[LON-CAPA-dev] Role suddenly not working - JMU

[Mark Lucas]

Hi,

A strange thing has happened at JMU. One of the instructors there was
working along in his course when suddenly he was no longer allowed to
access the course. The last thing he did was download a spreadsheet.

In working with Andreas Knab, the LON-CAPA support person there, we
found that his roles file had a key "error" in it (no value), but in
looking at the history, this seems to have been put in long ago (in the
beginning).

The instructor hasn't indicated doing anything strange to his browser at
the time this happened, and he's pretty good at remembering these
things. I'm going to tack on a couple of his messages below. They
complain about javascript, but what confuses me is that this all
happened in the middle of a session.

If anyone has seen anything like this or has any suggestions, I'd be
interested.

I just checked and they are on LON-CAPA 2.6.3.

Thanks!
Mark


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry, this didn't fix the problem.  Here's the appearance of the
screen 
when I chose Course Coordinator Role for PHYS 250_1_2_SP09:
#######
     Main Menu Return to Last Location Navigate Contents Edit Course
Groups 
Launch Remote Control Roles Help  Exit


      User Roles (jmu_4C82821a46e4a492cjmul1 PHYS250_1_2_SP09)
      Course Coordinator
      PHYS250_1_2_SP09

Use of LON-CAPA requires Javascript to be enabled in your web browser.
As this is not the case, most functionality in the system will be 
unavailable.

You need to choose another user role or enter a specific course for
this 
function
Sorry ...
This action is currently not authorized.

#########

This appeared after the system thought about my request for a good
60-90 
seconds.  During that time, the progress bar at the bottom of the
screen 
inched along to about 40-50% full.

My situation is that my roles as domain coordinator for jmu , course 
coordinator for P250 and for a light-and-sound course froma  previous 
semester still display as if they could be selected, but that the Start 
column (which shows the starting dates for my various roles in the
other 
courses) is blank for the above three roles.

I hope that you can identify a fix, and of course I would really like
to 
understand how this occurred in the first place.

----------------------------------------------------
Another data point -- maybe this has to do with a file relating to me 
personally?

I just tried to select my role as a STUDENT in P250 and following is
the 
display I got after 60-90 minutes [I presume seconds] of waiting.  It
briefly flashed the screen 
that said "entering P250" and then I got the following:  (Notice the
"try 
selecting again" button that appears instead of "select" for that role.)

     Main Menu Return to Last Location Navigate Contents Launch Remote 
Control Roles Help  Exit


      User Roles (jmu_4C82821a46e4a492cjmul1 PHYS250_1_2_SP09) 
      Student
      PHYS250_1_2_SP09

Use of LON-CAPA requires Javascript to be enabled in your web browser.
As this is not the case, most functionality in the system will be 
unavailable.


Show all roles:
        User Role Extent Start End
      Construction Space
     Author Domain: jmu
      Server: lc.cit.jmu.edu Tue Dec 11 02:02:48 pm 2007 (EST)

      Course
     Course Coordinator ASTR120_1_FA08 Syllabus
      Domain:jmu Tue Aug 26 02:09:25 pm 2008 (EDT)


     Course Coordinator PHYS250_1_2_SP09 Syllabus
      Domain:jmu


     Course Coordinator Physical Nature of Light and Sound Syllabus
      Domain:jmu


     Course Coordinator LON-CAPA Sample Course / Fall 2006 Syllabus
      Domain:ohiou Mon Dec 10 04:42:45 pm 2007 (EST)


     Instructor Physical Nature of Light and Sound Syllabus
      Domain:jmu Tue Jul 15 10:17:51 am 2008 (EDT)


     Student PHYS250_1_2_SP09 Syllabus Wed Jan 7 11:04:34 am 2009 (EST)
      Currently selected.

     No role specified

This is LON-CAPA 2.6.3-2008040416