How to decode & parse SCORM suspend_data variable?

I want to know which slides have not been viewed in a SCO but because cmi.suspend_data is encoded (in utf-8/base64?), it's impossible to tell. I could view its encoded content in Moodle's "Complete Report".

- What is the structure of suspend_data?
- How to decode and parse it?

I know cmi.core.score.raw can show the percentage completed, but I'd really like to see exactly which pages were viewed/not viewed.

Thanks,
~ Chris

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Thank you for you post!

The thing is that this data is used only by an LMS to record users' progress between sessions and within a course. This value is set by an SCO and stored by an LMS to pass it back to the SCO on its restart.
This information must be encoded according to SCORM 1.2 specification: Data must be transferred in ASCII format. The SCO may then convert it to any form that it requires. (source, see 3.4.4.)

That is why this information can be read by the SCO it was created and not by a human.
To see what pages were viewed, you need to create xAPI courses, as this format records everything in courses (e.g. slides, questions, etc.) and passes this information to an LRS as statements "Who Did What."

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Thanks for the quick response, Vladimir!

So the SCO encodes the users' progress info in Base64 (or whatever) in cmi.suspend_data and transfers it to the LMS, and then reads it back on resume?

The only info I wanted to extract was the pages viewed/not viewed the last time the SCO was suspended, so I can determine why a particular SCO is reporting incomplete. (Client troubleshooting issue).

I think this is possible with Captivate, not sure with Articulate.

Is it that this info is not in suspend_data or is it that the encoding method/info is proprietary in iSpring's implementation and therefore not to be disclosed?

Regards,
~ Chris

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Yes, the suspend_data is encoded by the SCO, stored by the LMS and received/parsed on restart/resume.

Not sure if this can be done with SCORM courses from Articulate as SCORM Cloud shows its suspend_data as follows:
'cmi.suspend_data', '1Pa5030801090ts1001611k010110121101511016110000002000') returned 'true' in 0 seconds

However, it seems that it is possible in Captivate, but you need to code (JavaScript):
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic ... 5vWZfJ6X8I

iSpring follows the SCORM specification in this case, as this makes sure that SCORM-conformant LMSs will work with iSpring courses.

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Again, thanks for the quickness, Vladimir!

You're right; apparently that could only be done before Articulate 13.

However, you did tactfully sidestep my question about whether the info or method is proprietary. :)

If it is, then are the contents of suspend_data inaccessible to the regular iSpring customer as a matter of company policy?

~ Chris

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Sorry for this misunderstanding!
You are right, no data can be extracted and read by a human from suspend_data which is set by SCOs made with iSpring.
Once again, sorry for this limitation!

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Thanks for clearing that up so quickly, Vladimir, saved me a lot of google-time.

Maybe I'll finally get around to trying out xAPI. Or Captivate!

Cheers,
~ Chris

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Chris, thank you for your appreciation!
This is why we are here: to question and get answers.

Yes, xAPI is definitely a good thing to be considered not Captivate =), as this will be updated and improved, whereas SCORM is a closed project (no more development by RUSTICI Software).
If any questions about iSpring come up, just let us know!

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