Revision as of 16:20, 19 May 2009

Template:Moodle 2.0

Current problems

text and html resource types separate
embedded images and files in general are stored in course files without appropriate access control
local files and Internet links mixed
is IMS plug-in maintained? Yes, why not? --Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) 16:18, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
repository plug-in obsoleted
embedded images are lost during backup & restore which moves the course to a new site. -- Matt Gibson 08:53, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Types of resources

Directory of files
Resource page - using new editor element
External resource link - some file stored elsewhere
Single uploaded images and files
Packages and uploaded html files
Other 3rd party plugins

Upgrade planning

Each type requires different upgrade code.

Directory type

Recursively copy directory to resource area, skip backup and moddata contents

Text and web page

Convert to one plug-in using new editor forms element
Copy directly linked files that may not contain other relative links to resource area
PROBLEM: deal somehow with html, flash, and java; maybe just warn and manual migration button

Links to files

Links to external sites do not need any upgrade
If link points to simple file (image, sound, pdf.) copy to resource area
PROBLEM: links to different courses - already problem now, maybe just warn teachers
PROBLEM: links to files that may contain other relative links (html, flash, java)

IMS type

copy files to resource area

hive

PROBLEM: remove from core completely?

3rd party

needs docs

Solution of caching problems

Teachers often do not understand that files may be cached in browsers, se the same mechanism already implemented in SCORM module.

Internally store all files as itemid=0
Add new revision db field into resource table
When serving files always construct links with itemid==revision
Ignore itemid for resource files in pluginfile.php

Code refactoring and UI changes proposal

Technically it would be difficult to split current Resource into multiple modules. The idea of module subplugins was only implemented only partially, it should be much easier to split unmaintained plugins into separate modules in contrib. Considering long term maintenance and support costs it might be better to create a minimal resource-like module skeleton in contrib instead of encouraging people to create new unofficial resource plugins.

Subplugin related problems

no standard subplugin APIs
all internal module API frozen - no internal refactoring allowed
subplugin regression more likely
sloppy db table structures - many universal columns with
no standard way to upgrade subplugins - main version file needs to be bumped up
no standard way to uninstall subplugin - db table leftovers
capability in subplugins not supported
subplugin upgrade paths are chaotic - not linked to main plugin version
subplugins can not have own lang packs
subplugins do not have own logging actions
instead of reducing code duplication advanced plugins may duplicate a lot more core
it is not easy to move unmaintained subplugins into contrib
unofficial subplugins not reported during upgrade

Option 1: split Resource into multiple modules

mod/resourse - formatted text pages
mod/resourcefile - one or more uploaded files
mod/resourcedir - directory structure
mod/resourcelink - links to external files

+1 to shorter names, like "rsrcfile, rsrcdir ..." due to DB restrictions mainly. --Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) 16:20, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Activities block would have to be updated to group all resources onto one page instead of listing all resource modules separately.

@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 * mod/resourcelink - links to external files
-: +1 to shorter names, like "rsrcfile, rsrcdir ..." due to DB restrictions mainly. ~~----
+: +1 to shorter names, like "rsrcfile, rsrcdir ..." due to DB restrictions mainly. --[[User:Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)|Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)]] 16:20, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 Activities block would have to be updated to group all resources onto one page instead of listing all resource modules separately.

Documentation

Development:Resource module file API migration: Difference between revisions