Feedback tab in Instructor Dashboard breaks due to indirect import of unregistered app in Sumac+

[magajh]

Description:

We're encountering an import error when accessing the Feedback tab in the instructor dashboard on Open edX platforms running Sumac or later.

Root Cause

The error is triggered by the get_lms_link_for_item import introduced in this commit in 2023. This function, indirectly imports a model that doesn't exist in the LMS context:

• get_lms_link_for_item →
• cms/djangoapps/contentstore/toggles.py →
• openedx.core.djangoapps.content.search.api →
• SearchAccess (model)

The SearchAccess model was introduced in this commit in 2024, but the content.search app is not included in INSTALLED_APPS in the LMS. As a result, attempting to import this chain within the XBlock causes the LMS to fail when rendering the instructor dashboard's Feedback tab.

Proposed Fix

openedx/openedx-platform#36802

two potential solutions were considered:

1. Wrap the problematic import in a try/except block — similar to how it was handled when the model was first introduced openedx/openedx-platform@d672110#diff-95b1d167a319870ade835b889d600b6e46a5fcc44b127c421ee03f8a5719f36eR12
2. Add the content.search app to the LMS's INSTALLED_APPS.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use a platform with Sumac or newer version.
2. Install and enable the Xblock, also make sure to add these settings to your platform:

FEATURES["ENABLE_FEEDBACK_INSTRUCTOR_VIEW"] = True

OPEN_EDX_FILTERS_CONFIG = {
    "org.openedx.learning.instructor.dashboard.render.started.v1": {
    "fail_silently": False,
    "pipeline": [
        "feedback.extensions.filters.AddFeedbackTab",
    ]
    },
}

3. Navigate to the Instructor Dashboard of a course that uses the Feedback XBlock.
4. . Click on the Feedback tab.
5. Observe the import error

[magajh]

@openedx/axim-engineering @feanil tagging you here to see if you could help us move this forward or review the proposed solution in openedx/openedx-platform#36802. We'd appreciate your input on the best way to solve it
Thanks in advance!

[kdmccormick]

Sure, I've left a review.

[mboisson]

I have a similar, but maybe not identical issue with Ulmo. I posted details here https://discuss.openedx.org/t/feedback-xblock-in-ulmo/18467/2