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| This page is for (rapidly!) designing the new DMS APIs. As Martin says, "Basically we'll have an API that interfaces Moodle files handling everywhere via a plugin to the chosen repository (or repositories). This allows us to use all the great repositories are around without needing to restrict ourselves to just one." ([http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=4380 relevant forum post])
| | {{Moved_to_dev_docs}} |
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| This is an interesting thing to do, because some DMS backends will provide features that others don't provide, and Moodle will/may have to provide those features transparently for backends that don't.
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| This is a first pass at doing this, and the naming conventions I'm using are intended to be clear but not necessarily to indicate what I think these things should really be called in code.
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| ==DMS Properties Object==
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| class dms_document_properties
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| var $id;
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| var $name;
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| var $author;
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| var $directory;
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| // every time a separate module/instance refers to this document, refcount is bumped. When refcount==0, bye-bye, document!
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| // Hopefully most DMS backends will already implement this sort of thing themselves, so those plugins don't have to mess with this.
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| var $refcount;
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| var $credentials; // username, password, stuff like that
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| /* OK, some shameless module promotion here. I've implemented a generic access_control module that I think could be useful here. Maybe it's duplicating some other functionality I just don't know about yet and maybe it has horrible problems that haven't been pointed out to me yet, but I'll mention it here just the same. It's under contrib/ in the [http://moodle.org/download/modules/portfolio.zip portfolio module]. */
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| var $access_control; // object with access control specification/methods
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| ==DMS Data Object==
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| class dms_document
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| var $dms_document_properties;
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| var $content;
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| var $pwd; // I'm not sure I like this. You can traipse around the filesystem carrying $content and the content's $dms_document_properties->directory along with you?
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| ==Methods==
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| /* This is just a first pass to get something on the table. */
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| get_document_content();
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| Content of the document sufficiently specified by $this->dms_document_properties is fetched from DMS backend.
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| Returns: value of $this->id, or false
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| put_document_content();
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| Content of document sufficiently specified by $this->dms_document_properties is stored/updated in DMS backend.
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| Returns: value of $this->id, or false
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| get_document_properties();
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| Full properties of the document sufficiently specified by $this->dms_document_properties (id, owner, title, etc.) are fetched from DMS backend.
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| Returns: dms_document_properties object, or false
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| access_change($access_object);
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| Change the access un/specified for $this according to the $access_object specification (type of access, grant/deny/revoke, designee, etc.)
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| Returns: true/false
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| access_test($access_object);
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| Check to see whether the specified $access_object describes access that has been granted to $this.
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| Returns: true if specified access is granted, false otherwise
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| delete();
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| Decrements the refcount and deletes $this if refcount==0. Hopefully most DMSes already have their own refcount (or whatever); I"m shooting from the hip here.
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| Returns: true/false
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| move($new_directory_path);
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| Moves the document from its present directory to the specified new one.
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| Returns: true/false
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| link_that_to_me($new_dms_document);
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| Make $new_dms_document's directory, name, owner, etc., refer to $this. (Think of a UNIX hard link, where the inode -- in our case, id -- gets another reference.)
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| Returns: true/false
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| link_me_to_that($old_dms_document);
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| Make $this refer to $old_dms_document. (Think of a UNIX hard link, where the inode -- in our case, id -- gets another reference.)
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| Returns: true/false
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| copy_this_to($new_dms_document);
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| Copies $this into the directory_path, owner, title, etc. specified by $new_dms_document.
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| Returns: $new_dms_document->id, or false
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| copy_this_from($old_dms_document);
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| Copies $old_dms_document into the directory_path, owner, title, etc. specified by $this.
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| Returns: $this->id, or false
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| lock();
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| Locks $this.
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| Returns: true/false
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| unlock();
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| Unlocks $this.
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| Returns: true/false
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| break_lock();
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| Forcibly unlocks $this.
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| Returns: true/false
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| mkdir($new_dir);
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| Make the specified new directory, including necessary parent directories as required (perhaps if an additional boolean parameter is set).
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| Returns: true/false
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| pwd();
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| Get the present working directory.
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| Returns: present working directory as a string, or false
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| chdir($new_directory_path);
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| Change PWD to the specified $new_directory_path, which can be absolute or relative.
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| Returns: true/false
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| list();
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| List the files/directories in $pwd.
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| Returns: array of document_properties of all the files/directories in $pwd, or false
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| get_property($property_name);
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| Get the named property from $this->dms_document_properties.
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| Returns: value of property, or false (er... 'false' on failure?)
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| set_property($property_name, $value);
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| Set the named property in $this->dms_document_properties.
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| Returns: true/false
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| get_my_url();
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| Return a URL that points to the document specified by $this, if possible.
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| Returns: URL or false
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| ===Other methods===
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| change_owner();
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| ==Other Considerations==
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| * Will the plugged-in DMS store access controls, or will Moodle handle those? (I think it best to let Moodle handle them but perhaps also pass-through as well as possible; not all external DMSes will have the same or sufficient access controls.)
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| ==See also==
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| * Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41026 RFC - Remote object repositories -- consolidating implementations] forum discussion
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| {{CategoryDeveloper}} | |
