instructure/canvas-lms · error · ImportError

No abstract_course_id given for an abstract course

Error message

No abstract_course_id given for an abstract course

What it means

SIS::AbstractCourseImporter#add_abstract_course validates its inputs before touching the database. An abstract course row without an abstract_course_id (the SIS external identifier) cannot be keyed, so the importer raises ImportError immediately. This is a defensive check for malformed SIS CSV/data feed rows.

Solutions

1. Fix the SIS data source so every abstract course row has a non-blank course_id.
2. Check CSV parsing/column mapping — a shifted column can blank out course_id.
3. Filter or report invalid rows upstream before invoking the importer.

Example fix

// before
importer.add_abstract_course(nil, 'CS101', 'Intro CS', 'active')
// after
raise 'missing id' if row['course_id'].blank?
importer.add_abstract_course(row['course_id'], 'CS101', 'Intro CS', 'active')

# Ruby: caller-side guard before invoking the importer
raise 'blank abstract_course_id' if row['course_id'].to_s.strip.empty?
importer.add_abstract_course(row['course_id'], row['short_name'], row['long_name'], row['status'])

begin
  importer.add_abstract_course(id, short, long, status)
rescue SIS::AbstractCourseImporter::ImportError => e
  warnings << "Skipping abstract course: #{e.message}"
end

When it happens

Trigger: Calling add_abstract_course(nil/'', ...) — e.g. a SIS courses.csv row missing the course_id column, or a custom importer invocation omitting the first argument (lib/sis/abstract_course_importer.rb:49).

Common situations: Malformed SIS export files with empty course_id cells; CSV column misalignment after schema changes; scripts building import rows that skip blank ids.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• No long_name given for abstract course #
• No short_name given for abstract course #
• No login_id given for user #
• No new_id or new_integration_id given for change_sis_id
• No old_id or old_integration_id given for change_sis_id

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a38006d570cfe251. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/sis/abstract_course_importer.rb:49

      SisBatchRollBackData.bulk_insert_roll_back_data(importer.roll_back_data)

      importer.success_count
    end

    class Work
      attr_accessor :success_count, :abstract_courses_to_update_sis_batch_id, :roll_back_data

      def initialize(batch, root_account, logger)
        @batch = batch
        @root_account = root_account
        @abstract_courses_to_update_sis_batch_id = []
        @roll_back_data = []
        @logger = logger
        @success_count = 0
      end

      def add_abstract_course(abstract_course_id, short_name, long_name, status, term_id = nil, account_id = nil, fallback_account_id = nil)
        raise ImportError, "No abstract_course_id given for an abstract course" if abstract_course_id.blank?
        raise ImportError, "No short_name given for abstract course #{abstract_course_id}" if short_name.blank?
        raise ImportError, "No long_name given for abstract course #{abstract_course_id}" if long_name.blank?
        raise ImportError, "Improper status \"#{status}\" for abstract course #{abstract_course_id}" unless /\Aactive|\Adeleted/i.match?(status)
        return if @batch.skip_deletes? && status =~ /deleted/i

        course = AbstractCourse.find_by(root_account_id: @root_account, sis_source_id: abstract_course_id)
        course ||= AbstractCourse.new
        unless course.stuck_sis_fields.include?(:enrollment_term_id)
          course.enrollment_term = @root_account.enrollment_terms.find_by(sis_source_id: term_id) || @root_account.default_enrollment_term
        end
        course.root_account = @root_account

        account = nil
        account = @root_account.all_accounts.find_by(sis_source_id: account_id) if account_id.present?
        account ||= @root_account.all_accounts.find_by(sis_source_id: fallback_account_id) if fallback_account_id.present?
        course.account = account if account
        course.account ||= @root_account

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