Troubles with LMS and Explorer

Question

Goodmorning everybody,
The past two months i've been trying to create a aw-piece
that works in a LMS (SABA).
Finally, technical speaking, it works. Still I have my doubts
about it....
First, i've have used a java-code which communicates with the
lms, this code was from an existing
file called 'Testbed', came along with AW, after a lot of
puzzling it works. Still initializing the LMS takes a lot of time
Sometimes about 10, 15 seconds. I've also used the KO LMS
Initialize, it takes even longer, 30 seconds. Is this
normal ? Because in the CBT there are also questions, and i'm
writing the results, questions-id e.g to the LMS,
it also takes 3 or 4 seconds. Normal ?
The version of java we use is 1.4.2. We have notices that
older versions don't work with SABA. At home I have version Java
1.5
It seems to me it works better, but is this a feeling or
fact?
On the other hand, the course runs on our intranet, and i
can't figure out how much effect the server has on the
performance of the CBT. After starting up the java console
(and the cbt), i'm able to see two messages which alert me,
first the message 'connection thread gets into wait', and
straight after,10 or 20 seconds later
'failed to assert permission from microsoft policy engine'.
After this message, everything works, data is transmitted and
the cbt/lms works. It doesn't matter whether i use my own
code or the lms-KO's, i always see these messages.
Does anybody recognize the messages, and know where they come
from, and can i do anything about them?
Last point. I notice that sometimes, say one out of fifteen
times starting the cbt, the explorer 'is not responding' when
quitting
the cbt. It always happens when i'm quitting the cbt, never
during start up. Is this a known problem ? Has it something to do
with
the LMS, or communication. I have no idea, but it irretates
me a lot to see so this message. The trainee has to do the whole
course again, because aw failed to write it's data to the LMS.
Finally, has somebody published pieces running and
communicating with the LMS SABA before. Did it all work, any nasty
bugs or other bad experiences ?
I hope i've given enough information to receive some help
from you,
thanks on forhand,
greetings Marc

Answer 1

This sounds pretty complex!
My first thought is to blame the LMS. Do you have any
non-Authorware
courses which do work correctly?
There should be no need to have a JRE (Java Runtime)
installed, unless
the LMS requires it. For the LMS I most often use (Inquisiq),
Javascript
is used to handle the communication between the SCO and the
LMS API, not
Java...but Java is certainly an alternative and could indeed
be what
Saba used to create their API...
The communication with the API should certainly not take too
long -
especially on an intranet - unless a lot of info is being
passed. The
biggest delays I notice in our work is when I'm saving quiz
results and
bookmarks, and even then it's not more than a few seconds.
The
initialization process should happen quickly.
It sounds like your getting timeouts - though were that true,
the LMS
would not be initialized at all.
Can you test with an older version of Windows/Explorer than
came with
Microsoft's JRE? I assume you are using the Sun release -
which should
work fine, but maybe one way to test is to use, say, IE 5.5
under
Windows 2000 which may already have the MS JVM installed...
Or, alternatively, what if you try another browser? Or does
Saba only
support IE...
Have you talked to Saba about this?
Erik
PaRaMarcc wrote:
> Goodmorning everybody,
>
> The past two months i've been trying to create a
aw-piece that works in a LMS
> (SABA).
> Finally, technical speaking, it works. Still I have my
doubts about it....
>
> First, i've have used a java-code which communicates
with the lms, this code
> was from an existing
> file called 'Testbed', came along with AW, after a lot
of puzzling it works.
> Still initializing the LMS takes a lot of time
> Sometimes about 10, 15 seconds. I've also used the KO
LMS Initialize, it takes
> even longer, 30 seconds. Is this
> normal ? Because in the CBT there are also questions,
and i'm writing the
> results, questions-id e.g to the LMS,
> it also takes 3 or 4 seconds. Normal ?
>
> The version of java we use is 1.4.2. We have notices
that older versions don't
> work with SABA. At home I have version Java 1.5
> It seems to me it works better, but is this a feeling or
fact?
>
> On the other hand, the course runs on our intranet, and
i can't figure out how
> much effect the server has on the
> performance of the CBT. After starting up the java
console (and the cbt), i'm
> able to see two messages which alert me,
> first the message 'connection thread gets into wait',
and straight after,10 or
> 20 seconds later
> 'failed to assert permission from microsoft policy
engine'. After this
> message, everything works, data is transmitted and
> the cbt/lms works. It doesn't matter whether i use my
own code or the
> lms-KO's, i always see these messages.
>
> Does anybody recognize the messages, and know where they
come from, and can i
> do anything about them?
>
> Last point. I notice that sometimes, say one out of
fifteen times starting the
> cbt, the explorer 'is not responding' when quitting
> the cbt. It always happens when i'm quitting the cbt,
never during start up.
> Is this a known problem ? Has it something to do with
> the LMS, or communication. I have no idea, but it
irretates me a lot to see so
> this message. The trainee has to do the whole course
again, because aw failed
> to write it's data to the LMS.
>
> Finally, has somebody published pieces running and
communicating with the LMS
> SABA before. Did it all work, any nasty bugs or other
bad experiences ?
>
>
> I hope i've given enough information to receive some
help from you,
> thanks on forhand,
> greetings Marc
>
>
Erik Lord
http://www.capemedia.net
Adobe Community Expert - Authorware
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/
http://www.awaretips.net -
samples, tips, products, faqs, and links!
*Search the A'ware newsgroup archives*
http://groups.google.com/group/macromedia.authorware