"Stack Overflow" Errors in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer users may see "stack overflow at line: 0" errors in various areas of D2L.


These errors related to the use of Internet Explorer browser, and are not actually D2L errors.


You should be able to click through them, but to avoid the errors altogether, we recommend either:

• clearing your browser's cache, then accessing D2L directly at https://uwm.courses.wisconsin.edu rather than through the UWM Homepage 

OR

• switching to Firefox

NOTE:  Some users prefer Internet Explorer because they are not able to right-click to cut and paste in D2L when using Firefox.  However, keyboard shortcuts *will* allow you to cut and paste equally well in Firefox.  Here's how:

• To cut: hold down the [Ctrl] key and then the letter [x]

• To copy: hold down the [Ctrl] key and then the letter [c]

• To paste: hold down the [Ctrl] key and then the letter [v]

Ooops! Change Scoring for Quiz Question

Here's how an instructor can ...

• change scoring on a specific QUESTION, after the quiz has been taken
• automatically correct all student grading for that specific question
  

[Please note that this works for multiple choice and true/false questions, but NOT with "ordering" questions.]

1. In the Quiz List, click on the name of the quiz your students have already taken.
2. Click on the [Grade Quiz] icon (yellow ruler with green checkmark)
3. On the next screen, click on the [Questions] tab.
4. Click to choose "Update all attempts"

5.  Each question in the quiz is listed under the [Question] tab.

NOTE: If any question was changed after ANY student took the quiz, scroll down to look for the ORIGINAL version of the question(s), under the heading "Questions that are not on the quiz anymore"

• Clicking on a question brings you to the question, with a summary of student responses.
• Click on the title for each question you need to change scoring on, including old versions of the same question, if necessary.

Under each version, you will have the option to "give all attempts ___ points" or "give to selected choices ____ points."

This is where the instructor can correct the problem with quiz scoring. For example, if the instructor accidentally flagged the wrong answer in the quiz as correct, D2L would have erroneously given points to the students who chose the wrong answer.

The instructor may open the erroneously-marked version of the question, change the scoring to give the wrong answer 0 points, and give full points to the correct answer.




Don't forget to save!!!

OpenOffice and D2L Grade Import

An instructor can enter grades in another application and import them into the D2L Grades area using a CSV or TXT file. They can also create new grade items through an import file by adding a column to the file.


The import file must follow a standard format.  Please see the D2L Grades area to find and use the "Grades sample import file" as a reference point.


NOTE: CSV files created and/or save in OpenOffice will have quotation marks around the fields, which will cause errors in D2L during the upload. For successful uploads, instructors must edit out the quotation marks in the text editor.

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.

"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