FAQ

How do I test whether a user has a specific badge in their backpack?

A: The only way to do this currently is to log the user in through the http://beta.openbadges.org/issuer.js workflow (some documentation here https://github.com/mozilla/openbadges/wiki/Issuer-API), and then issuing a GET with the url of the assertion as the parameter 'url' to http://beta.openbadges.org/issuer/assertion.

You'll get a JSON response that includes an "exists" boolean. If the badge is already in their backpack, it will return True, False otherwise.

Do I need to pre-bake a badge before I submit it via the Issuer API?

A: No, baking (the process of adding badge meta-data to the PNG image) happens as a part of the Issuer API. However, if a badge is meant to be portable, and added to the backpack through the upload interface, then the badge needs to have assertion meta data baked in.

How does signed assertion work?

A: there are a couple of locations you can read more about assertions;

• https://github.com/mozilla/openbadges/wiki/Assertions
• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges/Onboarding-Issuer

Signed assertions will be available in the second half of 2012. Once implemented the issuer will only need to host the public key at a stable URL, therefore all badges (of the same type) issued can be verified against this one public key. Signing key URL will be from your domain, similar to how we verify hosted assertions.

Questions to be answered or answers to be edited;

• Can we use subdomains and ports within the json message / file? - https://groups.google.com/d/topic/openbadges/Kc2M2cYWeog/discussion
• Why do I get the error, "{"message":"Unexpected content-type: Response is text/plain, but expected application/json","name":"ContentTypeError"}" - you need to set the correct content-type; https://github.com/mozilla/openbadges/wiki/Assertions
• What does this mean? Some of my links return images from the openbadges.org/baker, but some throw this error.
  {"status":"failure","error":"processing","reason":"could not write data to PNG: Error: could not bake badge: Error: key already exists."} - https://groups.google.com/d/topic/openbadges/TR1p58DoyUI/discussion
• What APIs are available to determine the state/validity of a badge? - https://groups.google.com/d/topic/openbadges/5DcMbeLDqSg/discussion