SCORM 2004 in AS3

[EmmaD10]

I have a flash (SWF) file that needs to talk to an LMS(SCORM 2004). I have the FLA which I can publish with SCORM 2004 tracking. I need the syntax for providing the LMS with the student’s progress through the course, exam results, students name etc. Can anyone help!

[MATTANDIE]

This an actually be a rather complex issue as there are a number of ways to approach the problem depending on what you really need to get out of your flash content as well as SCORM.

There is no pre-defined syntax for your AS. in terms of SCORM, and with SCORM 2004 you can to a lot of complex things in terms of data tracking. It all depends on how you set it up. Honestly, I would suggest taking a look at pipwerks SCORM package for some pretty easy to understand examples and effective SCORM code for Flash (it manages posting and recieving data from the LMS a snap) 

I don't usually use the "publish for SCORM" option to publish my html, as I have never really gotten it to work all that well with anything even moderately complex in terms of SCO design.

In terms of actual syntax for your information, you can refer to them in your AS however you want, they are just string variables.

If you are just looking for the actual SCORM variables (the JS ones that get pushed out to the LMS), I suggest you take a look at the ADL site and reference materials, as well as SCORM.com.

If you can provide a little more detail of your implementation (how your course is set up, what you are trying to report, how you want to report it, and when). It could go a long way in trying to resolve your issue.

Im happy to help troubleshoot this for you, but I need some more information about your content and structure.

m.

[EmmaD10]

Thank you for your SWiFt reply I have been looking at pipwerks and like the look of the class (.as) file. I downloaded the ActionScript 3 SCORM class (SCORM API Wrapper) with the intention of editing it for our files, however when testing this SCO package in the ADL test suite it wouldn’t run? I get the feeling the ADL test suite 2004 3^rd edition hasn’t installed correctly?

Anyway, in brief the SWF file we have is a menu (parent) that loads other SWF files (child) in. These other child SWF files have various animations inside that a learner will interact with. Once they have completed their time in the child SWF they close it and the parent SWF unloads it. At this point we want to tell an LMS that a certain progress has been achieved so as when the learner comes back they can carry on where they left off without having to redo what they have already done. Also some of the child SWF files are quizzes we have made that return a result. We would like to record this in the LMS. Lastly we want to get the student’s name from the LMS to enter on a certificate at the end of the learning activity.

Many thanks

Emma

[MATTANDIE · Accepted solution]

Ok,  I will try to break this down piece by piece.

In terms of the ADL test suite, you are correct that it is most likely not installed correctly, or there is some issue with its setup. Its rather notorious as being difficult to get working. Once working however, its pretty useful. Either way, it really shouldnt have any impact on your flash content. In terms of being able to test your content, I suggest you take a look at cloud.scorm.com . even if you arent planning to set up a "cloud" course, its a great test environment ( 100 meg test acct is free) and its really easy to use. Just upload your package and it will report any scorm errors and warnings that need to be fixed in the manifest and let you test the course all you like.

On to your actual flash content:

Just to verify you have a UI wrapper that you are loading your swfs into for interaction/playback. Your flash content should have absolutely 0 impact on weather or not you can get your course package to run. So, all you really have to worry about here is sending and recieving variable information from your LMS. When testing here, I usually add another layer to my content with a couple pre-defined text fields. to track changes to the scorm variables i am working on when testing/debugging.

Most of the SCORM code for your course should probably be handled in your UI wrapper as opposed to your content slides.

If you end up going the pipworks route ( I highly recommend this over managing it all by scratch), then you just need to set up a couple reporting functions.

in general,

I use one for the initial UI load.This is where I set any status and get any values I need, (like student name, current progress like your bookmarking information, etc.)

Then i use another function to update my progress to the lms,

And Finally have another one that updates the necessary data for scoring any quizes or other scored content you may have.

Then to call these, (with the possible exception of the inital one that should be called based on your UI setup). I just use a custom event and possibly check for a frame lable on the last frame of your content to call the function you need.

Once you have tested all of this locally, (i.e. making sure everything on the flash side is working, and things like your quiz data are effectively reporting to your UI wrapper). Then you can look at actually testing in the ADL package or something like scormcloud.

To the specifics: Do a search for "scorm 2004 runtime reference". This will be invaluable to you in the long run.

For bookmarking take a look at "cmi.location". Basically when you load your course you want to get that value, and tell your UI to start at that slide.

The principle is the same for getting the learners name from the lms.  see "cmi.learner_name ".

Now, quizes can get a bit complex depending on how and how much information you want to communicate to the LMS.  What i would consider the key ones are "cmi.score.min", "cmi.score.max", "cmi.score.raw", and "cmi.score.scaled" as well as cmi.success_status. I usually handle these by pushing that content from your "slide files" to your UI, and then have the UI report to the LMS .

Hopefully this starts you in the right direction. If you are still stuck, I am willing to help trouble shoot specific issues, or if you need a clarification on something, let me know.

M.

[EmmaD10]

Hi Mattandie,

The information you have provided has be invaluable; many thanks.

Today we took our menu.SWF file and added some code using the Pipewerks SCORM.as file.

With the API wrapper java file and the HTML file that hosts our flash content we tested it on cloud.scorm.com with great success.

We pulled out our students name with “cmi.learner_name” and traced the student’s progress with ‘setting’ and ‘getting’ the “cmi.location”.(quite versatile as it is just a text string at the end of the day. I have opted for a percentage system by sending 0.01 for the first element of the course complete to 99.99. Just change the string to a number and you effectively have an infinite number of locations through the course!).

Thanks again!