instructure/canvas-lms · error · ImportError

No short_name given for abstract course #

Error message

No short_name given for abstract course #{abstract_course_id}

What it means

add_abstract_course requires a non-blank short_name (the course code) for every abstract course. Without it the course cannot be created meaningfully in Canvas, so the importer raises ImportError naming the offending abstract_course_id. It is a per-row input validation, second only to the id check.

Solutions

  1. Populate short_name in the SIS data for the named course.
  2. Correct the CSV column mapping so short_name maps to the right source field.
  3. Provide a fallback short_name in your importer wrapper when the source value is blank.

Example fix

// before
importer.add_abstract_course('C1', nil, 'Long Name', 'active')
// after
short = row['short_name'].presence || row['course_id']
importer.add_abstract_course('C1', short, 'Long Name', 'active')
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# Ruby
raise 'blank short_name' if row['short_name'].to_s.strip.empty?
importer.add_abstract_course(row['course_id'], row['short_name'], row['long_name'], row['status'])

Try / catch

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

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling add_abstract_course(id, nil/'', long_name, status) — e.g. a SIS courses.csv row with a blank short_name column (lib/sis/abstract_course_importer.rb:50).

Common situations: SIS exports with missing course code column values; column-order assumptions breaking after source system updates; template files with unfilled short_name cells.

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

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2d69da7f579accaa. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/sis/abstract_course_importer.rb:50

      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

        # only update the name/short_name on new records, and ones that haven't been changed

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