instructure/canvas-lms · error

Sort by field '# ' is not supported

Error message

Sort by field '#{field}' is not supported

What it means

AssignmentType#assignment_target_connection orders assignment overrides by a whitelisted set of fields (title, due_at, lock_at, unlock_at); any other order_by[:field] raises this error before being interpolated into SQL. It protects against arbitrary ORDER BY injection.

Solutions

1. Use one of the supported field values: title, due_at, lock_at, unlock_at
2. Normalize the client's sort keys to snake_case before sending
3. Extend the whitelist in assignment_type.rb if a new sort field is legitimately needed (with proper column validation)

Example fix

// before
orderBy: { field: "dueAt", direction: "ascending" }
// after
orderBy: { field: "due_at", direction: "ascending" }

const SUPPORTED_SORT_FIELDS = ['title', 'due_at', 'lock_at', 'unlock_at'];
if (orderBy?.field && !SUPPORTED_SORT_FIELDS.includes(orderBy.field)) {
  throw new Error(`Sort field must be one of ${SUPPORTED_SORT_FIELDS.join(', ')}`);
}

function isSupportedSortField(f) {
  return ['title', 'due_at', 'lock_at', 'unlock_at'].includes(f);
}

try {
  await fetchAssignmentOverrides(query, orderBy);
} catch (e) {
  if (/Sort by field .* is not supported/.test(e.message)) {
    showError('Unsupported sort field; use title, due_at, lock_at, or unlock_at.');
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A GraphQL query on assignment assignmentOverrides/connection with orderBy field set to something other than title, due_at, lock_at, or unlock_at (e.g. 'id', 'dueAt' camelCase, 'created_at').

Common situations: Clients sending camelCase GraphQL field names instead of the SQL-style column names the backend expects; UI added a new sort column before backend whitelist updated.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• Assignment group category id and discussion topic group…
• assignment not found
• Assignments under moderation cannot be posted before grades…
• Error posting assignment grades
• Group category IDs do not match

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c8ffa8295016c55b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at app/graphql/types/assignment_type.rb:931

          end
        end
      end
    end

    field :assignment_target_connection, AssignmentOverrideType.connection_type, null: true do
      argument :order_by, AssignmentTargetSortOrderInputType, required: false
    end
    def assignment_target_connection(order_by: nil)
      load_association(:context).then do |context|
        return unless context.grants_any_right?(current_user, *RoleOverride::GRANULAR_MANAGE_ASSIGNMENT_PERMISSIONS)

        scope = assignment.all_assignment_overrides.active

        if order_by.present?
          field = order_by[:field]
          direction = (order_by[:direction] == "descending") ? "DESC NULLS LAST" : "ASC"

          raise "Sort by field '#{field}' is not supported" unless %w[title due_at lock_at unlock_at].include?(field)

          scope = scope.order(Arel.sql("assignment_overrides.#{field} #{direction}"))
        end

        scope
      end
    end

    field :anonymous_student_identities, [AnonymousStudentIdentityType], null: true
    def anonymous_student_identities
      return nil unless assignment.context.grants_right?(current_user, :manage_grades)

      assignment.anonymous_student_identities.values
    end

    field :auto_grade_assignment_issues, Types::EligibilityIssueType, null: true, description: "Issues related to the assignment", deprecation_reason: "Use autoGradeEligibility instead"
    def auto_grade_assignment_issues
      load_association(:context).then do |course|

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