Project Summary - LETSI Web Services for Learning Run-Time Communication

Added by Tyde Richards, last edited by Ben Clark on Jul 10, 2010

Excerpts only

 This LETSI Project will formalize the complete creation of a Web Service-based communication API for SCORM.  This Web Service-based API will be complimentary to the IEEE ECMA Script API Standard.  The project will look at current projects and implementations that have attempted to define a Web Service approach to the communication API.  The outcome of this project will be a defined web services API for the SCORM run-time that is ready for both implementation and further standardization.

Assumptions about LETSI Software Development

 LETSI will follow a community source approach.  LETSI will follow an agile software development process focused on small, modular pieces.  As practicable, LETSI will support international standards in the software it develops and will maintain active liaisons with the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee and ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36.  As practicable, LETSI will leverage and integrate existing technologies

Planning Meeting - 16 December 2009

After successful demonstrations of their initial implementations at DevLearn and I/ITSEC '09, the group met in December to plan the completion of phase 1 and discuss phase 2. Attending: Theresa Huth, Chris Raasch, Chris Sawwa, Rickard Robbins, Frank Polster, Tyde Richards,David Wedemeyer, Erica Coss, Mike Rustici (convener).

The group agreed on an agenda for our future meetings and setting an (ambitious) goal of wrapping up Phase 1 by the end of February [2009], with implementation and testing into April [2009].

They also agreed that the current XML binding is overly complicated. At an absolute minimum it needs to be simplified to the point where code generation works on all major platforms. It came up on the call that several prototype developers had to give up on generated scaffolding code and simply invoke create XML directly. This is not an acceptable solution. We think there is some value in trying to work with the existing

From wiki.letsi.org/display/Arch/Runtime+Web+Services+Working+Group 23 August 2010 model, but that it will require a significant trimming to make it viable. The IEEE LTSC has issued a Formal Request for Comment on the underlying spec.

There is an issue list started in the wiki where we are collecting all of the known issues and proposed simplifications of the XML binding. Please add your contributions and experiences to it as soon as possible. You can also post some sample code clients to help others see what the code looks like on your platform. (I posted a .Net version which is actually pretty easy to work with.)

Deliverables for Phase 1

On the working group call of 1/7/2010, we roughly defined our Phase 1 deliverables as:

 Final WSDL that formally defines the web service and security scheme (including a suggested revised version of the IEEE CMI XML binding)  A developers guide that describes how this service will be used, how it fits into the larger context and other technical information that can not be described in WSDL  A preliminary SDK - defined as working sample code on a few common platforms. We don't have the resources to produce full-fledged SDKs on all platforms, but we feel that providing some working code for people to start with is essential to gaining adoption and merits development before moving on to Phase 2.

From wiki.letsi.org/display/Arch/Runtime+Web+Services+Working+Group 23 August 2010