Use API to find and replace an enabled LTI?

[wojcika]

We have an LTI update for a tool that is on in some but not all of our courses. I need to update the tool which I will configure to be off by default. This will require users to re-enable it again. Does anyone have a method that I could use to do a find-and-replace type scenario for this? I would prefer not to inconvenience faculty by asking them to enable the tool again. 

[JamesSekcienski]

@wojcika 

You could try doing something like the following:

1. Make sure the new tool is installed with it hidden by default
2. Use the Canvas API or a provisioning report to get a list of courses where you plan to make the update
3. Use the Canvas API or the LTI Report to determine the tool ID of the old tool you need to replace and the new tool that will be shown.
4. For each course, you can use the List available tabs for a course or group endpoint to find out which courses have the old tool enabled and its position
   1. The ID of the tab corresponding to the tool should follow the format of "context_external_tool_12345"
   2. 12345 is just an example ID and you would be looking for the one that matches the old tool ID you found in the prior step.
5. For courses where the old tool isn't hidden, you can use the Update a tab for a course endpoint to set the position of the new tool and set hidden to false
   1. For the tab ID, be sure to follow the format of "context_external_tool_12345"
   2. Replace 12345 with the tool ID of the new tool
6. After you complete this update in all courses, you can then disable the placements of the old tool or remove it.
   1. We typically disable placements first to ensure there weren't any unexpected issues with the new tool as it is easier to re-enable the placements rather than re-install it
   2. After a transition period and we know we no longer need the old tool, we will schedule the date for it to be fully removed

[WillGHampton]

Nice answer James, I don't have much to add.

The Tabs API is the endpoint wojcika needs. They'll need to do a get on the course( GET|/api/vq/courses/:course_id/tabs) to find the ID of the navigation link on a course that has the old and new links in it to get the IDs.

Next, run the same get on each course that may have the links to be updated. Run the JSON result through some code to find if old tool is enabled. If so, send out the PUT /api/v1/courses/:course_id/tabs/:tab_id call to set the id of the old link visibility to false and the visibility of the new link to true.

 

 

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @wojcika,

I have a python script which does almost exactly this.  @wojcika, feel free to check it out as it may save you some time.  You'll need to install the new LTI and leave the old one in place before running my script.  Basically, the script will have you select the original LTI, then the new LTI, then do the update process mostly as @JamesSekcienski outlined.  Once complete, the new tool will be visible and places in exactly the same spot in course navigation as the original.  Once verified, you can then delete the old tool.  Be warned though that this script can take a while to finish because of the numerous API calls it has to do (for my institution, it takes about 12 hours to go through all courses).  It's possible that the script could be optimized more, but I created it for one specific update at my institution and decided to make it public as-is to help some others with similar requests.

-Chris

[wojcika]

@chriscas  This is absolutely amazing!! I will share this with our internal dev team. Thank you again.