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The Knowledgebase

Study Abroad: Terra Dotta Community Library (Classic)

The Terra Dotta Community Library (TDCL) is a community resource where clients can share process elements that they believe could be of value to other institutions. Clients can view, download, and share questionnaires, learning content, and assessments. Once an item is in the TDCL, other Terra Dotta clients can find and download the questionnaire, learning content or assessment directly to their own website.

This article covers the following topics related to the TDCL:
Permissions & Access to the TDCL
Importing from the TDCL
Sharing to the TDCL
Resolving Issues

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Permissions & Access to the TDCL

In the three Process pages where you can access the TDCL (Assessments, Questionnaires, and Learning Content), you can see the process materials you currently have.

Imported materials will not have the arrow icon. Shared pieces will have a green arrow icon. Non-shared pieces will have a blue arrow icon. The arrow icons are only visible to administrators with the proper permissions. Those permissions are:

  • Process: questionnaires (import / share)
  • Process: assessments (import / share)
  • Process: learning content (import / share)

Any administrator with the normal 'view' permission for each process element can click to Browse TDCL. However, only administrators with the above permissions can share or import content.  

Note: In order for you to view the TDCL, it must be previously activated for your site. If you click Browse TDCL (which can be found on all three Process pages: Assessments, Questionnaires, and Learning Content), and it says you need to generate activation keys or that your site has already been activated, then please open a case inside the Terra Dotta Support Portal and request access to the TDCL.

  • Note for clients using staging sites: If the site getting the already registered message is your staging site, you can re-configure the staging site's serial number and re-register with the TDCL using the following steps:
  1. Go to the staging site's Maintenance > Version Info page and get your 'Account Instance' hash
  2. You must NULL out the cloned staging site's account serial number. This is done with the following SQL statement: UPDATE sa_accountsettings SET vchsettingvalue = NULL WHERE vchsettingname = '_sAccountSerialNumber'; The account will generate a new unique account serial number on the next page load, and you will directed through the installation/upgrade utility. This will generate the new account serial number's folder on your server.
  3. Get the 'Account Instance' number that appears at the bottom of the page of the installation/upgrade utility.
  4. On your server you will need to copy the contents of this folder: {CODEBASE ROOT DIRECTORY}/accounts/{OLD ACCOUNT INSTANCE HASH} into this folder: {CODEBASE ROOT DIRECTORY}/accounts/{NEW ACCOUNT INSTANCE HASH}
  5. Execute a hard flush of your site by going to the following URL:
  6. {SITE DOMAIN}/index.cfm?hardflush
  7. Your staging server should now be able to generate new registration keys for the TDCL.

 

Importing From the TDCL

After you click Browse TDCL the search form allows you to narrow your search by: subject/title, description, community type, keywords, phase, and who will be using it.  

Once you click Search, you will see a list of items that apply to your search criteria.  

To view the details of any item, click the eye icon. From this page, you can click Click here to view preview.  

To install the item, click Install. Once it is installed on your site, you can edit it or leave it as is. 

Important Note: For offices currently using or developing their plans to transition to the Modern Applicant Experience, the ability to upload a file using Question Item > Question Type > Essay is not currently supported. If you install a questionnaire from the TDCL which uses the essay question item type to attach a document, it is recommended that you change to the file upload question item type immediately after installing the questionnaire.

Use Question Item > Question Type > File Upload instead. Click here for step-by-step video instructions on how to transition to the supported 'File Upload' question type. If this feature is part of your office's processes, you should continue to use the classic interface. This feature may be supported or enhanced in the Modern Applicant Experience in a future release.

 

Sharing to the TDCL

To share a item to the TDCL, follow these steps:

  1. Click the blue arrow icon next to it. 
  2. Complete the metadata form, which helps others search for and understand your content.  
  3. Click Submit

 

Resolving Issues

Unable to register a site with the Terra Dotta Community Library - message says that site is already registered​

When attempting to register production and staging sites with the Terra Dotta Community Library, the first site registers properly, but when attempting to register the second site, the TDCL reports back that the site has already been registered.
 
Cause:
This can happen when a staging site is a cloned version of the production site's database. All accounts have a distinct account serial number UUID, and this is stored on the TDCL with your site's registration keys.  When the database is cloned, this UUID is also cloned. It can result in the inability to register one of the two sites.
 
Resolution:
If the site that is unable to be registered is your production site, open a case with the Terra Dotta Support site requesting that your TDCL registration be reset. The process for changing a site's serial number should not be performed on a production server.
 
Please note that after this registration is reset and then your production site is registered with the TDCL, you will be getting the 'already registered' message on your staging server.
 
If the site getting the already registered message is your staging site, you can re-configure the staging site's serial number and re-register with the TDCL using the following steps:
  • Go to the staging site's Maintenance > Version Info page and get your 'Account Instance' hash
  • You must NULL out the cloned staging site's account serial number. This is done with the following SQL statement: UPDATE sa_accountsettings SET vchsettingvalue = NULL WHERE vchsettingname = '_sAccountSerialNumber'; The account will generate a new unique account serial number on the next page load, and you will directed through the installation/upgrade utility. This will generate the new account serial number's folder on your server.
  • Get the 'Account Instance' number that appears at the bottom of the page of the installation/upgrade utility.
  • On your server you will need to copy the contents of this folder: {CODEBASE ROOT DIRECTORY}/accounts/{OLD ACCOUNT INSTANCE HASH} into this folder: {CODEBASE ROOT DIRECTORY}/accounts/{NEW ACCOUNT INSTANCE HASH}
  • Execute a hard flush of your site by going to the following URL:
  • {SITE DOMAIN}/index.cfm?hardflush
  • Your staging server should now be able to generate new registration keys for the TDCL.
 
Note: You will need to repeat this process if you re-clone the database from production down to the staging server again.

Terra Dotta Community Library Video