There are two version of the '''attendance''' module: from [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=18237 Dmitry Pupinin] and from [http://human-logic.com/ Human Logic].
Both published in the Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=125 Attendance module forum].

At this time Dmitry's version is more stable and useful.

[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1062 Download daily build of Dmitry's version]

==Installation by Moodle Administrator==

To install Dmitry's version of the attendance module, follow these directions (provided by [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=40637&course=5 Richard Webb] in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=79134#p436449 this post]). Installation can only be completed by a user having write access to the file structure on the computer hosting Moodle and with administration rights for your installation of Moodle.

===Language Files===

Moodle has a general language folder with subfolders for installed languages, and language files within these subfolders. This structure allows Moodle to efficiently work in an unlimited variety of languages with relative ease. Every block and module in Moodle has its own language strings that must be defined in a language file with a name specified by the block or module. "In the old days" (meaning prior to Moodle 1.9) the language files for each mod or block were copied into the appropriate subfolders in the <code>moodle/lang/</code> folder. This still works, but can be tedious and is not the preferred method anymore.

Newer versions of Moodle (1.9 and up) allow you to keep the language files with the mods and blocks so they are self-contained and you don't have to do so much work with language files. Older versions of the Attendance module did not have all language files correctly placed resulting in tags that say <nowiki>[[attendance]]</nowiki>. As of June 20, 2008, the problem has been resolved. If you are having problems with the language files for the Attendance module, it is recommended that you download the latest version and replace your current installation as described below.

'''Additional Language Considerations'''

You might consider editing the <code>block_attendance_for_v19/mod/attforblock/lang/en_utf8/attforblock.php</code> language file and replacing each occurrence of 'Attendances' with 'Attendance'. Some dictionaries say that attendances is the plural form of attendance while others say there is no plural form.

Note that the '''date format''' is controlled by the language file you install. If you prefer Month/Day/Year format, for example, you will want to use the US_en language file found in the block folder.

You can easily edit the date format yourself, if you so desire. These strings show the M/D/Y format.

$string['strftimedm'] = '%%m.%%d';
$string['strftimedmy'] = '%%m.%%d.%%Y';
$string['strftimedmyw'] = '%%m.%%d.%%y (%%a)';
$string['strftimeshortdate'] = '%%m.%%d.%%Y';

===Mod and Block Installation===

If you look at your Moodle installation, you will see that among the many subfolders in the Moodle folder you have folders named <code>blocks/</code> and <code>mod/</code>, matching the two folders in the <code>block_attendance_for_v19/</code> folder. Installation is completed by copying the contents of the <code>block_attendance_for_v19/blocks/</code> folder into your <code>moodle/blocks/</code> folder (so you have a <code>moodle/blocks/attendance/</code> folder with all of the files and subfolders copied as well) and likewise copying the contents of the <code>block_attendance_for_v19/mod</code> folder into your <code>moodle/mod/</code> folder. On a Unix system, something like <code>/var/www/moodle19/blocks$ sudo cp -r ~/moodle-modules/attendance/blocks/* . </code> does the job and similar for the mod directory. Don't forget to <code>sudo chown -r <user>:<group> attendance</code> to the same parameters as the other block directories (do a <code>ls -l</code> to remind yourself).

Once you have completed the installation, you need to log into Moodle as the administrator and go to the admin page. This will set up the Attendance database structure.

==Using Attendance in a Class by a Teacher==

===Adding Attendance Activity===

After the attendance block and module have been properly installed, you (the teacher) must add attendance as an activity to each course you wish to keep attendance in. This is done by first ensuring that you are in the edit mode and then selecting, "Attendance" from the "Add an activity..." pull-down menu. Note that you may only add the attendance activity once per class and it may be located in any of the section blocks. Because attendance is for the entire course, it seems logical to put it in the top box (the one that always shows).

Once you have added the attendance activity, you are ready to start using the attendance module. However, the section link that was just added in the preceding paragraph is the "clunky way" to work with the attendance module. In fact, it is recommended that you simply hide that link! That way students won't see it cluttering up the section block where you placed it. Of course, we DO want students to be able to view their attendance records, just not with that link. There is a second, better, way to accomplish this. Select "Attendance" from the pull-down menu in the "Blocks" block. This will create a block with teacher options to take attendance, report on attendance, or change the attendance settings. The same block will instead have an attendance report for students.

===Setting Attendance Categories and Grading Options===

Now it is time to set your attendance options. Select "Settings" from the attendance block. This brings you to the letters, descriptions, and grade (points) to assign for the four attendance options. By default these are Present, Absent, Late, and Excused. You may prefer to change the descriptions (e.g., change the word Late to Tardy), change the order, or change the way points are counted so make appropriate changes here to the names, order, and grades. Be sure to click the "Update" button when you are done.

===Adding Sessions===

Next it is time to add sessions. Note that there is a restriction here. You can only have one session per day. Since you can only have one attendance activity installed (which means that you cannot have a lab attendance activity and a lecture attendance activity) and can only have one attendance session per day, if you have more than one class session per day you will have to be creative in taking attendance. And if you have more than seven class sessions for a single class in a week--then you are overworked!

To add class sections, click the "Add" tab (second from left) at the top of the page (if you left the attendance page, select any of the three links from the attendance block to return to the attendance page and gain access to the "Add" tab). You have two options here, to add a single session or to add multiple sessions. The single session is self-explanatory as well as time consuming to use when you have many class sessions so I will go straight the more useful option, how to add multiple sessions.

Under the "Create multiple sessions" label choose the date for the first session you wish to add followed by the date for the last session you wish to add. Next select the days of the week on which the class meets. The final option, frequency, may look confusing but it is actually straight-forward. If your class meets every week (the normal situation) then you want a frequency of 1 week which is the default. If your class meets every other week, then you want a frequency of 2 weeks, and so on. When you click the "Add multiple sessions" button, your sessions will be created and you will see a message indicating this.

===Taking Attendance===

Now head to the attendance tab. Here you see the list of all attendance sessions you have added. You can delete an individual session by clicking the X to the right of it. (Personal note, it sure would be nice if there was an option to select a few sessions and delete them all at once--I use the multiple sessions option to put my sessions in for the entire semester and then have to go and remove sessions for vacation days one at a time.) You can edit a session (change the date or add a description) with the standard hand icon to the right of the session, or you can take attendance for a session by clicking the green radio button to the right of the session. Sessions where attendance has already been taken do not have the green button, but instead the description is a link that takes you to the screen to modify the attendance record for that session.

You will note that when taking attendance the column headings for attendance state are links. If you click one of these column headings, all students will have their status changed to the status you selected. Thus, if everyone is absent (God forbid!), you merely click the '''A''' and it will change everyone's status to absent. If Little Johnny is the only student absent, you would logically click '''P''' to set everyone to present and then go down to Little Johnny and change his status to '''A'''. Enter remarks as appropriate (e.g., the reason for an absence if known or the minutes late if someone is tardy) and click OK to complete taking record.

===Reports===

Finally, you have the reports. This is, again, obvious. One of my colleagues prefers to take record on paper and transfer it to Moodle. She suggested printing the monthly report before the start of the month and then taking record on this report. It has an added advantage because you have each student's picture with the record sheet. Of course, that is only useful for students who actually put photos of themselves in for their picture.

A final note here. If you added the attendance block as recommended, you may wonder what it looks like for students. It is completely different--showing a summary of their attendance record and having a single link for them to view the details of their personal attendance. Another reason why I think the attendance block should always be added when you use the attendance module.

==Give advice to developer==
Have idea about new features? You need something? Please write at [[Attendance module requests]]!

[[Category:Contributed code]]

2008-03-28T09:41:49Z

Dlnsk:

Using filter "HiddenText" teachers will be able to provide "hints" to students where the information is initially hidden but can easily be revealed by student in any time when he need.

== Installing ==

# Download filter from [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1101 download page]
# Copy folder ''hiddentext'' into directory ''filter'' of your Moodle instalation.
# Copy language file into your "lang" directory.
# Enable it from "Administration/Filters".

== Using ==

# Create your content.
# Enclose every part which you want initially hide between:
#* '''<nowiki><span filter="hiddentext"></nowiki>'''hidden_content_here'''<nowiki></span></nowiki>''' or
#* '''<nowiki><div filter="hiddentext"></nowiki>'''hidden_multiline_content_here'''<nowiki></div></nowiki>'''
# Use ''span'' tag if you want hide path of text inside paragraph and ''div'' if text can take more than one line.
# If you use ''HTMLeditor'' you can type ''span'' and ''div'' tags inside square brackets straight in text without switching to HTML mode:
#* '''[span filter="hiddentext"]'''hidden_content_here'''[/span]'''
# Test it.

== How it works ==

* After page loaded any content between tags hides. In this place will be dislpayed picture with eye.
* When student will click on eye icon hidden text will be displayed.

== Additional information ==

You can use two optional parameters: ''class'' and ''desc'' (description):
* '''class''' - lets you change style of hidden text
* '''desc''' - lets you change description which displayed after eye icon. If ''desc'' absent in ''div'' tag will be used description from lang file. If description absent in ''span'' tag will be displayed only eye icon.

You available following styles: ''hinline'', ''htext'', ''hcode'' and styles which you add themselves in css of your theme or already there are!

Don't like embedded styles? You can change them in yuidomcollapse.css and send to me... ;-)

== Examples ==

=== Simple SPAN ===

<nowiki>This text is <span filter="hiddentext">very, very, very</span> long.</nowiki>

Will initially displayed as:
This text is (eye icon) long.

=== SPAN with description ===

<nowiki>The American holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated
on the <span filter="hiddentext" desc="What?">fourth</span> Thursday of November.</nowiki>

Will initially displayed as:
The American holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated
on the (eye)What? Thursday of November.

=== DIV with class and description ===

<nowiki>Mention capitals of following countries: Canada, Italy, Japan
<div filter="hiddentext" class="htext" desc="Answer here">Canada - Ottawa
Italy - Rome
Japan - Tokyo</div></nowiki>

Will initially displayed as:
Mention capitals of following countries: Canada, Italy, Japan
(eye)Answer here

After click:
Mention capitals of following countries: Canada, Italy, Japan
(eye)Answer here
-------------------
| Canada - Ottawa |
| Italy - Rome |
| Japan - Tokyo |
-------------------

Thanks for using!

== See also ==

* [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1101 Download page]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1510 Forum about Filters]

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Filter]]

Development:Filters schema

2008-03-27T09:48:48Z

Dlnsk: get_html_head_contributions

The objective of this page is to document all the ideas and improvements to be implemented in the "Filters" functionality of Moodle.

Every idea will be documented here, including its associated "thoughts" and potential "implementations". Feel free to add/modify everything as you want!

These are the main areas to discuss/analyse/implement:

* [[Course/site filters | Enable/Disable Filters by Course and Site]]
* [[Course/site filter config | Optional Configuration of Filters by Course and Site]]
* [[Multilang filter | Changes in the Caching System to Support the Multilang Filter]]
* [[Enable/Disable Filters by Activities]]
* Allow filtering data before it will save in database? It will do possible exclude some data from text (like TeX formulas) and save in separate table. It will allow change formula by clicking on it and open popup window.
* It'd be great if you could set the text cache lifetime for individual filters. This would be handy for filters that use external resources (e.g., Wikipedia) that sometimes have slow response times. I'd guess that you could use a cache lifetime of a week or more for a Wikipedia filter without causing major usability problems.
* Mechanism like used with get_html_head_contributions in Questions

==See also==

*[http://moodle.org/bugs/bug.php?op=show&bugid=2400 Bug 2400] - a lot of ideas and request have been written here
http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-9443 - add support for filtering XHTML resources as well as HTML.

[[Category:Developer|Filters schema]]

Filters

2008-03-21T12:47:48Z

Dlnsk: HiddenText added

Location: ''Administration > Modules > Manage filters''

Filters allow for the automatic transformation of entered text into different, often more complex forms. For example the titles of [[Resources|resources]] can automatically become hyperlinks that take you to the relevant resource, URLs pointing to [[mp3]] files can become [[Flash]] controls embedded in the web page that let you pause and rewind the audio. The possibilities are endless and there are a number of standard filters included with Moodle and many more specialized filters available from the Moodle.org [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009 Modules and plugins database].

==Enabling filters==
[[Image:filters admin.png|thumb|Filters administration in Moodle 1.8]]
To enable a filter:
#Access Administration > Modules > Filters.
#On the filters administration page, click the eye icon opposite the filter you want to enable, so that it changes to an open eye.
#Use the up/down arrow icons to arrange the filters in the order in which they should be applied.

Certain filters have additional settings, which can be accessed via the links in the settings column.

==Common settings==

Note: Prior to Moodle 1.9, common filter settings can be found in ''Administration > Appearance > Filter settings''.

===Text cache lifetime===

Text filters can take a lot of processor power to analyze. If you have a large number of courses, the filters may slow your system. The text cache lifetime determines how often the filters run. If you set them to run too frequently, your system may
slow down. If you set them to run too infrequently, analyzing new content will take too long and users will notice. You should experiment to find the correct amount of time for your server.

===Filter uploaded files===

This setting enables uploaded files (HTML and text only) to be processed by the filters system. You can choose to have none, only HTML or all files filtered.

===Filter match once per page===

This setting effects the glossary, activity and resource linking filters. If set to yes, only the first match on the complete page will be converted to a link. All others will be ignored.

===Filter match once per text===

This setting effects the glossary, activity and resource linking filters. If set to yes, only the first match in a discrete block of text will be converted to a link. All others in that text block will be ignored.

===Filter all strings===

If checked, headings and titles can be displayed in different languages using the [[Multi language content|multi-language filter]].

==Standard filters==

Filters included in the standard download are:

*Activity Names Auto-linking - This scans text for activity titles that exist in the same course and creates a link.
*[[Algebra filter|Algebra]] - This filter will convert algebra code into GIF images. It requires the tex filter to be installed ([[#TeX notation|see below]]). Note also that your system must also include the following Perl module: HTML::Entities.pm
*Database auto-linking - As the name suggests, this filter enables automatic linking of [[Database module]] entries.
*Email Protection - This filter scans the text for any email addresses. Where found they are changed to reduce the chance of being added to a spammers list.
*Glossary auto-linking - As the name suggests, this filter enables automatic linking of [[Glossary module]] entries. In addition to this filter, individual glossary entries should have the "This entry should be automatically linked" box checked.
*[[Multi language content]] - This filter enables resources to be created in multiple languages. It looks for <span lang="xx" class="multilang">...</span> tags which indicate that a text contains multiple languages. Then it selects and outputs the best language for the current user. The language of the resource will change when the user changes their selected Moodle language. Please note: going to the past, the multilang filter supported the <lang> tag. Then, officially, we changed it to the standard HTML <span> tag and the <lang> solution is now deprecated.
*[[Multimedia plugins]]
*Resource Names Auto-linking - The titles of [[Resources]] can automatically become hyperlinks that take you to the relevant resource within the same course.
*[[TeX filter|TeX notation]]
*Tidy - This filter checks whether HTML code is XHTML compliant, tidying where necessary. To make this filter work you need to have PHP compiled with the libtidy option; see http://www.php.net/tidy. The Using Moodle discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=28418 Tidy Filter for Moodle 1.5] contains more details.
*Wiki Page Auto-linking
*[[Word censorship]] - This filter "blacks out" words found on a list.

==Non-standard filters==

Filters are one of Moodle's pluggable resources and may be added or removed simply by using a file manager to add or remove them from the ''/filters'' directory. Moodle detects those that are present and makes them available to use.

* [[Jmol filter|Jmol]] - for interactive 3D viewing of molecular structures
* [[Code Syntax Highlighting]] - for more readable excerpts of programming languages including [[PHP]], [[HTML]], [[CSS]], and XML amongst many others
* [[HiddenText filter|HiddenText]] - for teachers who want to provide "hints" to students where the information is initially hidden but can easily be revealed by student in any time when he need.

==See also==

*[[Filters used on the Moodle.org forums]]
*[[Development:Filters]]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=rL1FVNewG7I Video demonstrating the set-up and use of filters in Moodle]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76206 Filter Demo's now online] forum discussion

[[Category:Filter]]

[[es:Filtros (Administrador)]]
[[fr:Filtres (administrateur)]]
[[ja:フィルタ (管理者)]]

Development:Wiki features

2008-03-05T12:12:02Z

Dlnsk: Simple access to rendering pages outside Wiki module

Features wanted for the Wiki in Moodle 2.0, and status of existence in existing wikis :

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
!Wanted feature
!eWiki (Moodle 1.8 etc)
!NWiki
!OUWiki
!Comment

|-
|Mediawiki syntax
|No
|Yes
|No
|There should be option to use Mediawiki syntax also in forums, resources, etc. - new text format.

|-
|Ability to quickly summarize a students total overall contributions e.g. words added/words deleted/comments added
|No
|?
|Soon
|I have not had time to fully explore nwikis grading system, but suspect there is a way in there somewhere :)

|-
|Preserve line breaks
|?
|?
|No
|Information is often pasted into a wiki, a wiki is used by younger students, or there are a quick succession of edits during class, such as creating a list, that require preserved line breaks. Using Creole Wiki Markup as the ONLY markup unfortunately destroys pasting in information and trying to find every crlf in a pasted document and replace it with a /n is beyond most users. We have to remember that wikis will often be used by those who have never used one before.

|-
|Ability to add an "add to the page" box anywhere, or multiple times, in a page
|no
|no
|no
|The "Add to the page" box would be added using very simple markup (e.g., it is a plus sign at the beginning of a line in Swiki). The button has a small text area with it that can be typed in and, when the button is clicked, the information goes straight to that spot in a wiki. We use this for brainstorming in class with several groups so they can work in a small group but see and build a common document. Adding comments to students' pages, either by other students, or the students place the box at the top of the page and a teacher can quickly make a comment and move on. Even during meetings several of us share recording duties, and with the add to the page box, we can each be typing then submit. Properly implemented, this eliminates editing collisions in these situations. Each submit is treated as a separate page edit in the editing recored. Additional characters or markup beyond the one to insert the box would give the option of having lines between, keeping the box above the submissions (so it stays in place), or adding a time/date/user stamp in a different font to identify who added the information.

|-
|RSS feeds on changes to a page and changes to the Wiki
|no
|?
|yes
|RSS is increasingly the way I like to consume and remix my information.

|-
|Simple access to rendering pages outside Wiki module
|?
|dfWiki
|?
|Many many time ago I have developed tool for including wiki page in any other Moodle resources. Details here:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42325

But in NWiki this became impossible because rendering page outside wiki module became very difficult!
I dream that in official Moodle's wiki this will once again become possible! And promise update this tool! ;-)

|-
|
|
|
|
|}

Reporting student contributions to OU wiki is one of the reports we are currently working on, I think.

Attendance activity

2006-02-20T13:18:09Z

Dlnsk: