Javascript Themes

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a tool that adds a custom button to the Canvas interface using JavaScript injected via a Canvas Theme. The goal is to allow teachers to calculate and update rubric scores for an assignment (e.g., entering an average mastery score into a rubric criterion using the Canvas API).

So far, I'm able to:

* Detect the correct page (e.g., Gradebook)

* Inject the custom UI

* Calculate mastery averages using GET requests (e.g., /outcome_rollups)

However, when I try to submit a PUT request to update grades using the rubric_assessment parameter (e.g., to /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/submissions/:user_id), the request fails with a 422 error. I assume this is because the Theme script is not authenticated with a valid access token.

My questions:

* Is it possible for a Theme-injected script to gain write access to Canvas APIs (e.g., grading endpoints)?

* If not, is the recommended approach to offload write access to a backend service or Chrome Extension that has access to a secure token?

I want to make sure I'm not overlooking an officially supported method before I shift my architecture to use a server or browser extension.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Julia_C · Accepted Answer

Thanks Chris! That seems to work!  What a relief.

SuggMullB6774 · Accepted Answer

Hello Julia, I'm Yolanda. I think that's awesome because every day, we all learn something new, and that's the best part about learning and creating new things today for ourselves and others. Congratulations.