[Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

[Simon Atack]

Ron,

Please update your copy from SVN as Ive added a patch that hopefully will fix things (under some circumstances it looks like sessions didn't start so I start it)  this should hopefully fix the issue as the errors in line 37 & 42 are related to no data in the SESSIONS variable and as this was blank the user data returned nothing and therefore in the login_processing2 function it tried to query a non existent object as this was the action if it wasn't set.

Let me know if this fixes thing.

Simon

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 08 October 2012 17:21
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Hi Simon
I've been going round and round the houses with this nearly all day :-( and discovered there's a problem with my initial localhost test too. Here's what happens locally and with your latest code in place...

1. I removed the external tool configuration from my localhost moodle 2 install and also removed all lti_resource and lti_user entries in the newxottrunktest I've been using for testing as well as the moodle course activities - so effectively starting again from scratch. The newxottrunktest is using static for authentication.

2. Configured the external tool via moodle admin
3. Add an external tool activity in a moodle course and prompted to login to newxottrunktest and select an LO - all fine at this point.
4. Close all browser windows and re-visit the Moodle course then click the previous external activity link  - with the error reporting lines in place I get the following:

Notice: Undefined index: toolkits_logon_username in C:\xampp\htdocs\newxottrunktest\website_code\php\user_library.php on line 37
Notice: Undefined index: toolkits_logon_username in C:\xampp\htdocs\newxottrunktest\website_code\php\user_library.php on line 42
Fatal error: Call to a member function getFirstname() on a non-object in C:\xampp\htdocs\newxottrunktest\website_code\php\login_library.php on line 352

So for me it's working when initially set up and logged in but upon closing all browsers and logging in again it's broken. I was able to replicate the same issue with the Centos installations too.

The other issue about not being able to see the option to add an LTI Key may be related to the fact that the XOT installation I was using was using Moodle for authentication. On the same server I've added a new test installation using static for authentication and can see the option to add a new key with that. I'll revisit that and confirm at some point but interested to hear your thoughts on the main issue first.

Cheers
Ron


From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Simon Atack
Sent: 08 October 2012 16:35
To: For Xerte technical developers
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Ron,

Im not exactly clear about  what you are trying in the first part from the description you have a php error.  Just to be safe please grab the latest off svn as Ive made a few updates to it today (but I don't think they should affect this area).  Does your database LTI tables exist?

To get the php errors to display to screen add the following lines after the config.php include in LTI/index.php (about line 12).

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors',"ON");

This should then help to narrow down the issue

2nd point, Im can not see why same server as moodle would cause an issue.  I think it might be a misunderstanding in how to add a new key from the management page. To add a new key:  Goto management.php under "Site",  Click "View" next to "LTI settings" then "View" next to "LTI Keys" you will then see an item called "New" and the text next to it will be "Add New LTI Key" this will then display the form to add a new lti key.

Simon


From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 08 October 2012 13:42
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Hi Simon
have you managed to get the LTI functionality to work on a live server rather than localhost? I've tried to get this working on a Centos server linking from that server to an XOT 1.8 installation on the same server and also another server. When clicking save and display or following the link added to a course I don't get prompted to login to XOT and just get what appears to be a blank Iframe. Do any of the LTI files need special permissions?

Also on the XOT installations on the same server as the Moodle I only see the option to View LTI keys not Add a new key so I had to add the key and secret direct to the db. Any idea why that might be?

Cheers
Ron

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 03 October 2012 15:28
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Hi Simon
good point - I guess that's a real advantage in that if a teacher with moodle course and XOT access has the relevant details they can still add an XOT resource even if the Moodle admin hasn't set-up the specific external tool.
Cheers
Ron

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Simon Atack
Sent: 03 October 2012 15:17
To: For Xerte technical developers
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Ron,

I have updated the documentation as suggested.  As this is a landing page to lti then the documentation on the moodle page makes sense.

If you put the full url into the url box on the specific instance then you would get to the correct place.  This means that if Xerte hasn't been setup in moodle it can still be used you would just enter the information that you entered under site administration on that specific instance.

Simon

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 03 October 2012 14:56
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Hi Simon
thanks the key difference was that tick box to 'show tool type when creating tool instances'
With that ticked there's no need to add a url when adding an external tool activity as long as the correct external tool is selected from the drop down. Without it ticked it just goes to the login page. I hadn't ticked that originally because the moodle help says:

In most cases, this option does not need to be selected. Teachers can use this tool configuration based on the Launch URL matching the Tool base URL, which is the preferred method. The only case in which this option should be selected is if the tool configuration is just intended for single sign on. For example, if all launches to the tool provider just take the user to a landing page instead of to a specific resource.

If this is correct perhaps needs adding to the quick documentation?

Cheers
Ron



From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Simon Atack
Sent: 03 October 2012 13:56
To: For Xerte technical developers
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Ron,

I think you haven't set up your moodle correctly.  You can have it so moodle is set only once with the Xerte Object  under the LTI Administration[under site administration] (I have included a screenshot from mine) once this is set and the tick box below the custom parameters box is ticked then this will show up in the usual adding a new external tool, type in an activity Name then in the drop down box for external tool type choose the name you gave the  object under the site administration don't enter anything into the launch url and just click save and display.  This then means you just select the external tool from the drop down XOT in your case, it suggest the XOT hasn't been setup as I have said above, there is no reason to additionally enter the url below this.

There is currently no support to create accounts in the lti additions,  All I do is call the authentication mechanism.  For LDAP it will add users into the logindetails table, for others  I believe you would have to add code to the authentication mechanism so that it could add to itself etc

Simon

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Tenney
Sent: 03 October 2012 12:17
To: For Xerte technical developers
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

> In my new features slot on the 10th ok if I mention this and suggest delegates speak to you if they have any questions?

Please do! I'll make a fresh zip, 1.81, the LTI release.

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 03 October 2012 12:08
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Hi Simon
thanks for the screenshots - very useful. All working well now! :-)

I had added the /lti/ when configuring via admin > plugins > activity modules > external tool but I hadn't added a url or a url with /lti/ in the end when adding an external tool activity to a course. Now that I've done that it works great. It seems a shame that the Moodle settings can't automatically pick up the correct url by selecting the name of the external tool. e.g. If I select XOT as shown in the screenshot (the name I gave to the external tool via admin) I still have to add the url with /lti/ appended for the selection of an LO to work otherwise it just takes me to the standard login screen. Not a problem for me but I can see it being a problem where users just put what they know to be the installation url, or no url at all, rather than knowing or remembering to add /lti/. I know this is more a moodle limitation rather than any kind of limitation of what you've developed which is great!

I guess once users know what to do via a guide or something then they should remember and I guess in an institution it would be worth customising the help for the external resource activity to show what url to add.

I can see awareness of LTI growing quickly over the next couple of years especially where Moodle is used as the VLE. Does the functionality exist in what you have developed to automatically create accounts from the consumer e.g. if the XOT db was used to store accounts? I'm guessing not at the moment but I could see that being very useful for OER collaborative projects etc.

Great stuff!

In my new features slot on the 10th ok if I mention this and suggest delegates speak to you if they have any questions?

Cheers
Ron

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Simon Atack
Sent: 03 October 2012 11:08
To: For Xerte technical developers
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Ron,

Sorry about not mentioning to run upgrade.php I assumed (wrongly!) that standard practice would be to run each time when upgrading code.

It should work with all the authentication methods, I had only used it against LDAP. I have just switched to static as authentication and gone through it and it appears to work as Id expect.

The steps will be (I have attached screen grabs to compare to)

1st you should get a login asking for username/password ( this will only appear once) [Xerte-lti-1.png]
2nd you should get a screen with instructions on the left and list of projects in the right with a select button at the bottom [Xerte-lti-2.png] an empty workspace & [Xerte-lti-3.png] for workspace with some content.

The obvious thing I can think of is you didn't put the correct url into the Tool Base URL,  it should be the usual Xerte url with the addition of /LTI/ on the end as only this URL is configured to accept the LTI link

Simon


From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 03 October 2012 10:10
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: LTI Provider

Hi Simon
thought I'd have a go at testing this for you but may be misunderstanding how it works. Firstly will it only work with XOT configured for LDAP or should it also work if XOT is set to static authentication?

Results of tests so far:

1. Realised I had to run upgrade.php to create the lti table - this worked fine.
2. Adding a key and secret via management.php also worked fine.
3. Configuring the Moodle external tool via admin > manage plugins etc also worked fine
4. Adding an external tool activity to a course and selecting save and display simply launches the XOT login page and upon login shows the workspace e.g. there isn't an option to select a specific LO for the link. Is this because it won't work with static authentication or am I missing something?

HTH
Ron

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Simon Atack
Sent: 02 October 2012 17:14
To: xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
Subject: [Xerte-dev] LTI Provider

First thank you all for the welcome.

Yesterday I submitted to svn the LTI Provider integration function I have been working on.  This allow you to have launch Xerte from within a VLE giving single sign on etc (In moodle this is the External Tool activity plugin).

It handles the association between the LTI userid & the Xerte username (and allows regular re-authentication) and then if staff lets you select the  project you want to associate the link with, and then displays the project for subsequent launches of the link.  It also includes LTI Key/Secret Management in the main Xerte management interface.

I have tested it myself on my local box with a fresh install of Xerte (configured for LDAP authentication) and Moodle 2.2.2+.  I have tried to keep the changes as few as possible to integrate it in (I have extended a couple of functions to support extra parameters as well as factoring some repeated lines into functions so there is only 1 copy doing anything).  It would be really useful if others could download it,  test it out and give feedback.

There is a very brief documentation file LTI Documentation.txt included with a brief note of what you need to do, anyone having problems/or trouble understanding how to get it working please get it touch.

The LTI library is based off the IMS sample code for LTI in php and extended by UoN and has been used in the Rogo OSS project.

Thanks

Simon


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