote, which I have tested thoroughly in the Flash version, and it works fine.  But when it comes to the HTML5 version, it stops working.  I've proven that I'm able to get into the Javascript functions, like I would expect, but it appears that lmsAPI is no longer available to the course.

Are there any similar functions to those of the lmsAPI functions in the HTML5 output?  

Specifically, I'm looking for a way to do the following in HTML5:

  1. Get the StudentID from the LMS.
  2. Get the StudentName from the LMS.
  3. Manually call SetStatus("completed"); to pass a completion to the LMS on the last page of the course.
145 Replies
Chris Perez
5 years ago03/09/18 at 5:50 pm (UTC)

I've been following several threads on this topic after trying to get a student's first name to appear in a Storyline 360 course with Cornerstone LMS. I'm publishing in HTML Only using SCORM 2004.

The code I've culled from various threads that almost works is:

var player = GetPlayer();

function findLMSAPI(win) {
// look in this window
if (win.hasOwnProperty("GetStudentID")) return win;

// all done if no parent
else if (win.parent == win) return null;

// climb up to parent window & look there
else return findLMSAPI(win.parent);
}

var lmsAPI = findLMSAPI(this);
var myName = lmsAPI.GetStudentName();
var array = myName.split(',');
var newName = array[1] + ' ' + array[0];
player.SetVar("newName", newName);

When I insert the variable onto a page, "undefined" is right before the user's name (first and last).

I've tried code almost identical to the above to get just the first name, but it yields nothing in the variable.

var player = GetPlayer();

function findLMSAPI(win) {
// look in this window
if (win.hasOwnProperty("GetStudentID")) return win;

// all done if no parent
else if (win.parent == win) return null;

// climb up to parent window & look there
else return findLMSAPI(win.parent);
}

var lmsAPI = findLMSAPI(this);
var name = lmsAPI.GetStudentName();
var nameArray = name.split(", ");
var firstName = nameArray[1];
var lastName = nameArray[0];
var player = GetPlayer();
player.SetVar('first_name',firstName);
player.SetVar('last_name',lastName);

Anyone have any ideas why this woulnd't be working?

Adam Trosper
5 years ago03/09/18 at 6:27 pm (UTC)

Hi Chris,

I wrote this original code to work with SCORM 1.2, not SCORM 2004.

I don't claim to know every difference between the two, but this might help.  My guess is that the Student Name is part of an multi-part object that is getting pulled in.

Have you considered using split/join to remove the "undefined"?  For example:

var firstName = nameArray[1].split('undefined').join('');

var lastName = nameArray[0].split('undefined').join('');
Chris Perez
5 years ago04/10/18 at 8:49 pm (UTC)

Just wanted to report in - this is the working code for Cornerstone LMS using HTML5 and SCORM 2004 publishing in Storyline 360 if you just want the first name (variable in SL would be 'newName'):

var player = GetPlayer();

function findLMSAPI(win) {
// look in this window
if (win.hasOwnProperty("GetStudentID")) return win;

// all done if no parent
else if (win.parent == win) return null;

// climb up to parent window & look there
else return findLMSAPI(win.parent);
}

var lmsAPI = findLMSAPI(this);
var myName = lmsAPI.GetStudentName();

// remove last name from array
var array = myName.split(' ');
var newName = array[0];

player.SetVar("newName", newName);
Jo Lamontagne
almost 5 years ago06/08/18 at 12:40 pm (UTC)

Following on from this thread, is there a way to call the student's line manager information from the LMS?  I want to set up an auto generated email to the line manager for users that fail an assessment 3 times. 

I'll be using the first set of coding to get the student information from the LMS.  Wondering if there's an obvious way of generating their line manager too?

 

xxx

Paul Schneider
almost 5 years ago06/08/18 at 3:54 pm (UTC)

No.  This information isn't part of what SCORM sends so there is no standard way to do this.  IF you LMS provided an API (or a 3rd party tool that works with your LMS data) that you could query you could send the student ID (which you can get) - query the API and then pull that info back in. 

FYI this is something that you can't (and can do as described) with pretty much every authoring tool that supports Javascript.  It isn't a restriction (or otherwise) of Storyline.

Sameeksha Mishra
almost 5 years ago07/12/18 at 9:58 am (UTC)

Hi Adam Trosper,

I am trying to call LMSCommit from storyline 360 but nothing is happening? Actually we are trying to achieve a functionality where the learner will get a popup if the internet connection is lost. Currently even if the internet connection is lost, the learner is able to move to teh next slides and when they close the course they don't see the completed status on LMS. 

Please help me with this.

Sameeksha Mishra
almost 5 years ago07/13/18 at 10:57 am (UTC)

Hi Chris,

Bullseye! Yeah this is exactly what I am looking for. Can you tell me how you did it and I am using Successfactor as LMS so let me know if this will work on LMS as well.

If I will be able to make it work on LMS, that will be a great help.

Thanks again

Sameeksha

E-Learning Rosenbauer
almost 5 years ago07/17/18 at 8:37 am (UTC)

Hi Sameeksha, Hi Leslie

Attached is my SL360 example of the "Connection Check".

It is a derivate of one of my work, so I guess there is much JavaScript inside you probably do not need, but it works without code-cleanup on your side.

All the "magic" is done within the Master Slide.

@Leslie: I do not know if you can open it in SL3, but give it a try and let me know. Otherwise we need to find another solution for you, as I do not have SL3.

If you have questions, just let me know.

 

Bruce Roberts
almost 5 years ago07/17/18 at 9:48 am (UTC)

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for this, sadly, this does not open in my slightly not as great SL3 :-)

However, in this instance, as I want to capture user entered variables and not just show the name in the lesson, I have hit upon the "Guestbook" feature in AO.  Any lesson can be preceded with a form/questionnaire prior to launching.  As we plan to create learner logins in AO using a list of email addresses and system generated passwords, the Guest book Automatically captures the email address as the unique identifier. It is possible to add multiple custom questions.  Any field has options as to whether the question is mandatory or optional.  This will give us all the variables we need and then we can subsequently deliver the training package.

Just a couple of points to note:
1. if you test the Guestbook as Admin and then log in as a second user to test, do this on a different PC else the Guestbook considers you have already completed it. (Clearing cookies does not resolve this).
2. If you delete the lesson and recreate the lesson with the same name, the Guestbook is not deleted and old data fields are included in any new report.

Adam Trosper
almost 5 years ago07/17/18 at 2:52 pm (UTC)

@Bruce: I would suggest opening a new thread for this, since it does deviate pretty far from the original thread.  I don't have any experience with Guestbook or Articulate Online, so the only help I can offer is to dig through the code like I did originally.  I used Google Chrome's Dev Tools while I had an instance of the module running in the environment that was giving me issues, and I basically used the whole "code hints / suggestions" feature in the Console to explore the code until I found the solution I needed.

Sameeksha Mishra
almost 5 years ago07/23/18 at 12:01 pm (UTC)

Hi Chris,

Thank you so much for your help. There is one more point where I would like you to advise me:
Is there a way we can capture the LMS timeout just the way we are capturing network disconnection?

Currently our learners are facing a problem where they accidently close the LMS window however continue the training. However once they complete the training and exit it, the completion status is not updated because either they have closed the LMS main window or the LMS has timed out.

Let me now if you have done something similar to this.

Sameeksha

Bernardo Suero
almost 5 years ago07/31/18 at 8:45 pm (UTC)

Ashley,

The fix that Matt mentions (December 12, 2017 Build 3.11.14180.0) is for Storyline 360. I have Storyline 3, read thru the various builds for it and have not seen this fix.  I've tried implementing the suggestions mentioned in this discussion (use a JavaScript trigger to return user's name from LMS, SCORM 2004, HTML5) but have not been successful.

Earlier in this discussion you mentioned how the player was rewritten between Storyline 2 and Storyline 3/360 and this rewrite is what brought about this issue.  Are there plans to fix Storyline 3 in the same manner?

Bernardo

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
almost 5 years ago08/02/18 at 1:30 pm (UTC)

Hi Bernardo,

Storyline 3 Update 4 would include all the fixes you see in Storyline 360 up to Update 3.15.15581.0. Are you on that update of Storyline 3?

We haven't made changes to how the player was rewritten yet to account for these Javascript customizations, but we'll let folks know if we do or build in those specific items folks were using. 

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