atXat Blackboard Template Variables

February 23, 2009 5:52 PM

How can I find out ALL of the available Blackboard atXat (@X) template variables?!

I am an instructor at a regional university in PA. We use Blackboard 7.2 as our LMS of choice. Recently I discovered Blackboard's built-in template variables, which allow me to customize my content in various ways per student, course, etc. My problem is, I have only discovered a handful of resources on line, and they suck (Two are listed below, the third is a presentation from Bb World on building blocks which is outside of the scope of what I am doing). Please help me find a documented API, FAQ, or exhaustive list of all template variables!

http://www.edugarage.com/display/BBDN/Template+variables
http://web.grinnell.edu/individuals/twitchew/present/X_params.html

posted by EduTek to technology (4 answers total)

Is this what you're looking for? There's API listings and info on the variables, among other things.
posted by niles at 8:25 PM on February 23, 2009

Oh, bother. I accidentally clicked on your second link twice, so I didn't see that you've linked to my answer. You may just need to dig around a bit on the edugarage site, but it appears to be a wiki-type setup, so it'd possible it's just not on there.
posted by niles at 8:29 PM on February 23, 2009

Niles, I spent some time exploring each of the documented APIs on your first link, and I believe the Building Block documentation expands on what is available inside the wiki to the point where I have a bit more information to play with. Thanks.
posted by EduTek at 9:44 PM on February 23, 2009

If you're really going to get in deep, you probably want to check out Oscelot, and the blackboard open source list, but unless you're the actual administrator of your installation and in a position to develop and deploy building blocks, I suspect your options are fundamentally limited to the documented variables listing.
posted by idb at 8:26 AM on February 24, 2009