URL resource settings

Adding a URL resource to your course

Turn editing on.
From the the "Add an activity or resource" link (or, if not present, the "Add a resource" drop down menu),choose URL. All settings may expanded by clicking the "Expand all/Collapse all" link top right.

General

Name

Whatever you type here will form the link learners click on to view the URL so it is helpful to give it a name that suggests its purpose.

Description

Add a description of your page here. Click "Show editing tools" to display the rich text editor, and drag the bottom right of the text box out to expand it.

Display description on the course page

If this box is ticked, the description will appear on the course page just below the name of the URL.

Content

Either enter the URL in the external URL field or click the "Choose a link" button to open the file picker and choose a URL YouTube, Picasa etc (depending on which repositories are enabled for the site.

Appearance

(These settings are collapsed by default)

Display

Automatic - Make the best guess at what should happen (probably what is wanted 99% of the time).
Embed - Show the Moodle page with heading, blocks and footer. Show the title/description of the item and display the file directly in the page as well
Open - No Moodle heading, blocks, footer or description - just show the file in the web browser (e.g. shows image, PDF, flash animation, taking up the whole browser window)
In pop-up - Same as 'Open', but opens a new browser window to show this file (without the Moodle heading, blocks, etc) - this browser window also does not have all the menus and address bar in it.

The above options are the default display options. Additional display options (see below) may be enabled by an administrator in Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > URL.

Pop-up width/height

If your URL is to be displayed in a pop-up, specify the width and height here.

Display URL name/description

To show the resource name and/or description when clicking to access the URL, simply tick the appropriate checkboxes.

URL variables

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

This section allows you to pass internal information as part of the URL.

This is useful if the URL is actually an interactive web page that takes parameters, and you want to pass something like the name of the current user, for example.

Common module settings

See Common module settings

Restrict access/Activity completion

(These settings are collapsed by default)

These settings are visible if Conditional activities and Activity completion have been enabled in the site and the course.

Drag and Drop a URL

Alternatively, if an administrator has enabled the experimental feature drag and drop upload of text/links in Settings > Site administration > Development > Experimental > Experimental settings, a link can be dragged into a section of the course and given a name, as shown in the images below.

Adding a URL using drag and drop

URL module capabilities

Site administration settings

The URL module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > URL.

Frame height

Here you can specify the height of the top frame (containing the navigation) if you choose the "in frame" display option. Note:If your theme has a large header then the height should be increased to prevent horizontal and vertical scrollbars.

Require activity description

This setting allows you to turn off the requirement for users to type something into the description box.

Password

Here you can add a password that will connect your users to a secure site. See this forum post for more details.

Include role names in parameters

Available display options

This setting allows you to add different ways the resource may be displayed on the course page. There are a number of defaults but you can add or change them here. Other display options are:

In frame - show the Moodle heading and the file description, with the file displayed in a resizeable area below
New window - very much like 'in pop-up', but the new window is a full browser window, with menus and address bar, etc.

Default values for activity settings

Here you can set the defaults for this resource.

Documentation