Legacy Portal: Set Up Your D2L Integration

Updated October 31, 2025 15:46

Before You Begin

What you need:

Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome
D2L Administrator Account
Note taking software to record values (Notepad, Wordpad, etc.)
The Key/Secret provided by your ExamSoft contact.

References:

API Test Tool: https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php
Trusted URL: https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php
Permissions Import File: http://getbrightspace.examsoft.com

Procedures

Complete all of these procedures.

Register the ExamSoft App
Create the User Role
Import and Apply the Role Permissions
Create the Service User Account
Impersonate the Service User Account
Authenticate with the API Test Tool
Add the ExamSoft API as a New External Tool

Register the ExamSoft App

Login to D2L.
Select the Gear icon (at the top right), and then select Manage Extensibility.
Under the ID Key Authorization tab, select Register an App.
Enter this information:
- Application Name: ExamSoft
- Trusted URL: https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php
  Note: Double-check to ensure that you entered the Trusted URL correctly. It is the link to the API Test Tool.
  Leave the Major Version (1) and Minor Version (0) numbers as is.
Select the checkboxes to enable the application and to accept the agreement.
Select Register Application (near the lower left corner).
Copy the Application ID and Application Key and paste them into a file so that you can retrieve this information later in these procedures.
Continue to the next procedure.

Create the User Role

Select the Gear.
Under Security, select Roles and Permissions.
Select Create/Copy.
Select Start Fresh
Select the options below.
- Access
  - Access inactive courses
  - Access past courses
  - Access future courses
- Sections: Access all course sections
- Groups: Access all course groups
Select Save to save the new role.
Continue to the next procedure.

Import and Apply the Role Permissions

Use this D2L Permissions File download link to download the permissions file (right-click on the link, and then save the file on your computer).
Back in the role list, locate the new ExamSoft role that you created.
Scroll down to find the ExamSoft role, select the drop-down arrow, and then select Import Permissions.
Select Choose File, and then browse for the permissions file that you previously downloaded.
Select Next, and then select Next again.
Ignore the errors shown and scroll to the bottom of the page. Select the Show Preview button to see the changes made by the import to the ExamSoft Service Account role.
Select Import at the bottom left.
Under Security, select Roles and Permissions.
Find Administrator, select the drop-down arrow, and then select Edit Role Permissions.
In each row of the table (Search, Enroll, and Impersonate), select all of the checkboxes to assign full rights to the newly created role.
Select Save and Close.
Continue to the next procedure.

Create the Service User Account

Select the Gear icon, and then select Users (near the top left corner).
Select New User.
Enter a First Name and a Last Name to identify this account.
Note: No password is necessary.

Example
Select Save.
Continue to the next procedure.

Impersonate the Service User Account

You'll be impersonating the service account to authenticate against the API Test Tool, which creates the User ID/Key from the service account rather than your administrator account

Select the Gear icon, and then select Users (near the top left corner).
In the left side, find the new service user account that you created.
Select the drop-down arrow, and then select Impersonate User.

Your current session will now be impersonating this user.
Continue to the next procedure.

Authenticate with the API Test Tool

Open a new browser tab.
Go to the API Test Tool.
Enter the following values:
- Host: Enter your D2L instance URL, but omit https://.
- App ID: Enter the Application ID that you saved earlier in these procedures.
- App Key: Enter the Application Key that you saved earlier in these procedures.
- Select Authenticate.
  
  Do not use the credentials shown in the above screenshot. This is for illustrative purposes only.
- Selecting Authenticate might produce the following error. The request's 'x_target' value does not match the allowed values for this application. Contact your administrator.
  
  If this was the case, it is likely the trusted URL within the app was not properly set to: https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php
Select Continue when prompted.
Copy the User ID and User Key into the same file where you previously recorded the App ID and App Key.
Tip: Triple click the text boxes to highlight the values and copy them.
Stop impersonating ExamSoft Service Account.
Continue to the next procedure.

Add the ExamSoft API as a New External Tool

Select Content, then select New Unit

Unit Title: ExamSoft External Tool

Select Save and Close
Select ‘Add Existing’

Select ‘External Tool Activity’

Select ‘Manage External Learning Tools’

Select the Manage External Learning Tool Links tab, then click New Link
Enter the New Link settings
- You can enter any Title.
- For the URL, enter: https://lmsintegration.examsoft.com/lms/admin.jsp
- Under Visibility, select Allow users to view this link.
- Under Key/Secret, select the checkbox for Sign messages with key/secret with.
- Enter the Key and the Secret that were provided by your ExamSoft Contact.
- Under Security Settings, select Use link security settings and all of the checkboxes below it.
Select Save and Close.
Navigate back to the External Tools list.
Select the link you just added on the left, then select three dots, then Edit

Select the dropdown arrow for ‘Display & Completion’ then select Open in a new tab

Select Save and Close
Select ‘Open Link’ to open the External Tool

Add the ExamSoft API as a new External Tool, which will enable the sync list and will trigger courses to sync to the ExamSoft portal.

Navigate to the course that will have the API installed into it.
Notes:
- You can use an existing sandbox course or create an ExamSoft course for the tool to live in.
- Even though this API is installed into a particular course, you can still sync all courses in the instance from within the API.
Select the Content tab.
Select the Add Existing Activities tab, and then select External Learning Tools.
Select Manage External Tools (in the lower right corner).
Note: It will open in a new tab.
Select New Link.
Enter the New Link settings.
- You can enter any Title.
- For the URL, enter: https://lmsintegration.examsoft.com/lms/admin.jsp
- Under Visibility, select Allow users to view this link.
- Under Key/Secret, select the checkbox for Sign messages with key/secret with.
- Enter the Key and the Secret that were provided by your ExamSoft Contact.
- Under Security Settings, select Use link security settings and all of the checkboxes below it.
  Note: The selected course is automatically displayed under Make link available to.
Select Save and Close.
Navigate back to the External Tools list.
Select the new tool that you created to add it to the Contents tab of the course.
Select the down arrow for the ExamSoft module that you created (a), and then select Edit Properties In-place (b).
Select the Open as External Resource checkbox.
Select the tool within the Contents section to launch the ExamSoft API.