Text entry assignment should not allow blank submission

0 Likes
(3)

Normally, when an instructor has created a text entry assignment type, Canvas does not allow a student to submit a blank response:

Screen Shot 2021-08-02 at 4.22.35 PM.pngHowever, it is possible to submit a blank entry: To do so, go to Insert > Document > Upload Document.

Before the file attachment has finished uploading, click "Submit" and your response will go through.

From the Speedgrader UI, no response is visible:

Screen Shot 2021-08-02 at 4.28.51 PM.png

But, if you download submissions, you can see evidence that you tried to attach a file:

<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
  <title>Midterm : Student Name</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Midterm : Student Name</h1>
<div style="width: 600px; margin: 20px auto; border: 1px solid #888; padding: 20px;">
  <p><span style="width: 30rem; height: 1rem; vertical-align: middle;" aria-label="Loading" data-placeholder-for="file_attachment_name.pdf">  </span></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>

 

It seems that this placeholder html is satisfying the requirement that the text field cannot be empty.

7 Comments
Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: Moderating

@milesl 

Thanks for sharing this suggestion. Before we move it forward for broader conversation in this forum, would you confirm that you've already asked Canvas Support to inspect the behavior? If you have, please provide the case number—and if you haven't yet, please do that first so our engineering team can review.

milesl
Community Contributor

Hi @Stef_retired--I just created a support case for this issue (07852123).

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Thanks so much, @milesl . We'll await the results of their evaluation.

milesl
Community Contributor

@Stef_retired Canvas support said "I have taken a look into your issue and can see this is a standard issue and think your action to add it to the Canvas features site is the correct path."

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

@milesl  We've asked a support supervisor to review the case and she agrees that this is an issue for our engineers. She's going to escalate the case now, so henceforth you will receive  notifications of progress directly through the case. We're going to archive this idea as it is now in the hands of support.

Thanks for your patience in working with us on this!

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: Archived
 
milesl
Community Contributor

Great, thanks @Stef_retired !