Manage course aliases

    You can reference courses by a different name using a course alias . Course aliases can serve as a mapping between Google Classroom course identifiers and external course identifiers. For example, you can set a course alias to match the course ID from a Student Information System (SIS).

    The course alias has two forms: domain-wide and project-wide.

    • Domain-wide aliasesuse the prefix of d: and can be seen by anyone using the Classroom API. The domain namespace is useful for creating aliases that all users need access to, but that are not specific to any one program. For example, alternate listings for a course, such as MATH 127 and COMSCI 127, should be created in the domain namespace. Aliases in the domain namespace may only be created by domain administrators, but are visible to all users in a domain.

    • Project-wide aliasesuse a prefix of p: and can only be seen and used by the Google Cloud project that created them. The developer project namespace is useful for managing aliases specific to an application. For example, an application that uses alternate identifiers for courses can create aliases to map its identifier to Classroom courses. Aliases created in this namespace are tied to a specific Google Cloud project. Any user of an application can create and view aliases in the namespace for that application's developer project.

    A course alias can be used in place of the Classroom course ID for any Classroom API endpoint. This means that the alias can be used to read and modify courses and roster information.

    Use an alias for synchronization with Student Information Systems

    The SIS internal identifier for a course can be registered as a domain-wide alias for the course. That way, any developer who integrates with both the SIS and Classroom can use the SIS identifier to interact with Classroom data.

    If you create a course from a SIS or link a course to a SIS, it's recommended that the SIS's course ID is used as the course alias.When creating a course using the courses.create() method, you can specify the alias in the id field of the request. If the alias already exists, course creation fails with a 409 ALREADY_EXISTS error. This prevents the creation of duplicate courses if there is an issue in the sync program.

    For example, if we assume the SIS name is school and the internal identifier used by the SIS for a particular course is math_101 , you can create an alias as d:school_math_101 .

    Add an alias for a new course

    To add an alias for a new course, set course.id to an alias when making the courses.create() request.

    Apps Script

    classroom/snippets/createAlias.gs
     /** 
 * Creates Course with an alias specified 
 */ 
 function 
  
 createAlias 
 () 
  
 { 
  
 let 
  
 course 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 id 
 : 
  
 'p:bio_101' 
 , 
  
 name 
 : 
  
 '10th Grade Biology' 
 , 
  
 section 
 : 
  
 'Period 2' 
 , 
  
 descriptionHeading 
 : 
  
 'Welcome to 10th Grade Biology' 
 , 
  
 description 
 : 
  
 'We\'ll be learning about the structure of living creatures from a combination ' 
  
 + 
  
 'of textbooks, guest lectures, and lab work. Expect to be excited!' 
 , 
  
 room 
 : 
  
 '301' 
 , 
  
 ownerId 
 : 
  
 'me' 
 , 
  
 courseState 
 : 
  
 'PROVISIONED' 
  
 }; 
  
 try 
  
 { 
  
 // Create the course using course details. 
  
 course 
  
 = 
  
 Classroom 
 . 
 Courses 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 course 
 ); 
  
 console 
 . 
 log 
 ( 
 'Course created: %s (%s)' 
 , 
  
 course 
 . 
 name 
 , 
  
 course 
 . 
 id 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 err 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO (developer) - Handle Courses.create() exception 
  
 console 
 . 
 log 
 ( 
 'Failed to create course %s with an error %s' 
 , 
  
 course 
 . 
 name 
 , 
  
 err 
 . 
 message 
 ); 
  
 } 
 }

    Java

    classroom/snippets/src/main/java/CreateCourseWithAlias.java
     Course 
  
 course 
  
 = 
  
 null 
 ; 
 /* Create a new Course with the alias set as the id field. Project-wide aliases use a prefix 
 of "p:" and can only be seen and used by the application that created them. */ 
 Course 
  
 content 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Course 
 () 
  
 . 
 setId 
 ( 
 "p:history_4_2022" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setName 
 ( 
 "9th Grade History" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setSection 
 ( 
 "Period 4" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setDescriptionHeading 
 ( 
 "Welcome to 9th Grade History." 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setOwnerId 
 ( 
 "me" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setCourseState 
 ( 
 "PROVISIONED" 
 ); 
 try 
  
 { 
  
 course 
  
 = 
  
 service 
 . 
 courses 
 (). 
 create 
 ( 
 content 
 ). 
 execute 
 (); 
  
 // Prints the new created course id and name 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 printf 
 ( 
 "Course created: %s (%s)\n" 
 , 
  
 course 
 . 
 getName 
 (), 
  
 course 
 . 
 getId 
 ()); 
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 GoogleJsonResponseException 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO (developer) - handle error appropriately 
  
 GoogleJsonError 
  
 error 
  
 = 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 (); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 . 
 getCode 
 () 
  
 == 
  
 409 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 printf 
 ( 
 "The course alias already exists: %s.\n" 
 , 
  
 content 
 . 
 getId 
 ()); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
  
 } 
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 Exception 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
 } 
 return 
  
 course 
 ;

    Python

    classroom/snippets/classroom_add_alias_new.py
     SCOPES 
 = 
 [ 
 "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/classroom.courses" 
 ] 
 def 
  
 classroom_add_alias_new 
 (): 
  
 """ 
 Creates a course with alias specification the user has access to. 
 The file token.json stores the user's access and refresh tokens, and is 
 created automatically when the authorization flow completes for 
 the first time. 
 Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment. 
 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for 
 guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application. 
 """ 
 # pylint: disable=maybe-no-member 
 creds 
 = 
 None 
 if 
 os 
 . 
 path 
 . 
 exists 
 ( 
 "token.json" 
 ): 
 creds 
 = 
 Credentials 
 . 
 from_authorized_user_file 
 ( 
 "token.json" 
 , 
 SCOPES 
 ) 
 # If there are no (valid) credentials available, let the user log in. 
 if 
 not 
 creds 
 or 
 not 
 creds 
 . 
 valid 
 : 
 if 
 creds 
 and 
 creds 
 . 
 expired 
 and 
 creds 
 . 
 refresh_token 
 : 
 creds 
 . 
 refresh 
 ( 
 Request 
 ()) 
 else 
 : 
 flow 
 = 
 InstalledAppFlow 
 . 
 from_client_secrets_file 
 ( 
 "credentials.json" 
 , 
 SCOPES 
 ) 
 creds 
 = 
 flow 
 . 
 run_local_server 
 ( 
 port 
 = 
 0 
 ) 
 # Save the credentials for the next run 
 with 
 open 
 ( 
 "token.json" 
 , 
 "w" 
 , 
 encoding 
 = 
 "utf8" 
 ) 
 as 
 token 
 : 
 token 
 . 
 write 
 ( 
 creds 
 . 
 to_json 
 ()) 
 alias 
 = 
 "d:school_physics_333" 
 course 
 = 
 { 
 "id" 
 : 
 alias 
 , 
 "name" 
 : 
 "English" 
 , 
 "section" 
 : 
 "Period 2" 
 , 
 "description" 
 : 
 "Course Description" 
 , 
 "room" 
 : 
 "301" 
 , 
 "ownerId" 
 : 
 "me" 
 , 
 } 
 try 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 "-------------" 
 ) 
 service 
 = 
 build 
 ( 
 "classroom" 
 , 
 "v1" 
 , 
 credentials 
 = 
 creds 
 ) 
 course 
 = 
 service 
 . 
 courses 
 () 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 body 
 = 
 course 
 ) 
 . 
 execute 
 () 
 print 
 ( 
 "====================================" 
 ) 
 except 
 HttpError 
 as 
 error 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "An error occurred: 
 { 
 error 
 } 
 " 
 ) 
 return 
 course 
 if 
 __name__ 
 == 
 "__main__" 
 : 
 # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments 
 # Put the course_id of course whose alias needs to be created. 
 classroom_add_alias_new 
 ()

    Add an alias for an existing course

    To add the alias on an existingcourse, you can set the alias field and use the courses.aliases.create() method.

    Apps Script

    classroom/snippets/addAlias.gs
     /** 
 * Updates the section and room of Google Classroom. 
 * @param {string} course_id 
 * @see https://developers.google.com/classroom/reference/rest/v1/courses.aliases/create 
 */ 
 function 
  
 addAlias 
 ( 
 course_id 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 const 
  
 alias 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 'alias' 
 : 
  
 'p:bio_101' 
  
 }; 
  
 try 
  
 { 
  
 const 
  
 course_alias 
  
 = 
  
 Classroom 
 . 
 Courses 
 . 
 Aliases 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 resource 
 = 
 alias 
 , 
  
 courseId 
 = 
 course_id 
 ); 
  
 console 
 . 
 log 
 ( 
 '%s successfully added as an alias!' 
 , 
  
 course_alias 
 . 
 alias 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 err 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO (developer) - Handle exception 
  
 console 
 . 
 log 
 ( 
 'Request to add alias %s failed with error %s.' 
 , 
  
 alias 
 . 
 alias 
 , 
  
 err 
 . 
 message 
 ); 
  
 } 
 }

    Java

    classroom/snippets/src/main/java/AddAliasToCourse.java
     /* Create a new CourseAlias object with a project-wide alias. Project-wide aliases use a prefix 
 of "p:" and can only be seen and used by the application that created them. */ 
 CourseAlias 
  
 content 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 CourseAlias 
 (). 
 setAlias 
 ( 
 "p:biology_10" 
 ); 
 CourseAlias 
  
 courseAlias 
  
 = 
  
 null 
 ; 
 try 
  
 { 
  
 courseAlias 
  
 = 
  
 service 
 . 
 courses 
 (). 
 aliases 
 (). 
 create 
 ( 
 courseId 
 , 
  
 content 
 ). 
 execute 
 (); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 printf 
 ( 
 "Course alias created: %s \n" 
 , 
  
 courseAlias 
 . 
 getAlias 
 ()); 
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 GoogleJsonResponseException 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO (developer) - handle error appropriately 
  
 GoogleJsonError 
  
 error 
  
 = 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 (); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 . 
 getCode 
 () 
  
 == 
  
 409 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 printf 
 ( 
 "The course alias already exists: %s.\n" 
 , 
  
 content 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
  
 } 
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 Exception 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
 } 
 return 
  
 courseAlias 
 ;

    Python

    classroom/snippets/classroom_add_alias_existing.py
     def 
  
 classroom_add_alias_existing 
 ( 
 course_id 
 ): 
  
 """ 
 Adds alias to existing course with specific course_id. 
 Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment. 
 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity 
 for guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application. 
 """ 
 creds 
 , 
 _ 
 = 
 google 
 . 
 auth 
 . 
 default 
 () 
 # pylint: disable=maybe-no-member 
 service 
 = 
 build 
 ( 
 "classroom" 
 , 
 "v1" 
 , 
 credentials 
 = 
 creds 
 ) 
 alias 
 = 
 "d:school_math_101" 
 course_alias 
 = 
 { 
 "alias" 
 : 
 alias 
 } 
 try 
 : 
 course_alias 
 = 
 ( 
 service 
 . 
 courses 
 () 
 . 
 aliases 
 () 
 . 
 create 
 ( 
 courseId 
 = 
 course_id 
 , 
 body 
 = 
 course_alias 
 ) 
 . 
 execute 
 () 
 ) 
 return 
 course_alias 
 except 
 HttpError 
 as 
 error 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "An error occurred: 
 { 
 error 
 } 
 " 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 "Alias Creation Failed" 
 ) 
 return 
 course_alias 
 if 
 __name__ 
 == 
 "__main__" 
 : 
 # Put the course_id of course whose alias needs to be added. 
 classroom_add_alias_existing 
 ( 
 456058313539 
 )

    Retrieve course aliases

    You can retrieve the aliases for a course using the courses.aliases.list() method, as shown in the following sample:

    .NET

    classroom/snippets/ClassroomSnippets/ListCourseAliases.cs
     using 
  
 System 
 ; 
 using 
  
 System.Collections.Generic 
 ; 
 using 
  
 Google 
 ; 
 using 
  
 Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2 
 ; 
 using 
  
 Google.Apis.Classroom.v1 
 ; 
 using 
  
 Google.Apis.Classroom.v1.Data 
 ; 
 using 
  
 Google.Apis.Services 
 ; 
 namespace 
  
 ClassroomSnippets 
 { 
  
 // Class to demonstrate the use of Classroom List Alias API 
  
 public 
  
 class 
  
 ListCourseAliases 
  
 { 
  
 /// <summary> 
  
 /// Retrieve the aliases for a course. 
  
 /// </summary> 
  
 /// <param name="courseId">Id of the course.</param> 
  
 /// <returns>list of course aliases, null otherwise.</returns> 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 List<CourseAlias> 
  
 ClassroomListAliases 
 ( 
 string 
  
 courseId 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 try 
  
 { 
  
 /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment. 
 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for 
 guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */ 
  
 GoogleCredential 
  
 credential 
  
 = 
  
 GoogleCredential 
 . 
 GetApplicationDefault 
 () 
  
 . 
 CreateScoped 
 ( 
 ClassroomService 
 . 
 Scope 
 . 
 ClassroomCourses 
 ); 
  
 // Create Classroom API service. 
  
 var 
  
 service 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 ClassroomService 
 ( 
 new 
  
 BaseClientService 
 . 
 Initializer 
  
 { 
  
 HttpClientInitializer 
  
 = 
  
 credential 
 , 
  
 ApplicationName 
  
 = 
  
 "Classroom Snippets" 
  
 }); 
  
 string 
  
 pageToken 
  
 = 
  
 null 
 ; 
  
 var 
  
 courseAliases 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 List<CourseAlias> 
 (); 
  
 do 
  
 { 
  
 // List of aliases of specified course 
  
 var 
  
 request 
  
 = 
  
 service 
 . 
 Courses 
 . 
 Aliases 
 . 
 List 
 ( 
 courseId 
 ); 
  
 request 
 . 
 PageSize 
  
 = 
  
 100 
 ; 
  
 request 
 . 
 PageToken 
  
 = 
  
 pageToken 
 ; 
  
 var 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 request 
 . 
 Execute 
 (); 
  
 courseAliases 
 . 
 AddRange 
 ( 
 response 
 . 
 Aliases 
 ); 
  
 pageToken 
  
 = 
  
 response 
 . 
 NextPageToken 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 while 
  
 ( 
 pageToken 
  
 != 
  
 null 
 ); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 courseAliases 
 . 
 Count 
  
 == 
  
 0 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 Console 
 . 
 WriteLine 
 ( 
 "No aliases found." 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 Console 
 . 
 WriteLine 
 ( 
 "Aliases:" 
 ); 
  
 foreach 
  
 ( 
 var 
  
 courseAlias 
  
 in 
  
 courseAliases 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 Console 
 . 
 WriteLine 
 ( 
 courseAlias 
 . 
 Alias 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 return 
  
 courseAliases 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 Exception 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 e 
  
 is 
  
 AggregateException 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 Console 
 . 
 WriteLine 
 ( 
 "Credential Not found" 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 e 
  
 is 
  
 GoogleApiException 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 Console 
 . 
 WriteLine 
 ( 
 "Course does not exist." 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 return 
  
 null 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 } 
 }

    Java

    classroom/snippets/src/main/java/ListCourseAliases.java
     String 
  
 pageToken 
  
 = 
  
 null 
 ; 
 List<CourseAlias> 
  
 courseAliases 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 ArrayList 
<> (); 
 try 
  
 { 
  
 // List of aliases of specified course 
  
 do 
  
 { 
  
 ListCourseAliasesResponse 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 service 
  
 . 
 courses 
 () 
  
 . 
 aliases 
 () 
  
 . 
 list 
 ( 
 courseId 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setPageSize 
 ( 
 100 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setPageToken 
 ( 
 pageToken 
 ) 
  
 . 
 execute 
 (); 
  
 courseAliases 
 . 
 addAll 
 ( 
 response 
 . 
 getAliases 
 ()); 
  
 pageToken 
  
 = 
  
 response 
 . 
 getNextPageToken 
 (); 
  
 } 
  
 while 
  
 ( 
 pageToken 
  
 != 
  
 null 
 ); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 courseAliases 
 . 
 isEmpty 
 ()) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "No aliases found." 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Aliases:" 
 ); 
  
 for 
  
 ( 
 CourseAlias 
  
 courseAlias 
  
 : 
  
 courseAliases 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 courseAlias 
 . 
 getAlias 
 ()); 
  
 } 
  
 } 
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 GoogleJsonResponseException 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately 
  
 GoogleJsonError 
  
 error 
  
 = 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 (); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 . 
 getCode 
 () 
  
 == 
  
 404 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 err 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Course does not exist.\n" 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
  
 } 
 } 
 return 
  
 courseAliases 
 ;

    Python

    classroom/snippets/classroom_list_course_aliases.py
     import 
  
 google.auth 
 from 
  
 googleapiclient.discovery 
  
 import 
 build 
 from 
  
 googleapiclient.errors 
  
 import 
 HttpError 
 def 
  
 classroom_list_course_aliases 
 ( 
 course_id 
 ): 
  
 """ 
 Prints the list of the aliases of a specified course the user has access to. 
 Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment. 
 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity 
 for guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application. 
 """ 
 creds 
 , 
 _ 
 = 
 google 
 . 
 auth 
 . 
 default 
 () 
 try 
 : 
 service 
 = 
 build 
 ( 
 "classroom" 
 , 
 "v1" 
 , 
 credentials 
 = 
 creds 
 ) 
 course_aliases 
 = 
 [] 
 page_token 
 = 
 None 
 while 
 True 
 : 
 response 
 = 
 ( 
 service 
 . 
 courses 
 () 
 . 
 aliases 
 () 
 . 
 list 
 ( 
 pageToken 
 = 
 page_token 
 , 
 courseId 
 = 
 course_id 
 ) 
 . 
 execute 
 () 
 ) 
 course_aliases 
 . 
 extend 
 ( 
 response 
 . 
 get 
 ( 
 "aliases" 
 , 
 [])) 
 page_token 
 = 
 response 
 . 
 get 
 ( 
 "nextPageToken" 
 , 
 None 
 ) 
 if 
 not 
 page_token 
 : 
 break 
 if 
 not 
 course_aliases 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 "No course aliases found." 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 "Course aliases:" 
 ) 
 for 
 course_alias 
 in 
 course_aliases 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 " 
 { 
 course_alias 
 . 
 get 
 ( 
 'alias' 
 ) 
 } 
 " 
 ) 
 return 
 course_aliases 
 except 
 HttpError 
 as 
 error 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "An error occurred: 
 { 
 error 
 } 
 " 
 ) 
 return 
 error 
 if 
 __name__ 
 == 
 "__main__" 
 : 
 classroom_list_course_aliases 
 ( 
 "course_id" 
 )
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