The System variables are listed in the Variables tab of the Publication Properties dialog. Opus provides the System variables, which are ready-to-use variables that already contain information. For example, the PUBLICATION_TIME variable contains the current time the user has been running the publication.
The System variables contain information about the system that it is currently working on and are constantly updated by Opus. Therefore, while you are developing your publication, the data contained in the variables is about your system; but when the user runs your publication it will be data about their system. For example, SYSTEM_DATE_FULL will show the full date for the machine on which the publication is running.
The System variables fall into one of the categories described below. Each of the System variables are then described in the rest of this section.
Note:
For a general description of the System variable type see Types of Variables for more information.
Also, System variables cannot be deleted from the Variables tab in the Publication Properties dialog.
Scoring information these variables contain data when you have used the Scoring actions in your publication see Introducing the Scoring Actions for more information. They are also used by the Question Object see Introducing the Question Object for more information.
Date and Time information these variables contain information about the current date and time on the system, there are individual variables for month, day, hours, minutes, etc.
System information these variables contain information about the system the publication is currently running on, such as, the systems Colour Depth, Screen Resolution.
System Folder information these variables will work out the pathname to folders on the current system. For example, the pathname to the Windows Temp folder or Program Files. These are particularly useful as shortcut methods of adding pathnames but more importantly if your users work on different platforms (e.g. Windows 98, 2000 or XP), then the paths to folders is not the same for example, the path to the Windows Temp folder on a Windows 95 system is not the same as on Windows XP.
Publication information these variables provide information about features within the publication itself, such as, how long the publication has been running, the current radio button selected in a group, and so on.
eLearning and SCORM Support there are a range of variables provided to compliment the data models in SCORM and for advanced use in checking communication with a SCORM Learning Management System.
User Details we have also included a set or readymade variables to handle commonly-used inputs such as username and trainers name.
SCORE_VALUE Calculates the total value of the allocated scores that have been answered correctly. For example, the user must answer 4 questions with scores allocated thus: Q1 = 1, Q2 = 3, Q3 = 5 and Q4 = 2. Only the first three answers are correct, so the score value would be 9. If all answers were correct, the score would have been 11.
SCORE_VALUE_TOTAL Calculates the total value of the allocated scores which have been answered, whether the user answer the question correctly or not. Using the example above (point 1), this variable would contain the value 11.
SCORE_VALUE_PERCENT Keeps track of the total value of available points as a percentage for a single question. It is not the total scored for all questions.
SCORE_CORRECT Use this to give you the number of questions which have been answered correctly, e.g. 5 out of 7 questions.
SCORE_INCORRECT Use this to give you the number of questions which have been answered incorrectly e.g. 2 out of 7 questions.
SCORE_TOTAL Calculates the number of questions the user has attempted to answer, whether that answer was correct or not. It is not their total score, which is stored in SCORE_VALUE. For example, if there are 10 questions, the user has attempted to answer 7 but only got 4 correct, the score total would be 7.
SCORE_PERCENT Calculates the percentage of questions which have been answered correctly, for example 6 correct answers out of 10 questions would produce a score of 60%, 6 out of 15 questions would be 40%.
SCORE_TOTAL_POSSIBLE User-defined variable in which to store the maximum possible score for the whole quiz irrespective of how many the user has answered. You need to add this value manually
SCORE_CURRENT_POSSIBLE User-defined variable to store the total possible score. It is calculated as SCORE_TOTAL_POSSIBLE less SCORE_VALUE_TOTAL
SCORE_PASS_THRESHOLD User-defined variable to store the score required to achieve a pass. This allows you to monitor the SCORE_CURRENT_POSSIBLE value against the Pass mark and force the user to recover the training until a pass level is maintained.
SYSTEM_TIME_YEAR provides the current year according to the system setup e.g. 1999. This is shown as a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_MONTH provides the month e.g. May. This is shown as a word, not a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_DATE provides the date e.g. 02. This is shown as a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_DAY provides the day of the week, e.g. Fri. This is shown as a three-letter word.
SYSTEM_TIME_HOUR Holds the hour of the day in twenty-four hour format, e.g. 23 for 11pm. This is shown as a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_MINUTE provides the minute of the hour, e.g. 39. This is shown as a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_SECOND provides the second of the minute, e.g. 45. This is shown as a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_12HOUR Holds the hour in twelve-hour format, e.g. 11 for 11pm. This is shown as a number.
SYSTEM_TIME_AMPM provides an AM or PM response depending on current hour, e.g. AM for 9am. This is shown as a two-letter word.
SYSTEM_DATE_FULL provides the current date in full, formatted as 01 January 2001.
Note:
To format the time appropriately and to include leading zeros and set decimal places see Format Variable to String action for more information.
SYSTEM_USERNAME provides the name of the user logged onto the Windows system e.g. Administrator.
SYSTEM_CD_DRIVE provides the drive letter of the first CD-Rom drive on the system e.g.: D: this is the normal drive letter for a CD drive.
SYSTEM_COLOUR_DEPTH provides the colour depth of the current screen on the system e.g. 32 the colour depth set to 32bits.
SYSTEM_SCREEN_RES_X provides the current screen resolution width setting for the system e.g. 1024 meaning 1024 pixels across the screen.
SYSTEM_SCREEN_RES_Y provides the current screen resolution height setting for the system e.g. 768 meaning 768 pixels down the screen.
SYSTEM_OPERATING_SYS provides the Windows platform for the system e.g. 2000 meaning a Windows 2000 machine.
The possible values for this variable are:
Value | Operating System |
NT3 | Windows NT 3.51 |
95 | Windows 95 |
98 | Windows 98 |
ME | Windows Me |
NT4 | Windows NT 4.0 |
2000 | Windows 2000 |
XP | Windows XP |
2003 | Windows Server 2003 |
Vista | Vista |
Windows 7 | Windows 7 |
SYSTEM_HAS_SOUND provides an answer of true if the current system has a sound card installed and false if no sound card, e.g. true will always provide a response of true or false.
SYSTEM_WINDIR provides the directory where Windows is installed e.g. C:\WINNT the pathname to the folder on Windows 2000 systems.
SYSTEM_WINSYS_DIR provides the location of the Windows System directory e.g. C:\WINNT\System32 the pathname on Windows 2000 systems.
SYSTEM_PUBLICATION_DIR provides the location of the current Opus publication e.g. C:\Education\Tutorial\ meaning the publication can be found in this folder.
Note:
Notice the backslash has already been added after the last folder in the path (i.e. after the Tutorial folder) in case you want to add files to this folder or create new sub folders after the current path.
SYSTEM_PROGRAMS_DIR provides the location of the standard Program Files directory e.g. C:\Program Files this is the standard folder in which applications are installed on a users system.
SYSTEM_PROGRAMDATA_DIR provides the location of the Vista Program Data Directory.
SYSTEM_DOCUMENTS_DIR provides the location of the current users documents directory e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents the pathname to the My Documents folder for an administrator on a Windows 2000 system.
SYSTEM_TEMP-DIR provides the location of the Windows Temp directory e.g. C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp the pathname to the folder for the administrator on Windows 2000 systems.
Note:
If these System variables are used to create a pathname, remember to place a backslash character between the variable name and the sub folders see Using variables to create pathnames for more information.
There is a range of variables providing the Opus version of the corresponding SCORM data models e.g: LMS_LEARNER_ID would connect with the SCORM data model cmi.core.learner_ID
Note:
These variables are not connected to the relevant SCORM data models except in the SCORM template publications. They are providied in all publications merely for your convenience and you can use your own variables for the same function or rename these.
LMS_COMMENTS_FROM_LESSON
LMS_COMMENTS_FROM_LMS
LMS_COMPLETION_STATUS
LMS_EXIT_MODE
LMS_LEARNER_ID
LMS_LEARNER_NAME
LMS_LESSON_LOCATION
LMS_LESSON_STATUS
LMS_MAX_TIME
LMS_SCORE_RAW (or use SCORE_VALUE_PERCENT directly)
LMS_SCORE_SCALED
In addition there are a couple of variables which the LMS Initialization or closedown process will update automatically so they can be checked to ensure the initialisation process has succeeded.
LMS_INITIALIZE_RETURN checks the success of the initialisation process. Will return 0 (zero) when it has been successful
LMS_COMMIT_RETURN reports the success or failure of the SCORM Commit Action. Will return 0 (zero) if successful
LMS_FINISH_RETURN checks the success of the LMS closedown procedure. Will return 0 (zero) when it has been successful
Note:
Because of the way communication with the LMS works there is some latency between the operations and the variables being updated. In addition you cannot monitor these variables using the Variable Changed trigger.
LOGIN_USERNAME to store the full username of the person logging in. The System_Username could be used as a default which the user could edit, clarify or extend or it can be requested explicitly from the user.
LOGIN_FIRSTNAME to store the users first name. Can be requested specifically or extracted from the Username using a QuickScript function
LOGIN_SURNAME to store the users second name. Can be requested specifically or extracted from the Username using a QuickScript function.
LOGIN_USER_EMAIL to store the users email address. To be input by the user/designer.
LOGIN_TUTOR to store the tutor for the course. To be input by the user/designer.
LOGIN_MANAGER to store the manager for the course. To be input by the user.
LOGIN_TUTOR_EMAIL to store the email address of the tutor if required. To be input by the user/designer.
LOGIN_ORGANIZATION the organization of the person logging in. Useful when training third party contractors for example. To be input by the user.
LOGIN_USER_ID A unique ID number for the logged in user. Could be obtained from user or from course database or calculated internally.
CHAPTER_PASSWORD this variable allows you to limit access to a chapter based on a password. This variable can only be used if you have set passwords for chapters in the Password tab of the Publication Properties dialog see Passwords tab (especially point 7) for more information.
PUBLICATION_TIME contains the number of seconds the publication has been running since the user first opened it. This can be useful to time out a publication, if it has not been accessed for a while.
PUBLICATION_TITLE contains the title you have given to the publication as displayed in the organizer and the Publication Properties. This is not the same as the filename of the publication unless you have made it deliberatly so.
PUBLICATION_PAGE_TITLE contains the title of the current page as displayed in the organizer. Allows you to display the title of the page
DATABASE_ERROR_MESSAGE If you have used a database in your publication, this variable will contain any error messages sent via the database if there has been a problem connecting or accessing the database. The error message may help you (or the user if you display the variable on screen) to solve the problem.
RADIO_GROUP_1_ID contains the index position of the currently selected button in a group of radio buttons. This variable is only to be used if you have created Button objects on a page that are set to the Radio Button in the Buttons tab of the object Properties dialog.
For Example:
If you have 3 radio buttons on a page all part of Group 1, then each button in the list has an index number starting at index position 0 and counting up by 1 for each new button in the group. For example:
Button 1 Index 0 Button 2 Index 1 Button 3 Index 2
If the user selects the object named Button 2, then this variable will contain the number 1 (i.e. the Index number). The variable below (point 5) will contain the name of the Button object using this example, if the user selected Button 2; the variable will contain the name Button 2.
RADIO_GROUP_1_NAME contains the name of the Button object selected in group of radio buttons see point 4 above.
Note:
Opus also provides other group numbered System variables e.g. RADIO_GROUP_2_ID use the variable that matches the number you entered in the Group box of the Radio Button option.
COMMAND_PARAM_COUNT contains the number of parameters passed on the command line after the user runs the publication. For example, if the command line was myslideshow.exe /print the /print is the parameter and COMMAND_PARAM_COUNT would contain the value 1 because there is only one parameter. This variable will then create a new variable for each parameter containing the actual parameter. Using the example above, there would be one new variable named COMMAND_PARAM_1 and it will contain the value print see Passing Parameters in Launch File action for more information.
PUBLICATION_EVALUATION contains information about the current evaluation state of the publication. This variable only contains meaningful information if the evaluation options evaluation options have been set on the Security properties page; otherwise it will be -1.
The possible values for this variable are:
Value | Meaning |
Greater then 0 | Number of days left for evaluation |
0 | Publication has expired |
-1 | Publication is not an evaluation publication |
-2 | Publication was an evaluation but it has been cleared by the Change Publication Evaluation action |
Displaying Variables on a Page