Removing "error - unable to acquire LMS API" error when running Captivate on the web.

[Matt Gaiser]

I have the following error, one which is quite common from my research. 

However, at this time I have no need to resolve this error or attach Captivate to a learning management system. Actually, I do not have one to attach to it. It is sufficient to make the error go away and it can be done by fairly hacky means at this point in time. 

Any ideas? 

I am not an expert in Captivate by any means, just the software dev assigned to solve it, so please be detailed. 

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

You only see this 'error' when you have selected the option in your Captivate project to report quiz scores to an LMS.  It is just telling you that the published content cannot find an LMS to connect to.

So, if you do not have an LMS at this point, there is no reason to have LMS reporting turned on. It's easy to fix. Just go into the Quiz settings and deselect the checkbox for Enable Reporting on this Project.  Then republish your project again and you should not see this message.

[christinas78427096]

Rod, I have a colleague who is getting the same error as Matt (the original poster). However, she is supposedly testing this course in a couple different LMSes from potential vendors - meaning there should be an LMS to connect to and it is not doing so. She has tried opening in various browsers and the vendors say their systems work with SCORM 2004 and APIs, so it's apparently something I need to fix in my Captivate/SCORM files. We do need to be able to gather data. What could I be missing here?

[RodWard]

No it is not necessarily something YOU need to do in order to fix this issue.

First thing to do is upload your SCORM to SCORM Cloud and test it there to see if it works or not.  If it works on SCORM Cloud then it should work on any other SCORM-compliant LMS.

When you have proven that it works fine in SCORM Cloud you then take that back to the other LMS vendors and require (demand if necessary) that they have their technical people look into why their own LMS does not allow the Captivate module to find the API.

If there is a potential sale involved, they will have no option but to comply with your request or lose their place in the bidding.

It is extremely common for LMS vendors to blame the SCORM modules and authoring tool used to create it when something doesn't work.  However, they are often just protecting themselves from having to do any real detective work to find the actual cause.  LMS companies all have access to the programmers and technical people that can resolve these issues, but unless you bend their arm a bit they won't bring them in.

[christinas78427096]

I already tested the course in SCORM Cloud and although it plays, I see the same error in the debug log (pictured below). Something else to note is that once my colleague pressed 'OK' on the error pop-up, then the course played fine.

[RodWard]

Yes pressing the OK button on the error message dialog will allow the course to play from the web server, but there would be no connection made to the LMS and therefore no scoring or completion data would be captured.

Captivate's SCORM handling is normally excellent, and I have never seen it fail when a Captivate module is uploaded to SCORM Cloud.  I can only conclude that there must be something else in the mix here that is interfering with the SCORM API connection.

Does this course module have any significant differences to others that you might have built?  For example, are there any customisations made to it?  Does it have any extra JavaScript code added?

[christinas78427096]

This course was built by another instructional designer [who is no longer with the team] and works fine in our LMS as SCORM 1.2. When it was handed to me, I set it to SCORM 2004 and enabled objects individually to be tracked in the Quiz because we will need scoring. I did not specifically add JavaScript code. It worked in our LMS as well as another client's LMS, quiz data successfully recorded and no pop up that we know of. But two different vendors in China that my colleague is working with are having this issue and I'm not experienced enough to know if the error is on my end or theirs.

[RodWard]

LMS vendors in China?  Ok then that might be significant in this case.  I have also built courses for clients where the content was translated into Mandarin Chinese and delivered from an LMS that was built in mainland China.

I would be looking at checking a few of the following:

• Have you made absolutely sure that the LMS they are using supports SCORM 2004, and the specific version of SCORM 2004 that you are using? 
• Have you tried changing the SCORM version in your project back to SCORM 1.2 and asking them to test that SCORM to see if it shows the same error?
• Create a new blank Captivate project with a single True/False question.  Set it to SCORM 2004 and publish.  Change NOTHING in the LMS Manifest settings. Send your Chinese team this vanilla SCO to see if it is still unable to find the LMS API.
• Are you using Chinese characters at all in the LMS Manifest settings in Captivate?  If so, did you make sure these characters were not just cut and pasted in from a Word document or from emails?  It might have introduced some invisible formatting that is tripping up the connection with the LMS?
• Also check whether the text needs to be in ASCI or Unicode to be compatible with their Asian system.