Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition)

Welcome and thank you for choosing the Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition). The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) is a full SCORM run time environment designed to be easily intgerated into new or exisiting learning management systems.

SCORM 2004 games based learning running in the Icodeon SCORM Player

The Player supports full latest SCORM 2004 Sequencing and Navigation specification to enable advanced adaptive web based learning.

The Icodeon SCORM Player is designed around a set of standards based web services that exchange XML documents with a SCORM run time environment in an Internet Browser.

The player runs in the browser and exchnages XML documents with web services

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) is distributed as a .zip file

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) is distributed as a .zip file. Icodeon provide a username and password to download the zip file from the Icodeon website. Once the file is downloaded and unzipped, the following directory structure is seen:

          
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/config/
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/docs/
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/javadoc/api
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/javadoc/impl
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/jmeter
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/legal/
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/maven/src
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/sql/
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/tomcat/
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/war/
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2
          
        

The Icodeon SCORM Player (Java Edition) is distributed with a 30-day evaluation license that can be found at the following location:

          
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2/WEB-INF/classes/player2.license

        

Description	Screen Shot
Valid License	[full size]
Expired License	[full size]
Expired License (user view)	[full size]

Table 2.1. License Informantion in the Icodeon SCORM Player

The following SCORM versions are supported:

Summary conformance logs for SCORM 2004 3rd Editon conformance are available for inspection.

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) will display and sequence IMS Content Packages. The Player determines automatically at run time the content type. The correct adapters and behaviours are automatically loaded and no special set up is required by the host LMS.

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) has been tested on the following browser and operating system combinations:

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) uses the Hibernate system as a software layer between the application and a relational database. All databases supported by Hibernate are therefore supported by the Player. The software distribution comes with SQL and example configuration files for the following databases:

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) is compiled against Java 1.4, and should run with versions of Java greater than this. The presentation components of the Player, JavaServer Pages (.jsp), are built against the following specifications:

The Icodeon SCORM Player is designed to be deployed to servlet containers that implement the Servlet 2.4 and JavaServer Pages 2.0 specifications. The application has bee tested on the following containers:

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) web application files are distributed within the directory at:

          
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2

        

          
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2/WEB-INF/web.xml

        

Production deployment essentially follows the same steps as the default deployment described above, with two important differences. Firstly, production deployments will want to set up relational database persistence: XML file based peristence is not intended for production deployments. Secondly, there are a nummer of small changes that need to be made to promote a secure deployment. The steps are:

Often the servlet container (Apache Tomcat, Resin) will be configured to run behind other servers, and sometimes also bound using a connector between a front end server and the servlet container. The Icodeon Player builds absolute URLs for reading in content from the SCORM package and for sending SOAP messages from AJAX client classes to web services. The Player provides configuration to ensure that the absolute URLs built by the Player are consistent with proxy servers and connected front end server. Configuration is managed by the parameter:

  <context-param>
    <param-name>requestUrlType</param-name>
    <param-value>server</param-value>
  </context-param>

        

This parameter is made available to manage deployments where there may be proxy servers or connectors that hand off requests to the servlet container in which the web application is deployed. URLs for service end points are determined according to the following algorithm to give maximum flexibility in deployments especially where proxy servers or connectors may be configured.

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) uses the Hibernate library to manage persistence of instances of business object classes to a relational database. The Player therefore supports all databases supported by Hibernate. In the Icodeon software distribution, SQL scripts and example configuration files are included for MySQL, Firebird and Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

The software distribution comes with SQL for generating required database tables. Each table may be prefixed with three characters that are used for the Icodeon namespace ("ICN") to distinguish Player tables from any exisiting host LMS tables. The SQL files can be found in the directory:

          
          [PARENT DIRECTORY]/sql/
           
        

          
alter table ATTEMPT_PROGRESS_INFO  drop foreign key FKE551D07EEC46D115;
...
drop table if exists ATTEMPT_PROGRESS_INFO;
           
        

The database schema inherits semantics from the specifications used within the SCORM 2004 specification. In particular, the table names and field names are based on the following specifications: IMS Simple Sequencing IMS Content Packaging Computer Managed Instruction (CMI) Data Model

For further details of the database schema, and examples of report queries, please see the accompanying document schema.html

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) supports an extensible architecture for persistence: it is possible to "plug-in" different persistence strategies. The distribution comes with two strategies:

Default and custom plug-in persistence strategies for the CMI tracking service

To enable the default "plug-in" for persistence to a relational database through the Hibernate layer, it is necessary to ensure the correct factory classes are specified. Using the file system, navigate to the "web.xml" configuration file, and then oprn using an XML editor. Edit the entries for persistence factory classes. These classes are "plug-ins" that enable different persistence strategies to be supported. For NHibernate based persistence, set the following values:

          
  <context-param>
    <param-name>CMIPersistenceFactory</param-name>
    <param-value>com.icodeon.services.cmi.dao.hibernate.PersistenceFactoryImpl</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <context-param>
    <param-name>SSPersistenceFactory</param-name>
    <param-value>com.icodeon.services.ss.dao.hibernate.PersistenceFactoryImpl</param-value>
  </context-param>

        

The Hibernate system uses XML configuration files (typically with file extension "myfilename.cfg.xml") to pass various parameter values (such as connection strings) to the applications. The software distribution comes with example Hibernate configuration files in a directory located:

          
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/config/
          
        

SCORM content is distributed as compressed .zip file known as a Package Interchange File (PIF). A host learning management system will typically provide some facility for uploading and unzipping these files to a network location. It is the responsibility of the host learning management system to provide the Player with a unique identifer, the "courseID" parameter value, that can be resolved to the location of the unzipped PIF.

The details of exactly how the "courseID" is resolved to the network location of an unzipped PIF is implementation specific. The software is provided with the default implementation and source code. Vendors are free to write their own implementation as a "plug-in" for a vendor specific strategy for resolving the "courseID" parameter value to the the location of the unzipped PIF.

The default implementation relies on a simple strategy of:

The code that implements this strategy is in a class called "BasicAuthenticationResolver" and compiled into a library called "icodeon-player-plugins-2.jar". The class is specified by a fully qualified class name in the web.xml configuration file.

              
  <context-param>
    <description>Plug in resolver for getting resources from an LCMS</description>
    <param-name>LCMSPlugin</param-name>
    <param-value>com.icodeon.rte.plugins.BasicAuthenticationResolver</param-value>
  </context-param>
          
        

          
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/maven/src/main/java/com/icodeon/rte/plugins
          
        

The process of writing a "plug-in" implementation to relace the default implementation is as follows:

There is a well known issue in SCORM implementations known as the "SCORM Cross-Domain Scripting Issue" that is a variant of the browser "Single Origin" security policy: that scripts from a web page from one domain may not invoke functions of a script on a web page of another domain.

The issue arrises in SCORM implementations as SCORM specifies that a host run time environment (such as the Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition)) and content objects must establish a communication session through Java Script function calls.

There is ongoing discussion within the community of SCORM implementers concerning this cross-domain scripting issue. Icodeon recommends placing both the Icodeon Player and the Course Content within the same network domain to be the most successful strategy.

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) has been tested with content produced by the following SCORM authoring and packaging tools:

User interface configuration (internationalization, UI devices and skins) is managed through a set of parameter name/value pairs, and full details are given below. The name/value pairs may be configured at different levels of "priority": for example a parameter name/value pair as part of a URL query string in request scope has a higher priority than the same parameter name/value pair configured for application scope. The rule is: request scope settings ALWAYS override application scope.

The levels of priority, from lowest to highest are:

So in summary, parameter values can be set in "web.xml" (application scope), System properties/"player.properties" (application scope, overides web.xml) or request scope (overrides application scope).

            
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2/WEB-INF/classes/com/icodeon/rte/properties
          
          

7.1.2. User Interface Devices

The Icodeon Player supports customization of user interface devices. SCORM 2004 3rd Edition User Interface conformance requires that that SCORM run time environments provide learners with a minimum set of User Interface devices. Howver, because SCORM content often contains its own navigation devices, many vendors wish to remove devices from the run time environment. One way to do this is to customize the user interface devices of the Icodeon Player.

The user interface devices of the Icodeon Player are customized by editing a comma separated list of features for the configuration parameter name "uiFeatureList". Parameter values can be set in "web.xml" (application scope), System Properties/"player.properties" (application scope, overides web.xml) or request scope (overrides application scope):

            
  <context-param>
    <param-name>uiFeatureList</param-name>
    <param-value>back,next,exit,toolbar</param-value>
  </context-param>
          
          

The table below lists the vocabulary tokens supported for each user interface feature. There is a special token of "blank" that displays the Icodeon SCORM Player with no user interface controls.

Token	Description
back	Button to trigger SCORM "previous" navigation event
next	Button to trigger SCORM "continue" navigation event
exit	Button to trigger SCORM "exit" or "exitAll" navigation event
toolbar	Collapsible tool bar
organizations	Drop down combo box for multiple organizations
tree	Collapsible table of contents displayed as tree control
blank	No user interface devices

Table 7.2. User Interface Devices Supported by the Icodeon Player

The images below illustrate example configurations:

Configuration	Screen shot
back,next,exit,toolbar (default)	[full size]
blank	[full size]
back,next,exit,about,toolbar,organizations,tree	[full size]

Table 7.3. Example Configurations of the Icodeon Player User Interface [click for full size]

7.1.3. Toolbar Title

The title that appears of the Player toolbar is configured by setting the value of the parameter name "playerTitle". Parameter values can be set in "web.xml" (application scope), "player.properties" (application scope, overides web.xml) or request scope (overrides application scope). The example below shows "web.xml" configuration for application scope:

            
  <context-param>
    <param-name>playerTitle</param-name>
    <param-value>Vendor Title and Brand</param-value>
  </context-param>
          
          

The image below illustrate an example configurations:

Configuration	Screen shot
Vendor Branded Title	[full size]

Table 7.4. Example Configurations of the Icodeon Player User Interface [click for full size]

7.1.4. Look and Feel

The Icodeon Player is provided with four configurations for "look and feel". These configurations are known as user interface "skins". The "skin" is configured by setting the value of the parameter name "skinID". Parameter values can be set in "web.xml" (application scope), "player.properties" (application scope, overides web.xml) or request scope (overrides application scope). The example below shows "web.xml" configuration for application scope:

            
  <context-param>
    <param-name>skinID</param-name>
    <param-value>aero</param-value>
  </context-param>
          
          

The table below lists the vocabulary tokens supported for each of the provided skins and a screen shot of each skin:

Token	Description	Screen Shot
default	Microsoft "Outlook" style	[full size]
gray	Gray style	[full size]
aero	Semi transparent style	[full size]
vista	Microsoft Vista style	[full size]

Table 7.5. User Interface Skins Supported by the Icodeon Player

7.1.5. Markup

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) distribution is supplied with some sample HTML markup to show how the Player can be loaded into either a new window or an HTML frameset.

            
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2/index.html
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2/LMSPackages.aspx
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/webapps/player2/LMSFrameset.html

          

These files are not intended for production use and are not part of the Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) application. The files are included to guide web developers with an approach to integrating the Player into their own windows and web pages.

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 within an HTML frameset [full size]

Detailed diagnostic information is required to identify the issue for resolution if there are errors reported by the Player. To provide vendors and Icodeon with this detailed diagnostic information, use the following steps:

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) makes use of advanced client-side JavaScript classes to manage SCORM behaviour and communication with web services. Errors in client-side behvaiour will not appear in the server side rich error reporting. To provide vendors and Icodeon with this detailed client-side diagnostic information, use the following steps:

From time to time Icodeon issue product updates. Customers will recieve automatic notification from Icodeon Customer Support when a new release is available for download. If the product update is a minor version change (for example, from Verison 2.09 to Version 2.10), then updated application files can normally be copied over an exisiting deployment, with the exception of configuration files and serial numbers, which will need to be back up and restored to the newly copied files:

              
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/wwwroot/web.config
[PARENT DIRECTORY]/wwwroot/serial_number.inf
          
        

The Player makes extensive use of client (browser) side Ajax libraries which may be cached locally in the browser. When testing the product update it is necessary to ensure that browser caches are refreshed to ensure the updated libraries are used by the browser.

This guide provides details for installing and configuring the Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) for typical evaluation and production deployments.

The Player provides the vendor with many customization options and extension points at which vendor "plug-ins" can be used to replace the default code provided by Icodeon. For support regarding further customization options and extension points go to http://support.icodeon.com

Support and help with the Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition)

The Icodeon SCORM Player Version 2 (Java Edition) comes with numerous configuration and customization options. However, sometimes these options provided by Icodeon do not meet the specific needs of a particular vendor.

To respond to this requirement, the Player has a number of "extension points" where the standard Icodeon implementation can be "removed" and a custom implementation "plugged-in". Icodeon provide some source code and full API documentaion to support vendors with their custom implementation work.

API Documentation to facilitate custom plug-in development

SCORM objects cache tracking data on the client, and periodically commit this state. SCORM refers to this tracking data as elements from the Computer Managed Instruction (or CMI) datamodel. In the Icodeon SCORM Player, this state is posted to a web service (the CMI SCORM Tracking Service) as an XML binding of the CMI state using the IEEE 1484.11.3 schema for Content Object Communication Data Model (or COCD). How the web service persists the data between invocations and sessions depends on which persistence strategy is "plugged-in" to the CMI service.

The distribution comes with two persistence strategies:

TODO...

SCORM objects have a life cycle during a session within the Icodeon SCORM Player. The life cycle is characterized by the thee "data transfer" operations of the SCORM JavaScript API (IEEE 1484.11.2):

Sometimes there will be a vendor requirement to observe these life cycle events, perhaps to trigger custom behaviour within another system. Icodeon provide the opportunity to "plug-in" a custom observer class to intercept these life cycle events and implement required functionality.

Custom plug-in observer for events in the CMI service

TODO...

The SCORM specification, escpecially SCORM 2004, requires a lot of "state" to be maintained and processed and so there are inherent limits to the performance of SCORM run times.

TODO...

When the Player is launched, the mandatory parameter called:

          
          courseID

        

          
          orgID