New "Assign To" function incorrectly returning "Lock date cannot be before due date" for same-day "Until" dates

[jmohr1]

Canvas updated the "Assign To" functionality recently to include module items and pages. While a very welcome change, I am frequently encountering an issue where I cannot assign items with "Until" deadlines on the same day as the "Due Date" without jumping through an extensive number of hoops. This is because Canvas is reporting them as AFTER the due date and returning the error "Lock date cannot be before due date", despite that not being the case:

This appears to happen every time a new "Due Date" is created as Canvas assumes the "Due Date" is 11:59 PM by default (or w/e default time is set on the Canvas) or if a "Due Date" was saved earlier, it will use that. To add a same-day Until date to an assignment, I have to jump through some hoops:

1. Create and save the correct "Due Date".
2. Double check the date did not default to 11:59 PM. Click out of the interface seems to reset to the default time even if a time has already been entered.
3. Reload the page and re-open "Assign To" to refresh the "Due Date"
4. Add  the new "Assign To" time.
5. Reload the page and confirm all the times again.

Changing the default time to much earlier in the day mitigates this, as the "Assign To" time is less likely to occur before say, an 8 am default time than an 11:59 default time. I also frequently see the course default time re-insert itself into boxes I had thought I had correctly edited. I will submit a separate issue for that...

The behavior I expect to see is that I can edit all of the submission boxes at once, rather than having to update them in sequence.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @jmohr1,

This might look like a familiar reply, but it's the same scenario as the response I gave for your other recent report.

I would encourage you to report this issue to Canvas support so they can verify it, create an official bug report, and then add it to the queue to be fixed.  I have seen a known issue with setting times on the bulk date edit screen, but I'm not sure if this is related or not. The Instructure community here is great for users to get advice from other users, but it's unfortunately not an official place to submit bugs.

I can say that as a Canvas admin for a higher-ed institution, I have not had anyone at my institution report this, and we do have a lot of one-day assignments like this.  I wonder if the issue could actually be something local on your system, or maybe isolated to a certain type of assignment.  Just thinking out loud...

I hope this info helps!

-Chris

[jmohr1]

This might look like a familiar response 😂

You raise a good point that I can escalate this to my institution's support team. It could be something on our end that we can fix. I have tested this on a Mac and PC and both demonstrate this behavior, but both were also done using Chrome with the same Google profile, so the actual browsing environment could be the problem. I'll look into that.

As for reporting the issue to Canvas support... Unfortunately my institution does not have the "Report a Problem" link enabled that is detailed in the article you referenced. The article then goes on to say in that case, post it to the Canvas community. 

I can also add that I have only really tested this with assigning New Canvas Quizzes.