Moodle 4.0 developer update

Moodle 4.0 This page will highlight the important changes that are coming in Moodle 4.0 for developers. Including how the UX improvements impact custom themes, relevant API changes, and what you can do as developer to prepare for the 4.0 release.

Behat changes

To make behat tests more readable and easy to maintain, it is recommended to use the most direct steps to get what the test needs. So since MDL-66335 was integrated, and the step was improved in MDL-72179 is highly recommended to use

I am on the "Activity name" "[modname] activity" page 

or

I am on the "Activity name" "[modname] activity" page logged in as "user"

instead of navigating to the activity via

I am on "Course" course homepage
I follow "Activity name"

Now that Course index (MDL-71209) is integrated but the project is not stable, these behat steps

I am on "Course" course homepage
I follow "Activity name"

will fail using Boost theme.

The reason for it is that the drawer used in Boost is hiding the course index. So when the test is trying to follow an "Activity name" link, it finds two different links:

• one in the course index
• another one in the course main content.

But the first one, the one in the course index, is hidden by the drawer, and the test fails.

However the recommended behat steps

I am on the "Activity name" "[modname] activity" page 

or

I am on the "Activity name" "[modname] activity" page logged in as "user"

work fine.

Some of the failing behats are fixed in https://github.com/ferranrecio/moodle/commit/c79d58a50b48aa6891ff1d3ba92a7b0ab2393c88#diff-fdf8b0b1eade3b69eaad038de0ddd7c8dec2be7afa32dc693fb929739a49fa9dR32 - MDL-71209

For example:

And I am on the "Test assignment name" "assign activity" page logged in as teacher1

instead of:

When I log in as "teacher1"
And I am on "Course" course homepage
And I follow "Test assignment name"

Core plugins review

A few plugins from core Moodle LMS which are no longer or hardly used have been removed and, if appropriate, added to the Moodle plugins directory.

More information about this project, the list of plugins to be removed and the process to follow for keeping them before upgrading to 4.0 can be found in the Core plugins review page.