mediacms/LTI_SETUP.md

MediaCMS LTI 1.3 Integration Setup Guide

This guide walks you through integrating MediaCMS with a Learning Management System (LMS) like Moodle using LTI 1.3.

1. Configure MediaCMS Settings

Add these settings to cms/local_settings.py:

# Enable LTI integration
USE_LTI = True

# Enable RBAC for course-based access control
USE_RBAC = True

# Your production domain
FRONTEND_HOST = 'https://your-mediacms-domain.com'
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['your-mediacms-domain.com', 'localhost']

Note: LTI-specific cookie settings (SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE='None', etc.) are automatically applied when USE_LTI=True.

2. MediaCMS Configuration

A. Verify HTTPS Setup

Ensure your MediaCMS server is running on HTTPS. LTI 1.3 requires HTTPS for security and iframe embedding.

B. Register Your LMS Platform

1. Access Django Admin: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/admin/lti/ltiplatform/
2. Add new LTI Platform with these settings:

Basic Info:

• Name: My LMS (or any descriptive name)
• Platform ID (Issuer): Get this from your LMS (e.g., https://mylms.example.com)
• Client ID: You'll get this from your LMS after registering MediaCMS as an external tool

OIDC Endpoints (get from your LMS):

• Auth Login URL: https://mylms.example.com/mod/lti/auth.php
• Auth Token URL: https://mylms.example.com/mod/lti/token.php
• Key Set URL: https://mylms.example.com/mod/lti/certs.php

Deployment IDs: Add the deployment ID(s) provided by your LMS as a JSON list, e.g., ["1"]

Features:

• ✓ Enable NRPS (Names and Role Provisioning)
• ✓ Enable Deep Linking
• ✓ Auto-create categories
• ✓ Auto-create users
• ✓ Auto-sync roles

C. Note MediaCMS URLs for LMS Configuration

You'll need these URLs when configuring your LMS:

• Tool URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/launch/
• OIDC Login URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/oidc/login/
• JWK Set URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/jwks/
• Redirection URI: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/launch/
• Deep Linking URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/select-media/

3. LMS Configuration (Moodle Example)

A. Register MediaCMS as External Tool

1. Navigate to: Site administration → Plugins → Activity modules → External tool → Manage tools
2. Click Configure a tool manually or add new tool

Basic Settings:

• Tool name: MediaCMS
• Tool URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/launch/
• LTI version: LTI 1.3
• Tool configuration usage: Show in activity chooser

URLs:

• Public keyset URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/jwks/
• Initiate login URL: https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/oidc/login/
• Redirection URI(s): https://your-mediacms-domain.com/lti/launch/

Launch Settings:

• Default launch container: Embed (without blocks) or New window
• Accept grades from tool: Optional
• Share launcher's name: Always ⚠️ REQUIRED for user names
• Share launcher's email: Always ⚠️ REQUIRED for user emails

Important: MediaCMS creates user accounts automatically on first LTI launch. To ensure users have proper names and email addresses in MediaCMS, you must set both "Share launcher's name with tool" and "Share launcher's email with tool" to Always in the Privacy settings. Without these settings, users will be created with only a username based on their LTI user ID.

Services:

• ✓ IMS LTI Names and Role Provisioning (for roster sync)
• ✓ IMS LTI Deep Linking (for media selection)

Tool Settings (Important for Deep Linking):

• ✓ Supports Deep Linking (Content-Item Message) - Enable this to allow instructors to browse and select media from MediaCMS when adding activities

3. Save the tool configuration

B. Copy Platform Details to MediaCMS

After saving, your LMS will provide:

• Platform ID (Issuer URL)
• Client ID
• Deployment ID

Copy these values back to the LTIPlatform configuration in MediaCMS admin (step 2B above).

C. Using MediaCMS in Courses

Option 1: Embed "My Media" view (Default)

• In a course, add activity → External tool → MediaCMS
• Leave the custom URL blank (uses default launch URL)
• Students/teachers will see their MediaCMS profile in an iframe

Option 2: Link to a Specific Video

• Add activity → External tool → MediaCMS
• Activity name: "November 2020 Video" (or any descriptive name)
• In the activity settings, find "Custom parameters" (may be under "Privacy" or "Additional Settings")
• Add this parameter:

  media_friendly_token=abc123def
  

• Replace abc123def with your video's token from MediaCMS (found in the URL: /view?m=abc123def)
• Students clicking this activity will go directly to that specific video

Option 3: Link to Any MediaCMS Page

• Add activity → External tool → MediaCMS
• In "Custom parameters", add:

  redirect_path=/featured
  

• Supported paths:
  • /featured - Featured videos page
  • /latest - Latest videos
  • /search/?q=keyword - Search results
  • /category/category-name - Specific category
  • /user/username - User's profile
  • Any other MediaCMS page path

Option 4: Embed Specific Media via Deep Linking (Interactive)

⚠️ Prerequisite: Ensure "Supports Deep Linking (Content-Item Message)" is enabled in the External Tool configuration (see section 3.A above)

When adding the activity to your course:

1. Add activity → External tool → MediaCMS
2. In the activity settings, enable "Supports Deep Linking" checkbox (may be under "Tool settings" or "Privacy" section)
3. Click "Select content" button → This launches the MediaCMS media browser
4. Browse and select media from MediaCMS (you can select multiple)
5. Click "Add to course" → Returns to Moodle with selected media configured
6. The activity will be automatically configured with the selected media's title and embed URL
7. Students clicking this activity will go directly to the selected media

D. Custom Parameters - Complete Examples

Example 1: Link to a specific video titled "Lecture 1 - Introduction"

Activity Name: Lecture 1 - Introduction
Custom Parameters:
media_friendly_token=a1b2c3d4e5

Example 2: Link to course-specific videos

Activity Name: Course Videos
Custom Parameters:
redirect_path=/category/biology101

Example 3: Link to search results for "genetics"

Activity Name: Genetics Videos
Custom Parameters:
redirect_path=/search/?q=genetics

Example 4: Link to featured content

Activity Name: Featured Videos
Custom Parameters:
redirect_path=/featured

Where to find Custom Parameters in Moodle:

1. When creating/editing the External Tool activity
2. Expand "Privacy" section, or look for "Additional Settings"
3. Find the "Custom parameters" text field
4. Enter one parameter per line in the format: key=value

4. Testing Checklist

• HTTPS is working on MediaCMS
• USE_LTI = True in local_settings.py
• LTIPlatform configured in Django admin
• External tool registered in LMS
• Launch from LMS creates new user in MediaCMS
• Course is mapped to MediaCMS category
• Users are added to RBAC group with correct roles
• Media from course category is visible to course members
• Public media is accessible
• Private media from other courses is not accessible

5. Default Role Mappings

The system automatically maps LMS roles to MediaCMS:

• Instructor/Teacher → advancedUser (global) + manager (course group)
• Student/Learner → user (global) + member (course group)
• Teaching Assistant → user (global) + contributor (course group)
• Administrator → manager (global) + manager (course group)

You can customize these in Django admin under LTI Role Mappings.

6. User Creation and Authentication

User Creation via LTI

When a user launches MediaCMS from your LMS for the first time, a MediaCMS account is automatically created with:

• Username: Generated from email (preferred) or name, or a unique ID if neither is available
• Email: From LTI claim (if shared by LMS)
• Name: From LTI given_name/family_name claims (if shared by LMS)
• Roles: Mapped from LTI roles to MediaCMS permissions
• Course membership: Automatically added to the RBAC group for the course

Privacy Settings Are Critical

⚠️ For proper user accounts, you must configure the LTI tool's privacy settings in Moodle:

1. Edit the External Tool configuration in Moodle
2. Go to the Privacy section
3. Set "Share launcher's name with tool" to Always
4. Set "Share launcher's email with tool" to Always

Without these settings:

• Users will not have proper names in MediaCMS
• Users will not have email addresses
• Usernames will be generic hashes (e.g., lti_user_abc123def)

Authentication

Users created through LTI integration do not have a password set. They can only access MediaCMS through LTI launches from your LMS. This is intentional for security.

If you need a user to have both LTI access and direct login capability, manually set a password using:

python manage.py changepassword <username>

Need Help?

If you encounter issues, check:

• /admin/lti/ltilaunchlog/ for launch attempt logs
• Django logs for detailed error messages
• Ensure HTTPS is properly configured (required for iframe cookies)
• Verify all URLs are correct and accessible
• Check that the Client ID and Deployment ID match between MediaCMS and your LMS