tiny fastpix

Plugins

local_fastpix — foundation plugin
mod_fastpix — FastPix Video activity
filter_fastpix — video embeds filter
tiny_fastpix — TinyMCE video picker

Resources

The tiny_fastpix plugin adds a single toolbar button, Insert FastPix Video, to every TinyMCE editor in Moodle. When an author selects the button, a modal opens with a searchable list of the FastPix videos they own. Picking a video inserts a FastPix short code at the cursor. When the page is viewed, filter_fastpix swaps that short code for a working video player.

tiny_fastpix is the authoring half of the FastPix embed system; filter_fastpix is the rendering half. The plugin uploads nothing and plays nothing itself — it only helps an author reference a video that already exists. It never contacts FastPix directly; every video read goes through local_fastpix.

Requirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

A Moodle site running version 4.5 LTS or later, with TinyMCE set as the editor at Site administration -> Plugins -> Text editors -> Manage editors. Atto and other editors are not supported in version 1.0.
PHP 8.1 or later (tested through PHP 8.3).
Site administrator access to your Moodle dashboard.
local_fastpix 1.0.0 or later, installed and connected to a FastPix account.
mod_fastpix 1.0.0 or later, installed. The picker reuses its mod/fastpix:uploadmedia capability.
filter_fastpix 1.0.0 or later, installed and enabled. Without the filter, the short code that tiny_fastpix inserts stays as plain text instead of becoming a player.
At least one ready, non-DRM video uploaded to a FastPix activity.

Note: You cannot install tiny_fastpix standalone. Moodle blocks the install with a dependency error until local_fastpix, mod_fastpix, and filter_fastpix are present. The plugin adds no database tables, holds no FastPix credentials, and pulls in no Composer packages.

FastPix credentials are configured once in local_fastpix, and every plugin in the suite reads through it from there. If video listings do not work, check the credentials in local_fastpix first.

Installation

The plugin follows standard Moodle installation guidelines. You can install it from the Moodle plugins directory or from a ZIP file.

Install from the Moodle plugins directory

Sign in to Moodle as a site administrator.
Go to Site administration -> Plugins -> Install plugins.
Search for FastPix Video picker and follow the prompts.

Install from a ZIP file

Download the latest release from the GitHub releases page.
Sign in to Moodle as a site administrator.
Go to Site administration -> Plugins -> Install plugins.
Drag the ZIP onto the drop zone, or select Choose a file to upload it. Do not unzip the file first; Moodle installs the package directly from the ZIP.
Select Install plugin from the ZIP file, then continue through the validation screen.
On the Plugins requiring attention screen, select Upgrade Moodle database now.
When the upgrade finishes, select Continue.

More information on how to install a plugin can be found here.

Note: No further admin configuration is needed. The toolbar button registers automatically with TinyMCE, and the picker uses the existing mod/fastpix:uploadmedia capability, which editing teachers and managers hold by default.

To confirm the install, sign in as an editing teacher in any course, open any rich-text editor, and look for the Insert FastPix Video button on the toolbar.

Inserting a video

After the plugin is installed and filter_fastpix is enabled, teachers can insert a video from any TinyMCE editor in Moodle — forum posts, Pages, Book chapters, labels, course and section summaries, quiz feedback, and anywhere else Moodle uses rich text.

Open any page that has a TinyMCE editor.
Place the cursor where you want the video to appear.
Select Insert FastPix Video on the toolbar. The button shows the FastPix icon.
In the modal that opens, browse or search for the video by name.
Select the video card. The modal closes and a FastPix short code is inserted at the cursor.
Save the form. When the page is viewed, filter_fastpix renders the player in place of the short code.

You can also reach the picker from the editor's Insert menu, which is useful if your toolbar is full or if you prefer keyboard navigation.

The plugin inserts a single short code wherever the cursor is, for example:

{fastpix:pb_96df2713-bd26-4815-8b8d-8ab7674aa751}

You can type around it, place several on one page, or delete it like any other text. The short code is ordinary text, so content created with the button behaves exactly like content where the short code was typed by hand. For the short-code syntax, see filter_fastpix.

Searching for a video

If you have more than a handful of videos, search by name from the picker:

Open the picker. The modal shows your most recent videos by default.
Start typing in the search box. The list refreshes as you type, matching against both the activity name and the asset title.
Select the video you want.

Searches match anywhere in the name, are case-insensitive, and handle accented characters. Clear the search box to return to the full list. Searches do not handle typos or partial-word matches, and they match the activity name and asset title, not the original filename.

Verifying the embed renders

After you insert a short code and save the page:

Reload the saved page as a student or other enrolled user. The short code should be replaced with a working video player.
Select Play. The video should stream from FastPix.
As a teacher in the same course, reload the page. You should see the same player as the student, because the embed view is the same regardless of role.

If the short code appears as raw text instead of a player, the most likely cause is that filter_fastpix is not enabled.

What appears in the picker

The list is deliberately narrow, so an author can only insert a video that will actually play. All of these rules are enforced on the server.

Rule	Why
Your videos only	The picker is scoped to the signed-in user, so you never see another teacher's library.
This course only	Only videos uploaded through a FastPix activity in the current course are listed.
Ready only	Videos still uploading or processing are hidden until FastPix finishes them.
Playable only	DRM-protected videos are excluded, because filter_fastpix cannot embed them.
Named, not numbered	Each result shows the video's activity name (falling back to Untitled video), not a raw UUID.
Most recent first	The list is capped at the most-recent videos. Search by name if you have a large library.

If the picker is empty, the message tells you why:

"You have no ready videos to embed yet." You have not uploaded any qualifying videos. Upload one through a FastPix activity.
"No videos match your search." Clear the search box, or check the spelling of the activity name or video title.
"Could not load your videos. Please try again." The web service did not respond. Close the modal and reopen it.

Who can use it

The button and the web service behind it share one gate, so there is no separate capability to manage.

Capability	Effect	Owned by
`mod/fastpix:uploadmedia`	Checked at the course context. Holders see the toolbar button and can list their own videos in that course; everyone else gets no button at all.	mod_fastpix

Limitations

tiny_fastpix does one thing — insert a FastPix short code into TinyMCE — and is intentionally narrow.

TinyMCE only. Version 1.0 does not add the button to Atto or other editors. This is an authoring limit; filter_fastpix still renders short codes whatever produced them, so content written by hand still plays.
No uploads from the picker. New videos come in through a mod_fastpix activity and surface in the picker once they are ready.
No DRM videos. DRM-protected videos need short-lived playback tokens that a rich-text field cannot refresh, so they are excluded. Use a FastPix Video activity for them.
No edit-in-place. To change an embedded video, delete the short code and insert a new one.

Privacy

tiny_fastpix stores no personal data of its own. It declares a null_provider under Moodle's Privacy API and leaves all storage to local_fastpix, which is the only plugin in the suite that talks to FastPix. For full privacy details, see the local_fastpix privacy section.

Troubleshooting

The Insert FastPix Video button does not appear. Confirm that TinyMCE is the active editor for your account at Preferences -> Editor preferences. If only Atto appears, set TinyMCE as the site default at Site administration -> Plugins -> Text editors -> Manage editors. Confirm that you hold mod/fastpix:uploadmedia in the course or system context where you are editing. Then reload the page to pick up the latest editor configuration.
The picker is empty. If you have never uploaded a FastPix video, the list is empty; upload one in a FastPix activity and wait for it to finish processing. If you have uploaded videos, check the activity for a Preparing your video card, which means the video is not ready. If the videos are ready but still absent, check whether they are DRM-protected; DRM videos are excluded by design.
The short code appears as plain text on the saved page. filter_fastpix is not enabled, or is not placed correctly in the filter order. Go to Site administration -> Plugins -> Filters -> Manage filters, confirm that FastPix video embeds is set to On, and confirm it sits above Multimedia plugins in the order list.
Searching does not find a video I know I uploaded. The picker matches the activity name in Moodle and the asset title stored in FastPix, not the original filename. Searches are case-insensitive and accent-insensitive, but do not handle typos or partial-word matches.
Another course's videos do not appear in my picker. This is expected. The picker only shows videos that the signed-in user uploaded, in the current course. There is no cross-author sharing in version 1.0. To share a video, the original uploader can pass you the short code directly.

tiny fastpix
Type	TinyMCE editor plugin
Set	N/A
Downloads	https://moodle.org/plugins/tiny_fastpix
Issues	https://github.com/FastPix/moodle-tiny_fastpix/issues
Discussion	https://github.com/FastPix/moodle-tiny_fastpix/discussions
Maintainer(s)	Tharun Budidha (FastPix Inc)

Documentation