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blocks/moodletxt/preferences

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MoodleTxt User Preferences

On this page of the block, you can configure your user-specific preferences. These include your message templates, SMS signature, and various other options that relate to how you use the messaging block.

Signature

A message signature is a short piece of text (up to 25 characters) that you can optionally append to the end of your outgoing messages within MoodleTxt. This signature is useful for identifying yourself to the recipient, or for including common reply information (such as "reply with keyword BEN"). If you already have a message signature stored within MoodleTxt, it will appear in the textbox labelled "signature", otherwise this block will be blank. To edit your signature, simply enter the text you would like to use in this box. You will notice the character counter above it decreasing from 25 towards 0 as you type, indicating the number of usable characters you have remaining. Once you hit 25 characters, you will be unable to type any further.

When you are happy with your signature text, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. The page will refresh, and you should receive a short notification that the signature text has been updated.


Message Templates

Message templates can be used to store and re-use commonly sent messages, making sending these messages quick and easy. Templates can be selected from the message composition page, instead of filling in the message text by hand, and can contain any text that a regular message can.

You will notice two sections on the page, My Message Templates and Add New Template. The first of these lists all your existing message templates (if you have any), and allows you to select them for editing or deletion. The second section contains a text area in which you can add a new template to the system, or edit one you have selected from the existing list.


Adding a New Template

To add a new template, click inside the box labelled "Template Text", and enter your message. As you type, you should see the number of characters you have used displayed directly above the message box, along with the number of individual SMS messages your text will be broken into. For example, the display 172 / 2 means you have used 172 characters, and that this will be split into two messages when sent.

Also, underneath the message text box. you will find three buttons, labelled "First Name," "Last Name," and "Full Name."

moodletxt-compose-tag-buttons.png

Clicking on any of these buttons will insert a "tag" into the message. This tag will be automatically replaced, for each recipient, with the appropriate name, allowing you to add a personal touch to the message. For example:

"Hello %FIRSTNAME%, welcome to DMU."

Will be converted automatically to:

"Hello Jaime, welcome to DMU."


When you are satisfied with the text in the template editing box, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. The page will refresh, and you should see a short notice at the top of the screen indicating that the template has been saved.


Editing an Existing Template

To edit a template that has already been saved in the MoodleTxt block, go to the section headed My Message Templates. Select the template you wish to edit from the list and click the "Edit Template" button below it. The Add New Template section will be retitled to Edit Existing Template, and your template will appear in the editing box. You can now make your desired changes to it, exactly as if you were adding a new template to the system. When you are satisfied with your changes, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. The page will refresh, and you should see a short notice at the top of the screen indicating that the template has been updated.


Deleting a Template

To remove a template from MoodleTxt, go to the section headed My Message Templates. Select the template you wish to delete from the list and click the "Delete Template" button below it. A confirmation message will be displayed over the page. If you are happy to delete the template, click the "OK" button. The page will refresh, and a short message should be displayed at the top of the screen, indicating that the template has been deleted.


Inbox Preferences

Several options exist that relate to how MoodleTxt displays messages in your inbox, and these are listed here. Firstly, you can instruct MoodleTxt to hide the names and phone numbers of received messages within the inbox listing. This is useful in classroom or group situations, where you wish to receive feedback or opinions from a number of people whilst keeping their responses anonymous. With this box checked, MoodleTxt will hide sender information for these messages.

Finally, there is the option to determine how often MoodleTxt's dynamic inbox checks for new messages with the Moodle system. If you are on the inbox page, it will check with the database for new messages at the interval you set here. Please note that this is separate from checking with the ConnectTxt system for new messages, and will only pick up messages that have already been received by the Moodle system. Administrators wanting more information on how messages are received by MoodleTxt can find it in the documentation for the main settings page.

When you have edited your inbox preferences accordingly, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. The page will refresh, and you should see a short message at the top of the screen, indicating that your preferences have been updated.