Power Script to copy course template to course shells

[vanch_asha]

Our campuses want to copy a couurse template to the all the course shells created in the SIS import.  I thought I can use the Powershell script available in the unsupported GitHub Canvas site.  When I try to run the script, I get the message:

Starting copy of course .......
   ERROR: An error occured: System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WebRequestPSCmdlet.GetResponse(WebRequest request)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WebRequestPSCmdlet.ProcessRecord()

I want to know if anybody out there has tried this and got it to work.  I am trying to run the script in a windows 7 machine.

The PS version is 3.0.

This is the script if anybody wants to look at it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Script to copy course content from one existing course to another
# Version 0.1

#Script Requires PowerShell 3 or higher

# Input File Format is a CSV file with the following headers:
# source_id,destination_id

# Configuration Variables
$canvasURL = 'rsccd.test.instructure.com' # Canvas Instance URL do not include https:// (Example: canvas.instructure.com)
$token = '' # An API token for a user with adequate permission to assign observees -- I placed our access token within ''
$inputFile = 'c:\canvas\copycourses.csv' # Full Path to file to process
$useSISIDs = $false # Set to $true if your input file provides SIS IDs for both source and destination course IDs. Set to $false if your input file uses Canvas IDs for both source and destination course IDs.

#************ Do Not Edit Below This Line ************
#Check for file
if(!(Test-Path $inputFile)){
  Write-Host Input file does not exist!
  exit
}
$headers = @{"Authorization"="Bearer "+$token}
$in_data = Import-CSV($inputFile);
if($useSISIDs){
  $idPrefix = "sis_course_id:"
}else{
  $idPrefix = ""
}
forEach($item in $in_data){
  $fromCourse = $idPrefix + $item.source_id
  $toCourse = $idPrefix + $item.destination_id
  $url = 'https://'+$canvasURL+'/api/v1/courses/'+$toCourse+'/content_migrations'
  #Write-Host $url
  $postData = @{'migration_type'='course_copy_importer'; 'settings[source_course_id]'=$fromCourse}
    Write-Host Starting copy of course $fromCourse to course $toCourse
  Try {
    $results = (Invoke-WebRequest -Headers $headers -Method POST -Uri $url -Body $postData)
    Try{
      $jresults = ($results.Content | ConvertFrom-Json)
      if($jresults.id){
        Write-Host "   Started"
      }
    }Catch{
      Write-Host "   Unable to complete request. An error occured: " + $_.Exception
    }
  } Catch {
    $errorMsg = $_.Exception
    #$errorMsg
    $terminate = $false
    if($errorMsg.Response.StatusCode -eq 'unauthorized'){
      $msg = "The provided token is not from a user with sufficient permission to complete the action."
      $terminate = $true
    }elseif($errorMsg.Response.StatusCode.Value__ -eq "400"){
      $msg = "Unable to start copy."
      $terminate = $false
    }else{
      $msg = "An error occured: " + $errorMsg
      $terminate = $true
    }
    Write-Host "   ERROR:" $msg
    if($terminate){ break }
  }
}

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you,

Asha Vanch

Rancho Santiago Community College District

[Stef_retired]

 @vanch_asha , I've shared your question with the Canvas Developers‌ group to get their troubleshooting help. And in case you're not locked into the idea of using a Powershell script, have a look at , which describes how to use Postman to achieve the desired result.

[MattHanes]

Since you are getting a 404 error, I imagine that the URL is incorrect. Are you sending the SIS course ID or the Canvas course ID? I would bet it has something to do with that. It might be as simple as flipping that boolean $useSISIDs variable to true. 

Try uncommenting that line right below where the $url variable is set which will write out the url to the console. See if the URL looks right.

[vanch_asha]

Matt,

Yes, I agree with you the URL does not seem not correct.  I uncommented the Write-Host #url and this is where it points to:

https://rsccd.test.instructure.com/api/v1/accounts/1/courses/sis_course_id:SAC-Sandbox-Abraham-Ricke...migrations

I am not sure where it should point to in order to copy the template into the course shell. 

I tried flipping the boolean $useSISIDs to a Yes and it gives me the following error now: The remote server returned an error: (422) Unprocessable Entity. 

I am not sure what needs to be changed.

Thank you for your reply.

Asha

[MattHanes]

For clarification, is that URL before or after you swapped $useSISIDs?

[vanch_asha]

It was before and after I swapped $useSISIDs.  The error changed when I swapped the $useSISIDs to 422 - Unprocessable Error. 

Thank you,

Asha

[vanch_asha]

It was before and after I swapped $useSISIDs.  The error changed when I swapped the $useSISIDs to 422 - Unprocessable Entity (not Error). 

Thank you,

Asha

[MattHanes · Accepted solution]

So that means your CSV file contains the SIS_ID for a course in the destination id column. Could you verify that you are also using the SIS_ID in the source id column? My guess is that one column is SIS ID and the other is Canvas Course ID.

[vanch_asha]

You are awesome.  That was it.  So I checked one course (destination) had a SIS ID in Canvas and other course (source) did not have a SIS ID in Canvas.  Once I created the SIS ID for the course - source_id, the script worked.  Now I have to figure out how to do it for several course shells.

Thank you Matt-you made my day:)

[MattHanes]

Glad I could help! I was going to try to run the code myself to see if I could reproduce the error but I don't really know Powershell at all. So I'm glad we were able to debug it using just the 404 and 422 error codes!

[vanch_asha]

Thank you very much.  I really appreciate your help.

[Boekenoogen]

Ash, will you repost your script with the correct information and the multiple course shell, too.

Thanks

John Boekennogen

University of Oklahoma

[vanch_asha]

Here is the code that worked:

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Start of Powershell Script

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

# Script to copy course content from one existing course to another

# Version 0.1

#Script Requires PowerShell 3 or higher

# Input File Format is a CSV file with the following headers:

# source_id,destination_id

# Configuration Variables

$canvasURL = 'rsccd.test.instructure.com' # Canvas Instance URL do not include https:// (Example: canvas.instructure.com)

(this line was edited to remove token)

$inputFile = 'c:\canvas\copycourses.csv' # Full Path to file to process

$useSISIDs = $true # Set to $true if your input file provides SIS IDs for both source and destination course IDs. Set to $false if your input file uses Canvas IDs for both source and destination course IDs.

#************ Do Not Edit Below This Line ************

#Check for file

if(!(Test-Path $inputFile)){

Write-Host Input file does not exist!

exit

}

$headers = @{"Authorization"="Bearer "+$token}

$in_data = Import-CSV($inputFile);

if($useSISIDs){

$idPrefix = "sis_course_id:"

}else{

$idPrefix = ""

}

forEach($item in $in_data){

$fromCourse = $idPrefix + $item.source_id

$toCourse = $idPrefix + $item.destination_id

$url = 'https://'+$canvasURL+'/api/v1/courses/'+$toCourse+'/content_migrations'

Write-Host $url

$postData = @{'migration_type'='course_copy_importer'; 'settings[source_course_id]'=$fromCourse}

Write-Host Starting copy of course $fromCourse to course $toCourse

Try {

$results = (Invoke-WebRequest -Headers $headers -Method POST -Uri $url -Body $postData)

Try{

$jresults = ($results.Content | ConvertFrom-Json)

if($jresults.id){

Write-Host " Started"

}

}Catch{

Write-Host " Unable to complete request. An error occured: " + $_.Exception

}

} Catch {

$errorMsg = $_.Exception

#$errorMsg

$terminate = $false

if($errorMsg.Response.StatusCode -eq 'unauthorized'){

$msg = "The provided token is not from a user with sufficient permission to complete the action."

$terminate = $true

}elseif($errorMsg.Response.StatusCode.Value__ -eq "400"){

$msg = "Unable to start copy."

$terminate = $false

}else{

$msg = "An error occured: " + $errorMsg

$terminate = $true

}

Write-Host " ERROR:" $msg

if($terminate){ break }

}

Write-Host Done

}

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

End of Powershell Script

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

I wanted to copy the course template from course named "TC Template 1" to course named "SAC Sandbox" (empty course shell imported via SIS import).

I noticed the "SAC Sandbox" had a SIS ID but the "TC Template 1" did not have a SIS ID filled out in Canvas.  (You can see it when you go into the course and click on Settings )
The script  did not work even when I changed $useSISIDs to false .

Once I added a SIS ID ( "TCTemp1" ) for the "TC Template 1" course- this is what the courses looked like in Canvas.

TC Template 1  with SIS ID TCTemp1

SAC Sandbox with SAC-Sandbox

For testing the script with one course, I had my copycourses.csv filled with only one course:
This is what the csv file looked like:

source_id, destination_id

TCTemp1, SAC-Sandbox

I changed the Powershell Script set $useSISIDs to true and it worked. 

For multiple courses, the only change I had to do was create a csv file with all courses.

This is a sample:

here I have one template copied to several course shells created by SIS import.

source_id, destination_id
TCTemp1, SAC-Sandbox
TCTemp1, course1
TCTemp1, course2
TCTemp1, course3
TCTemp1, course4
TCTemp1, course5
TCTemp1, course6
TCTemp1, course7
TCTemp1, course8
TCTemp1, course9
TCTemp1, course10

(In this file the destination_id  column is populated by are SIS IDs of course shells ).

Let me know if there are questions.

Thank you,

Asha