Released 2022-12-19
This is the first release of Engine 22. Here's what's new:
New and Improved Web Hooks
We’ve added new APIs for subscribing to event notifications in Engine, including status updates for course imports and learner registrations. These will replace the existing postback systems with one that is more consistent, customizable, and extensible.
We’ve also added what we call “exchanges,” which let Engine ask an external system for information. The first available exchange is for getting the authority for xAPI statements (a custom authentication mechanism, basically).
More notifications and exchanges will follow, with the goal of replacing old-style, pre-API Engine integrations and providing greater flexibility to all integrations.
Background Process Management
Engine has a number of tasks that it performs in the background while also handling API requests and learner launches. Now there’s a way to specify whether or not these processes should be handled by each instance of Engine. That way, some app servers can be dedicated to API requests and learner launches, while a different set handles things like xAPI statement forwarding or sending queued import and registrations event notifications.
Custom Course Metadata
Previously, the only information that Engine kept track of about courses was whatever was included in their manifest files. Now Engine users can save any information they like, such as skills or product categories, and retrieve them later for use in other systems. Essentially, at import time the API call can provide an arbitrary JSON object with data in it that will be saved as an additionalMetadata property in the course details.
Dispatch Changes
Dispatch and Destination Level Configuration
Engine now supports a configuration endpoint in the API for Dispatches and Destinations. This allows you to override player and course-related settings for specific destinations or individual dispatches.
As well, there are two new settings meant to be used at these levels: DispatchTitle and DispatchDescription. These settings allow you to override the title and description that will be written into the dispatch stub package downloaded from Engine.
Note: There are a number of potentially breaking changes in Engine 22. If you are upgrading from an older Engine please check out this document for details on those.