Navigation Tools

Canvas allows External Tools to be surfaced in a variety of navigation menus. The primary use case for using a navigation placement is to permit SSO to display a dashboard of some type.

Course Navigation Placement

External tools can be configured to appear as links in course-level navigation. If the tool is configured on an account, any course in that account or any of its sub-accounts will have the link added to the course navigation by default. If the tool is configured in a course, then the navigation will only appear in that course.

There are some additional parameters that can be set on course navigation tools to define default behavior. These settings allow the tool to be disabled by default or visible only to some types of users.

Configuring

Configuration of the Course Navigation Placement depends on the LTI version.

Via JSON (LTI 1.3)

{  
   "title":"Cool Course Navigation Tool ",
   "scopes":[],
   "extensions":[  
      {  
         "domain":"coursenavexample.com",
         "tool_id":"course-nav",
         "platform":"canvas.instructure.com",
         "settings":{  
            "text":"Cool Course Navigation Tool Text",
            "icon_url":"https://some.icon.url",
            "placements":[                 
               {  
                  "text":"Cool App Dashboard",
                  "enabled":true,
                  "icon_url":"https://some.icon.url",
                  "placement":"course_navigation",
                  "message_type":"LtiResourceLinkRequest",
                  "target_link_uri":"https://your.target_link_uri/your_dashboard"
               }
            ]
         }
      }
   ],
   "public_jwk":{  
      "kty":"RSA",
      "alg":"RS256",
      "e":"AQAB",
      "kid":"8f796169-0ac4-48a3-a202-fa4f3d814fcd",
      "n":"nZD7QWmIwj-3N_RZ1qJjX6CdibU87y2l02yMay4KunambalP9g0fU9yZLwLX9WYJINcXZDUf6QeZ-SSbblET-h8Q4OvfSQ7iuu0WqcvBGy8M0qoZ7I-NiChw8dyybMJHgpiP_AyxpCQnp3bQ6829kb3fopbb4cAkOilwVRBYPhRLboXma0cwcllJHPLvMp1oGa7Ad8osmmJhXhM9qdFFASg_OCQdPnYVzp8gOFeOGwlXfSFEgt5vgeU25E-ycUOREcnP7BnMUk7wpwYqlE537LWGOV5z_1Dqcqc9LmN-z4HmNV7b23QZW4_mzKIOY4IqjmnUGgLU9ycFj5YGDCts7Q",
      "use":"sig"
   },
   "description":"1.3 Test Tool",
   "target_link_uri":"https://your.target_link_uri",
   "oidc_initiation_url":"https://your.oidc_initiation_url"
}

Via XML (LTI 1.0-1.2)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<cartridge_basiclti_link xmlns="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p0"
    xmlns:blti = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0"
    xmlns:lticm ="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0"
    xmlns:lticp ="http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0"
    xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation = "http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticc_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imslticc_v1p0.xsd
    http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imsbasiclti_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imsbasiclti_v1p0.xsd
    http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticm_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imslticm_v1p0.xsd
    http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/imslticp_v1p0 http://www.imsglobal.org/xsd/lti/ltiv1p0/imslticp_v1p0.xsd">
    <blti:launch_url>https://example.com/attendance</blti:launch_url>
    <blti:title>Attendance</blti:title>
    <blti:description>Provides an interactive seating chart and attendance tool</blti:description>
    <blti:extensions platform="canvas.instructure.com">
      <lticm:property name="privacy_level">public</lticm:property>
      <lticm:options name="course_navigation">
        <lticm:property name="enabled">true</lticm:property>
      </lticm:options>
    </blti:extensions>
</cartridge_basiclti_link>

For more examples, refer to the Configuring documentation.

Advantages

The Course Navigation Placement is well suited for external apps that wish to be surfaced in Canvas without having to implement an LTI deep linking workflow. Once the tool is configured, no additional steps are required for users to see the launch point (unless the tool is disabled by default). It is well suited for tools that want to provide a simple SSO connection from Canvas to the external application. A dashboard type experience can be provided by apps offering services like:

Limitations/Challenges

Workflow

  1. After configuring a course navigation tool, the instructor or student navigates to their course in Canvas.
  2. Then, they click a link in the course navigation menu.
  3. The tool consumes the LTI launch and renders the application.

If the tool is disabled by default, the instructor must first organize the navigation tabs to surface the LTI launch point.

Settings

All of these settings are contained under "course_navigation"

Account navigation links

External tools can also be configured to appear as links in account-level navigation. If the tool is configured on an account, administrators in that account and any of its sub-accounts will see the link in their account navigation.

Configuring

Refer to the Course Navigation Placement's configuring section and simply replace course_navigation with account_navigation.

Advantages

Once configured, the account_navigation placement surfaces the LTI launch point in the account/sub-account navigation menu. This placement works well for:

Limitations/Challenges

Workflow

  1. After configuring an account navigation tool, the admin navigates to the account.
  2. Then, they click the LTI link in the account navigation menu.
  3. The tool consumes the LTI launch and renders the application.

Settings

All of these settings are contained under "account_navigation"

User navigation links

External tools can also be configured to appear as links in user-level navigation. If the tool is configured on a root account, all users logged in to that account will see the link in their profile navigation by default.

Configuring

Refer to the Course Navigation Placement's configuring section and simply replace course_navigation with user_navigation.

User navigation links will only work if they are configured at the root account level.

Advantages

Once configured, the user_navigation placement surfaces the LTI launch point in the users "Account" slide-out tray. This placement works well for:

Limitations/Challenges

Workflow

  1. After configuring, the user clicks on the "Account" icon from the global navigation side-bar.
  2. Then, they click the LTI link in the tray that slides out.
  3. The tool consumes the LTI launch and renders their application.

Settings

All of these settings are contained under "user_navigation"