requester.request json keyword doesn't allow for actual json inputs

[dsavransky]

Describe the bug

I'm working with the new quiz items API (https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/new_quiz_items.html) and have run into an issue where it appears that the structure of canvasapi's request class is incompatible with this endpoint.

Specifically, the scoring_data dictionary for the multiple choice with varying point values by answer item type (https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/new_quiz_items.html#choice) requires an internal list of dictionaries, e.g.:

"scoring_data": {
    "value": "f1feae62-566d-4d85-9afb-182d757030c9",
    "values": [
        {
            "value": "f1feae62-566d-4d85-9afb-182d757030c9",
            "points": 2
        },
        {
            "value": "22d2bd84-5d5a-4640-8acf-484d799a735a",
            "points": 1
        },
        {
            "value": "74a22711-85a6-4b46-8fb3-ea22947e869a",
            "points": 0
        },
        {
            "value": "3ae2c63d-b990-40f0-aa70-e6bb854d0de2",
            "points": 0
        },
        {
            "value": "8193a348-d336-4b00-b60e-dece48739ce4",
            "points": 0
        }
    ]
}

If you run this through combine_kwargs you'll get something like:

[('item[scoring_data][value]', 'f1feae62-566d-4d85-9afb-182d757030c9'),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][value]',
  'f1feae62-566d-4d85-9afb-182d757030c9'),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][points]', 2),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][value]',
  '22d2bd84-5d5a-4640-8acf-484d799a735a'),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][points]', 1),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][value]',
  '74a22711-85a6-4b46-8fb3-ea22947e869a'),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][points]', 0),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][value]',
  '3ae2c63d-b990-40f0-aa70-e6bb854d0de2'),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][points]', 0),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][value]',
  '8193a348-d336-4b00-b60e-dece48739ce4'),
 ('item[scoring_data][values][][points]', 0)]

Trying to then PUT this data up to Canvas will generate the error:
UnprocessableEntity: {"errors":{"scoring_data":["Invalid Scoring Data: The property '#/values/0/points' of type string did not match the following type: number"]},"message":"Unprocessable Entity"}

This seems to be a case where it is much simpler to just send a dictionary directly, and I see that the request method has a json keyword, but it looks like setting this to True, doesn't actually allow you to send a data dictionary as _kwargs is still expected to be a list of tuples. Is there any way to make this work with the canvasapi requester, or is this a case where just manually assembling the request is the best way to go?

To Reproduce

Minimal worked example:

#course is a canvasapi course object

nq = course.create_new_quiz(
    quiz={
        "title": "Quiz Example",
        "assignment_group_id": xxxxxx,
        "points_possible": 10,
        "grading_type": "points",
        "instructions": "something"})

item = {
    "position": 1,
    "points_possible": 3.0,
    "entry_type": "Item",
    "status": "immutable",
    "entry": {
        "title": "Q1",
        "item_body": "<p>Answer the question</p>",
        "calculator_type": "none",
        "interaction_data": {
            "choices": [
                {
                    "id": "e5519152-c925-4abd-a0ec-3081511ca636",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item_body": "<p>0</p>",
                },
                {
                    "id": "3f55f6d8-7115-4d5b-bb70-07e15bb76112",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item_body": "<p>1</p>",
                },
                {
                    "id": "7d243ebc-cff9-4b97-b047-b96d0b8e2aed",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item_body": "<p>2</p>",
                },
                {
                    "id": "ff4cc47b-1846-4e7f-8482-b471685f8865",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item_body": "<p>3</p>",
                },
            ]
        },
        "properties": {
            "shuffle_rules": {"choices": {"to_lock": [], "shuffled": False}},
            "vary_points_by_answer": True,
        },
        "scoring_data": {
            "value": "ff4cc47b-1846-4e7f-8482-b471685f8865",
            "values": [
                {"value": "e5519152-c925-4abd-a0ec-3081511ca636", "points": 0},
                {"value": "3f55f6d8-7115-4d5b-bb70-07e15bb76112", "points": 1},
                {"value": "7d243ebc-cff9-4b97-b047-b96d0b8e2aed", "points": 2},
                {"value": "ff4cc47b-1846-4e7f-8482-b471685f8865", "points": 3},
            ],
        },
        "answer_feedback": {"e5519152-c925-4abd-a0ec-3081511ca636": ""},
        "scoring_algorithm": "VaryPointsByAnswer",
        "interaction_type_slug": "choice",
        "feedback": {},
    },
}

endpoint = "courses/{}/quizzes/{}/items".format(course.id, nq.id)

# this leads to Canvas error:
r =nq._requester.request(
            "POST",
            endpoint,
            _url="new_quizzes",
            _kwargs=combine_kwargs(**{"item":item}),
        )

#setting json=True leads to different error: BadRequest: {"error":"Expected `item` object"}

Expected behavior

Setting up the request manually works as expected:

full_url = "{}{}".format(
    course._requester.new_quizzes_url,
    "courses/{}/quizzes/{}/items".format(course.id, nq.id),
)
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer {}".format(course._requester.access_token)}
r = requests.post(full_url, json={"item": tmp}, headers=headers)

Environment information

• Python 3.11.9
• CanvasAPI version 3.3.0

Additional context

Thanks!