[ARCHIVED] Search for a section by SIS-ID

[18shumwaysam]

Hi,

I've been running into an error trying to find a section that doesn't seem to exist. At our institution, we give our courses the same SIS-ID as the section, (so sis_course_id is the same as sis_section_id). I went to rename a section's SIS ID that was incorrectly named so that it would match the course ID, and I got an error saying, "SIS ID is already in use". Well, I can't figure out how to track down that other section--when I search in the GUI, it doesn't show up in any course, and I don't see any way to find it through an API call because those require the ID for the section (not the same as the SIS ID). All I've got to go on is the SIS ID. Any ideas? 

Thanks!

[jsavage2]

The sections endpoint should accept sis_section_id as the search term as long as it's prefaced with "sis_section_id:", per https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.object_ids.html

"GET /api/v1/sections/sis_section_id:XXXXXXXXXX" *should* work. If it doesn't, you've found a bug.

[pklove · Accepted solution]

Not necessarily a bug.  The section may have been deleted.  In this case, it won't be found and if you try and add it back via the API you will get the already in use message.

In this case, to get it back, add enable_sis_reactivation=true to your API create POST.

Or you can create a SIS import file with status active.

[tdelillo]

Maybe a shot in the dark, but have you tried running a Sections CSV in the Provisioning Report? And using the "Include Deleted Objects" setting, in case, as pklove‌ pointed out, that section was deleted?

[18shumwaysam]

 @jsavage2 ‌ Thanks, that's very helpful. I wasn't able to find the section because it had been deleted like pklove‌ said, and I couldn't use the enable_sis_reactivation=true to get it to work, but running an SIS import file seemed to do the trick, and it finally showed up. Thanks all! Great help!