There is at least one bug when the instructor page is opened in lms and the Certificates sub tab is enabled.
The conditions required to trigger the bug are:
Subtab certificates enabled[^1].
FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATION in false value (default).
FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATION in true value and additional course settings about certificates.
Trace
On load, the Instructor page run a script which initialize each subtab defined in a hardcoded array named sectionsToInitialize.
If FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATION is defined true through settings, but at least one of enabled_for_course[^2] or html_cert_enabled[^3] is false, then the function findAndAssert will always fail because the mentioned section will be absent.
These additional conditions were added in this commit.
Third
If the previous conditions are met in order to show the .running-tasks-section container, then the third findAndAssert call will fail because there is a second .no-pending-tasks-message container added for the certificate-exception-section.
This section was added in this commit. Apparently, that second message container is useless.
Remediaton suggested
To remediate the bug, we suggest to conditionate the initialization of the running task monitor to the presence of the .running-tasks-section container (not always present as we saw). This means that the first findAndAssert call should be changed for a test to detect the existence of the section before checking the associated inner containers needed for the monitor, and as a precondition to initialize the running tasks monitor.
Additionally, the selectors for inner containers should add the scope of the section to avoid the match to other sections as the certificate-exception section does.
Conditions
There is at least one bug when the instructor page is opened in lms and the Certificates sub tab is enabled. The conditions required to trigger the bug are:
FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATIONinfalsevalue (default).FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATIONintruevalue and additional course settings about certificates.Trace
On load, the Instructor page run a script which initialize each subtab defined in a hardcoded array named sectionsToInitialize.
Then, each subtab is initialized through its own constructor: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/7f7cade1310db6b50b2e32914b9d8f4d431d69f4/lms/static/js/instructor_dashboard/instructor_dashboard.js#L222-L226
The certificates constructor has a call to initialize the instructor task monitor:https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/8b4adaf4bd72acb0ea4641dea1b47f2efa28003b/lms/static/js/instructor_dashboard/certificates.js#L111-L114 defined in utils.
In this
PendingInstructorTasksfunction, there are three div containers searched and defined to further implement the running_tasks section: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/8b4adaf4bd72acb0ea4641dea1b47f2efa28003b/lms/static/js/instructor_dashboard/util.js#L371-L373findAndAssertis a utility function which throw an exception when the selector passed as a parameter has found zero or multiple objects: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/8b4adaf4bd72acb0ea4641dea1b47f2efa28003b/lms/static/js/instructor_dashboard/util.js#L32-L33Errors
First
The first container searched is not shown when the settings variable
FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATIONisfalse(see https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views/instructor_dashboard.py#L362, https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views/instructor_dashboard.py#L375 and https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/lms/templates/instructor/instructor_dashboard_2/certificates.html#L82), which is its default state. As a consequence, the functionfindAndAssertwill always fail for the selector.running-tasks-sectioninterrupting further subtab initialization.Second
If
FEATURES.CERTIFICATES_INSTRUCTOR_GENERATIONis definedtruethroughsettings, but at least one of enabled_for_course[^2] or html_cert_enabled[^3] isfalse, then the functionfindAndAssertwill always fail because the mentioned section will be absent.These additional conditions were added in this commit.
Third
If the previous conditions are met in order to show the
.running-tasks-sectioncontainer, then the thirdfindAndAssertcall will fail because there is a second.no-pending-tasks-messagecontainer added for the certificate-exception-section.This section was added in this commit. Apparently, that second message container is useless.
Remediaton suggested
To remediate the bug, we suggest to conditionate the initialization of the running task monitor to the presence of the
.running-tasks-sectioncontainer (not always present as we saw). This means that the firstfindAndAssertcall should be changed for a test to detect the existence of the section before checking the associated inner containers needed for the monitor, and as a precondition to initialize the running tasks monitor. Additionally, the selectors for inner containers should add the scope of the section to avoid the match to other sections as the certificate-exception section does.[^1]: To enable the certificate sub tab, go to https://lms-url/admin/certificates/certificategenerationconfiguration and create a new configuration object with the checkbox selected. [^2]: To make enabled_for_course state true a certificategenerationcoursesetting object needs to be created in association with the course at https://lms-url/admin/certificates/certificategenerationcoursesetting/. [^3]: In the case of html_cert_enabled a html template needs to be created associated with the course at https://lms-url/admin/certificates/certificatetemplate/.