Storyline/Tin Can Experiences?

Jan 09, 2013

Just curious if any one has done some work with Storyline and Tin Can and what you learned.  Where you successful?  Have learners successfully accessing Tin Can courses?

Any implement it with their LMS successfully?  Did your LMS add native support or did you do something like integrate it with the SCORM Cloud?

53 Replies
Paul Shorr

I've been looking for other people's experiences with Storyline, Tincan and ScormCloud.  I am able to publish and load tincan courses to ScormCloud and they launch on browsers and on the Articulate player.  But I am unable to complete a course on the iPad mobile player, and course activity is not saved until the course is completed on a PC.  The resume data is saved across the platforms.  I am waiting to hear back from Articulate support on work-arounds/fixes for this problem.

Jamie Smith

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with problems tracking Storyline on the Mobile Player using SCORM Cloud. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. What I've noticed is that anytime the lesson attempts to submit a Quiz results slide I get a communication error and the results statement is not stored. Everything works fine using the Flash container. I've done some other testing with the Mobile Player outside of the SCORM Cloud and discovered that it does send the results statement when it should. However, the SCORM Cloud must be rejecting the statement. Unfortunately, the Mobile Player has limited feedback for errors and therefore limits troubleshooting. I feel it should at least display the return status code. Or, the SCORM Cloud should have a debug or error log that would would reflect invalid requests. 

Another issue I've run into with the Mobile Player is that it does not report the course completion statement after switch from a session started using the Flash container. Maybe this is the same problem Paul has run into. My observation is that if you start and finish in the Mobile Player as one session it works properly. However, if you resume in the Mobile Player, whether from a browser session or the Mobile Player, it does not report course completion. 

I have gone back and forth with Articulate support which tells me it works for them. Once again, I'm glad someone else can confirm my frustrations are valid. When challenged with questions regarding actual reported statements, Articulate refers me to Rustici. However, the questions I ask are specific to statements generated by the Mobile Player. The SCORM Cloud merely consumes the statements which the Player submits. It is the Mobile Player which must format and send the statements. So, Articulate should be obligated to address issues of that nature. 

I realize that Tin Can and the Experience API are still in infant stages, but when Articulate advertises 'support for Tin Can communications' they need to support it.

Please post additional experiences and issues with tracking Storyline in the Mobile Player. 

Paul Shorr

I cannot even get the mobile player to complete consistently using tincan on ScormCloud, and even with the browser, if the course is marking completion based on a results slide the LMS does not report any progress if the course is exited before the results slide is submitted.

Articulate support acknowledged that there is an issue with tincan, mobile player and scorm cloud http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/25145.aspx  but they have not yet gotten back to me yet.

Frank Fisher

It seems to me that the Storyline/TinCan tie up is only half working (on the iPad at least), but that this is as much down to TinCan being half complete as anything. Digging into documentation and forums scattered around, as far as I can gather the mechanisms for storing statements created offline, and then relaying them once communications are possible again, is not even fully specced out, let alone complete. And that such storage/relaying as is done now has to be carried out in the containing vessel, be that a browser, bespoke player, etc, somehow intercepting the TinCan calls? Can anyone with more experience confirm this? 

Nigel Ribeiro

I created two Courses and published them to play on mobile player using Tincan.   When tested in Scormcloud, the first one with out a built in quiz ( and set to report completion when all slides were viewed)  worked fine. The second one had a quiz and was set to report based on passing the quiz did not work. I keep on getting  "Unable to connect to the server" error at the end of the course.  Articulate says that a possible reason is:

The LMS is rejecting the data

You'll also encounter this issue if the LMS rejects the data being sent by the content. Contact your LMS provider for a solution.

However I got the same error when I tested on Litmos LMS.  So am wondering if it is an issue with articulate. 

Nigel Ribeiro

Payal Tandon said:

Do we know what version of Tin Can does Articulate support today and any plans for future versions. From what I understand, Version 1.0 of Tin Can is still to be released. Is it advisable to do any production work before the release of Version 1.0.

Also, will Presenter 13 also support Tin Can.

 Payal I think i saw somewhere that Storyline is on version 0.9 

Gerry Wasiluk

Nigel Ribeiro said:

 Payal I think i saw somewhere that Storyline is on version 0.9 



Storyline is actually now on version 1.02 (meaning the second update version after the initial 1.0 release). 

A version history can be seen here: http://www.articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=st1&id=rv0txtvfgayl

Version 1.01 added support for Tin Can.

Jamie Smith

Nigel Ribeiro said:

I created two Courses and published them to play on mobile player using Tincan.   When tested in Scormcloud, the first one with out a built in quiz ( and set to report completion when all slides were viewed)  worked fine. The second one had a quiz and was set to report based on passing the quiz did not work. I keep on getting  "Unable to connect to the server" error at the end of the course.  Articulate says that a possible reason is:

The LMS is rejecting the data

You'll also encounter this issue if the LMS rejects the data being sent by the content. Contact your LMS provider for a solution.

However I got the same error when I tested on Litmos LMS.  So am wondering if it is an issue with articulate. 


See this thread. http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/25145.aspx

There is a confirmed bug with the Mobile Player as of it's last update. It really has nothing to do with the version it's operating under. Rather it currently reports additional information as part of a results statement that us not reported when running in a browser. 

This is why the error is returned only on a result slide of the presentation. When the statement is sent and includes result information it is rejected by the LRS. Unfortunately the Mobile Player does not have te ability to report actual errors from the LRS, but instead only reports the generic communication error. 

We are all currently waiting on a patched update. However, it's been quite awhile since the problem was discovered. Moving forward, a good feature request would be to provide better error reporting with the Mobile Player to allow better troubleshooting. I made that very request at DevLearn last year. Maybe if we all speak up we can see some results.

Submit an Articulate Mobile Player feature request for specific error information if you feel the same. 

Frank McConnell

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Peter Faulhaber said:

I made a TinCan and put it in the Scorm Cloud and I must say it is great how it works. The LRS turn out fine. I even "programmed" I learned this button in Chrome on my laptop and the same button on my Android SmartPhone in Dolphin. When I click these buttons a extra line is added in my LRS.

SUPERB so much better than SCORM, 

My next step is export the LRS from the SCORM cloud and import it an other LMS. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a LMS with TinCan. Anyone wants to help me out?


The entire idea of TinCan is to bring content out of complicated LMS to simple platforms. GrassBlade xAPI Companion plugin can be used to host TinCan content on Wordpress

You can get it for Free at

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-xapi-companion/


I have LearnDash with the Grass Blade xAPI plugin. I'm having a heck of a time uploading my Storyline course after I publish it for Tin Can. What I need to know is: How do I format the "Launch URL" box for publishing to Tin Can. This is what I have in the "Launch URL" box: https://dns.site5.com/safe101ecampusdemocourse-2013/story.html. My site is hosted by Site5 Web Hosting so I assumed that I should be putting my Site5 server where it states: "My Server" in the screenshot.

Any help in regards to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Pankaj Agrawal

Frank Natt said:

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Peter Faulhaber said:

I made a TinCan and put it in the Scorm Cloud and I must say it is great how it works. The LRS turn out fine. I even "programmed" I learned this button in Chrome on my laptop and the same button on my Android SmartPhone in Dolphin. When I click these buttons a extra line is added in my LRS.

SUPERB so much better than SCORM, 

My next step is export the LRS from the SCORM cloud and import it an other LMS. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a LMS with TinCan. Anyone wants to help me out?


The entire idea of TinCan is to bring content out of complicated LMS to simple platforms. GrassBlade xAPI Companion plugin can be used to host TinCan content on Wordpress

You can get it for Free at

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-xapi-companion/


I have LearnDash with the Grass Blade xAPI plugin. I'm having a heck of a time uploading my Storyline course after I publish it for Tin Can. What I need to know is: How do I format the "Launch URL" box for publishing to Tin Can. This is what I have in the "Launch URL" box: https://dns.site5.com/safe101ecampusdemocourse-2013/story.html. My site is hosted by Site5 Web Hosting so I assumed that I should be putting my Site5 server where it states: "My Server" in the screenshot.

Any help in regards to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


Hi Frank,

I am not able to access the link you sent. I get an error "Unable to Connect" it seems the server is down.

If you are able to access the url you sent.

You can use the url in GrassBlade Shortcode tool. Details are there in the FAQ section on settings page.

If you continue to face problem, please send an email to  contact@nextsoftwaresolutions.com

I will make sure you get speedy support.

Pankaj

Pankaj Agrawal

Gerry Wasiluk said:

Just curious if any one has done some work with Storyline and Tin Can and what you learned.  Where you successful?  Have learners successfully accessing Tin Can courses?

Any implement it with their LMS successfully?  Did your LMS add native support or did you do something like integrate it with the SCORM Cloud?


Gerry,

You can see the demo of Articulate Tin Can on Wordpress using GrassBlade xAPI Companion here:

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-articulate-tin-can-api-demo-2/

Though there is alot of room for improvement, I would say that Articulate has done a great beginning and gives everyone a lot of confidence in Tin Can.

Pankaj

Frank McConnell

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Frank Natt said:

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Peter Faulhaber said:

I made a TinCan and put it in the Scorm Cloud and I must say it is great how it works. The LRS turn out fine. I even "programmed" I learned this button in Chrome on my laptop and the same button on my Android SmartPhone in Dolphin. When I click these buttons a extra line is added in my LRS.

SUPERB so much better than SCORM, 

My next step is export the LRS from the SCORM cloud and import it an other LMS. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a LMS with TinCan. Anyone wants to help me out?


The entire idea of TinCan is to bring content out of complicated LMS to simple platforms. GrassBlade xAPI Companion plugin can be used to host TinCan content on Wordpress

You can get it for Free at

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-xapi-companion/


I have LearnDash with the Grass Blade xAPI plugin. I'm having a heck of a time uploading my Storyline course after I publish it for Tin Can. What I need to know is: How do I format the "Launch URL" box for publishing to Tin Can. This is what I have in the "Launch URL" box: https://dns.site5.com/safe101ecampusdemocourse-2013/story.html. My site is hosted by Site5 Web Hosting so I assumed that I should be putting my Site5 server where it states: "My Server" in the screenshot.

Any help in regards to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


Hi Frank,

I am not able to access the link you sent. I get an error "Unable to Connect" it seems the server is down.

If you are able to access the url you sent.

You can use the url in GrassBlade Shortcode tool. Details are there in the FAQ section on settings page.

If you continue to face problem, please send an email to  contact@nextsoftwaresolutions.com

I will make sure you get speedy support.

Pankaj


Hi Pankaj,

I included that link to illustrate what I put in the "Launch URL" box when I published my Storyline content to Tin Can. When I upload the zip file of my Storyline course to Grass Blade xAPI, I received an error message. I'm trying figure out correct information or format to place in the "Launch URL" box prior to publishing to Tin Can.

Thank you.

Jim Kitchingman

We developed an API for our LMS which takes the Tin Calls and tracks back to our database. In order to use our existing reporting we had to convert the calls to pass back the data similar to SCORM. Everything works great, the only issue we have at this point getting bookmarking to work with storyline/tin can combination, is anyone else have bookmarking issues?

Jim Kitchingman

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Gerry Wasiluk said:

Just curious if any one has done some work with Storyline and Tin Can and what you learned.  Where you successful?  Have learners successfully accessing Tin Can courses?

Any implement it with their LMS successfully?  Did your LMS add native support or did you do something like integrate it with the SCORM Cloud?


Gerry,

You can see the demo of Articulate Tin Can on Wordpress using GrassBlade xAPI Companion here:

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-articulate-tin-can-api-demo-2/

Though there is alot of room for improvement, I would say that Articulate has done a great beginning and gives everyone a lot of confidence in Tin Can.

Pankaj

We developed an API for our LMS which takes the Tin Calls and tracks back to our DB. We

Pankaj Agrawal

Frank Natt said:

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Frank Natt said:

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Peter Faulhaber said:

I made a TinCan and put it in the Scorm Cloud and I must say it is great how it works. The LRS turn out fine. I even "programmed" I learned this button in Chrome on my laptop and the same button on my Android SmartPhone in Dolphin. When I click these buttons a extra line is added in my LRS.

SUPERB so much better than SCORM, 

My next step is export the LRS from the SCORM cloud and import it an other LMS. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a LMS with TinCan. Anyone wants to help me out?


The entire idea of TinCan is to bring content out of complicated LMS to simple platforms. GrassBlade xAPI Companion plugin can be used to host TinCan content on Wordpress

You can get it for Free at

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-xapi-companion/


I have LearnDash with the Grass Blade xAPI plugin. I'm having a heck of a time uploading my Storyline course after I publish it for Tin Can. What I need to know is: How do I format the "Launch URL" box for publishing to Tin Can. This is what I have in the "Launch URL" box: https://dns.site5.com/safe101ecampusdemocourse-2013/story.html. My site is hosted by Site5 Web Hosting so I assumed that I should be putting my Site5 server where it states: "My Server" in the screenshot.

Any help in regards to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


Hi Frank,

I am not able to access the link you sent. I get an error "Unable to Connect" it seems the server is down.

If you are able to access the url you sent.

You can use the url in GrassBlade Shortcode tool. Details are there in the FAQ section on settings page.

If you continue to face problem, please send an email to  contact@nextsoftwaresolutions.com

I will make sure you get speedy support.

Pankaj


Hi Pankaj,

I included that link to illustrate what I put in the "Launch URL" box when I published my Storyline content to Tin Can. When I upload the zip file of my Storyline course to Grass Blade xAPI, I received an error message. I'm trying figure out correct information or format to place in the "Launch URL" box prior to publishing to Tin Can.

Thank you.


Frank,

Can you post the error message. When you publish the package, you need to make sure you have selected Tin Can API instead of SCORM in your articulate. To verify that you have correct TinCan Package you can unzip the package, and you should see a tincan.xml file.

Alternatively to get yourself familiar to the flow of GrassBlade and TinCan, you can try a demo Articulate package available at both Articulate's website and also at our website in the xAPI Content Providers page.

Pankaj

Keith Kemsley

I need to step back in the conversation thread and ask a more basic question. I cannot seem to get a Storyline TIN CAN API published course to import to SCORM Cloud, Export as a dispatch, Import to my LMS and work on the iPad.  Can one of you point out which step I am getting wrong?

1. Publish super-simple, one-slide, no-quiz Articulate Storyline course to TIN CAN API. (Tracking is by slides, of course. I do not change launch URL or Activity ID)

2. Import resulting ZIP file to SCORM Cloud (free version). I get the usual "activity ID error" but but the course works fine in SCORM Cloud on Windows/IE, Mac, and iPad.

3. Within SCORM Cloud, I do the following:

    a) DISPATCH button

    b) Create dispatches

    c) Add the course I imported

    d) Make up an existing destination name (I don't really get this)

    e) Click Create

     f) Select that dispatch from the list

    g) Click download

    h) Save the ZIP file to my hard drive

4. Import the ZIP file into our Absorb LMS as a SCORM file

When I do this, the course plays fine on Windows/IE from the Absorb LMS but on the iPad it says "loading content..." but then nothing comes up...ever.

Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone?

Pankaj Agrawal

Jim Kitchingman said:

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Gerry Wasiluk said:

Just curious if any one has done some work with Storyline and Tin Can and what you learned.  Where you successful?  Have learners successfully accessing Tin Can courses?

Any implement it with their LMS successfully?  Did your LMS add native support or did you do something like integrate it with the SCORM Cloud?


Gerry,

You can see the demo of Articulate Tin Can on Wordpress using GrassBlade xAPI Companion here:

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-articulate-tin-can-api-demo-2/

Though there is alot of room for improvement, I would say that Articulate has done a great beginning and gives everyone a lot of confidence in Tin Can.

Pankaj


We developed an API for our LMS which takes the Tin Calls and tracks back to our DB. We


Jim

Articulate currently doesn't store any bookmark information.

However, Bookmarking works will Tin Can API. You can test the demo at:

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-wordpress-demo-1/

Its using Tin Can Golf Prototype hosted on a Wordpress website using GrassBlade xAPI Companion.

Pankaj

Jim Kitchingman

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Jim Kitchingman said:

Pankaj Agrawal said:

Gerry Wasiluk said:

Just curious if any one has done some work with Storyline and Tin Can and what you learned.  Where you successful?  Have learners successfully accessing Tin Can courses?

Any implement it with their LMS successfully?  Did your LMS add native support or did you do something like integrate it with the SCORM Cloud?


Gerry,

You can see the demo of Articulate Tin Can on Wordpress using GrassBlade xAPI Companion here:

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-articulate-tin-can-api-demo-2/

Though there is alot of room for improvement, I would say that Articulate has done a great beginning and gives everyone a lot of confidence in Tin Can.

Pankaj


We developed an API for our LMS which takes the Tin Calls and tracks back to our DB. We


Jim

Articulate currently doesn't store any bookmark information.

However, Bookmarking works will Tin Can API. You can test the demo at:

http://www.nextsoftwaresolutions.com/grassblade-wordpress-demo-1/

Its using Tin Can Golf Prototype hosted on a Wordpress website using GrassBlade xAPI Companion.

Pankaj


Ok, so Tin Can is good which we can definitely see how this is possible in our coding, but Articulate (Storyline or ipad mobile player?) doesn't currently support bookmarking. Every clue we have to date confirms this, we are just wondering if we are missing something.

Howard Kiewe

Jeff Kortenbosch said:

No experience here... still trying to find some 'talk to me like I was a 6 year old' explanation for TinCan on what it is and how it works.


Experience API 1.0 will be officially released tomorrow. My blog post "The Experience (Tin Can) API: Turning 1.0" has some useful resources for those looking for the basics.

James Brandwood

Peter Faulhaber said:

I made a TinCan and put it in the Scorm Cloud and I must say it is great how it works. The LRS turn out fine. I even "programmed" I learned this button in Chrome on my laptop and the same button on my Android SmartPhone in Dolphin. When I click these buttons a extra line is added in my LRS.

SUPERB so much better than SCORM, 

My next step is export the LRS from the SCORM cloud and import it an other LMS. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a LMS with TinCan. Anyone wants to help me out?


Peter I would love some more information on how you 'learned a buton in Chrome' so that it would report Tin Can API to the LRS.

I am very interesting in tracking records of people using a company intranet/online manuals as part of their training.

Can you point me in the right directions please?

Peter Faulhaber

James,

It was quite a journey. But I can reproduce it.

First: I have my LRS on SCORM cloud. So that is where my activities are stored.

  1. Login to SCORM cloud
  2. goto the option Apps
  3. In the Applications window make an new Application
  4. Click in the Application line on Show App Id.
  5. Click show secret key

Leave this tab open

  1. Goto http://tincanapi.com/bookmarklet/
  2. scroll down
  3. fill in your email (=one you use in scormcloud)
  4. Name
  5. LRS endpoint = https://cloud.scorm.com/ScormEngineInterface/TCAPI/ identifier see scormcloud window>
  6. LRS Username = application identifier
  7. LRS password = secret key
  8. Click Generate bookmarklet

Hope this will work!!

Jørgen Nielsen

Rebecca Adler said:

I had the same issue as mentioned in this thread, regarding the error "Error was: Activity ID '696lbcV1xNT_course_id' is not an absolute URI" from a Tin Can course tested on SCORM Cloud. SCORM Cloud upgraded from .9 to .95 of the Tin Can specification, and I believe that is why this error started showing up. I opened a ticket with them and here is the reply (which I've edited slightly for brevity):

"This is a new validation we're doing to make sure data coming in is valid according to 0.95 of the specification.

- Sometimes this message will occur when activity ID is OK, but other fields that also must be absolute URIs are not (such as activity type or verb).
- An absolute URI contains the protocol and full path. http://tincanapi.com/developers/tech-overview/ is an absolute URI, /developers/tech-overview is not.

Once the [Tin Can] spec hits 1.0 (sometime in April), this may become an issue. I would do a search for "Activity ID '6KdKFQInI5n_course_id'  [in your Tin Can XML file] and make sure it is an absolute path...in this case it shouldn't matter if it resolves or not. Something like activity id="http://tincanapi.com/test/6KdKFQInI5n_course_id"..."

So it seems that the error at this point should not prohibit content from running, but in the near future this will become an issue.

IF Tin Can demands absolute URLs AND Storyline supports Tin Can, then Storyline output of course must use absolute URLs. The method of publishing, then modify the xml, republishing, then remodifying the xml etc etc is NOT an option in a modern e-learning production flow.

When will Articulate ensure 100 % Tin Can compliance?

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.