Content System Command Line ToolsVersion Release 2.3

Darek Sady

Winter 2007

Location of Command Line Tools

File Import: Information

Purpose: Importing files and folders from outside the Blackboard application into specific existing locations in the Content System. Think: “Batch Upload”

Notes: – Files and folders must exist in a location accessible from the

application server command line. – Avoid spaces in source directory names– Imported files/folders can have versioning, tracking and

comments enabled/disabled in the GUI at the parent folder level (in 7.2 and above)

Sample Command Syntax: file-import.sh /var/tmp/CS Pilot/ /institution/RUG

File Import: Screen Shots

Create All User Directories: Information

Purpose: Folders in the /users area (Virtual Hard Drive) are not created for users until their first login. If a users “My Content” folder need to be pre-populated with files/folders, the user directory needs to be created prior to the users login. – This tool creates “My Content” folders for all users that haven’t had

their folders created yet Notes:

– The users folder will appear as inaccessible in the GUI and the Content System command line tools until the initial user login

– The users “My Content” folder will also be created if that users folder is added to the System Administrators /users area with the “Find Folder” button in the GUI

– The Create All Course/Organization Directories tool functions in the same way

Sample Command Syntax: create-all-user-directories.sh

Create All User Directories: Screen Shots

Create Directory: Information

Purpose: In order to populate the Content System with folders/files, the target directories must exist. Directories can be manually created in the GUI, or via this back end tool.

Notes: – This tool cannot create directories in directories where subdirectories

are automatically created (/users, /courses, /library/eReserves/, and /orgs).

– The tool can create subdirectories under automatically created folders (/users/dsady/Library Polices)

– If any directory in the path has spaces, quotes must be used around those directory names

– Nested subdirectories cannot be created in one line, they must be built line by line (see last image on next screen)

Sample Command Syntax: create-all-user-directories.sh

Create Directory: Screen Shots

Create User Directory: Information

Purpose: Folders in the /users area (Virtual Hard Drive) are not created for users until their first login. If a users “My Content” folder need to be pre-populated with files/folders, the user directory needs to be created prior to the users login. – This tool creates “My Content” folders for specific users.

Notes: – The users folder will appear as inaccessible in the GUI and the Content

System command line tools until the initial user login

– The users “My Content” folder will also be created if that users folder is added to the System Administrators /users area with the “Find Folder” button in the GUI

– The Create User/Course/Organization Directories tools function in the same way

Sample Command Syntax: create-user-directory.sh ky-14

Create User Directory: Screen Shots

Set Directory Quota: Information

Purpose: Quotas exist on folders as a result of system settings or modification in the GUI. This tool provides a way to set quotas via the back end. While quotas can be initially determined via institutional role, changes to institutional role quotas only affect new users, not existing users. This tool can be used for clean up and adjustment for institutional role quota

Notes: – This tool may not be used on the root directories, such as /courses or

/institution, but may be used on folders within these areas.

– This tool also may not be used on the directory /library/eReserves.

Sample Command Syntax: set-directory-quota.sh /users/dsady NONE

Set Directory Quota: Screen Shots

User Access Control: Information

Purpose: Permissions can be modified in the GUI, but modifying several specific permissions can be time consuming. This tool provides back end tool that will assign (or remove) permission to files/folders at the user level

Notes: – The Course Access control tool works in the same fashion

Sample Command Syntax: user-access-control.sh /institution/CIS-110/"WinSCP Log.log" dsady rw

User Access Control: Screen Shots

Course Role Access Control: Information

Purpose: Course Role-based permissions on content in the “Course Content” folders are initially determined by administrative settings. Changes to the default Course Role content permissions will not affect existing courses. While these can later be modified in the GUI, it is manual and time intensive process. This tool provides a way to accomplish this task via the back end.

Notes: – This can be a useful tool to modify Course Role-based permissions on

a system-wide basis

– This tool can also be used on content across the Content System – not just on content in the “Course Content” folders

Sample Command Syntax: user-access-control.sh /institution/CIS-110/"WinSCP Log.log" dsady rw

Course Role Access Control: Screen Shots

Copy Files to Content System Tool: Information

Purpose: When transitioning to the model of Content System-based courses, the first step is to extract the content from legacy courses (content stored on the application server) and upload the content to the Content System. This tool also exists in the GUI, but must be run on one specific course at a time. This tool provides a way of automating the process for a batch of courses via the back end.

Notes: – By default, this tool will copy the embedded content into the corresponding

course (/courses) folder in the Course Content area– An optional path can also be specified that will redirect the content of the course

to an existing folder anywhere in the Content System– This tool will not make any modifications to the existing course, nor will it link

the content between the course and the content folder in the Content System. This task needs to be performed manually on each course.

Sample Command Syntax: – copy-course-files-to-cs.sh SP07-ENG-131-OL– copy-course-files-to-cs.sh SP07-ENG-131-OL /users/dsady

Copy Files to Content System Tool: Screen Shots