API to Validate links in content

[RupertRussell]

Is there any way to use an API call to run the "Validate Links in Content" on a specific group of Courses?

If not is there a better method than writing an Auto Hot Key script to open the Course and then press the button for me?

I have about 300 Courses I want to run this on.

Rupert.

[RupertRussell · Accepted solution]

According to Chat GPT this is not possible.

I hope that this is just a hallucination and that there is a way.

Unfortunately, Canvas does not provide a direct API endpoint to run the "Validate Links in Content" feature on a specific group of courses. This feature is typically accessed through the Canvas user interface and is not exposed for programmatic access via the API.

If you need to validate links in the content of multiple courses programmatically, you may need to explore alternative approaches. One potential approach could involve writing a script that:

1. Retrieves the content (such as pages, assignments, discussions, etc.) of each course using the Canvas API.
2. Parses the content to identify links.
3. Validates each link to ensure it is active and points to a valid resource.
4. Generates a report of any broken or invalid links.

Keep in mind that such an approach would require significant development effort and may not be as comprehensive as the built-in Canvas feature. Additionally, it's important to consider rate limits and usage policies when interacting with the Canvas API to avoid overloading the system.

If link validation is a critical requirement for your use case, you might consider reaching out to Canvas support or exploring third-party tools or services that specialize in link checking and validation.

[James]

@RupertRussell 

Actually, there is a link validation API call, it's just not documented. I found it today by watching the network request made when I started a link validation from within Canvas. I was all set to set up a headless browser to invoke them, but to my surprise, it came back with an API route.

Using the REST API, this will start/restart a course validation.

POST /api/v1/courses/:course_id/link_validation

This will get the results of the validation.

GET /api/v1/courses/:course_id/link_validation

You can poll the GET endpoint and to see whether the results are completed.

I'm really disappointed. I wrote a script less than a month ago to parse the results and put them so that someone could put them into an Excel file.