Using Template Variables and Creating Your Own Custom Template Variables

Brett StephensSystems AnalystLearning Platforms TeamUniversity of Miami

Definitions

• Template Variable–@X@object.attribute@X@–Used in content items or portal modules

• Institutional Role–Community Engagement license–Student, Faculty, etc–Used for branding and availability of tabs & modules

The Challenge

• UM participating in NSSE

• Administered by Indiana University

• 5,342 students (freshmen and seniors) at UM selected to participate

• 15,000 users on UM’s Blackboard every week

What We Did

How?

Why a Custom Template Variable?

• Survey links specific to user

• No Authentication

•@X@object.attribute@X@ used where URL would be–@X@...@X@ replaced by output of java method

Institutional Role Usage

• The NSSE module was only displayed to survey participants (NSSE role)

• NSSE role assigned to users via SIS Flatfile upload

Module Availability based on Institutional Role(s)

Standard Template Variables

Standard Template Variables

• @X@object.attribute@X@

• Objects with template variables–User–Course–Content–Request–System

Standard Template Variables

–Locale (en_US)

–Role (system)

– Institution_role

–Secondary_institution_role

• @X@object.attribute@X@– @X@user.batch_uid@X@

• User–batch_uid

– id

–full_name

–pk_string (_751_1)

Standard Template Variables

• Course–batch_uid

– id

–course_name

–pk_string (_2702_1)

–url (/courses/1/BIL206/)

–Role (of user in course)

–Locale (en_US)

Standard Template Variables

• Content– id or pk_string (_37_1)–url

• Request– id– locale–Return (return url)

• System–site_id

Example Uses of Template Variables

Link to content item within description (banner image)

/webapps/blackboard/content/launchLink.jsp?course_id=

@X@course.pk_string@X@&

content_id=@X@content.pk_string@X@

Instead of

/webapps/blackboard/content/launchLink.jsp?

course_id=_355958_1&content_id=_6028740_1

Example Uses of Template Variables

Custom Course GreetingHello @X@user.fullname@X@, welcome to @X@course.course_name@X@

User_list_context_menu & course_list_context_menu links in B2s (in bb-manifest.xml)

<url value="userinfo.jsp?user_id=@X@target_user.username@X@"/><url value="courseinfo.jsp?course_id=@X@course.id@X@"/>

Defining Custom Template Variables in a Building Block

Resolution of a Template Variable

@X@umia_user.nsse_link@X@

CustomResolverGet user_id from context

Query umia_surveylinks table with user_id

return surveylink

Replace @X@umia_user.nsse_link@X@ with surveylink

Important Files in the B2

• Bb-manifest.xml

• Schema.xml

• Config.jsp

• CustomContextHandler.java

• CustomResolver.java

Bb-manifest.xml

<extension-defs>

<definition namespace="blackboard.platform">

<extension id="customContextHandler“

point="blackboard.platform.contextHandler"

class="edu.miami.nsse.CustomContextHandler"

singleton="false" />

</definition>

</extension-defs>

Bb-manifest.xml

<http-actions>

<config value="admin/config.jsp" />

</http-actions>

<schema-dirs>

<schema-dir dir-name="main" />

</schema-dirs>

Bb-manifest.xml

<permissions> <permission type="attribute"

name="user.authinfo" actions="get" />

<permission type="runtime"

name="db.connection.*" />

</permissions>

Schema.xml<table name="umia_surveylinks">

<column name="user_id" data-type="nvarchar(20)" nullable="false"/>

<column name="link" data-type="nvarchar(300)" nullable="false"/>

<primary-key name="umia_surveylinks_pk1" unique="true" comment="Unique primary key">

<columnref name="user_id" />

</primary-key>

</table>

Db Table Sample Data

USER_ID SURVEY_LINKusername1 http://fakesurveylink.com/3E01512username2 http://fakesurveylink.com/1E6867Fusername3 http://fakesurveylink.com/1F5B55D

Config.jsp

Config.jsp

• Get db connection from BbDatabase conn manager

• Tokenize and iterate through csv file– INSERT INTO umia_surveylinks (user_id, link) VALUES

(?, ?)–setString(1, user_id)–setString(2, surveylink)

• Catch SQLException– release connection

CustomContextHandler.java

public List<ContextEntry> resolveKeys(HttpServletRequest request, BbPersistenceManager unused) {

CustomResolver resolver = new CustomResolver(request);

Resolver.attachResolverToContext(resolver);

return new LinkedList<ContextEntry>();}

CustomResolver.java

public String[] getKeys() {

return (new String[] {"umia_user"});

}

CustomResolver.java

public String resolve(String method, String attributes[]) {

String varout = "";

ContextManagerFactory.getInstance()

.setContext(_request);

Context ctx = ContextManagerFactory.getInstance().getContext();

CustomResolver.java

String userid = ctx.getUser().getUserName();

Connection conn = null;

StringBuilder queryString = new StringBuilder("");

ConnectionManager cManager = null;

PreparedStatement selectQuery = null;

CustomResolver.java

if ("NSSE_link".equalsIgnoreCase(method)) {

try {

cManager = BbDatabase.getDefaultInstance()

.getConnectionManager();

conn = cManager.getConnection();

queryString.append("SELECT link

FROM umia_surveylinks ");

CustomResolver.java

queryString.append("WHERE user_id = ?");

selectQuery =

conn.prepareStatement(queryString.toString());

selectQuery.setString(1, userid);

ResultSet rSet = selectQuery.executeQuery();

while(rSet.next()){

varout = rSet.getString("link");

}

CustomResolver.java

selectQuery.close();

cManager.releaseConnection(conn);

} catch (java.sql.SQLException sE){

LogServiceFactory.getInstance().logError("NSSE SQL Exception:", sE);

} catch (ConnectionNotAvailableException cE) {

LogServiceFactory.getInstance().logError("NSSE Connection Exception:", cE); }

CustomResolver.java

finally {

if (conn != null) cManager.releaseConnection(conn);

}

return varout;

Outcome of Our Efforts

•Overall Participation: 27%

• 34% Completed Survey Through Blackboard Learn Link

Conclusion

• Why This Worked (as well as it did)–Simplicity–Logic detached from presentation

• What I Learned–Reuse database connections when possible–Close database connections!

Questions?

Slides and Resourses:brettstephens.com/devcon2015

Brett Stephensbrett@miami.edu