Blackboard Mobile

Blackboard Mobile - Mobile (Smartphone) access to Blackboard. This write-up is based on the Swinburne implementation (ilearn.swin.edu.au).

Selecting a University
Endpoint url: http://mlcs.medu.com/api/ ... (various, TODO)

From there, you will get the endpoint base for all later API requests, e.g. the b2_url for Swinburne/iLearn is https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/

Standard Query Parameters
Although they don't seem to be needed to get data out of the API, the offical client sends a couple of version and format parameters, e.g. v=1&f=xml&ver=4.0.2&registration_id=xxxxx where the registration_id is specific to your mobile device. Each mobile device is registered with Blackboard when it first connects.

rich_content_level - specifies how verbose the HTML is. (RICH, BASIC_PLUS, BASIC)

If no rich_content_level is specified then the HTML returned becomes quite verbose and sets things fonts, etc. in the style attribute of most tags.

Logging in
Endpoint URL: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/sslUserLogin

POST Request - with username and password parameters (unhashed).

Dashboard
Endpoint URL: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/dashboard?course_type=ALL&with_notifications=true

Getting subjects
Endpoint URL: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/enrollments

Parameters: course_type=ALL&include_grades=false

Returns an XML with all the units enrolled/organisations you participate in. Apart from the name attribute of each, the most important attribute is the bbid which is needed to access any other data about it.

Listing content for a subject
Endpoint URL: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/courseMap

Parameters: course_id=_139439_1, where _139439_1 is the course id from the previous step.

Getting the content for a subject
After listing the content above, you should have the content_id which can be used in:

https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/contentDetail?course_id=_149439_1&content_id=_3750621_1&rich_content_level=RICH

Getting Announcements
Announcements are handled differently, use the url in the form:

https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/courseData?course_id=_139439_1&course_section=ANNOUNCEMENTS&rich_content_level=RICH

Getting Forum/Discussion Board Posts
Listing of forums: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/courseData?course_id= _149439_1&course_section=FORUMS&rich_content_level=BASIC_PLUS

Listing of threads in a forum: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/courseData?course_id= _149439_1&course_section=THREADS&forum_id=_396794_1&rich_content_level=BASIC_PLUS&rich_content_level_post_reply=BASIC_PLUS

Viewing a thread: https://ilearn.swin.edu.au/webapps/Bb-mobile-bb_bb60/courseData?course_id= _149439_1&course_section=POSTS&thread_id=_4950164_1&rich_content_level=RICH&rich_content_level_post_reply=RICH