BBDN-LaunchExternal

This project is set up to demonstrate the use of LTI 1.3 in Python to replace launch_external.jsp functionality.

To configure:

configs/lti.json and configs/private.key

This document shows how to configure the PyLTI1.3 library, which is done through the configsdirectory.

ConfigTemplate.py

Copy ConfigTemplate.py to Config.py and fill in your information:

config = {
    "verify_certs" : "True",
    "learn_rest_url" : "YOURLEARNSERVERNOHTTPS",
    "learn_rest_key" : "YOURLEARNRESTKEY",
    "learn_rest_secret" : "YOURLEARNRESTSECRET",
    "app_url" : "YOURAPPURLWITHHTTPS"
}

• learn_rest_url should be set to your learn instances domain. Be sure to avoid the request scheme, i.e. mylearn.blackboard.edu
• app_url should be set to the FQDN of your application, i.e. https://myapp.herokuapp.com

lti-template.json

Copy lti-template.json to lti.json and fill in your information. Example:

{
    "https://blackboard.com": {
        "client_id": "fffa0f2c-e86f-46fb-a330-9bc94f994ab7",
        "auth_login_url": "https://developer.blackboard.com/api/v1/gateway/oidcauth",
        "auth_token_url": "https://developer.blackboard.com/api/v1/gateway/oauth2/jwttoken",
        "key_set_url": "https://developer.blackboard.com/api/v1/management/applications/fffa0f2c-e86f-46fb-a330-9bc94f994ab7/jwks.json",
        "key_set": null,
        "private_key_file": "private.key",
        "deployment_ids": ["8848b618-14e0-4965-89c1-42d4be72ec48"]
    }
}

To Run

First run pip install -r requirements.txt and then python app.py or if you are using heroku, just check in the code to your dyno.

OR Use the included Dockerfile and the following. The assumption is that you have Docker desktop an ngrok on your development system.

Start your ngrok tunnel. Example: $ ngrok http -region=us -hostname=launchexternal.ngrok.io 5000 Build the Docker image. Note the period at the end. $ docker build -t launch-external:0.1 . Now run it. From the terminal, type: $ docker run -p 5000:5000 --rm --name LaunchExternal launch-external:0.1

On your Learn server

Register the LTI 1.3 tool with your client_id. Create a "Course content tool" managed placment for the URL you want to launch to with a custom parameter external_url= to where you want to launch. Example:

    Label: Foodies With User Name
    Handle: foodieswithusername
    Course content tool
    Target Link URI: https://launchexternal.ngrok.io/launch/
    Custom Parameters: external_url=https://www.foodies.com?user%3D@[email protected]@X@

Note that the url will be escaped by Learn to be:external_url=https://www.foodies.com?user=@[email protected]@X@ You need to input the = sign after user as %3D, because Learn will not accept an = there as it thinks that is another custom parameter.

You can do the same to create custom launches from system tool or administration tool links. You can use any of the @X@ template variables described here in your launch: https://docs.blackboard.com/learn/b2/advanced/dynamic-rendering-with-template-variables