How to Link & Launch Your App From A Course
Last updated
Last updated
One of the premiere features of MOTAR Training is the ability to launch 3rd party applications as a singular training module as part of a larger set of course material. As the developer of a 3rd party application, you may want to take advantage of a session handoff feature available during a student's launch into your app.
First, make sure your application is registered in MOTAR Studio. For more information on that step, see Add & Manage Apps. We recommend creating both a Sandbox and Production version of your app in Studio.
Next, you will need to set your app's Desktop Launch URI. This will be used by MOTAR Training when a student launches a lesson using your app, as a simple redirect from the user's browser. If you want to use the session handoff feature, make sure to check "Pass authentication code with redirect".
Before a student can launch an app lesson using a Desktop Launch URI, the application must already be installed on the student's desktop.
Now that your app is properly configured to be launched from MOTAR Training, you can create one or more sandbox modules that will launch your app.
In the MOTAR Training application and in MOTAR documentation, you will see references to both "lessons" and "modules." These are used interchangeably and both refer to one step in a course level.
First, create at least one Instructor and Student users in your Studio Sandbox. For more information, see our Create Sandbox Users documentation.
Next, login to the MOTAR Training Sandbox using your Instructor user to access the Instructor Dashboard. Navigate to the Course Creator and create a training course, then add a module. Select "App Lesson" and you should see a configuration screen similar to this:
This screen displays the MOTAR API IDs that will be passed to your app along with the redirect. If you configure your app to trap and parameterize these IDs, you can use them to retrieve the student's profile and information about their training session from the MOTAR API after authenticating. You will also need these IDs to report student progress to the API so that it will display in MOTAR Training.
You can also add your own Launch Parameters, on a module-by-module basis. For example, if your app needs its own specific module ID to transition directly into a specific experience, you can add it here.
Remember, Launch Parameters are tied to a module, not an app. If your app needs a launch parameter configured for every module, you should include it directly in your app's Desktop Launch URI.
Select your app using the "Search for an app..." input. You can configure the rest of the module as you see fit, but make sure it's a "parent" module so you will be able to launch it directly as your student user.
During testing, you can create your own sandbox lessons to test their integration with your application(s). In a production environment, an official course creator will generally be creating the modules using your app. You will need to coordinate with your course creator so they can correctly configure any modules using your app.
Once your course is created, navigate to the "Classes" tab and create a class. Then, navigate to the "Users" tab and add your student user to your new class.
You should now be able to login to the Training Sandbox as your student user, view your course, and launch your app module to test your integration. For more information on using the MOTAR Sandbox, see its relevant documentation.
In addition to the above MOTAR API IDs, if you select "Pass authentication code with redirect" when setting your app's Desktop Launch URI, a code parameter will also be included in the redirect query parameters. This authentication code represents the student's authenticated session. It can be used to generate an authentication token for use with other MOTAR APIs, such as the Training API or User Profile API.
You will need to use your app's Client Secret along with the code to generate a valid authentication token. See the documentation for Authenticating Token Request for more information on how to make the request.
The authentication code parameter passed in the redirect should not be confused with an authentication token! Attempting to use the authentication code as an authentication token will result in errors.
Once your token request has succeeded, you can now use the MOTAR APIs as the authenticated student user. A good place to start would be Retrieving the Logged In User's Profile, Starting a Lesson, and Updating Student's Lesson Progress.
