SCORM 2004 Timestamp Requires Milliseconds with TDZ (Time Zone Designator).

Where does this problem show up?

This timestamp format problem is relevant to SCORM 2004 API calls when creating interactions and comments: cmi.interactions.n.timestamp and cmi.comments_from_learner.n.timestamp.

What's a Time Zone Designator (TDZ)?  

Suffix at the end of a timestamp in the form Z for UTC or +hh:mm or –hh:mm.

Where's the confusion? 

Timestamps can take a form "2009-07-25T03:00:00".  So you would naturally think that you could append a TDZ to the end like "2009-07-25T03:00:00Z" or "2009-07-25T03:00:00+05:00", right?  Well, the SCORM 2004 spec puts an extra requirement on you when specifying a TDZ.

From SCORM® 2004 4th Edition Run-Time Environment (RTE) Version 1.0, page RTE-A-16 under "time(second,10,0)"

If TZD is defined, then hh:mm:ss.s shall also be defined, although they may be all zeros.

So

• "2009-07-25T03:00:00+05:00"    WRONG
• "2009-07-25T03:00:00.0+05:00"   OK
• "2009-07-25T03:00:00Z    WRONG
• "2009-07-25T03:00:00.0Z"   OK

But the spec has an example that shows TDZ without the milliseconds -- what gives?

The spec shows a set of examples timestamps, two of which are invalid.  These bad examples are contrary to the spec definition and fail in the actual SCORM Conformance test suite.

Example: 
• 2009
• 2009-07-25T03:00:00 
• 2009-07-25T03:00:00-03:10 
• 2009-07-25T03:30:35.5+05 
• 2009-07-25T03:00:00Z'