usask-seat-check

A bot to automatically (and repeatedly!) check uSask course availability on Banner, and notify you when a seat is available.

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial repository that is unaffiliated with the University of Saskatchewan.

I made this because it is stressful to check constantly, but also nearly impossible to navigate the new Banner system.

Requirements

Python 3
pip or equivalent to install Python libraries
Discord server for notifications
Google Chrome for Selenium to navigate Banner
confidence in writing your actual NSID / password in a text file

Setup

Install Requirements

See the requirements.txt file for necessary modules:

pip install -r requirements.txt

You may need additional libraries or software, but the error messages will be relatively informative.

Create Discord Webhooks

You can use Discord Webhooks to notify you of the particular state of the course. The script really just POSTs to whatever webhook is provided, so it could (presumably) notify you through something other than Discord, but this has not been tested.

Three states are defined, each supporting their own webhook:

a seat is available
no seat is available
the bot has encountered an error or unexpected state navigating Banner

Follow Discord's intro to create your webhooks.

Short Version: Server Settings > Integrations > View Webhooks > New Webhook

Store Search Info

Fill out the data.json file with:

your student login info (necessary to access Banner)
the course you want to look for (subject code and number)
the webhooks and a custom message you want sent with each

Running

Assuming all prerequisites are fulfilled:

python3 seat-check.py

Selenium will open Chrome and will sign you in. MFA usually is required the first time, so have your authenticator ready. After this, it will repeatedly search for the course, post to the appropriate webhook, and refresh.