Adding a Virtual Labs project to your Open edX course

Before you can add any labs to your course, you need to go into Studio and Include the string "launchcontainer" (including quotations) in the Advanced Modules List for your course:

Ensure that you hit Save changes. If you have multiple XBlocks enabled on your course, you will need to include a comma between them like this:

[
	"launchcontainer",
	"pdf"
]

You'll also need to  Create a Virtual Labs project if you haven't already.

Once that's done, you can follow these steps in order to add individual labs:

1. Now that the XBlock is enabled on your course, navigate in Studio to the unit in which you want your Virtual Lab to appear. In the Add New Component interface, you should now see an Advanced button; click this and choose Container Launcher

   

   

2. Click the Edit button on the new component that appears.
   

   

3. You'll see a number of fields, but for now, just add the Friendly Name, typically this is the name of the software the container is running. It'll be displayed to the student as "Click to launch your [friendly name] Lab"

   

4. Now you should navigate to your Virtual Labs URL in a second tab in order to get the name of a project and the project token from the Projects tab of the Virtual Labs dashboard. 
   Tip: If you can't see the full project token or project name, try making your browser window wider, and ensure you haven't copied any trailing or leading spaces.

   

5. Enter them into the appropriate fields back in Studio.
   

6. Once you click Save, the button will change to the name of your lab.
   

7. Click this button in order to check that the lab starts up correctly.
   

8. Finally, Navigate to the Virtual Labs and click on the User containers tab to confirm that the lab you just launched is running.
   

This lab is now ready for use!