Block layout
- Managing blocks
- Block settings
- Activities
- Activity results
- Admin bookmarks
- Administration
- Blog menu
- Blog tags
- Calendar
- Comments
- Community finder
- Course completion status
- Course overview
- Course/site summary
- Courses
- Feedback
- Flickr
- Global search
- HTML
- Latest announcements
- Latest badges
- Learning plans
- Login
- Logged in user
- Main menu
- Mentees
- Navigation
- Network servers
- Online users
- People
- Private files
- Quiz results
- Random glossary entry
- Recent activity
- Recent blog entries
- Remote RSS feeds
- Search forums
- Section links
- Self completion
- Social activities
- Tags
- Upcoming events
- Youtube
- Blocks FAQ
Default block layout for new courses
To amend the default block layout for new courses, one or more of the following lines (omitting the forward slashes) from config-dist.php may be added to config.php, amending the block names as required.
// These variables define DEFAULT block variables for new courses // If this one is set it overrides all others and is the only one used. // $CFG->defaultblocks_override = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity'; // // These variables define the specific settings for defined course formats. // They override any settings defined in the formats own config file. // $CFG->defaultblocks_site = 'site_main_menu,course_list:course_summary,calendar_month'; // $CFG->defaultblocks_social = 'participants,search_forums,calendar_month,calendar_upcoming,social_activities,recent_activity,course_list'; // $CFG->defaultblocks_topics = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity'; // $CFG->defaultblocks_weeks = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity'; // These blocks are used when no other default setting is found.
// $CFG->defaultblocks = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity';
For example, to set the default block layout for topics format courses to People, Tags and Administration on the left, and Messages, Online users and Recent activity on the right, simply add the following line to your config.php file:
$CFG->defaultblocks_topics = 'participants,tags:messages,online_users,recent_activity';
Note how the colon is used to separate those blocks appearing on the left, from those appearing on the right and there is no space after each comma. Additional Note: The Navigation and Administration blocks are not customisable using these settings.
Resetting the block layout for existing courses
The block layout for existing courses may be reset by copying the following script into a text file, saving it as resetblocks.php, copying it into the Moodle root directory, then visiting http://yourmoodlesite.org/resetblocks.php
.
Warning: This script may change the layout of your course pages and also remove blocks from those pages if they have not been specified in the config.php line. Check which of your courses has blocks which are not in the config.php line and be prepared to spend time adding blocks to your course pages again. Please note that a database backup is recommended before using the script.
M2.2 and later:
<?php //moodle 2.2+ require_once('config.php'); require_once($CFG->libdir.'/blocklib.php'); $courses = get_courses();//can be feed categoryid to just effect one category foreach($courses as $course) { $context = context_course::instance($course->id); blocks_delete_all_for_context($context->id); blocks_add_default_course_blocks($course); } ?>
M2.0 to M2.2:
<?php //moodle 2.0 - 2.2 require_once('config.php'); require_once($CFG->libdir.'/blocklib.php'); $courses = get_courses();//can be feed categoryid to just effect one category foreach($courses as $course) { $context = get_context_instance(CONTEXT_COURSE,$course->id); blocks_delete_all_for_context($context->id); blocks_add_default_course_blocks($course); } ?>