Quiz Report Error

Quiz Report for Question Details gives 500 error When Viewed as HTML


Creating a Quiz report for "Question Details" results in a 500 error when selected to view as HTML. 


The vendor acknowledges that this is a bug, which should be fixed in the next release.


Workarounds are: 


1. Export to a csv file


-- OR --


2. Click on quiz, select stats, question details. The information displays on the screen, including the question difficulty.




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Limits on Path Length Affect Many Tools

Limits on Path Length Affect Many Tools

NOTE: Regardless of the local user's platform (Mac or PC) or operating system, Desire2Learn runs on a Microsoft Windows platform at the server level. Therefore, the following information applies to all users.

There is a new character limit for path names, due to a change imposed by Microsoft Windows at the server level. Folder names are now limited to 50 characters and file names are limited to 128 characters.

As a result of this limitation, actions that would lead to a path length longer than about 200 characters will either fail with no error message (file creation) or result in a 500 error (subfolder creation).

These failures may be seen when character limits are exceeded in the following situations:

• creating course content,
• copying course components,
• importing a course,
• saving dropbox files or feedback,
• saving locker files, or
• creating ePortfolio content.

For this reason, users are encouraged to use shorter file and folder names, particularly when nesting folders.

When troubleshooting 500 errors and failures related to file creation or copying, please consider whether path length restrictions might be the cause.

Note: The vendor has created a feature request to display an informative message when an operation fails because of path length. However, there is no estimate for when this warning message might be deployed in D2L.

Quiz Stats: 500 Error

This is a known issue in D2L. While we're not sure when Desire2Learn will fix the bug, it's helpful to know how to fix the cause of the error!

Problem description: Instructor receives a 500 Error when attempting to view statistics for a Quiz.

Solution: Check to see whether any student has a quiz attempt that is ungraded.





An ungraded Quiz will cause the 500 Error because D2L cannot calculate statistics when any attempt has a "null" score -- an absence of a grade. (The null score can be caused by an interruption occurring while a quiz is being submitted, for example, losing network connectivity. )

To grade the ungraded Quiz attempt, follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Grade Quiz" icon.
2. Click on the Attempt for the student whose quiz was not graded.
3. Click the "Auto-Grade" button.
4. Click Save.

Quiz Stats should now be available without the 500 Error.

"Special characters" spell TROUBLE

Many problems in D2L begin with a simple, innocent mistake: using special characters.

"What," you may ask, "*are* they? Where will they cause trouble, and how can I avoid becoming involved with these unsavory characters?"

As a rule, D2L has no trouble with English letters and standard number characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). Dashes and underscores have not been known to cause issues.

Beyond that -- watch out!

Both students and instructors should avoid the use of special characters, especially in file names. Instructors would also be well advised to inform their students of the best practices for submitting files to a dropbox and other areas in D2L.

Special characters have been found to be the cause of problems with:

- Login
- Content
- Dropbox
- Discussions
- Locker
- Searches

Here is a list of "special character" issues from the University of Wisconsin System D2L Knowledgebase. Click on any link for more detail.

Submitting Files to a Dropbox

Special Characters for File and Folder Names

Possible Problems Uploading Files with Invalid Characters in File Names

Unable to View Content Topics in Course

User Receives Internal Server Error When Attempting to Logon

Trouble-shooting Problems when Accessing Files from the Locker

Avoid Using Apostrophes in Search Text Fields

Special Characters in Role Type Names

Discussions: Incorrectly formatted HTML = 500 error

Problem: When an administrator, instructor, or student selects "Discussions" from the navbar of a particular course site, a 500 error is triggered.

Solution: An incorrectly formatted HTML link in one of the forum descriptions caused the error to be displayed on the page. Top-tier support administrator removed the bad code from the link, and now the Discussions page loads normally.

Pending: We've asked whether there is a link that might enable a local Site Administrator to resolve the issue without higher-level support intervention.