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General: SCORM general query

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    Hey Phil, i thought i'd just share this query i made via email with your forum and thanks by the way for your response has helped me peel another layer away from the general confusion SCORM gives me :).

    ---ORIGINAL EMAIL---

    Hey Phillip,
    I was just coming around to doing some testing with your SCORM Wrapper and I came across two stumpers.
    1. [showstopper] I can't find the FLA you mentioned on the download link so I can see how you make the external interface calls.
    2. [longer term question] Have you done any testing where you need to store persistent data yet? Scores / Progress or the likes, something I'll have to deal with down the line , wondered if your get/set function in your wrapper have been used to do this kind of thing?

    Cheers for any help you can give me, SCORM is a new toy for me with lots of buttons to push… any tips would be really useful :)
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    ---ORIGINAL REPLY---

    hi kevin

    RE: #1 the example files are on my main SCORM page and also the SCORM for Flash page (http://pipwerks.com/lab/scorm/wrapper/flash/index.html)

    RE: #2 SCORM is designed to bridge the communication between an LMS and an online course. the LMS stores whatever data the course passes to it via SCORM calls. for instance, storing a bookmark would happen by using SCORM's "lesson_location". scores are saved via score.raw and score.max. if you need to store something not explicitly defined by SCORM, you can use "suspend_data" (only holds about 4k of data, just like a cookie).

    You should check the ADL's SCORM documentation to see what's available in the SCORM API/RTE. Here's a link for SCORM 2004 documentation: http://adlnet.gov/downloads/DownloadPage.aspx?ID=237

    My wrapper and classes are designed to make working with SCORM easier, but you still need to know which SCORM calls you want/need to make, such as SCORM.set("cmi.lesson_location", "page01.html");

    hope that helps. Feel free to post any SCORM and/or wrapper questions to my new elearning forum, too. ;)

    - philip
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    To follow on and ask you another question incase my endless reading (they have alot to write about SCORM don't they :)) doesn't materialize me an answer in the mean time.

    Your SCO package, can i assume that you have bought something like the Simple Scorm Packager or equivilent that helps you build with all those manifest file and layout.

    If i explain my prediciment:

    Im about to start practicing with a few simple demo's to recreate your demo so i can fathom an understanding.

    I have Moodle installed on our local server and your demo works fine in it

    I use Flex to build my projects and your SCORM.as will sit happily ready to be imported.

    I can build but naturally im not going to get very far with a simply compiled swf because it needs a particular HTML setup that i dont have to be built from FLex AND i need to import it into my Moodle to test. Thats a pain in the **** pipeline when all im trying to do is establish my demo's are working.

    For now i think i can simply replace your interface swf with one of my own and have it behave in a similar manner for now. Eventually il be looking at creating addition resources (for one a second swf to load into a skeleton swf i'l develop) and thus will have to update the manifest ...adding again another step in this horrible long process... is this a normal process? Or do you have a secret one which you will care to share...:)

    Sorry this is a mommoth post i hope that in a way this helps the next person whose on a similar path to me :)
    • CommentAuthorphilip
    • CommentTimeMar 31st 2008
     
    i personally stick to simple, hand-edited manifests, but i always wind up messing them up, too. :tongue:

    using a manifest editor is a good idea. as for which one, i'm not sure what to tell you. the free Manifest Maker extension for Dreamweaver has been popular for years, but only does SCORM 1.2.

    one of the tricky aspects of SCORM is that you can use SCORM to manage your content (using the 'sequencing and navigation' controls), or you can manage your course content internally, using your own JavaScript (for HTML) or ActionScript (for Flash/Flex).

    if you go for the former (let SCORM handle the navigation), most of the work is done in the manifest (listing all the course files and metadata, etc.). this leads to very large and complex manifests. this also requires an LMS that supports the sequencing and navigation feature, which can be buggy and isn't available in all LMSs.

    i tend to go for the latter. if you handle navigation yourself, you don't need to put anything in the manifest beyond what i put in my example files: the proper course metadata (title, sco name, etc.) and the list of files used by the course. the catch here is that you don't need to list ALL of your files, you can just list the ones that interact with the SCORM run-time; i usually just list my index.html file, my flash SWF (if any), and my JavaScript file(s).

    but manifests aren't my strong point, so it wouldn't hurt to do some more research on your own. :bigsmile:
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    Okay well thats handy to know :)so i should be able to mimic your skeleton for the most part. :D

    My second issue still standing then is a debug opportunity. Without somewhere to build the project where the SCORM.isAvailable returns true i'm stuck with a sad but sorry state of affairs going through the process of adding a scorm package per test AND not having any debugging ability :(.

    Perhaps i can find the last one i created and replace the file on my server as some sort of cheat :S but suddenly im worried i'l have a broken moodle on my hands heheh.

    Perhaps i need to really look into my local apache server and get moodle running locally and operate that way....
    • CommentAuthorphilip
    • CommentTimeMar 31st 2008
     
    you can do basic testing with the ADL test suite... it runs locally using Java, no server required.

    But even if the course works OK in the test suite, you'll need to test in whatever LMS you're targeting.

    You could also install the sample run-time environment on your PC, but personally, I've found it hard to get up and running.

    - philip
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    Lifesaver :) tomorrow just started to look a little brighter if i get through this alive remind me to post you something nice :)
    • CommentAuthorTwisted_Kev
    • CommentTimeApr 2nd 2008 edited
     
    Okay thought i'd sahre for no other reason than im happy something went my way today :) i managed to get one of our games working from a SCORM package using your AS3 wrapper. Cheers :)

    I did manage to get RTE working , its a long winded setup il give you that, installing the JDK then setting up some rather precarious security settings like "allow ActiveX controls" theres a good reason thats defaulted to off :P.

    It does save me a little time because its 'adding' of courses is much quicker than moodles 'essay style' forms for one package. I still have to rezip yours up and it does whinge about the non manifested files but still works so im not going to shed a tear. It didnt stop it working...

    The only change i did make to your AS3 wrapper was i extended it from a Sprite, This lets me (in Flex) extend my root project from SCORM and then use the super in my constructor before i do anything. With a few edits to turn the privates into protected i have all the access to the get set etc functions. This was just a preference thing for the way i use Flex i think.

    So anyway one Gamegen (thats our inhouse as3 game engine) game loaded into SCORM.... its a start :). I now need to make a list of all the gets and sets such as the cmi.lesson_location etc etc that im going to need... joy...but we're in a position to start developing content knowing it WILL work in our LMS :)
    • CommentAuthorphilip
    • CommentTimeApr 2nd 2008
     
    cool. :bigsmile:

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