1Working with Courses in Canvas

Overview

The following operations allow you to work with courses. Click an operation name to see details on how to use it.

For a sample proxy service that illustrates how to work with courses, see Sample configuration.

Operation	Description
1Working with Courses in Canvas	Creates a new course for the teacher.
1Working with Courses in Canvas	Retrieves a course by ID.
1Working with Courses in Canvas	Retrieves a user belonging to a course.
1Working with Courses in Canvas	Retrieves courses created by the teacher.
1Working with Courses in Canvas	Retrieves all the users belonging to a course.
1Working with Courses in Canvas	Enrolls a user for a course.

Operation details

This section provides further details on the operations related to courses.

Creating a course

The createCourse operation creates a new course for the teacher.

createCourse

<canvas.createCourse>
	<accountId>{$ctx:accountId}</accountId>
    <name>{$ctx:name}</name>
    <code>{$ctx:code}</code>
    <startAt>{$ctx:startAt}</startAt>
    <endAt>{$ctx:endAt}</endAt>
    <license>{$ctx:license}</license>
    <isPublic>{$ctx:isPublic}</isPublic>
    <publicSyllabus>{$ctx:publicSyllabus}</publicSyllabus>
    <publicDescription>{$ctx:publicDescription}</publicDescription>
    <allowStudentWikiEdits>{$ctx:allowStudentWikiEdits}</allowStudentWikiEdits>
    <allowWikiComments>{$ctx:allowWikiComments}</allowWikiComments>
    <allowStudentForumAttachments>{$ctx:allowStudentForumAttachments}</allowStudentForumAttachments>
    <openEnrollment>{$ctx:openEnrollment}</openEnrollment>
    <selfEnrollment>{$ctx:selfEnrollment}</selfEnrollment>
    <restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates>{$ctx:restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates}</restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates>
    <termId>{$ctx:termId}</termId>
    <sisCourseId>{$ctx:sisCourseId}</sisCourseId>
    <integrationId>{$ctx:integrationId}</integrationId>
    <hideFinalGrades>{$ctx:hideFinalGrades}</hideFinalGrades>
    <applyAssignmentGroupWeights>{$ctx:applyAssignmentGroupWeights}</applyAssignmentGroupWeights>
    <gradingStandardId>{$ctx:gradingStandardId}</gradingStandardId>
    <syllabusBody>{$ctx:syllabusBody}</syllabusBody>
    <enrollMe>{$ctx:enrollMe}</enrollMe>
	<offer>{$ctx:offer}</offer>
</canvas.createCourse>

Properties

accountId: The ID of the Canvas admin account to which the course belongs.
name: The name of the course. If omitted, the course is named "Unnamed Course".
code: The course code.
startAt: The course start date in the ISO8601 format, e.g., 2011-01-01T01:00Z.
endAt: The course end date in the ISO8601 format, e.g., 2011-01-01T01:00Z.
license: The name of the licensing used when publishing the course.
isPublic: Whether the course is public or private in Canvas.
publicSyllabus: Sets to "true" to make the course syllabus public.
publicDescription: A publicly visible description of the course.
allowStudentWikiEdits: If "true", allows students to modify the course wiki.
allowWikiComments: If "true", allows course members to comment on wiki pages.
allowStudentForumAttachments: If "true", allows students to attach files to forum posts.
openEnrollment: Set to "true" if the course is "open enrollment".
selfEnrollment: Set to "true" if the course is "self enrollment".
restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates: Set to "true" to restrict user enrollments to the start and end dates of the course.
termId: The unique ID of the term to create a course.
sisCourseId: The unique SIS identifier.
integrationId: The unique integration identifier.
hideFinalGrades: If set to "true", hides the totals in the student grades summary.
applyAssignmentGroupWeights: Set to "true" to weight final grade based on assignment groups percentages.
gradingStandardId: The grading standard ID to set for the course. If no value is provided for this argument, the current grading standard is un-set from this course.
syllabusBody: The syllabus body for the course.
enrollMe: Set to "true" to enroll the current user as the teacher.
offer: If set to "true", makes the course available to students immediately.

Sample request

Following is a sample REST/JSON request that can be handled by the createCourse operation.

Sample Request for createCourse

{
    "publicSyllabus": true,
    "sisCourseId": "",
    "accountId": "81259",
    "accessToken": "7~UnsR6KCrYoap7KyAYMfNvANQeD59OinOIRp0S82FU7z1o5dz7o0VIBqNl6afoVBO",
    "allowWikiComments": true,
    "gradingStandardId": "",
    "endAt": "2014-11-05T09:00Z",
    "allowStudentForumAttachments": "",
    "termId": "",
    "name": "Canvas EJB Course 1.0",
    "enrollMe": true,
    "license": "public_domain",
    "hideFinalGrades": false,
    "allowStudentWikiEdits": true,
    "applyAssignmentGroupWeights": true,
    "code": "Can-EJB-1.0",
    "isPublic": true,
    "offer": true,
    "publicDescription": "This is a public description.",
    "openEnrollment": true,
    "apiUrl": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
    "integrationId": "",
    "startAt": "2014-11-04T09:00Z",
    "syllabusBody": "<p>This is the Syllabus body</p>",
    "restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates": "",
    "selfEnrollment": true
}

Retrieving a course

The getCourse operation retrieves a course by ID.

getCourse

<canvas.getCourse>
    <accountId>{$ctx:accountId}</accountId>
    <courseId>{$ctx:courseId}</courseId>
	<include>{$ctx:include}</include>
</canvas.getCourse>

Properties

accountId: The ID of the Canvas admin account to which the course belongs.
courseId: The ID of the course whose users should be listed.
include: Includes optional details of the course that is being retrieved.

Sample request

Following is a sample REST/JSON request that can be handled by the getCourse operation.

Sample Request for getCourse

{
    "accountId": "81259",
    "accessToken": "7~UnsR6KCrYoap7KyAYMfNvANQeD59OinOIRp0S82FU7z1o5dz7o0VIBqNl6afoVBO",
    "apiUrl": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
    "courseId": "893240",
    "include": "all_courses,permissions"
}

Retrieving a user belonging to a course

The getCourseUser operation retrieves a user belonging to a course by ID.

getCourseUser

<canvas.getCourseUser>
    <courseId>{$ctx:courseId}</courseId>
	<userId>{$ctx:userId}</userId>
</canvas.getCourseUser>

Properties

courseId: The ID of the course whose user should be retrieved.
userId: The ID of the user to be retrieved.

Sample request

Following is a sample REST/JSON request that can be handled by the getCourseUser operation.

Sample Request for getCourseUser

{
    "accessToken": "7~UnsR6KCrYoap7KyAYMfNvANQeD59OinOIRp0S82FU7z1o5dz7o0VIBqNl6afoVBO",
    "userId": "4213615",
    "apiUrl": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
    "courseId": "897098"
}

Retrieving courses

The listCourses operation retrieves a list of active courses for the current user.

listCourses

<canvas.listCourses>
	<enrollmentType>{$ctx:enrollmentType}</enrollmentType>
    <enrollmentRole>{$ctx:enrollmentRole}</enrollmentRole>
    <include>{$ctx:include}</include>
    <state>{$ctx:state}</state>
    <perPage>{$ctx:perPage}</perPage>
	<page>{$ctx:page}</page>
</canvas.listCourses>

Properties

enrollmentType: When set, only return courses where the user is enrolled as this type. This argument is ignored if enrollment_role is given.
enrollmentRole: When set, only return courses where the user is enrolled with the specified course-level role.
include: Include optional details of each course being listed. The values that can be passed are needs_grading_count, syllabus_body, total_scores, term, course progress, section. For further information, see https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/courses.html#method.courses.index.
state: State(s) of the courses to be listed.
perPage: The number of results to return per page. For more information on pagination, see https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.pagination.html.
page: Number of the page to return.

Sample request

Following is a sample REST/JSON request that can be handled by the listCourses operation.

Sample Request for listCourses

{
    "accessToken": "7~UnsR6KCrYoap7KyAYMfNvANQeD59OinOIRp0S82FU7z1o5dz7o0VIBqNl6afoVBO",
    "enrollmentRole": "TeacherEnrollment",
    "state": "available",
    "apiUrl": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
    "enrollmentType": "teacher",
    "perPage": "3",
    "page": "1",
    "include": "needs_grading_count,syllabus_body,total_scores,term,course_progress,sections"
}

Retrieving all users

The listCourseUsers operation retrieves all users belonging to a course.

listCourseUsers

<canvas.listCourseUsers>
    <searchTerm>{$ctx:searchTerm}</searchTerm>
    <userId>{$ctx:userId}</userId>
    <enrollmentType>{$ctx:enrollmentType}</enrollmentType>
    <enrollmentRole>{$ctx:enrollmentRole}</enrollmentRole>
    <include>{$ctx:include}</include>
    <page>{$ctx:page}</page>
    <perPage>{$ctx:perPage}</perPage>
	<courseId>{$ctx:courseId}</courseId>
</canvas.listCourseUsers>

Properties

searchTerm: The partial name or full ID of the users to match and return in the results list.
userId: If included, queries the user, and if the user is part of the users set, modifies the page parameter so that the page containing user_id is returned.
enrollmentType: When set, only returns users where the user is enrolled as this type. This argument is ignored if enrollment_role is given.
enrollmentRole: When set, only returns users enrolled with the specified course-level role.
include: Includes optional details of each user being listed.
page: The number of the page to return. For more information on pagination, see https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.pagination.html.
perPage: The number of results to return per page.
courseId: The ID of the course whose users should be listed.

Sample request

Following is a sample REST/JSON request that can be handled by the listCourseUsers operation.

Sample Request for listCourseUsers

{
    "accessToken": "7~UnsR6KCrYoap7KyAYMfNvANQeD59OinOIRp0S82FU7z1o5dz7o0VIBqNl6afoVBO",
    "searchTerm": "",
    "enrollmentRole": "",
    "userId": "",
    "apiUrl": "https://canvas.instructure.com",
    "enrollmentType": "",
    "perPage": "5",
    "page": "1",
    "courseId": "897098",
    "include": "email,enrollments,locked,avatar_url,test_student"
}

Enrolling a user

The enrollUser operation enrolls a user for a course in Canvas.

enrollUser

<canvas.enrollUser>
    <courseSectionId>{$ctx:courseSectionId}</courseSectionId>
    <limitPrivilegesToCourseSection>{$ctx:limitPrivilegesToCourseSection}</limitPrivilegesToCourseSection>
    <enrollmentState>{$ctx:enrollmentState}</enrollmentState>
    <selfEnrollmentCode>{$ctx:selfEnrollmentCode}</selfEnrollmentCode>
    <enrollmentRole>{$ctx:enrollmentRole}</enrollmentRole>
    <enrollmentType>{$ctx:enrollmentType}</enrollmentType>
    <courseId>{$ctx:courseId}</courseId>
    <userId>{$ctx:userId}</userId>
	<notify>{$ctx:notify}</notify>
</canvas.enrollUser>

Properties

courseSectionId: The ID of the course section to enroll the student to.
limitPrivilegesToCourseSection: If a teacher or TA enrollment, restricts the teacher/TA to the section given by course_section_id.
enrollmentState: If set to "active", immediately enrolls the student to the course. Otherwise, the student will be required to accept a course invitation. Default: "invited".
selfEnrollmentCode: If the current user is not allowed to manage enrollments in this course, but the course allows self-enrollment, allows the user to self-enroll as a student in the default section by passing in a valid code.
enrollmentRole: Assigns a custom course-level role to the user.
enrollmentType: Enrolls the user as a student, teacher, TA, observer, or designer.
courseId: The ID of the course to which the user is being enrolled.
userId: The ID of the user to be enrolled in the course.
notify: If "true", sends a notification to the enrolled user. Notifications are not sent by default.

Sample request

Following is a sample REST/JSON request that can be handled by the enrollUser operation.

Sample Request for enrollUser

{
	"apiUrl":"https://orion-city.acme.instructure.com",
    "accessToken":"51451~fwK08jirhrTKFiuyua8H3rpFVQtZJu7D7rf3mi7pecuHxMglbY24XOxQ42UWTvam",
	"courseSectionId":"",
	"limitPrivilegesToCourseSection":true,
	"enrollmentState":"",
	"selfEnrollmentCode":"",
	"enrollmentRole":"",
	"enrollmentType":"StudentEnrollment",
	"courseId":"96",
	"userId":"14",
	"notify":true
}

Sample configuration

Following is a sample proxy service that illustrates how to connect to Canvas with the init operation and use the createCourse operation. The sample request for this proxy can be found in the createCourse sample request. You can use this sample as a template for using other operations in this category.

Sample Proxy

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<proxy name="canvas_createCourse" startOnLoad="true" statistics="disable" trace="disable" transports="https,http" xmlns="http://ws.apache.org/ns/synapse">
    <target>
        <inSequence onError="faultHandlerSeq">
            <property name="apiUrl" expression="json-eval($.apiUrl)"/>
            <property name="accessToken" expression="json-eval($.accessToken)"/>
            <property name="accountId" expression="json-eval($.accountId)"/>
            <property name="name" expression="json-eval($.name)"/>
            <property name="code" expression="json-eval($.code)"/>
            <property name="startAt" expression="json-eval($.startAt)"/>
            <property name="endAt" expression="json-eval($.endAt)"/>
            <property name="license" expression="json-eval($.license)"/>
            <property name="isPublic" expression="json-eval($.isPublic)"/>
            <property name="publicSyllabus" expression="json-eval($.publicSyllabus)"/>
            <property name="publicDescription" expression="json-eval($.publicDescription)"/>
            <property name="allowStudentWikiEdits" expression="json-eval($.allowStudentWikiEdits)"/>
            <property name="allowWikiComments" expression="json-eval($.allowWikiComments)"/>
            <property name="allowStudentForumAttachments" expression="json-eval($.allowStudentForumAttachments)"/>
            <property name="openEnrollment" expression="json-eval($.openEnrollment)"/>
            <property name="selfEnrollment" expression="json-eval($.selfEnrollment)"/>
            <property name="restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates" expression="json-eval($.restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates)"/>
            <property name="termId" expression="json-eval($.termId)"/>
            <property name="sisCourseId" expression="json-eval($.sisCourseId)"/>
            <property name="integrationId" expression="json-eval($.integrationId)"/>
            <property name="hideFinalGrades" expression="json-eval($.hideFinalGrades)"/>
            <property name="applyAssignmentGroupWeights" expression="json-eval($.applyAssignmentGroupWeights)"/>
            <property name="gradingStandardId" expression="json-eval($.gradingStandardId)"/>
            <property name="syllabusBody" expression="json-eval($.syllabusBody)"/>
            <property name="enrollMe" expression="json-eval($.enrollMe)"/>
            <property name="offer" expression="json-eval($.offer)"/>
            <canvas.init>
                <apiUrl>{$ctx:apiUrl}</apiUrl>
                <accessToken>{$ctx:accessToken}</accessToken>
            </canvas.init>
            <canvas.createCourse>
                <accountId>{$ctx:accountId}</accountId>
                <name>{$ctx:name}</name>
                <code>{$ctx:code}</code>
                <startAt>{$ctx:startAt}</startAt>
                <endAt>{$ctx:endAt}</endAt>
                <license>{$ctx:license}</license>
                <isPublic>{$ctx:isPublic}</isPublic>
                <publicSyllabus>{$ctx:publicSyllabus}</publicSyllabus>
                <publicDescription>{$ctx:publicDescription}</publicDescription>
                <allowStudentWikiEdits>{$ctx:allowStudentWikiEdits}</allowStudentWikiEdits>
                <allowWikiComments>{$ctx:allowWikiComments}</allowWikiComments>
                <allowStudentForumAttachments>{$ctx:allowStudentForumAttachments}</allowStudentForumAttachments>
                <openEnrollment>{$ctx:openEnrollment}</openEnrollment>
                <selfEnrollment>{$ctx:selfEnrollment}</selfEnrollment>
                <restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates>{$ctx:restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates}</restrictEnrollmentsToCourseDates>
                <termId>{$ctx:termId}</termId>
                <sisCourseId>{$ctx:sisCourseId}</sisCourseId>
                <integrationId>{$ctx:integrationId}</integrationId>
                <hideFinalGrades>{$ctx:hideFinalGrades}</hideFinalGrades>
                <applyAssignmentGroupWeights>{$ctx:applyAssignmentGroupWeights}</applyAssignmentGroupWeights>
                <gradingStandardId>{$ctx:gradingStandardId}</gradingStandardId>
                <syllabusBody>{$ctx:syllabusBody}</syllabusBody>
                <enrollMe>{$ctx:enrollMe}</enrollMe>
                <offer>{$ctx:offer}</offer>
            </canvas.createCourse>
            <respond/>
        </inSequence>
        <outSequence>
            <send/>
        </outSequence>
    </target>
    <description/>
</proxy>

Overview

Operation details

Creating a course

Properties

Sample request

Related Canvas documentation

Retrieving a course

Properties

Sample request

Related Canvas documentation

Retrieving a user belonging to a course

Properties

Sample request

Related Canvas documentation

Retrieving courses

Properties

Sample request

Related Canvas documentation

Retrieving all users

Properties

Sample request

Related Canvas documentation

Enrolling a user

Properties

Sample request

Related Canvas documentation

Sample configuration