Could not get JSON asserted?

[Rene van Dijk]

I am not able to upload an open badge. Error message: see attached file. What is the problem? Thanks a lot for your help!

[Nate Otto]

Thanks for asking -- We had the chance to talk about this on today's Community Call. 

A couple questions for you:

• It looks like you were uploading this badge image directly to the Backpack. Could you share the image you were attempting to upload?
• From the error message, it looks like there is something misconfigured with the program that provided you this badge. What issuer or program did you earn this badge from?

Here are some raw/unorganized notes from that conversation earlier today:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/openbadges-dev/Gn_XD5dOPns/ka_Iycw8BgAJ Could not get JSON asserted -- Invalid Assertion error from Backpack Badge Image Upload

• What is the type of information we need to collect from these users to troubleshoot?

• Common practice on technical forums requires structuring questions well with the relevant data about how they can get a timely response.Its like the github issue templates you can now use in repos....but often the person doesn't even have the tehnical expertise to ask the question..okay posting dev list you prolly have a little more knowledge

• Can we provide a user guide to help users provide the data that we need for this type of question?

• We need to know what badge the user was attemping to import to backpack and the platform used to issue the badge (I guess). 

• I had a similar issue to this when trying to import badges from backpack into OB Passport, especially when the original issuing platform has disappeared. I think this was because of broken links or missing data fields. 

• User environment: Browser you're using (version), OS

• Who is the issuer?

• Does it work with the Open Badge Passport, Badgr or other platform?

• Isn't Mozilla responsible for the backpack development now? If so, do they have anyone who can check in on this periodically, like 1x/wk?

• corollary: a scheduled frequency of review for BA team members (like Monday at 4pm or Wednesday at noon, etc.)

• Doug: check out Discourse

• Don: check out Redmine

• How can the backpack be improved so we don't get so many of these posts that don't have the necessary troubleshooting data?

• self-help: people with the same trouble can find each other easily and find whether there is a fix or not.

• Don: What if BP had an error message with more detail, if only a link to more detail

• FAQs?+1 For this particular issue, could include "try the following"

• How can we distribute the responsibility across Issuers so that anyone feels that they can respond. Would anyone on this call be interested in being a backpack point person?Is this badgeable? "Particularly helpful Badger?" (Don) 8->

• Nate: Problem = we don't get notifications on whether issues are resolved (would be better if we used an issue tracker) 

Nate Otto

Director, Badge Alliance

badgealliance.org

[Rene van Dijk]

Dear Nate & others,

Thanks very much for getting back to me on this!

I already received some useful feedback from somebody else (don't know if he wants to remain anonymous), directly via email. I sent him the badge; I am sharing his analysis with you:

Rene, the badge might be okay, but the website hosting it has an issue. I took a look at the badge data inside that image. It contains this URL:

http://krachtigeleeromgeving.nl/badges/assertion.php?b=c54aaa2f57627e35721767e31eac87240054bfe3

Maybe there is a valid badge at that URL, but the problem is you must be a logged-in user on krachtigeleeromgeving.nl in order to view it. If you know anyone behind this website, you might want to let them know that hosted badges must be publicly accessible in order to be verified.

I guess this is in line with what you wrote below ('misconfigured'). I notified the badge issuer, I also forwarded your reply to them, and am waiting for their reply.

As soon as I know more I will let you know.

Best regards,

Rene

[Nate Otto]

Great, glad to hear that the issue was identified and that a resolution may be forthcoming. 

Nate