MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Administrator documentation

2010-06-18T19:16:10Z

Muhammadsajid: /* Plugins */

The purpose of this page is to list useful links by general topics for administrators of a Moodle site.
__TOC__

== Alternative to manual installation ==

Some users may prefer to skip manual installation by using a pre-integrated [[Moodle appliance]].

== Installation & Upgrading ==

*[[Installation Quickstart]] for an overview of the installation steps
*[[Installing Moodle]] for detailed installation instructions
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Installing AMP|Options for installing Apache, MySQL and PHP]]
*[[Upgrading|Upgrading Moodle]]
*[[Installing contributed modules or plugins]]

== System-specific Instructions & Packages ==

===Unix/Linux-based===
* [[SUSE Linux Server 10|Automated Installation Guide for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10]] operating system
* [[RedHat Linux installation|Step-by-step Installation Guide for RedHat]] operating system
* [[Debian GNU/Linux installation|Step-by-step Installation Guide for Debian GNU/Linux]] operating system
* [[Step-by-step Installation Guide for Ubuntu]]
* [[Manual_installation_on_Ubuntu|Manual Installation on Ubuntu]]
* [[Step-by-step Install Guide for Zenwalk-5.0|Step-by-step Installation Guide for Zenwalk-5.0]]
* [[OLPC XS installation|Step-by-step Installation Guide for the One Laptop per Child XS Server (Beta)]]
* [[Step-by-step Install Guide for Solaris 10 with Oracle 10|Step-by-step Installation Guide for Solaris 10 with Oracle 10]]

===Windows===
* [[Windows installation|Windows installations with instructions for Windows NT/2000/2003 servers]]
* [[Windows installation using XAMPP|Windows installation using XAMPP: Apache, MySQL and PHP]]
* [[Development:Windows_Installer_anywhere|MoodleAnywhere]] another Windows installation package
* [[Installing Moodle on Windows Vista]] - how to

===Mac===
* [[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X | Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X 10.3/10.4/10.5]]
* [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client|Step by Step Installation on a Mac OS X 10.4 Client using the internal web server]]
* [[Step by Step Installation on a Mac OS X 10.5 Server|Step by step Installation on a Mac OS X 10.5 Server]]

===Web Hosts===
* [[1and1_MySQL_installation | Installation on '''1and1''' web hosting]]
* [[powweb_MySQL_installation | Step-by-step Installation on '''Powweb''' web hosting]]
* [[Step-by-step Installation using the old version of CPanel]]
* [[Step-by-step Installation using the new version of CPanel]]

===Database===
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]
* [[Installing MSSQL for PHP]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]

[[special education]]===Plugins===
* [[Installing contributed modules or plugins]]

==Security, Performance and Roles==

*[[Security]] contains important security procedures for a production site
*[[Performance]] for ideas on improving the speed of your installation
*[[Manage roles]] For Moodle 1.7 and later.
*[[Reducing spam in Moodle]]
*[[suhosin]] is an advanced protection system for PHP installation. It was designed to protect servers and users from known and unknown flaws in PHP applications and the PHP core.
*[[nagios]] Open source software to monitor servers

== FAQs ==

*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
*[[Administration FAQ]]
*[[Performance FAQ]]
*[[Backup and restore FAQ]]
*[[Errors FAQ]]
*[[:Category:FAQ|List of FAQs]]

== Configuration Settings ==
=== Site administration setting===
[[Site administration block]] contains most site configuration settings including:
*[[Front Page settings]]- initial or home page of a Moodle site
*[[Themes]] - user interface packages of XHTML and CSS controls
*[[Language]] - default and additional language packs
*[[Activity modules administration]]
*[[Blocks administration]]
*[[Filters]] - Text and Multimedea plugins
*[[Backup settings]]
*[[HTML editor settings]]
*[[Calendar settings]]
*[[Maintenance mode]]
*[[Notification page]] used to update versions
*[[Settings block]] Moodle 2.0 site settings location

===Other settings===
*[[Course settings]] for course home page configuration
**Each type of [[Activities|activity]], [[resource]] and [[:Category:Block|block]] has their own settings
*Older versions settings
**[[Site settings]] pre 1.7
**[[Variables]] pre 1.6
**[[Location of admin settings in 1.7|Comparison between configuration settings in Moodle 1.6 & 1.7]]

==User Management==

*[[Authentication]] of user on a site
*[[Add new user|Add a new user]] - on a site
*[[Upload users]] - from a file to a site, and into existing course and group, some existing user global updates
*[[User_profile_fields]]
*[[Enrolment plugins]]
**[[Flat file]] - enrol existing users in a course
*[[Roles and capabilities|Assigning user a role]] - typical assignments include:
**[[Students|Enrol students in a course]]
**[[Unenrolment]] Student
**[[Courses (administrator)|Assign teachers]] - to a course
**[[Assign creators|Assign course creators]] - in a site
**[[Assign administrators]] - in a site

==Other==

*[[Courses (administrator)|Courses]] and [[Course formats|course formats]]
*[[Reports (administrator)]] and [[Logs]]
*[[Site files]]
*[[Moodle database|Moodle site database]]
*[[Environment]]
*[[MNet|Moodle Network]] and Moodle [[Community hub]]
*[[Streaming Media]]
*[[Case studies (administrator)]]
*[[Anti-virus]]
*[[System Monitoring and Server Statistic Software]]
*[[Integrate Moodle, LDAP and SIMS.net]]
*[[How to rebuild context paths]]
*[[Hacking the Moodle 2.0 database transfer script to convert a Moodle 1.9 site]]
*[[Category:ProxyProblems]]

==See also==

*[[:Category:Administrator | Index of all Administrator-related pages]]
*[[Integrations]]
*[[CVS for Administrators]]
*[[Email processing]]
*[[Search engine optimization]]
*[[Messaging]]
*[[Migration]]
*[[Metacourses]]
*[[Block layout]]
*[[Customizing Moodle]]
*[[Administrator do's and don'ts]]
*[[Using Moodle book]] Chapter 16: Moodle Administration
*[[Administration hacks]]
*[[Git]] Version control, upgrading

[[Category: Administrator]]
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[[es:Documentación para Administradores]]
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[[ja:管理者ドキュメント]]
[[ko:관리자 문서]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor beheerders]]
[[pt:Documentação para administradores]]
[[ru:Администраторам]]
[[sk:Dokumentácia pre správcov]]
[[zh:管理员文档]]
[[pl:Administrator documentation]]
[[fi:Ylläpitäjän opas]]
[[de:Dokumentation für Administratoren]]

Usage

2010-06-18T19:08:28Z

Muhammadsajid: /* Who uses Moodle? */

{{About Moodle}}
==Who uses Moodle?==

Moodle is used by a variety of institutions and individuals, including:
* Universities
* High schools
* Primary schools
* Government departments
* Healthcare organisations
* Military organistions
* Airlines
* Oil companies
* Homeschoolers
* Independent educators
* special educators

==How many Moodle sites are there==
There are tens of thousands of registered Moodle sites in the sites list that we maintain, however it is impossible to know exactly how many Moodle sites exist because Moodle is open source, free to download and distribute, and doesn't force registration on its users. Very often we find people will not inform us about their sites.

For up-to-date summary statistics about registered sites browse the [http://moodle.org/stats/ Moodle Statistics] page. Statistics shown on this page are updated daily to provide an accurate summary of collected information.
You can also browse the [http://moodle.org/sites/ Moodle Sites] page, which provides a useful list of registered sites grouped by country for all sites that have chosen to make their information public.

==How statistics are collected and maintained==
===Registration===
All information collected by moodle.org is from site administrators that have registered their sites with us. For security and privacy reasons registration has been made a manual process that only a site administrator can undertake.
Registration can be undertaken by clicking on the Registration button shown in the site administration block under Notification, and filling out the simple form that then gets sent back to us.

Sites can update the registration information we hold about them at any time them by repeating the manual process.
It is important to note that because of the manual process information that is collected by moodle.org may be out of date.

Moodle since version 1.0 has allowed users to register their sites with us, registration being something that we encourage all publicly available sites to do.
You can read more about registration, the registration process and what is collected on the [[Moodle registration|Moodle Registration]] page.

===Moderation===
To ensure that the statistics that we collect are as accurate as possible there are certain conditions that a registered site has to meet in order to be included into both the statistics and sites pages.

When a site first registers we check the information about the site to ensure that the URL they have provided is valid and that the email address for the site administrator is a valid email address.
We also at this point sanity check the information being collected to remove obvious test sites.

There is also group of volunteers who monitor new registrations and check them manually (using a tool we built).
This helps us ensure that test sites, and fake sites do not make it into our database.

===Maintenance===
Like most of the web many sites come and go. Since we strive to maintain accurate statistics we need to check registered sites on a regular basis and clean out old data.
A sophisticated, automated site check process is used to undertake the task of checking every registered site on a weekly basis.

In checking registered sites every sites is visited by our site check program that then evaluates and scores each site individually based on a collection of 21 defined rules that we have set to identify each and every Moodle release. The score that a site receives determines whether the site remains in the list , is flagged for manual inspection, or marked as invalid.
Any site that fails the evaluation two weeks in a row is then removed from the sites list, and not included in any statistics.

===Ensuring your site passes the weekly evaluation===
To ensure that your site passes the weekly evaluation check that your site meets the following three criteria.
* Check the URL you registered is the URL of your Moodle registration. We check only the page returned from the URL you registered, we don't dig down into your site, or search any alternatives.
* Check the site is publicly available on the Internet. We can't check your site if it is only available locally, or has been wrapped in any means of authentication.
* Ensure you have content when you register your site. If you don't have any content when you register it is likely we will dismiss your site as a test site. Ensure that you have created at least one course, and three users within your installation before registering.

If you manage a valid Moodle site that does not meet the above criteria but want to register then please email our volunteer group who are responsible for managing our registration list with your information and information about your site and why you can't register.
Should they choose they can mark your site to be manually checked rather than by the site check program.

If you want to find out when we last came through you can check your personal site statistics or web server logs and look for page requests on your registered URL that have the following user agent
''moodle.org Link Checker (http://moodle.org/sites/)''

==See also==

*[[:Category:Installations|Moodle installation listings]]

Development:Developer documentation

2010-06-17T17:02:00Z

Muhammadsajid: /* How Moodle development works */

[[image:moodle-development-logo.jpg|right|400px]]

This [[:Category:Developer|Developer]] section of Moodle Docs is aimed at developers who contribute to the Moodle code, plugins, themes, and so on.

* If you manage a Moodle site, [[Administrator documentation]] may suit your needs better.
* If you teach using Moodle, try [[Teacher documentation]].
 
'''Note:''' New developer documentation pages should be added to the ''Development namespace'' by typing <code>Development:</code> before the new page name i.e. <code><nowiki>[[Development:New page name]]</nowiki></code>. If you are a developer, you probably want to change your [[Special:Preferences|preferences]] to include the Development namespace in searches. 

A page may be added to the Developer category by adding the template <code><nowiki>{{CategoryDeveloper}}</nowiki></code> to the bottom of the page. - If required, you can use <code><nowiki>[[Category:Developer|Sort key]]</nowiki></code> to provide a sort key other than the default page name.

==How Moodle development works==

The [[Development:Overview|overview of the Moodle development process]] explains how Moodle development occurs and how people become Moodle developers. Current plans are listed on the [[Roadmap]].

You can also enrol in one of the [http://dev.moodle.org Moodle Developer Courses].Offline Activity - teachers provide a description and due date for an assignment outside of Moodle. A grade & feedback can be recorded in Moodle.

==Guidelines==

The following guidelines are crucial reading for anyone wanting to contribute to the Moodle code base:
*[[Development:Coding|Coding guidelines]] have to be followed by all Moodle developers
*[[Moodle design goals]] spells out the basic design goals behind Moodle
*[[CVS (developer)|Moodle CVS for developers]] explains how to work with the Moodle code in CVS
*[[Tracker]] explains the Moodle Tracker for keeping track of bugs, issues, feature requests etc
*[[Development:Working with the Community|Working with the Community]] explains how to engage with the dev community and discuss changes
*[[Development:Unit tests|Unit tests]] explains how to run the unit tests, and how to write new test cases.
*[[Development:Fast portable SQL]] shows SQL techniques that are fast, efficient, and known to work on all supported DBs.
*[[Development:Development hints and tips]] a (developing) list of general wisdom to help with your Moodle projects.

==Documentation for core components==

This section is for documentation of specific components of the existing core Moodle code. Discussion of components that are under discussion or in development can be found in the [[Development:Developer notes|developer notes]] or on the [[Roadmap|roadmap]].

The documents below give a general overview. For detailed function-by-function documentation, see the [http://phpdocs.moodle.org/ phpDocumentor] documentation that is automatically generated from the comments in the code.

And don't forget that the most up-to-date and detailed description of how the code works is the code itself, and you can [http://xref.moodle.org/nav.html?index.html browse the code online] using [[Development:PHPXref|PHPXref]].

===Core components that affect everything===

*[[Development:Database schema introduction|The database schema]]
*[[Development:What happens when you require config.php|What happens when you require config.php]]
*lib/moodlelib.php
*[[Development:lib/weblib.php|lib/weblib.php]] for outputting stuff
*[[Development:JavaScript_functions|JavaScript function available on the client side]]
*[[Development:XMLDB_Documentation|Database abstraction layer]] @ v[[1.7]]
*[[Development:Roles|Roles and Capabilities system]] @ v[[1.7]] for controlling who can do what
*[[Development:lib/formslib.php|Forms library]] @ v[[1.8]] for creating accessible and secure HTML forms that let users edit things
*[[Development:Using_the_file_API|File API]] @ v[[2.0]] for managing files stored by Moodle

===Core libraries with a more specific uses===

*[[Authentication API]]
*[[Cookieless Sessions]]
*[[Email processing]]
*[[Development:Environment checking|Environment checking]] before install, check the user's server to ensure Moodle will work there.
*[[Development:Groups|Groups system]]
*[[Development:Grades|Gradebook]]
*[[Development:Moodle Network|Moodle Network]]
*[[Question engine]]
*[[Stats package]]
*[[UTF-8 migration|Migration to UTF-8]] @ v[[:Category:Moodle 1.6|1.6]]
*[http://developer.yahoo.com/yui YUI JavaScript library] - YUI was selected as the official AJAX library for Moodle.
*[[Development:lib/graphlib|lib/graphlib]]
*[[Development:Admin settings|Admin settings]]

===Modules included in the standard distribution===

*[[Development:Lesson Specification|Lesson Specification]]
*[[Quiz developer docs|Quiz module]]
*[[SCORM schema|SCORM module 1.5 schema]]

==How you can contribute==

===Make a new plugin===

The M in Moodle stands for modular, and the easiest, most maintainable way to add new functionality to Moodle is by using one of the many plugin APIs. There are many types of plugin you can write:
*[[Development:Modules|Activity modules]], see also [[Development:NEWMODULE Documentation]] (work in progress)
*[[Development:Admin reports|Admin reports]]
*[[Development:Assignment types|Assignment types]]
*[[Development:Authentication plugins|Authentication plugins]]
*[[Development:Blocks|Blocks]]
*[[Course formats]]
*[[Development:Course Report Plugins|Course reports]]
*[[Development:Database fields|Database fields]]
*[[Development:Database presets|Database presets]]
*[[Development:Enrolment plugins|Enrolment plugins]]
*[[Development:Filters|Filters]]
*[[Development:Gradebook plugins|Gradebook plugins]] (1.9 onwards)
**[[Development:Gradebook_Report_Tutorial|Gradebook report]]
**[[Development:Gradebook export|Gradebook export]]
**[[Development:Gradebook import|Gradebook import]]
*[[Development:Writing_a_Portfolio_Plugin|Portfolio plugins]] (2.0 onwards)
*[[Development:Question_type_plugin_how_to|Question types]]
*[[Development:Question import/export formats|Question import/export formats]]
*[[Development:How to write a quiz report plugin|Quiz reports]]
*[[Development:Repository plugins|Repository plugins]] (2.0 onwards)
*[[Development:Resource types|Resource types]]
*[[Development:Search engine adapters|Search engine adapters]]

General information that applies to all types of plugins
*[[Development:Places to search for lang strings|Where to put language strings for your plugin]]
*[[Development:Installing and upgrading plugin database tables|Defining the database tables for your plugin]]

Please see the [[Development:Guidelines for contributed code|Guidelines for contributed code]] for an overview of how to contribute to the Moodle code.

Sometimes it is not possible to write a proper plugin for what you want to do, in which case you may have to resort to using the [[Development:Local_customisation|local customisations]] hook.

===Change core code===

Some types of change can only be made by editing the core Moodle code. Such changes are much harder to maintain than plugins. If you want your core change to be considered for inclusion in the official Moodle release, you need to create an issue in the [[Tracker|tracker]], and attach your change as a [[Development:How_to_create_a_patch|patch]]. It is also a good idea to discuss your ideas in the forums first. See [[Development:Overview#Major_Development]] for more details.

===Ways to contribute that do not involve PHP programming===

*[[Themes|Create Moodle themes]]
*[[Translation|Translate Moodle into other languages]]
*[[MoodleDocs:Guidelines for contributors|Help document Moodle]]
*[[Development:Tests|Join the testing effort]], which involves [[Tracker|participating in the bug tracker]]

==Plans for the future==

Ideas for and details of planned future features of Moodle are initially discussed on the forums in the [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 Using Moodle] course at moodle.org. That developer discussions are intermixed with user discussions in the same forums may seem strange at first but is one of the reasons for the success of Moodle. It is important that both end-users and developers discuss the future features together.

Once ideas begin to crystallize on the forums they can be summarized in this wiki, either as part of the [[Roadmap|roadmap]] or in the form of [[Development:Developer notes|developer notes]]. These pages then form the basis for further discussion in the forums.

*[[Roadmap]]
*[[Development:Developer notes|Developer notes]]
*[[Student projects]]
*[[Developer meetings]]

== Resources ==

*[[Developer FAQ]] - frequently asked questions, especially useful for newcomers to Moodle
*[[Development:Finding_your_way_into_the_Moodle_code|Finding your way into the Moodle code]] - also aimed at newcomers
*[http://tracker.moodle.org/ Moodle tracker] - bug reports, feature requests and other tracked issues
**[[Firefox tracker search]] - How to setup a firefox quicksearch to easily navigate to moodle bugs
**[[Firefox tracker search#Firefox Search Plugins|Firefox Search Plugins]] - Find tracked issues even more easily
*[[Unmerged files]] - changes on the stable branch in CVS that have not been merged to [[HEAD]]
*Browse the code online:
**[http://cvs.moodle.org/moodle/ the code with a complete change history from CVS]
**[http://xref.moodle.org/index.html the code, with links generated by PHPXref]
*[http://phpdocs.moodle.org/ Moodle PHP doc reference] - compiled nightly from the comment attached to each class and function in the code.
*[[Development:Database Schema|Database Schema]] - for recent releases
*[http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5#4 Development news and discussion] section of Using Moodle course
**especially the [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=55 General developer forum]
**[[Filters used on the Moodle.org forums|cool tricks you can use in the moodle.org forums]]

== Tools ==
Some tools people use when working on Moodle code:

=== IDEs ===

* [[Development:Setting_up_Netbeans|Setting up NetBeans for Moodle development]] - NetBeans for PHP is a great out-of-the-box editor.
* [[Development:Setting_up_Eclipse|Setting up Eclipse for Moodle development]] - Eclipse is a great editor to use for php development, if you can work out how to set it up.
* [[Development:vim|Setting up Vim for Moodle development]]
* [http://www.aptana.com/ Aptana Studio 2]

=== Browser add-ons ===
*[http://getfirebug.com Firebug], see [[Development:Firebug]].
* [[Web developer extension]]
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/394 ViewSourceWith] - The main goal is to view page source with external applications, but you can do a lot of other things as well.

=== Miscellaneous ===
*[[Development:ctags|Ctags]] - Using a tags file to navigate code
*[[W3C_validation|W3C HTML validator]] - Moodle has built in support to make using it easier.
*[[Development:Windows Installer|Windows Installer]] - Windows Installer documentation for developer.

See also: [http://dev.moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=18 Useful Development Tools forum]in the [http://dev.moodle.org/course/view.php?id=2 Introduction to Moodle Programming course]

==See also==

*[http://moodle.org/security/ Moodle Security Announcements]
*[http://moodle.com/partners/ Moodle Partners] - providers of custom Moodle development services

[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:Developer tools]]

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