Adapt Learning Community: Authoring Tool Headaches

Skip to main content

Hi all,

There have been a number of issues with new Authoring Tool installs since the 2.0 release of the framework, as many of the posts in recent days will attest to.

There is currently a fix in the works for theses issues, which includes an update to the develop branch of the authoring tool, and a new release of the framework 1.0 (1.1.5).

The authoring tool fix is currently in review here: https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/pull/772 - I will update this thread when it has been merged.

At that time, you should be able to complete a working installation of the authoring tool by following the steps in the wiki, and using the latest version of the develop branch for the authoring tool.

To do so, after cloning the authoring tool git project, as described in the wiki, simply use the command:

$ git checkout develop

and then follow the remaining steps in the wiki.

Alternatively, If you have already cloned the project, you should run a git pull after checking out the develop branch

$ git checkout develop && git pull

I shall update this thread as soon as the fix is available.

** Linux Users **

Those on linux may also have to apply a fix to the adapt-cli module before they can run the "node install" step, as described in this issue: https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt-cli/issues/32

Hi all,

The develop branch has now been updated, and you should be able to complete a fresh install of the authoring tool by following the steps above.

Thanks,

Dennis

Show parent | Reply

Hi Dennis,

What can you do if you just want to update rather than fresh install? I have two courses set up that I don't want to lose again!!!

Current:

adapt-cli version: 0.0.22

framework version: 1.1.2

authoring tool version: 0.1.1

Cheers

Helen

Show parent | Reply

Just to clarify: the authoring tool does not currently support v2.0 of the framework, and all courses are published using the 1.x release.

We are working towards support for publishing 2.0 framework courses via the authoring tool as part of the 0.1.2 release as described in our milestones here.

Show parent | Reply

Thanks for your help Dennis. Just tried it, but I'm getting a new error when node install tries to install the plugins:

Show parent | Reply

me too!

it would be possible to make a tutorial video from download to installation of this working version ?Thanks

Show parent | Reply

Got it working! (Unfortunately I don't have a clue what I did other than re-run the install scripts a bunch of times.) It seemed to fail randomly in several different spots until the 10th time or so it magically worked. Also threw in a couple grunt build commands from time to time. That may or may not have helped. :S

Sorry, I know that's not really all that helpful in terms of debugging/reproducing, but I've lost all my console output at this point. But to those still struggling, maybe just keep trying a few more times?

Thanks for all the help everyone. The tool is very cool, looking forward to playing around with it some more and seeing future updates.

Cheers,

Ryan

Show parent | Reply

Hi Ryan,

Glad to hear you got it working. The issue shown in the screenshot above indicates that there was a permissions error when attempting to write to one of the subdirectories when installing to tool. This could be a result of another process having a lock on a particular directory, or could be because of issues arising from running the install as an administrator.

To avoid any such issues if you need to install again in future, I'd recommend ensuring all other programs are closed, and installing the tool from scratch to a brand new directory (following the wiki from the "git clone" onward).

Have fun with the tool!

Den

Show parent | Reply

Thanks Dennis. It's very useful to have the status of the relationship between the framework and the authoring tool clarified.

(It's probably desperately unfair to ask when the 0.1.2 release may be available, given all the work that must have been going on to get 2.0 of the framework released...)

In the interim, does anyone have suggestions for how one might pull content out of the authoring tool/MongoDB in a way that would allow the content to be manually updated for use with 2.0 (i.e. along the lines Chuck has set out in the wiki)?

Show parent | Reply

You guys are great! No, really! the ideas that are bubbled up and the needs that are raised are spot on. The community needs more hands to accomplish it all. It will benefit from people sharing even the little things you've put together--scripts, demos, techniques, etc. Admittedly, it can be a little nerve-wracking exposing your work for the first time (felt it myself--my finger shook as I got ready to press that submit button), but contributing really feels good. Whether you contribute in the forums or to the codebase, you help to speed the work along--and we all want it to go faster, don't we?!! We just can't wait for the next improvement--whatever it is! Don't be afraid to share your talent; what you share may be the next improvement that someone else was waiting for.

If you feel you need a little guidance, or want a little reassurance about the appropriateness of what you're doing, you can private message me through my profile on this forum. I'll gladly advise as best I can. But I'm not the only one you can turn to. There are lots of friendly people involved who are just as excited about Adapt as you are. Just reach out.

And, yes, there's plenty of room for some serious coding, too. If you've got good node skills or motivation to ramp up, contact one of the core developers (they're usually the ones in the forums breaking the news about recent fixes or troubleshooting the tough issues).

Chuck

Show parent | Reply

does anyone have suggestions for how one might pull content out of the authoring tool/MongoDB in a way that would allow the content to be manually updated for use with 2.0

Should just be a case of publishing your course... the published version will contain all the .json and assets you'd need to copy over into your v2 framework course.

You might want to tidy up the article/block/component ids as you go though, as the authoring tool creates really long ids that aren't very human-readable. When manually populating the framework people tend to go for ids like 'co-05', 'co-10' (we use increments of 5 to allow you to insert content in between later if you need) for content objects, and 'a-05', 'a-10' for articles etc. Some people like to put the entire 'chain' of IDs in so, for example, you'd end up with a component called 'co05-a10-b15-c125' - this makes it very easy to see what content object, article & block a component lives in - but is a pain to update if you have to move something.

Show parent | Reply

Thanks! Should have looked at the package more closely -- I think I'd got it in my head that the JSON was being compiled to HTML as part of the packaging.

Show parent | Reply

Hi Gareth,

We're still working on setting a time against some of our milestones, but it's always a bit hazy due to the open source nature of the project.

Having said that, I believe that the 0.1.2 release of the authoring tool is likely to be completed before the end of September. You can follow the progress on the github issue tracker via the link above.

Thanks,

Dennis

Show parent | Reply

Even when i try to install the authoring tool with the "git checkout develop"-command after the zip-file cloning, i got an error or an installation abort. After i confirm the default values in the "node install"-command, i get the message "Checking configuration, please wait a moment … ". After two seconds the terminal quits the installation process.

Everything is fine with the installation process untill this step (and i followed the instructions in the wiki). MongoDB is running. I use Node 0.10.33, Git 1.7.12.4 on Mac OS X 10.7.5. When i install the authoring tool without the command "git checkout develop", i can finish the installation without errors. But then i can't upload plugins, publish and preview the courses …

Maybe someone can help me with this issue ;-) thank you a lot and have great sunday!

Show parent | Reply

Hi all,

There appears to be an issue on the develop branch that will cause a fatal error if the language file for the tool has not been created. I have created an issue to track this problem:

https://github.com/adaptlearning/adapt_authoring/issues/777

In the meantime, it should be possible to avoid this issue by running "grunt build" prior to running "node install".

I will submit a fix for the above issue.

Dennis

Show parent | Reply

Hey There,

I'm also experiencing this same issue. I have run both 'Git checkout develop' then did npm install then did grunt build and then node install.

Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Show parent | Reply

Dennis's fix worked for me as follows.

I can now preview and publish with the authoring tool. Thought I would update on how I did this, for anyone still struggling. Worked first time as well.

For the purposes of doing this, I had freshly installed windows 7 onto a spare computer rather than use my work computer.

This is what I did.

Installed git.
Once I had done that, from git bash, I cloned the authoring tool as per the instructions in the wiki. Then from git bash, I used the command given by Dennis

$ git checkout develop

Once I had done that, I just went through the usual procedure from the wiki. That was as follows

Install Node.js
Verify npm is installed
Install FFmpeg
Install the Grunt and Adapt Command Line Tools
Install MongoDB
Install the Required npm Packages

Now before running the install script, as per Dennis's instructions, I run grunt build from the command prompt. I do not know if this made any difference or not. But it is what I did.

Then once, I had done that, I ran node install to complete the job.

Now it is running fine and I have done a few screens, published out and they are working nicely. If this is a false dawn I will report back, but just wanted to post this in case there is anyone struggling out there atm who this may benefit.

Show parent | Reply

Hi Rupert,

Can you please specify for us which versions you have installed?

Thx, John

Show parent | Reply

Hi John, Here is command line with all the versions. I have noticed that at the bottom there when running node, it saying that is using v 1.1.5 of the Adapt Framework, before Dennis's update it was 1.1.1 for me.

The installations btw have been done on a 32bit Windows 7 service pack 1 computer. Thanks.

command prompt versions

Show parent | Reply

Still not fixed this. I get an error after the "$ git checkout develop" command. Am i doing anything incorrectly? Please have a look at the screenshot below.

Show parent | Reply

Hi Philip,

You need to change into the adapt_authoring folder before you can run any git commands. To do that, type this in the command prompt before the checkout command:

cd adapt_authoring

You'll also need to be in the adapt_authoring folder to run other commands like grunt build and node server. Hope that helps.

Ryan

Show parent | Reply

That worked Ryan. I was running the command outside of the adapt_authoring folder and that is why there was an error. Super excited!!!! Thanks for the tip.

Show parent | Reply

Glad you got it working Philip, I was just coming on to give you a screenshot of the console with it in, but I see that Ryan gave you the same tip. Pleased you have it working. With at least two of us having successfully implemented this fix for the preview/publish, you would have thought that it is going to work for everyone.

Have a good weekend!

Show parent | Reply