Tracking LTI usage data in era of CD2

[molshausen]

A couple of years ago, I submitted this question to the community:

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Data-and-Analytics-Group/How-to-Track-External-App-Usage/m-p/5291...

Now that Canvas Data Portal has gone away, I don't know how to retrieve data files such as assignment_dim, course_dim, etc., or their CD2 equivalent. I'm trying to wrap my mind around how CD2 works in Postman, though it's mostly opaque to me at this point.

[ColinMurtaugh]

I'd strongly recommend at least starting out by using the DAP command-line tool: https://pypi.org/project/instructure-dap-client/

The process that's necessary to correctly replicate tables into your local database is more complex than it was in CD1, but the DAP CLI tool will handle all of that for you. You can also use the DAP python library to build your own automation of the synchronization process, but getting it to work with the command-line tool is the best place to start.

--Colin

[molshausen]

Thanks for the recommendation! Could you point me toward any tutorials on how to use that tool?

[J-J-Jason]

They walk you through the setup and usage here:

Data Access Platform CLI & Client Library — Data Access Platform Client Library 1.0.0 documentation ...

Get your api key, download the dap tool, create a postgres database and you can get data for each table with a command like this:

dap syncdb --table courses --namespace canvas

[asergay]

The answer is not "use DAP." Of course you use DAP with CD2, and it's nice that you pointed our friend to the setup guide. But the question is where in the tables is there any actual data on LTI usage that tells you when and what external tool was used. I haven't found any magic combination. The LTI tables don't have it, or anything useful that I have found.

Any hints?

-The Interface Curmudgeon

[molshausen]

That's good to know. This is a lot for me to learn, and it may not be worth it if the data doesn't tell me anything useful.

[ColinMurtaugh]

To be fair, the original question was "I don't know how to retrieve data files" and "I'm trying to wrap my mind around how CD2 works in Postman"; I think my suggestion to use the DAP client tools (rather than bothering with Postman) was appropriate. 

[JamesSekcienski]

If you aren't already, I would recommend joining the Developers group as well.  Sometimes there is overlap in interest areas that are relevant to members of the Developers group and the Data and Analytics group.

In this case, I would recommend reviewing the recent blog post from @agschmid called CD2: An Example for Retrieving External Tools Used.  The blog post provides an overview of some of the ways in which they retrieve external tool related data from Canvas Data 2.

[agschmid]

I've written a lot of reports in CD2 now. The first thing I did was to create a Google sheet that listed the tables and fields in CD1, noting which ones I regularly used and then a column where to find the fields in CD2 and any special notes. For this I used the [PUBLIC]: CD1 to CD2 schema mapping, and I pulled approx 10 rows of data per table I thought I needed in CD2 just to get an idea of how the data looks. 

[agschmid]

Another very useful resource is Tables in Canvas.

Comparing information from the mapping document, Datasets documentation, and then actually pulling data from the tables also will show if there are undocumented changes for those tables.