[ARCHIVED] Custom navigation with Redirect Tool causes issues in mobile app

[sgarcia1]

Hi everyone!

I have used the Redirect Tool (LTI) to customize the navigation menu displayed on the left side:

The main purpose was to fix some crucial "Pages" (for example, Study Program) to the navigation so they are always accesible for the students independently of where they are at any moment. So they would not need to go back and look for them in Modules. One of the things that I loved about this method was that theoretically it would translate automatically to the mobile app navigation.

But as long as Redirect uses static urls, when I try to navigate from the mobile app it embeds the content directly from the web version, which causes:

1. An extra step (with the message "Open in New Tab")

2. Visualization issues (since its displaying the web version of the page and not the native app page)

Is there a way to add custom navigation items which links to pages (or anchor links to specific Modules) that live inside the same Course, and which works in both the web version and the app?

I appreciate any help, thanks a lot!!

[rseilham]

Hi  @sgarcia1 ‌, 

There is no way to link from the redirect tool to open both on web and mobile how you described. It's really one or another. As you described, the main way the redirect tool works is great for web, but not ideal for mobile. I have a solution that works "pretty well" for mobile, but doesn't work at all for web. This solution requires linking to the Canvas Mobile API URL scheme "canvas-courses://" instead of http. 

For example, if I have a module on the web and it links to:

https://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/975694/pages/u2-introduction?module_item_id=8363193

I would instead use the following to open the module page in mobile:

canvas-courses://webcourses.ucf.edu/courses/975694/pages/u2-introduction?module_item_id=8363193

It looks like this in the app: 

This video is currently being processed. Please try again in a few minutes.

The link above works well on mobile and doesn't require the student to use the external browser (although they still need to click on the "open in new tab" button), but won't work on the web. 

I guess you can put both the web and mobile link in the course menu, but this isn't ideal either. 

Sorry I don't have a direct solution, but hopefully my explanation gives you some direction. 

Thanks,

Ryan

[sgarcia1]

Hi  @rseilham , thanks a lot for your answer, I appreciate it very much!

I have considered the "canvas-courses://" option, but as commented, is not ideal nor 100% responsive.

Since our students use both web and mobile version, I really hope the Canvas team would look into this and consider developing an easy "menu customizer" tool...

If anyone else have any ideas, they are very welcome!

[lepeskaj]

I have the same request as @sgarcia1 .  I'd love a way to include custom internal links in the left nav menu that work for both mobile and web.  

I'm hoping the Canvas team will consider this feature.

Thanks!