Improve Error Information when a duplicate link for a listing will be created

[fsantiago]

We have a lot of listings that might have the same name when we link the Canvas course to Catalog. Yesterday, I spent hours trying to get a listing tied and saved into Catalog and I only received a console message saying that there was an error and the listing could not be saved. I checked all the settings, my access to the catalog, I tried saving other listings with no issues until I tried and typed a different listing link. Then the program let me save.

Please improve the error messaging so we can know what the issue is.

Thanks

[greydon]

Hello @fsantiago 

That is odd behavior. Do you by chance of a screen shot or know what the error message said? It's possible it was a Camvas/Catalog error or a browser/network error. You checked other things and tried saving again and it just worked this time? That sounds more like browser behavior. If you have any information on the context of the error message, please let us know. 

[JenniferJWhite]

Hi, fsantiago - I just wanted to add that you can select the course listing by the Canvas course ID (not just the course name) when creating the listing in Catalog -- we have a lot of courses with same/similar names, too, so to be sure the correct one is being selected, it can be easier to enter the Canvas course ID in the search when creating the listing.

Not sure if that helps, but the issue of several courses with the same name resonated with me, so I thought I'd share this bit of info!

[fsantiago]

Update: They made a fix and now when I get the error there is a redlined message under the URL that reads "Path must be unique in each catalog" which at least let's me know it's a duplicate URL.

However, the problem of URL duplication still remains when you have two courses with the exact same name. I created two courses in Canvas with the same name "Catalog Same URL Error". I created a catalog listing for the first one just fine, but when I tried to create a list for the second one, Catalog gave it the same URL (https://zzzzzz.beta.catalog.instructure.com/courses/catalog-same-url-error). This is because Catalog uses the courses' names to create the URL. Therefore we are now always including either the term or year in the name of the courses to avoid this.

[hechla]

Hi @fsantiago - you can change the URL for the listing. Yes, Catalog uses the course's name by default, but the URL doesn't have to be just the Canvas course name. You can shorten it, elongate it, add a 1 or 2 to the end... whatever you'd like to distinguish it from another listing. Hope that helps. 

[fsantiago]

Yes, we fixed our issue that way, my original message was a request for them to provide an error message as to what the problem was (There wasn't any!). They have now fixed this.

[jsowalsk]

@fsantiago In addition to @hechla and @JenniferJWhite comments have you tried looking in these places to make sure the courses are attached to the right listing?