[ARCHIVED] How to restore Blackboard archives without live instance of BB?

[codone_s]

Has anyone found a way to restore Blackboard archives without a live instance of Blackboard? Our Blackboard contract is expiring and we have student submission data in the archives that needs to be retrieved. There is/was a free program called Bfree but it apparently is no longer available for download. Supposedly it allowed you to open an archive and get the data you need. We need to move student submission data to Canvas. Please answer if you have any relevant information. Thank you!

[kona]

 @codone_s , I'm not sure of the answer to your question, but I'm going to share this with the https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/canvas-developers?sr=search&searchId=45a26eaa-1bc6-481e-aa9f-...‌ and https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/lms-migration?sr=search&searchId=fdd3d996-b3bb-4ed5-adfa-88b6...‌ groups to see if they can offer any suggestions. In addition, have you tried asking your CSM to see if they have any suggestions or recommendations?

[codone_s]

I did follow up with our CSM and someone on the migration team. So far I haven't learned of any solutions, but thank you for sharing.

[kona]

If you find a solution (from your CSM or migration team), please let us know! I'm guessing that there are others who might have the same or similar question!

[QC99_tsilvius]

Have you considered trying to restore your Bb file in a free Bb account over at coursesites.com? It's similar to Instructure's free "light" version of Canvas over at canvas.instructure.com. Creating a coursesites account there and creating your first blank course couldn't be easier. It has been years since I've used my coursesites account but when I did I was able to access Export/Import in the course control panel. If you try this route drop me a reply as you're able to let me know if you were able to bring in your Bb course archive into your blank still or if they took that feature away.

~ Todd

[codone_s]

We did try to restore an archive into Coursesites but were unsuccessful. We can import a BB export file, but are not able to restore an archived file. Plus, we have several hundred files to restore, so we were hoping to find a solution more amenable to this. If you know any more about Coursesites and multiple courses and archived files, please let me know. Thanks!

[QC99_tsilvius]

I wouldn't know much more than that, plus, since it's a free service I'm not sure how many features or file space it would allow. Have you checked to see if your access to your stg server is available?

[codone_s]

We self-host, so we have all our archives.

[mvandevelde]

You could try the Free Blackboard Developers VM

Some more info here:

https://community.blackboard.com/message/14684-re-where-can-i-download-the-bm-virtual-machine

Not sure if you have to be a licenced user/school to get access to the download, but it’s a place to start.

[seprice]

This apparently requires a live Bb license.  

[reedt]

We stumbled upon a script in GitHub, 'bba-scan' that will recompile the grade book in report format. It reassembles the student, grade, assignment submission, and comments. The script is no longer maintained, but it will meet our basic needs for when a grade appeal arises. Hope this helps!

[jodi_reed]

Tanys -

It's been a while since I used Perl.  I'm trying to run it in XAMPP in cgi-bin, but it's not clear to me which file to run (I tried them all but none ran).  Also, where do the course files go so the script can find them?  I'll look through the files, but if you could help it would save me some time.

Jodi

[reedt]

Hi Jodi and all,

Our IT unit developed a script that compiles the grade center from the archive file into a formatted HTML page. It includes student submissions to their grade entry and any instructor comments provided in the feedback. It is written in PowerShell Core, and as such, works on Windows, Mac, and some versions of Linux. The developer named it bbaExtractor. We're happy to share this with the Canvas community. Documentation is included in the zip file.

https://missouri.box.com/s/pditbz3o2yjuoq3o1asscjmd12qlo63h

For any non-programmers (like me!), I've pasted my steps to use the tool on my Mac below.

1. Download the bbaExtractor and unzip the file to your desktop.  In this example, the bbaExtractor folder and ArchiveFile_Blackboard.zip are on my desktop.

2. Open PowerShell and enter the following commands:

cd /Users/tanys/Desktop/bbaExtractor/bbaExtractor

./bbaExtractorEX.ps1 ../ArchiveFile_Blackboard.zip -extractDocuments

3. The web page and files will be created in the bbaExtractor folder.

4. Open the Blackboard.html file to view the compiled grade center.

 @codone_s ‌ jodi.reed‌  @kona ‌

[itssamirankc]

Ms. Nelson, the script works really great but it does not generate the data for weighted total and total from the gradebook. I would appreciate it if you could look into it. Thank you!

[snihal]

Looking at the code comments, the programmer mentioned that the script does not do anything with the calculated scores (Total and Weighted Total).

# I have started the work of dealing with calculated scores but this
# script does not currently do anyting with calculated scores!

[mwinsor]

Hi Susan, I wondered if or how you determined a solution for viewing student work/grades from a Bb archive? As you mentioned, CourseSites is not an option as it only retains the course content (not grades). The bba-scan in GitHub sounds like it would meet our needs for when a grade is challenged, but I am not familiar with using scripts.

[snihal]

BFree is still available for download from here: http://its2.unc.edu/tl/tli/bFree/bFree.jnlp 

[snihal]

Have a look at this as well: CS 411 Team Crystal 

[canvas18]

I've spent some time looking at this, and it seems promising.  It will be my Holiday Break project between semesters.  Watch for updates in January!

v/r

 MJH

[itssamirankc]

Hey Mr. Nihal, I am trying to download bFree but I think they took down the website.

Could you please help me to get access to it?

[snihal]

Looks like its completely removed from the site. I have the bFree.jnlp file, however, it doesn't work as the link is not live. Here are a few lines from the jnlp code which points to the site...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- JNLP File for the bFree application -->
<jnlp spec="1.0+" codebase="http://its2.unc.edu/tl/tli/bFree" href="bFree.jnlp">
<information>
<title>bFree - Blackboard Course Extractor</title>
<vendor>ITS Teaching &amp; Learning, UNC at Chapel Hill</vendor>

[itssamirankc]

Hi Mr. Nihal,

Thank you for your reply. Is there any way you could share the whole bFree.jnlp file with me through a google drive link or something like that. Thank you!

[seprice]

I've looked all over for this program, and it seems to have been taken down permanently.  I'm betting that Blackboard forced them to remove it, but don't know that for sure.  I have not been able to find any viable alternative.  I uploaded my exported course to Blackboard CourseSites, where you can keep up to five courses for free, but was unsuccessful opening and extracting the class to the site.  I will see if I can find someone to help me with that, but I didn't see any easy way to get help there, either.  The alternative, which is to take down all the materials from my classrooms bit by bit is really an overwhelming thought.  I can also migrate them all to Canvas, but... many things don't migrate over and it's MESSY - I mean the migrated classes look like the tornado tore through Dorothy Gale's house in Kansas when you're done.  And you need to pick through what showed up bit by bit to see what's missing.  

[snihal]

Hi Samiran,

As requested, here is the link for the bFree.jnlp:https://ufile.io/5slc0 

However, as this is a jnlp file which means it can be launched on a client by using resources that are on a remote server. The remote server seems to be offline and this will not work unless UNC at Chapel Hill brings it back...

[nabbondanza]

Hello,

   Just an FYI, you can download a copy of the actual jar from Wayback Machine Just download the jar in the link and jun it.

[Robbie_Grant]

 @codone_s ,

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie

[mwinsor]

Hi All, as I noted above, we had been looking into solutions for viewing grades and assignments once we lose access to Blackboard. I tried the suggestions offered in this thread, but each of them seem only to contain course content - not grades. If I am missing a step, please let me know. But thanks anyways.

[cdeville]

I know that this is assumed answered, but here is another route. You can extract information (such as grades, submissions) from a Blackboard archive zip file by examining it with Excel.  It is tedious, but it may be able to save you from paying for some expensive archive service through Blackboard. The process is explained in the link below.

https://community.blackboard.com/message/9943-re-there-is-any-technical-information-about-the-archiv... 

[arosen]

I used the information found in the link above from Christin, combined it with information found here: Grades: What to do When Bb Goes Away?  and it works.  The comment by Eric Larson, really cleared it up for me. 

I found rather than using the Use the XML Source Task Pane option when importing the XML, I used the As an XML Table option and it automatically mapped the entries. 

[UHD_AdminNickM]

Now that some time has passed, does anyone know of any updates to this issue?
Is there software available now that can assist with opening a Blackboard archive inside Canvas?