Assume that scope IDs are opaque key objects

In edx-platform, which accounts for virtually all of real-life xblock usage, a block's def_id and usage_id are assumed to be instance of opaque key classes.. This is helpful and lets assume other things too. For example, every XBlock usage in edx-platform will have an associated UsageKey, which, in turn, will have an associated LearningContextKey.

This XBlock repo, though, doesn't make that assumption. As of right now, xblock-sdk, the only other known XBlock Runtime, uses strings for scope IDs. We would like to update both this repo as well as xblock-sdk to use opaque key objects. Discussion: #690 (comment)

Tasks

Update this repo
Update xblock-sdk: Use opaque key objects instead of strings for block scope IDs xblock-sdk#342

@bradenmacdonald

@bradenmacdonald , Here's the current ScopeIds definition:

class ScopeIds(namedtuple('ScopeIds', 'user_id block_type def_id usage_id')):
    ....

I'm thinking we could change it to something like:

class ScopeIds(NamedTuple):
    user_id: int  # or just 'object'?
    block_type:  str
    def_id: DefinitionKey
    usage_id: UsageKey

do you agree?

@kdmccormick

This is great, @kdmccormick

Just need to investigate the type of user_id a bit more. I know it can be None sometimes when an XBlock is not "bound" to a particular user. And at least in the "new runtime", an anonymous user gets a string ID. So I think it should be typed as int|str|None.

Example: https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/2cd1410d9951f0b5cd1639f25dd34e191d4d75f3/openedx/core/djangoapps/xblock/runtime/runtime.py#L110-L117

feat: XBlock.usage_key, XBlock.context_key convenience props

feat: XBlock.usage_key, XBlock.context_key convenience props (#690)

I'm currently doing this in tandem with #707 , implemented by #713.

My thinking is that we'll make the change, bump the major version of XBlock, and pin xblock-sdk to an older version of XBlock.

Following up, we should either deprecate xblock-sdk, or a find a maintainer for it who is willing to remove the XBlock version pin.

feat!: Assume that scope IDs are opaque key objects (WIP)

Moving discussion/tracking to the relevant DEPR ticket...

feat!: Assume that scope IDs are opaque key objects

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

Assume that scope IDs are opaque key objects #708

Tasks

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Assume that scope IDs are opaque key objects #708

Description

Tasks

Activity

kdmccormick commented on Jan 12, 2024

bradenmacdonald commented on Jan 12, 2024

kdmccormick commented on Jan 31, 2024

kdmccormick commented on Feb 14, 2025

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions