The IMSMANIFEST.XML File
writeName(" the", "The", baseURL); the imsmanifest.xml file is an xml file containing the essential packaging information for a course: course description, sequencing and the names of course files. This file must be located in the top level directory for a course. It can be read and edited using any text editor. Below is a simple imsmanifest file for a course containing two web pages, start.html and end.html. The fields listed in gray are unique for each course. The colored fields are the xml tags required by SCORM 1.2.
There are four major
sections to this file:
The preamble section shown in green. Other than changing the name
associated with the identifier attribute in the second line (MANIFEST), this
file is essentially the same for every course conformant with SCORM 1.2. This
section contains the information used by the LMS and XML parsers to validate
this file. Notice that it lists the principle schemas (the .xsd files). This
information is used by XML parsers (like an LMS) to validate the syntax in the
manifest file.
The
section , shown in orange,
describes the course. Allowed course metadata is described in the IMS Learning
Resource metadata Information Model, version 1.2 (see sidebar). This is not the
only place in which course metadata appears. Course metadata can, and should, be
included in the and sections. There is
an entirely different procedure for maintaining learner (user) metadata, which
is described in the run-time lessons of this course. Notice that for this
course, the metadata is minimal. In fact, this section can be empty, and
replaced with the tag. However, although the SCORM
specifications do not require this section, without this metadata, the course
would be difficult to find and extract from a SCORM repository. Hence it should
be included if the course is to be accessible.
The
section , shown in red,
describes the sequencing of SCOs within a course. This section can also be
empty for content resources that are not currently organized into a course.
In this example there
is only one SCO, labeled "SCO1." The "identifierref"
attribute in the - element of this section points to the internal
name for this SCO. This name is not displayed to the student.
The
section , shown in blue,
contains a list of all files used by each SCO. Notice that the label
"SCO1" that appeared in the section appears in
the "identifier" attribute of the element. This ties
the SCO name found in the organizations section to course files.
In this case this SCO
consists of only two files "start.html" and "end.html,"
which are listed in the elements within this section. Also note
that the first page of this SCO is listed in the "href" attribute of
the element. Every element is required to use
the "href" attribute to point to the first resource in the SCO, even
if the resource is an asset.
