Is there any sample data for a Dev environment to develop a plugin?

[griffindodd]

Hello All,

New to Canvas. I've been asked to develop some 3rd party plugins for Canvas so I will need to set up a dev environment along with a sample database to test against. I have two questions...

1.) Will the web version of Canvas allow me to test my plugins as I develop them?

2.) Is there anywhere I could find a sample database of students, staff, parents etc. to simulate a generic environment?

Many thanks for any help offered.

Joel

[robotcars · Accepted solution]

Hi  @griffindodd ,

The FFT looks like it allows LTI's if you register, but I defer to  @scottdennis ‌, stefaniesanders‌.

Free-for-Teacher Account FAQ 

The only way to get data from FFT would be the API, and I suspect it would be limited to the teacher role of your course.

A common solution for 3rd party developers is to install Canvas locally from source.

GitHub - instructure/canvas-lms: The open LMS by Instructure, Inc. 

Another option would be to contact Instructure and purchase an ACME or Sandbox environment.

[scottdennis]

Hi Joel,

I'm not aware of a database of user data that you could use to simulate a populated instance.  Robert is correct that you can access your own personal key in FFT and do API calls that affect your user/courses only.

[griffindodd]

Thanks for the feedback!

If I install locally to create a dev environment, can I do that with having to buy licenses?

[robotcars]

There's no license fee when using the source to develop.

Home · instructure/canvas-lms Wiki · GitHub 

Quick Start · instructure/canvas-lms Wiki · GitHub 

There's also a mailing list and IRC channel for support.

Canvas Dev & Friends - Instructure Tech Blog