getting random 404 errors using Valence

Question

When I make API calls to the server, I'm getting 404 errors for various data -- grades, role IDs, terms -- that I won't get on the next time I call it. The data's there on the server, viewable by the same user, and is often returned successfully, but not every time. The same user context will return data successfully for other calls.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

I'm using the Valence API with the Python client library and our 9.4.1 SP18 instance of Desire2Learn in a non-interactive script.

more detail: the text it returns on the bad 404s is " ErrorThe system cannot find the path specified."

Answer 1

It would help enormously to gather data about your case: packet traces that can show successful calls from your client alongside unsuccessful calls, in particular, would be very useful to see. If you are quite certain (and I see no reason you shouldn't be from your description) that you're forming the calls in the right way each time you make them, then the kind of behaviour you're noticing would seem to speak to some wider network or configuration issue: sometimes your calls are properly getting through the web service layer, and sometimes they are not -- this would seem therefore not to be down to the way you're using the API but in the way the service is able to receive that request.

I would encourage you, especially if you can gather data to provide showing this behaviour, to open a support incident with Desire2Learn's help desk in conjunction with your Approved Support Contact, or your Partner Manager (depending on whether you're a D2L client or a D2L partner).