MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Blocks FAQ

2014-03-21T20:18:06Z

Jasonfurman: /* How do I hide front page blocks from non-logged-in users? */ Added tip for hiding all blocks

{{Blocks}}
==How do I hide front page blocks from non-logged-in users?==

# Click the "Turn editing on" button at the top-right of the front page. (You need to be logged in as an administrator.)
# Click the assign roles icon (often a face and mask) in the header of the block to be hidden. ('''NOTE''': Don't worry if you get an error message saying you are not able to assign roles ;) )
# Scroll down to the settings block and click the Permissions link
# [[File:Blockassign.png]]
# In the ''View block'' section, click the X next to ''Guest''
# Click the "Save changes" button.
Alternately, to hide all blocks (including blocks that do not allow you to assign roles - like Navigation), you can go to ''Administration>Site administration>Users>Permissions>Define roles'' and edit the Guest role to disallow ''View block''.

==How do I get rid of a link in "Site Pages" in the Navigation block?==
When a resource or activity (like a page, file or forum) is added to the [[Main menu block]] on the front page, it will appear in the Site Pages of the Navigation block. If you need the item but don't want it to display then go to ''Site administration>Appearance>Navigation'' and uncheck "show front page activities in the navigation". If you no longer want the item then turn on the editing on the front page, go to or add the [[Main menu block]] and click to delete the item.

==How do I make a front page block visible to teachers but not students?==
It is possible to control who sees block on the front page. The following applies to any specified group of people, not just teachers and students.
# Ensure you have hidden your block from non-logged in users as in the instructions above.
# In ''Administration>Site administration>Users>Permissions>Define roles'', click on "authenticated user on the front page"
# In the context type, select "block"
# Set ''moodle/block:view'' to "allow". Save the changes.
#Turn editing on on your front page.
#Click the "assign roles " icon on your block.
#Click the blue words of "authenticated user on the front page" to access the screen where you can choose who you want to allow to see this block (such as your teachers) by moving them from the right hand box to the left.
#Now click "Permissions" in the Administration block.
#Click the X next to "authenticated user" to prevent them viewing this block.
#From now on, regular authenticated users will not be able to see the block. However, those who have been given the role of "authenticated user on the front page" will be able to see it.

==How do I make a block in my course visible to teachers but not students?==
Here are two suggestions:

1.Add a block to a page which only teachers can see, for example ''/grade/report/grader/index.php'' You could add a comments block for teachers to discuss and moderate each others' grades. Alternatively,you could add an HTML block to ''/badges/index.php'' with badge issuing policies. A block may also be added to ''enrol/users.php'' for notes or comments regarding enrolments.

2.Add a block to the main course page and ask your administrator to go to ''Block>Assign roles>Permissions'' and prevent authenticated users and students from viewing the block. (A regular teacher cannot change permissions of authenticated users.)

==How can I change a Block item name from a list inside a block?==
You can change an item name in ''Settings>Site Administration > Language> Language customization'' Select the 'moodle.php' file then search for the words you need to alter.

==How to I make a block "sticky"?==
See [[Block settings]]. Using the edit icon in the block heading, go to the configuration page. Look for the "Where this block appears" group and "Display on page types". Depending upon your current context and permissions, you will see different options. One maybe "All pages" or "Any type of course main page", and others.

==Where did that block come from? I do not want it!==
Your site administrator or some one with more permissions than you decided that block should be there. It is possible to force a block to appear on other pages. For example, a site administrator my force a HTML block on every main course page and determine where it will be, so they may put site messages there.

Your site administrator can tell where every instance of a block appears via [[Blocks administration]].

==How can I decide the order in which blocks are docked?==
Blocks are "docked", from top to bottom (usually on the left) in the order in which you dock them.

==How can I add a block to all user profile pages?==

See [[User profiles]] for instructions.

==How can I prevent users from adding blocks to their My home page?==

See [[My home]] for instructions.

==The blocks have disappeared from the front page/course page!==
This can sometimes be caused by users pasting from Microsoft Word which corrupts the formatting. See this forum post for more details https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=217390#p958884

==Help, I accidentally hid the administration block without realising the consequences!==

# Go to <nowiki>http://yourmoodlesite.org/admin/blocks.php</nowiki>
# Unhide the settings block by clicking the closed eye icon opposite it

==I accidentally deleted the navigation (or administration) block!==

# Go to ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Blocks > Manage blocks'' (or via the URL <nowiki>http://yourmoodlesite.org/admin/blocks.php</nowiki>) and unprotect the navigation block by clicking the padlock icon
# Turn editing on in any course
# Go to the front page and use the 'Add a block' dropdown menu to add a navigation block there, setting it to display throughout the entire site
# Go back to ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Blocks > Manage blocks'' and re-protect the navigation block.

The above method works the same for the navigation and administration blocks.

==My Administration block links don't expand!==

This has been noticed as a Javascript problem. Given the many possible factors behind this issue, a clear-cut solution hasn't been found. Please try to:

1. Use another browser or use another version of the same browser (try both, lower and higher versions).

;2. [[Purge all cache]] (Administration > Development > Purge all caches): [http://yoursite.com/admin/purgecaches.php yoursite.com/admin/purgecaches.php]

;3. Change the Use slash arguments option --[[HTTP]]-- (Administration > Server > HTTP): [http://yoursite.com/admin/settings.php?section=http yoursite.com/admin/settings.php?section=http]

;4. Try different settings at the [[AJAX and Javascript settings]] page (Administration > Appearance > AJAX and Javascript): [http://yoursite.com/admin/settings.php?section=ajax yoursite.com/admin/settings.php?section=ajax]

* Enabling the Use online YUI libraries (''useexternalyui'') sometimes has solved the problem (see [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-31678 tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-31678]).

5. [http://www.enable-javascript.com/ Turn off Javascript] in your browser (the site shows how to enable Javascript, so do the opposite)

6. [http://www.java.com/en/download/help/disable_browser.xml Turn off Java] (you should have it disabled anyway, unless you really need it)

;7. Try using another theme: [http://yoursite.com/theme/index.php yoursite.com/theme/index.php]

You should also:

;1 Enable [[Debugging]] (Administration > Development > Debugging): [http://yoursite.com/admin/settings.php?section=debugging yoursite.com/admin/settings.php?section=debugging]

2. Check if your browser is showing some warning or error indications (watch the status bar).

For advice, see this forum thread https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=166994 or this one https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=200243. For more details, please see this tracker MDL-31678.

==How can I add a Twitter feed block?==

An HTML block can be used to display the latest tweets from any Twitter account. See [[HTML block]] for details.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=2121 Blocks forum]

Using Moodle forum discussions:
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=195874 More problems with "Sticky" blocks in 2.2] with instructions on how to make blocks appear on all course pages

[[Category:FAQ]]

[[de:Block_FAQ]]
[[es:Bloques FAQ]]

Upload courses

2014-03-20T15:36:19Z

Jasonfurman: error on page; replaced " > " with " / " because > is wrong for category paths at least for 2.6.2 (we tested this extensively and lucked into the correct character). also it's always been / and the only new thing to note is the spaces requirement

{{Courses}}
{{New features}}In Moodle 2.6 onwards, an administrator can upload multiple courses via text file in ''Administration > Site administration > Courses > Upload courses''.

In addition to creating new courses, this functionality may also be used to update or delete courses, or import content from another course. For information on using this functionality to create course templates, see [[Adding a new course]]

==Upload courses==

To upload one or more courses

# Go to ''Administration > Site administration > Courses > Upload courses''
# Either drag and drop the CSV file or click the 'Choose a file' button and select the file in the file picker
# Select appropriate import options carefully, then click the preview button.

{|
|[[File:26uploadcourses.png|250px|thumb|Upload courses admin screen]]
|
|[[File:uploadcoursesresults.png|250px|thumb|Courses successfully uploaded]]
|}

Note: It is also possible to use the command-line tool ''admin/tool/uploadcourse/cli/uploadcourse.php''.

When using the web interface, use the ''Preview'' option to see if any errors were detected in the previewed rows. If you proceed with the upload and there were something wrong detected with a course, it will be ignored.

=== Short file example ===
uploadcourse.csv:
<code bash>
shortname,fullname,category,summary,enrolment_1,enrolment_1_role,enrolment_1_enrolperiod,role_student
courserestored,Course restored,1,a summary,manual,student,1 month,
courserestored2,Course restored 2,1,a summary,,,,
courserestored3,Course restored 3,1,a summary,,,,padawan
courserestored4,Course restored 4,1,"a summary, with comma",manual,student,1 month,padawan
</code>
Notice there are no spaces between the items.

==Creating the text file==

The text file to upload courses must be a CSV file. It accepts the following columns which are divided in two categories, the course information, and the course actions.

===Course information fields===

Most of those settings are available on the settings page of a course. Please refer to [[Course settings]] for more information. Field names must be lower-case.

;shortname
: The shortname
;fullname
: The full name
;idnumber
: The ID number
;category
: The ID of the category to place the course in. This takes precedence over ''category_idnumber'' and ''category_path''.
;category_idnumber
: The ID number of the category to place the course in. This takes precedence over ''category_path''.
;category_path
: The path of the category to place the course in. If you want to place the course in a category named "Science-Fiction" which is located under the category "Movies", the value to provide is: <code>Movies / Science-Fiction</code>. Note that the separator must be <code>[space]/[space]</code>. Also note that the category MUST exist, it will not be created. If you want to place the course in the top-level category "Movies", the value to provide is: <code>Movies</code>
;visible
: 1 if the course is visible, 0 if hidden
;startdate
: The time at which the course starts. Please note that this value is passed to the PHP function [http://php.net/manual/en/function.strtotime.php strtotime] to generate a timestamp.
;summary
: The summary of the course
;format
: The course format to use, this must be a valid course format plugin name. E.g. ''weeks'', ''topics''.
;theme
: The theme to use
;lang
: The language to use
;newsitems
: The number of news items
;showgrades
: 1 to show the gradebook to students, 0 to hide it.
;showreports
: 1 to show the activity reports, 0 to hide it.
;legacyfiles
: 1 to enable the legacy course files, 0 not to.
;maxbytes
: The maximum upload size of the course in bytes. Use 0 for the site limit.
;groupmode
: 0 for ''No groups'', 1 for ''Separate groups'' and 2 for ''Visible groups''.
;groupmodeforce
: 1 to force the group mode, otherwise enter 0.
;enablecompletion
: 1 to enable the activity completion, 0 not to.

====Enrolment fields====

Some fields can be constructed to enable and configure enrolment methods. The fields must be named ''enrolment_[number]'' for the enrolment method name, and ''enrolment_[number]_property'' for its properties.

;enrolment_[number]
: The name of the enrolment method
;enrolment_[number]_delete
: 1 to delete this enrolment method from the course, if set to 1 all the other properties will be ignored.
;enrolment_[number]_disable
: 1 to disable this enrolment method from the course, if set to 1 all the other properties will be ignored.
;enrolment_[number]_startdate
: The enrolment start date. This value is passed to the PHP function strtotime().
;enrolment_[number]_enddate
: The enrolment end date. This value is passed to the PHP function strtotime().
;enrolment_[number]_enrolperiod
: Number of seconds, or if not a value understood by strtotime() such as "4 days".
;enrolment_[number]_role
: The role short name
;enrolment_[number]_[property]
: Where property is understood by the specified enrolment method

Note: Upload courses is not yet compatible with all [[Enrolments|enrolment methods]] (MDL-43127).

'''Example'''

enrolment_1: manual
enrolment_1_role: student
enrolment_1_enrolperiod: 1 month

enrolment_2: self
enrolment_2_startdate: 2013-01-30

====Role renaming====

To rename some roles, using the following pattern:

;role_[shortname]
: The new name of the role ''[shortname]''.

'''Example'''

role_student: Apprentice
role_teacher: Master
role_mycustomrole: Jedi

===Course action fields===

Those settings take precedence over the ''Course process'' parameters.

;delete
: 1 to delete the course
;rename
: The shortname to rename the course to
;backupfile
: An absolute path to a backup file (.mbz) to import in the course
;templatecourse
: The short name of a course to import the content from
;reset
: 1 to reset the course

===Mandatory fields===

;shortname
: This field is mandatory for every operation, with the only exception of creating new courses. See details on the course process parameter ''Shortname template'' for more information.
;fullname
: Required when creating a new course.
;category, category_idnumber, category_path
: One of these is required when creating a course.

===Import options===

To prevent unexpected behaviour, you have to specify what you want the tool to be able to do.

;Upload mode
: This allows you to specify if courses can be created and/or updated.
;Update mode
: If you allow courses to be updated, you also have to tell the tool what to update the courses with.
;Allow deletes
: Whether the ''delete'' field is accepted or not
;Allow renames
: Whether the ''rename'' field is accepted or not
;Allow resets
: Whether the ''reset'' field is accepted or not

===Course process===

This allows you to specify actions to be taken for every course uploaded.

;Shortname template
: If you are creating courses without a shortname, you can use this field to automatically generate a shortname. This field accepts two placeholders: %i for the ID number, %f for the summary.
;Restore file
: A backup file (.mbz) to import in the course after create/update.
;Restore from course
: The shortname of a course to import content from after create/update.
;Reset after upload
: Whether to reset the course after creating/updating it.

===Default course values===

Those are values that can be set in the web interface for all the fields that are not specified in the CSV file. Note that they are always used when creating a course, but only when specified during update (see ''Update mode'').

==Increasing speed==

When importing the content of a backup file, or another course, you are advised to enable the setting ''keeptempdirectoriesonbackup''. This will considerably speed up the process of the upload if you are importing multiple times from the same source.

==See also==

* Demo screencast: [http://youtu.be/MzK2jb-9SwE Bulk course creation]
* [[Upload users]]
* [http://www.moodleblog.net/2013/11/24/creating-course-templates-in-moodle-2-6/ Creating course templates in Moodle 2.6] blog post by Mary Cooch

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[[es:Subir cursos]]