STORY not resuming to correct slide (exceeding suspend_data element)
Oct 23, 2022
I am having an issue with my SCORM file it isn't resuming as expected. I have tried on my LMS and on SCORM Cloud both resulting in the same strange behaviour.
Regardless of how far into the module the learner progresses when they exit and resume the learner is taken to slide 15 , and the rest is again restricted. I usually use SCORM 1.2 but have even tried 2004 v4 and had the same issue.
Support have confirmed that the file is exceeding the 4096-character limit of SCORM 1.2. They have given the standard suggestions here - https://www.articulate.com/support/article/exceeding-scorm-suspend-data-limits but these won't work for me.
This module is part of a series using the same templates, slides, design, approx. size etc but not had this issue with any of the others.
...but there must be something in the first 15 slides that is bloating it so rapidly.
Support is still looking into it for me but thought I'd ask around to see if any of you great people have any other suggestions.
Thank you in advance.
5 Replies
That does sound unusual as SCORM 2004 V4 should have solved issues with the suspend data exceeding 4096 characters. Have you been able to use the browser console to see what data the module is attempting to write to the LMS. I'm not sure if you are familiar with putting breaks in code via the console, if so, I'd recommend you put a break on the SetData function so you can see what is happening around slide 15.
I only ever see this kind of behaviour when a module has a large assessment and everything is set to resume. This can quickly bloat suspend data.
I'm happy to take a look at what is being written to suspend data if you are able to provide a version of the module (privately). Thanks, Sam.
Hi Sam, thank you for taking the time to respond. SCORM 2004 was not tracking progress at all when I tested it on SCORM CLOUD and not even sure my client's LMS can handle it.
In the end I have gone for a manual work around. The client did not want to force the learners to redo slides on revisiting, especially as some activities can take time. I have therefore set all slides to resume to initial state but added a completed slide variable to any slides that has an activity. This variable is then used to set the slide to 'complete' when they revisit.
As a bonus this means I could potentially add a reset slide to those slides, something I have always wanted.
I still think there is a bug somewhere in SL360 as it makes no sense that it should exceed the limit after only 15 slides.
That being said, I've turned on Debug window, but I am curious to hear more about using the browser console to highlight potential issues? Or is that the same thing?
Hi BT, debug should be fine, but does it show you the full suspend data string that the module attempted to save, or just the truncated version? Using the browser console would allow you to see the full suspend_data string before it is truncated (pretty sure Storyline just chops it off at 4096).
The following image shows how I have placed a break on the function SCORM_SetDataChunk in the scormdriver.js file. This will allow me to see the full suspend_data string before storyline does anything with it.
Thanks again Tim, I didn't quite follow how to get it to break but get the idea of how it works.
The debug is working for me as it does show the full data string.
Its not pretty but once I've run through it I copy and paste the whole log into Excel, extract just the suspend_data strings and run a character count on each string to watch how it changes as I progress through the module. That way I can spot the trouble slides and also check that my hack has actually helped.
Hi B T, to add a break in the code, in the view in the image I attached, you would just click your mouse pointer on the line number (where the first left hand arrow is pointing) where you want the break. This will then force the code to stop executing at this point until you allow it to continue.
It looks like you have what you need in terms of data. Any clues as to what the bloat is? Is there one slide that suddenly dumps heaps of data, or is it pretty equal between the slides?