Admin Notes
Admin Tips and Tricks
Tip 1 - quicker searchs
Use Javascript to create custom searches, so you don't have to wait for /accounts/1 to load and say "There are too many courses to show" See sample source code below
Tip 2 - quick links to courses
Build in Canvas searches to your list of courses. For example, see the URLs listed in the CRN column of: http://quickstream.biola.edu/distancelearning/201440_Summer/Classes.html
Tip 3 - expand box with search results
User a "userscript" to edit the HTML on the fly for URLs like: https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/users/1154 or like https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/courses?course%5Bname%5D=CHEM105
Canvas Launcher
I use this multiple times a day. Rather than waiting for the familiar "there are too many courses to show" message, I just start with this little web page. I don't want to see all the courses anyway, I just want to use the search box on the right. I finally got tired of waiting for that page to load, since I search for courses multiple times a day, I made this web page that dynamically creates the right search string.
Instead of going to "Admin" then "Courses" to find a course, use this HTML, below. Here are the steps to use it:
- Copy code below, Paste it in to a text file
- Edit the highlighted parts (in yellow) to fit your own URLs
- Change the term numbers (highlighted in blue) to match your terms, and change term names (green)
- You'll need to find the internal Canvas IDs for some current terms
- Go to "Admin" then "Courses" and view the source
- Search for "All Terms" then look at the value numbers of the lines following
- Save the text file to your computer, with a name that ends in HTML (like "CanvasLauncher.html")
- Open the file in a browser
- Bookmark it.
Copy and Paste this code:
<!doctype html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Quick Admin Canvas Search</title> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="http://icons.iconseeker.com/png/fullsize/colored-developers-button/question-green.png" /> </head> <body OnLoad="document.form1.crn.focus();"> <h2>Quick Search Admin Canvas</h2> <form id="form1" name="form1" method="post"> <p> <input type="text" name="textfield" id="crn" onchange="make_URL()"> CRN/Course Name </p> <p id="link1b"><a href="https://canvas.biola.edu/">LINK SPRING 2016 ONLY</a></p> <p id="link1c"><a href="https://canvas.biola.edu/">LINK SUMMER 2016 ONLY</a></p> <p id="link1d"><a href="https://canvas.biola.edu/">LINK FALL 2016 ONLY</a></p> <p id="link1"><a href="https://canvas.biola.edu/">LINK</a></ br> <p> <input type="text" name="textfield2" id="user" onchange="make_URL()"> User Name</p> <p id="link2"><a href="https://canvas.biola.edu/">LINK_2_HERE</a></p> </form> <script> function make_URL() { var base_crn_URL = "https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/courses?course%5Bname%5D="; var base_crn_URLb = "https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/courses?enrollment_term_id=66&course%5Bname%5D="; var base_crn_URLc = "https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/courses?enrollment_term_id=56&course%5Bname%5D="; var base_crn_URLd = "https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/courses?enrollment_term_id=67&course%5Bname%5D="; var base_user_URL = "https://canvas.biola.edu/accounts/1/users?utf8=%E2%9C%93&user%5Bname%5D="; var crn = document.getElementById("crn").value; var user = document.getElementById("user").value; var url1 = base_crn_URL + crn; var url1b = base_crn_URLb + crn; var url1c = base_crn_URLc + crn; var url1d = base_crn_URLd + crn; var url2 = base_user_URL + user; var addterm = ""; document.getElementById("link1").innerHTML = '<a href="' + url1 + '">' + crn +'</a>'; document.getElementById("link1b").innerHTML = '<a href="' + url1b + '">' + crn +' (Spring 2015 only)</a>'; document.getElementById("link1c").innerHTML = '<a href="' + url1c + '">' + crn +' (Summer 2015 only)</a>'; document.getElementById("link1d").innerHTML = '<a href="' + url1d + '">' + crn +' (Fall 2015 only)</a>'; document.getElementById("link2").innerHTML = '<a href="' + url2 + '">' + url2 +'</a>'; document.getElementById("link1").focus(); } </script> </body> </html>