SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by John Kerr -
Number of replies: 6
Hi Moodlers,

I am having some issues regarding the time it takes a SCORM 2004 package to be displayed on our Moodle site.

The packaged document loads up and the LHS navigation is visible quickly enough but when i try to work through the package i get this message before every page loads up,
"You will be automatically redirected to the activity in 2 seconds."

I am not sure why this is, it could be a server issue or it might be a problem with how Moodle is configured on the server.

This is causes problems with holding the users attention as very page displays this message and the user will get board and irritated very quickly.

Has anyone came across this issue or knows how to fix it?

I am using SCORM 2004 on Course Genie v2.4.1 to package the document and Reload to add in some new HTML files like front and end pages.

Thanks for the help.

John


(Edited by Dan Marsden - removed old link to unrelated image - original submission Friday, 31 October 2008, 12:42 AM)

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In reply to John Kerr

Re: SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by Burke Allen -

John,

if you look in the application files at moodle\htdocs\mod\scorm\loadSCO.php

around line of that file you will see a variable getting defined named "$delayseconds"  it is being set to 2 seconds.  this code is used to allow the browser time to locate location of the SCO API calls needed for the SCO object to communicate back to the server so it can report completion status, grades, etc.

You can try adjusting this value to a lower number say 1. or .5  but it may cause some issues with the content being able to get a handle on the API  and being able to effectively communicate back.  This type of delay is fairly common in most commercial LMS systems.  You could also modify the on screen information of this file or the gif that is loaded to be more "entertaining"  or to communicate more clearly why their is a wait.

you can locate the animated gif in your "theme" directory

moodle\htdocs\theme\{your theme}

then go to pix\mod\scorm\pix  and rplace the wait.gif  with one of your choice

maybe something like this

 http://gifsrus.110mb.com/cartoon/line-figures1/2-Ninja-150x100.gif

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In reply to Burke Allen

Re: SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by John Kerr -
Hi Allen,

Thanks for the information, we are trying this out as i type!

If we lower the timing of the SCORM load time will we have to look at getting in super fast servers to cope with the demand?

If we cant do this then adding in a new animated gif is a good idea, the ninja stick man fight is good but maybe not ideal for a college smile

Cheers
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In reply to John Kerr

Re: SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by Burke Allen -

the timing is going to be more relative to the end users computer.

the way the scorm api works, which is different from the older AICC api,  is the courses do not care where the server is, they simply look in the "windows" that lunahced the course to find the API to communicate with.  it typcially first looks at itself, then its parent window and that parent's parent window and so on  until it finds the API or runs out of parent windows to check.

the older AICC API had hte course talking directly to the server, via URL reference that was passed to the launched course.  in SCORM the LMS  is soley responsible for communicating with the server,  and the course is responsible for finding the code in the LMS window and communicates only with that. 

long story short, it just depends  and i imagine the moodle developers landed on 2 seconds from doing some testing or getting feedback from the community and determine this is the shortest but safest time to wait for allof that "checking" to take place.  you may find in your environment you can reduce it,  but leaving it at 2 seconds and simply modifying the content of the loading page, or even simpler the animated gif  would be the safest way to go.

if your environment is public college then the animated gif could be related to a beer drinking game, that should hold their attention smile

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In reply to Burke Allen

Re: SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by Dan Marsden -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Plugins guardians Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi there,

Just confirming that everyone is correct - the delay is there to allow the SCORM api to load in the browser. the Delay has always been there, however in 1.9.3 we've added a "message" to notify the user that something is happening and to prevent impatient users from reloading the page during the delay. Some browsers load this quicker than others (IE has traditionally been the worst offender) - I have heard suggestions of adding a check during the delay to see if the API has loaded already and if so, shorten the delay. Piers and I would be happy to review any code that performed this, and would be more than happy to get such a patch into core.
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In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by John Kerr -
HI Dan,

Sorry i don't know a great deal about coding so which code would you require?
I have heard from another college that runs Moodle that their wait time is minimal roughly under .5seconds ( to what they can remember ) haven't changed the Scorm time in Moodle from 3 seconds to anything lower.

We are in the process of making an animated gif to replace the wait time message however this still isn't ideal.

Have you heard when the API check will be released? I'm guessing version 2 or prehaps 2.1?

Thanks for the help guys!
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In reply to John Kerr

Re: SCORM display wait time issues on Moodle 1.93

by Dan Marsden -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Plugins guardians Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
What I was saying was that if a developer spent some time looking at a way to check to see if the full api has loaded that is cross-browser compatible that loads quicker than just forcing to wait the fixed time period. Piers and I(the core SCORM Module Maintainers) would be happy to review any such code for inclusion in Moodle core.

The time delay is not for your "servers" benefit, but for the users local browser to load the Javascript API correctly before allowing the SCORM object to make any SCORM calls - if the javascript has not been loaded completely in the browser, and the SCORM object makes a call to the API it will fail and will throw a range of errors, and no user data will be saved. Also, this check/time delay has always been in SCORM, all that we have done recently in 1.9.3 is add some notification to the user that it is happening to prevent them from getting "bored" and trying to refresh the browser.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the API check" ? - I'm guessing you may have misunderstood my initial post? - there is currently no "plan" to work on such a change to the javascript, however if someone else spent the time on it, as I mention above, we'd be happy to look at/review any code that they might provide.
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