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Integration Scenarios
Added by George Kroner, last edited by George Kroner on 14 Oct 2007 11:58 AM
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Integration Scenarios

This page illustrates some common integration scenarios with Blackboard Learning System Vista & Campus Edition 6.

Web Services

The simplest integration with the Blackboard learning system involves a third party application using the web services to interact with the Blackboard server. For example an offline mail tool could be developed that reads Blackboard email with the Mail SDK web service. This tool would allow mail to be downloaded from Blackboard when connected to the Internet and read offline. This following diagram illustrates this integration scenario:


 
The mail tool would first use the ContextSDK SOAP web service to login to Blackboard with the users credentials returning a session object. The session object would then be passed to the MailSDK web service with the getMail() request to get the mail from Vista.

For further details please see "Section 2: Web Services" of the Blackboard PowerLinks SDK 2.1 Programmer's' Guide.

Inbound Authentication

The Inbound Authentication framework allows a user of a third party application to single-sign-on into Blackboard. This allows Blackboard users to login once to a third party application and access Blackboard without having to login a second time.

The Inbound Authentication framework is a Java base class that is extended by the third party and installed on the Blackboard server. The third party application will redirect to a special URL on the Blackboard server which invokes the Inbound Authentication module. Once the Inbound Authentication module authenticates the user it redirects them to a specific location with-in Blackboard (i.e. a course homepage).

The following diagram illustrates this integration scenario:


 
For further details please see "Inbound Authentication Modules" in Section 1 of the Blackboard PowerLinks SDK 2.1 Programmer's' Guide.

Outbound Authentication

Another common integration with Blackboard involves a single-sign-on interface to a third party application using the Outbound Authentication framework. This allows Blackboard users to access a third party application from within Blackboard without having to login a second time.

The Outbound Authentication framework is a Java base class that is extended by the third party and installed on the Blackboard server. A proxy tool icon can be created in Blackboard that links to the Outbound Authentication module. When a Blackboard user clicks on the proxy tool icon control is passed to the Outbound Authentication module. The Outbound Authentication module authenticates with the third party application and redirects the browser frame or new window to the third party application.

The following diagram illustrates this integration scenario:


 
Once the user clicks the proxy tool in Blackboard they will be automatically signed on to the third party system in the Blackboard frame or a new browser window.

For further details please see "Outbound Authentication Modules" in Section 1 of the Blackboard PowerLinks SDK 2.1 Programmer's' Guide.

Outbound Authentication and Web Services

This diagram illustrates a more complete example of Outbound Authentication where the third party application uses the GradebookSDK Web Services to update the Blackboard gradebook after an assessment or assignment has been marked.


 

Assisted Configuration

Normally when a proxy tool link is added to a course/section the Blackboard designer specifies some static settings to create the link. There are times when static settings cannot be entered easily by the designer. Assisted configuration is used to assist the designer in configuring the proxy tool link.

A typical scenario is a library system where the Blackboard designer wants to dynamically add a URL to a resource in a library system. Upon creating the proxy tool in Blackboard , assisted configuration will allow the designer to jump out to the third party system to select the resource and then associate the URL to the resource to the Blackboard proxy tool icon.

Assisted configuration uses Outbound Authentication to single-sign-on to the third party application to select a resource. Once a resource has been selected, Inbound Authentication is used to return the resource URL back to Blackboard to be associated with the proxy tool icon.

The following diagram illustrates this integration scenario:


 
For further details please see "Assisted Configuration" in Section 1 of the Blackboard PowerLinks SDK 2.1 Programmer's' Guide.

Assisted Configuration and Web Services

This diagram illustrates a more complete example of Assisted Configuration where the third party application uses the ContextSDK Web Services to obtain further details about the user and course/section:

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