Teacher

I really like this feature, but one thing I would like to see is the ability for these to be used on a course landing page. Thanks!

I have created a variable at a sub-domain level using the edit xml option.

It contains a URL to be used in that sub domain.

These samples are using fake data.

<variables>
    <variable name="snaphost">www.snaphost1.org/</variable>
  </variables>

This variable is then used in a course activity as part of the Website URL to replace a portion of the URL depending upon the logged in user's sub-domain's variable setting.

Example: Content website entered in the Course Activity is

https://$www.somesite-a.com$search/query/id:l360_67963

A set of Post parameters are used to pass authentication values.

POST Name     POST Value

USERNAME     $USERNAME$

Can I have a user enrolled and logged into sub domain A (which has the $snaphost$ value set to www.somesite-a.com) take a course in sub domain B (which has the $snaphost$ value set to www.somesite-b.com) work so that it replaces the $snaphost$ value with that of the the logged-in user's home sub-domain $snaphost? value. When I set the $snaphost$ at the subdomain's Admin screen, it propagates down to the course that uses the variable just fine.

I agree this is a great feature. It would also be nice to be able to add the replacement variables to feedback templates.

I would like to be able to use the Username replacement variable at the sub-domain level so that I can use it in external URLS.

USERNAME is not listed as one of the replacement variables allowed.

I can use it at a course level by adding a Post Parameter and Value to an Activity 

and adding it as a Course Variable.

USERNAME $USERNAME$

 webmax.oneida-boces.org/index.php/snap/login/sso_search_refer_sm/search/username/$USERNAME$/query

I even included it in a domain landing page and it does not work.

Is there a way to get the Username variable to work at the sub-domain level for admins?

Replacement variables for custom Main Menu entries
Custom Main Menu URLs allow for dynamic replacement variables that automatically replace a variable code (options listed below) with a desired value drawn from user, course, and/or domain information.

Use any of the following replacement variables by enclosing them with double curly brackets (e.g., {{TOKEN}}, {{USERID}}, {{ADMINDOMAINID}}):

TOKEN: The xLi authentication token for the currently logged in user. When using this variable, the URL must be secure, starting with https.
USERID: The ID for the currently logged in user.
USERDOMAINID: The domain ID for the currently logged in user.
USERSPACE: The userspace for the customization domain, or the domain userspace visible in the top level URL.
ENROLLMENTID: The ID of the currently selected enrollment.
COURSEID: The ID of the course associated with the currently selected enrollment.
ADMINDOMAINID: The currently selected domain ID in the admin app.
QUERY-<param>: The value of the top page's query parameter with the case-sensitive name of <param>. The application only replaces this variable if external is not set to true.

Hello Aileen,

The username variable isn't currently supported as a replacement variable at the domain level. We'll pass along your request for consideration in discussions on future updates to the list of domain replacement variables.

Is it possible to use replacement variables within content templates? We're exploring the creation of templates to make it easy to build content up quickly, and I tried putting some of these variables into the template, but when I preview the pages created from the templates, it just displays the code for the variable instead of the value of the variable.

I tried creating activities that were not tied to the template and using variables in those, and they displayed fine. Is there something about the templates that "breaks" the use of variables?

Hey Shaun, I think you may be reading my mind.

I will be publishing a video (soon) showing some tips about Content Templates. Variables do not natively get replaced in a course activity that is using a course resource. These course resources are loaded in an `iframe` in Buzz and can contain JavaScript (JS) or other code that we do not want to crawl against. A main benefit of these course resources is that they stay true to how they were developed and designed without Buzz interfering. Well, replacing a variable could be some interference.

That said, one of the tips I will be sharing is how you can use variables in your Content Template. However, it requires that the developer chooses how and when they are used.

Let me give you some ideas of how I accomplished this, all using pure JS and Buzz-supported features.

1. Identify which variables you want.

Let's say we want to use the ITEMNAME and COURSEID variables.

2. Pass the variable to the course resource via "URL parameters".

Before flagging the activity as a Content Template, under the Activity tab, paste

itemname=$ITEMNAME$&courseid=$COURSEID$

into the "URL parameters" field. What this will do is pass the variable into the query parameters for the iframe. Still with me?

3. Add JS to your Content Template to retrieve those variables.

There are many different ways you can accomplish this. The easiest approach I have implemented is by using the following code.

var urlParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
var item_name = urlParams.get('itemname');
var course_id = urlParams.get('courseid');

Specifically, what this is doing is creating a JS variable named `urlParams` that allows for a key to be passed in to identify the value for that key in the window's query parameters. The following two JS variables, `item_name` and `course_id`, directly correlate to the course variables you passed and are available for use.

4. Add JS to your Content Template to use those variables.

Now, its' time to use the variables in your content. For simplicity, let's say that the only thing we want to do is inject the ITEMNAME course variable into an element on the page. Let's say we want to put the ITEMNAME into an element that has the HTML ID of `content_template_title`. I'll use this JS to do so.

document.getElementById('content_template_title').innerHTML = item_name;

What that JS is doing is finding the HTML element with the ID of `content_template_title` [document.getElementById('content_template_title')] and then replacing the text [.innerHTML] with the JS variable `item_name`.

Hopefully you followed along. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope to have the video, tips, and examples published soon.

That worked beautifully ... I really appreciate the quick response (and can't wait to see the video you're putting together). Thanks for your help, Brad!

We have posted a new new Buzz in Practice article, Use Content Templates to improve branding, functionality, and authoring, to demonstrate how Content Templates can be used.

Hi, there.

Is there anything we need to do to enable replacement variables on the domain?

This is what our students see when we try to use them.

Doug, nope, it is enabled for everyone. Looking at your image, it appears that there are two different fonts for `$USERFIRST$`. The first `$` is different than the rest of the variable. In HTML, that means it will not look a continual string but `$` styled one way and then `USERFIRST$` styled another. 

For example, in HTML it may look like this:

Hi, $<span style="...">USERFIRST$!</span>

Instead, you will need to make sure that the entire variable is a single string.

Brad,

That makes sense. I copied the variable from the support article and added the dollar sign.

This is what I have now and it gives me the same results, so I must be missing a step.

It works for me in an activity and on a folder landing page. Is that the course landing page? Currenlty course landing pages are not support for variables. 

See Where can I use replacement variables?

That's it! Teachers are trying to use this on the course landing page and I will tell them not to copy/paste when trying it on a folder landing page.

Thank you, Brad!