instructure/canvas-lms · error · ImportError

No short_name given for course #

Error message

No short_name given for course #{course_id}

What it means

SisCourseImporter#add_course raises ImportError when short_name is blank AND abstract_course_id is also blank. A course must have either a short_name (course code) or be linked to an existing abstract course; with neither, the importer cannot build a valid course record.

Solutions

  1. Populate the short_name column (course code, e.g. "CS101") in the courses.csv row
  2. Alternatively supply abstract_course_id so the course links to an existing abstract course instead of needing a short_name
  3. Validate the CSV before import: reject rows where both short_name and abstract_course_id are blank
  4. If updating an existing course, confirm the importer run is not wiping short_name due to a data feed regression

Example fix

// before
COURSE; "course-101",term-1,account-1,,active,,,,,, "Long Name Only"
// after (add short_name)
"course-101",term-1,account-1,,active,,,,,,"CS101","Long Name Only"
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if row['short_name'].to_s.strip.empty? && row['abstract_course_id'].to_s.strip.empty?
  raise ArgumentError, "course #{row['course_id']} needs short_name or abstract_course_id"
end

Type guard

def has_name_identity?(row) = !row['short_name'].to_s.strip.empty? || !row['abstract_course_id'].to_s.strip.empty?

Try / catch

begin
  importer.add_course(...)
rescue SisImport::ImportError => e
  raise unless e.message.start_with?('No short_name given')
  log.warn("row missing short_name/abstract_course_id: #{e.message}")
end

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: add_course called with short_name=nil/""/whitespace while abstract_course_id is also nil/"" — i.e., a courses.csv row missing both the short_name column and the abstract_course_id column.

Common situations: Export pipelines that only include names for new courses but leave short_name blank on updates; teams assuming long_name alone suffices; abstract-course linking workflows where the abstract_course_id column is dropped during CSV transformation.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0018ff29028f9248. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at lib/sis/course_importer.rb:67

      attr_accessor :success_count, :roll_back_data

      def initialize(batch, root_account, logger, a1, a2, m, batch_user, blueprint_associations)
        @batch = batch
        @batch_user = batch_user
        @root_account = root_account
        @courses_to_update_sis_batch_id = a1
        @course_ids_to_update_associations = a2
        @roll_back_data = []
        @blueprint_associations = blueprint_associations
        @messages = m
        @logger = logger
        @success_count = 0
      end

      def add_course(course_id, term_id, account_id, fallback_account_id, status, start_date, end_date, abstract_course_id, short_name, long_name, integration_id, course_format, blueprint_course_id, grade_passback_setting, homeroom_course, friendly_name)
        state_changes = []
        raise ImportError, "No course_id given for a course" if course_id.blank?
        raise ImportError, "No short_name given for course #{course_id}" if short_name.blank? && abstract_course_id.blank?
        raise ImportError, "No long_name given for course #{course_id}" if long_name.blank? && abstract_course_id.blank?
        raise ImportError, "Improper status \"#{status}\" for course #{course_id}" unless /\A(active|deleted|completed|unpublished|published)/i.match?(status)
        raise ImportError, "Invalid course_format \"#{course_format}\" for course #{course_id}" unless course_format.blank? || course_format =~ /\A(online|on_campus|blended|not_set)/i

        valid_grade_passback_settings = %w[nightly_sync disabled not_set]
        raise ImportError, "Invalid grade_passback_setting \"#{grade_passback_setting}\" for course #{course_id}" unless grade_passback_setting.blank? || valid_grade_passback_settings.include?(grade_passback_setting.downcase.strip)
        return if @batch.skip_deletes? && status =~ /deleted/i

        Course.unique_constraint_retry do
          course = @root_account.all_courses.find_by(sis_source_id: course_id)
          if course.nil?
            course = Course.new
            state_changes << :created
          else
            state_changes << :updated
          end
          course.saved_by = :sis_import
          course_enrollment_term_id_stuck = course.stuck_sis_fields.include?(:enrollment_term_id)

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