Behind the Blackboard! XML Escape Entities Such as " " Appear in Ultra Question Analysis if the Test was Converted to Ultra - Behind the Blackboard Skip Navigation
Download PDF Icon Download PDF    Print article

XML Escape Entities Such as " " Appear in Ultra Question Analysis if the Test was Converted to Ultra

Date Published: Apr 21,2020


CategoryPlanned First Fix Release:Future Reference; Product:Reporting,Grade Center; Version:SaaS
Article No.: 000059248
Product:
Blackboard Learn
Release:
SaaS
Service Pack(s):
SaaS
Description:
XML Escape Entities, consisting of an ampersand, letters or numbers, and a semicolon—such as  —can appear in the titles of questions in Ultra Question Analysis, if the test was from an Original Experience Course converted to the Ultra Experience.
Steps to Repeat:
  1. Log into Blackboard Learn (SaaS environment) as System Administrator
  2. Create an Original Experience Course as an "Instructor Choice" course
  3. Enter the course, go to Course tools > Tests, Surveys & Pools > Tests > Build Test
  4. Create several questions
  5. Go to a content area > add the test and make it available to students
  6. Add several student users to the course
  7. Quick Enroll and convert the course to Ultra
  8. After conversion, login as the student users
  9. Take the test as each student user, varying answers so that there will be enough data to make the Question Analysis Report
    • Note that the questions appear normally while the test is being taken or viewed
  10. Log in as Instructor
  11. Go to Analytics icon
  12. Click Run Report on the test
  13. View the report

Expected Behavior:
The test's questions appear exactly as they do on the test.

Observed Behavior:
The test's questions contain abnormal character sequences like " "
Screenshot of the issue showing questions with abnormal characters in the names similar to "Question 1, True/False"

Symptoms:

Abnormal characters appear in the question analysis.  They also appear in the downloaded question analysis spreadsheet.

Cause:

Tests are stored internally as XML.  XML provides a facility called 'character entities' to store special characters.  " " is the entity for Unicode character "U+00A0 No Break Space".  These are incorrectly being displayed literally.



Target Release:

Future Reference

Patch Available:

No





The information contained in the Knowledge Base was written and/or verified by Blackboard Support. It is approved for client use. Nothing in the Knowledge Base shall be deemed to modify your license in any way to any Blackboard product. If you have comments, questions, or concerns, please send an email to kb@blackboard.com. © 2024 Blackboard Inc. All rights reserved