WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1 Release Notes

WebCT Campus Edition™ 4.1 Service Pack 1 Release Notes

October 20, 2003

Contents

About WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1
Supported Configurations
New Features and Enhancements
Issues Resolved in WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1

About WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1 | Top

WebCT Campus Edition™ is a course management system offering a complete set of easy-to-use teaching and learning tools for course development, course delivery, and course administration.

WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1 provides all of the fixes available since the release of WebCT Campus Edition 4.1. To obtain these fixes, you must install WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1 over your WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 installation.

Important: If you have customized the login page, login error pages, and/or logout page, before you install WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1, we recommend you back up the login.html, error.html, and/or logout.html files in <webct_install_directory>/webct/webct/generic/ticket. When you install WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1, these files will be replaced with the default files.

Supported Configurations | Top

Server Operating Systems

WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x supports the following server operating systems:

Windows® 2000 Server SP4 operating system, Windows® 2000 Advanced Server SP4 operating system. Warning: Because WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x uses a newer version of Perl (version 5.6.1), do not install WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x with WebCT 3.6.x or earlier on the same Windows server. WebCT Campus Edition 3.7.x, 3.8.x, 4.0.x, and 4.1.x use the same version of Perl and can be installed on the same Windows server operating system.
Red Hat® Linux® 7.3 (Kernel 2.4.18-3) operating systems for Intel® processors
Important: If you are running Red Hat Linux 7.3, you need to install the Red Hat Linux 6.2 libstdc++ compatibility package. At the time of publication, the most recent version of this package was compat-libstdc++-6.2-2.9.0.16.i386.rpm.

To find out if the package is installed, run the following command:
rpm -q compat-libstdc++-6.2
If the package is installed, the package name displays.

To install the package:
1. Download the file from:
  http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/redhat/7.3/i386/compat-libstdc++-6.2-2.9.0.16.i386.html
2. Log in as root and type:
  rpm -i compat-libstdc++-6.2-2.9.0.16.i386.rpm

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 (Kernel 2.4.9-e3) operating system for Intel processors
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES 2.1 (Kernel 2.4.9-e3) operating system for Intel processors
Sun™ SPARC® Solaris™ 8 and 9 operating systems

IMS Content Migration Utility

With WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x, the WebCT IMS Content Migration Utility is now part of the WebCT Campus Edition software and is included with the 4.1.x installation; administrators do not have to install it separately.

Perl

Perl is the primary scripting/programming language for most of the programs and program modules in WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x. Perl 5.6.1 is bundled with the WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x distribution file. Installing WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x also installs Perl within a WebCT directory. For information on Perl, go to the Perl web site at www.perl.com.

Warning for Windows operating system users: Because WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x uses a newer version of Perl (version 5.6.1), do not install WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x with WebCT 3.6.x or earlier on the same Windows operating system. WebCT Campus Edition 3.7.x, 3.8.x, 4.0.x, and 4.1.x use the same version of Perl and can be installed on the same Windows operating system.

Apache™

WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x includes Apache 2.0.47 web server software. WebCT installs the Apache server within its own installation (<webct_install_directory>\webct\server\) and does not overwrite or modify any existing Apache server included with your operating system.

Client Operating Systems

Windows® 98, 2nd edition/2000/XP operating systems
Mac OS® 9 operating system
Mac OS X v.10.1.x and v.10.2.x operating systems

Browsers

WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x supports the following browsers:

Windows 98, 2nd edition/2000/XP operating systems:

Netscape Navigator® 6.2.x and 7.0 browsers
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 browsers. Note: Internet Explorer 5.5 SP1 is not supported.
AOL® 7.0 and 8.0 browsers

Mac OS 9.x operating system:

Netscape Navigator 6.2.x browser
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 browser

Mac OS X v.10.1.x operating system:

Netscape Navigator 6.2.x and 7.0 browsers
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 and 5.2 browsers
AOL for Mac OS X browser

Mac OS X v.10.2.x operating system:

Netscape Navigator 6.2.x and 7.0 browsers
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2 browser
AOL for Mac OS X browser

Note: For the most current information on supported browsers, go to WebCT's Browser Tune-up Page.

To optimize your browser for WebCT Campus Edition, we recommend the following browser settings:

For all browsers, enable JavaScript™.
To use Chat, Whiteboard, the edit-on® Pro HTML editor, and the WebEQ™ Equation Editor, enable Java™.
To use ticket-based authentication, client browsers must allow cookies.
To use all features in Content Module, client browsers must allow cookies.
For all browsers, enable cascading style sheets (.css).
For all users, set cached pages to update "automatically" (Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Netscape Navigator 6.2.x), or "when the page is out of date" (Netscape Navigator 7.0).

Language Plug-Ins

All WebCT Campus Edition 4.0 Language Plug-ins are compatible with WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x; however, some minor changes to the interface were introduced in this release. New screen elements and phrasing will not be translated and will appear in English in all localizations. WebCT Campus Edition 4.1.x is not compatible with any Language Plug-ins released prior to 4.0.

New Features and Enhancements | Top

WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1 includes the following new features and enhancements:

Apache web server software is upgraded to version 2.0.47. This version of Apache addresses several security issues found in earlier versions of Apache. For more information, go to http://httpd.apache.org.
OpenSSL software is upgraded to version 0.9.6k. This version of OpenSSL addresses several security issues found in earlier versions of OpenSSL 0.9.6. For more information, go to http://www.openssl.org.
Performance has been improved when displaying large lists that are sorted alphabetically.
Performance has been improved when entering cross-listed courses for users registered in a large number of courses.

Issues Resolved in WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 Service Pack 1 | Top

TOOL/AREA	FIX DESCRIPTION
Administrator	Querying the global database for first or last names that contain double-byte characters provided inaccurate results. This has been corrected. When creating a course based on an existing course, course settings from the existing course will now be applied to the new course. The Secure Passwords and Secure Everything settings did not work properly when using WebCT bound to a single IP address on a server with multiple IP addresses. This has been corrected.
API	To prevent invalid WebCT IDs, at signs (@) are now correctly ignored when they are found in the USERID element in a MEMBERSHIP object. When cross-listing courses, if students were already in the master course, the Manage Students information for these students would be replaced by dashes (---). This no longer occurs. When using the fileupdate command to import user records, including the Password or Courses column can no longer cause data to be stored in the wrong field in the global database. Calling ep_api.pl from within a CGI process did not work. This has been corrected.
Assignments	On a Mac operating system, when uploading assignment files, sometimes the file name became garbled. This no longer occurs. E-mail addresses containing underscores did not display properly on the summary page of assignments. This has been corrected. After downloading student submissions, some zip applications were not able to open the zip file. This has been corrected.
Backup Course	If a backup file had been renamed, restoring backup files with the Update user option failed. This has been corrected. When using Netscape Navigator, resizing the window during a course restore caused the restore process to fail. This has been corrected. On a Windows operating system, restoring course backups with the Update users option left a temporary directory on the server. This has been corrected. When restoring a course backup into a new course, sometimes the designer's Mail messages could not be viewed. This has been corrected. Courses restored from a WebCT server running a different operating system would sometimes lose existing Mail messages. This has been corrected.
Calendar	URLs in Calendar entries can now contain number signs (#). When importing Calendar entries with start or end times written in 24-hour format, 12:00 (P.M.) was being displayed as 12:00 A.M. This has been corrected.
Character Set Conversions	When converting the character set of a course, quiz questions were being corrupted. This has been corrected.
Content Module	When adding files to a content module, a large number of files in My-Files could cause a long delay before the Add Files screen displayed. This has been corrected. When clicking a link from one content page to another, the breadcrumbs could change to show a different content module title, even if the destination page was in the current content module. This has been corrected. When using more than one content module at the same time, the Retrace the path button would occasionally cause a JavaScript error for students. This has been corrected.
Discussions	There was a spelling mistake in the title of the Discussion Message Attachments pop-up window. This has been corrected. Images referenced in messages did not display properly in message preview. This has been corrected. Messages written using the HTML Editor were not wrapping into multiple lines. This has been corrected.
General	The grammar has been corrected in several warning messages.
HTML Editor	For non-English courses, the spell checker will now use the appropriate dictionary for the current language, if available.
IMS Import/Export	Servers upgraded from WebCT 3.6.x or earlier could not successfully export courses. This has been corrected.
Integration	When using the PeopleSoft® adaptor, adding designers sometimes failed. This has been corrected.
Licensing	In rare cases, communication with the license server would fail, blocking logins to the server. This has been corrected.
Localization	Publisher PIN validation pages displayed in English, rather than the current student language. This has been corrected. English versions of icons always displayed, even for non-English courses. This has been corrected. On the Create myWebCT page, the order of the First name and Last name fields is now localized. On the Course Settings page, the order of the First name and Last name fields is now localized.
Mail	Images referenced in messages did not display properly in message preview. This has been corrected. Messages written using the HTML Editor were not wrapping into multiple lines. This has been corrected. When restoring a course backup into a new course, the designer's Mail messages could not be viewed. This has been corrected. Courses restored from a WebCT server running a different operating system would sometimes lose existing Mail messages. This has been corrected.
Manage Files	Folder names containing either an opening parenthesis [(] or closing parenthesis [)] could not be expanded or collapsed. This has been corrected. File names containing either an opening or closing parenthesis could not be uploaded. This has been corrected.
Manage Students	If a course had several Calculated columns that depended on each other, sometimes the Manage Students page did not display. This has been corrected.
Manage Teaching Assistants	If the administrator disallows removing students and teaching assistants from courses, designers are now no longer able to reset the teaching assistant database. When restoring courses from versions of WebCT earlier than 4.0, values in text columns for the teaching assistant database would be lost. This has been corrected.
My Grades	In rare cases, viewing statistics for a Calculated column would cause an internal server error. This has been corrected. Alphanumeric columns containing hyperlinks did not display properly in My Grades. This has been corrected.
myWebCT	Terms with an end date specified were being hidden at 12:01 A.M. on the expiry date, rather than at 11:59 P.M. This has been corrected.
PowerLinks	If no settings had been saved, the default settings specified in the plugins configuration file were not always loaded properly. This has been corrected.
Quizzes/Surveys	When grading students' quiz submissions, feedback entered in the General quiz comments text box is now saved. Both uppercase and lowercase letters are now allowed in HTML tags for quiz and question titles. Matching questions did not work correctly if zero (0) was used as one of the answers. This has been corrected. When viewing statistics for surveys, the Detailed Statistics Summary page did not display properly. This has been corrected. Images referenced using the _COURSEID_ token did not work if there was a space before the URL. This has been corrected. When viewing quiz/survey details for multiple choice questions that allow multiple answers to be selected, only the first selected answer displayed. This has been corrected.
References	Keywords can now contain single quotation marks (').
Student Homepages	Occasionally students were unable to create backups of their homepages. This has been corrected. Icons used in students' homepages were lost when restoring backups of the homepages into a different course. This has been corrected.
Student Presentations	Trying to change the name of a discussion topic for a presentation group no longer causes a JavaScript error. Renaming presentation groups to names with single or double quotation marks (' or ") will no longer cause a JavaScript error. After using the group generator, an invalid link remained in the breadcrumbs. This has been corrected.
Take Notes	If designers selected the setting Hide equation editor interfaces throughout the course, new notes could not be saved. This has been corrected.