General report plugins

General report plugins
Project state	Implemented
Tracker issue	MDL-29030
Discussion	n/a
Assignee	Petr Škoda (škoďák)

Moodle 2.2

General reports are a new plugin type introduced in Moodle 2.2. They replaces all previous report types with the exception of gradebook reports. Plugins can be implemented to work in different contexts, they are accessible only via navigation menu (links are added there via plugin callbacks).

Previous problems

Before 2.2 we had course reports, admin reports and hardcoded user reports:

• only two contexts fully supported (system and course)
• hardcoded user reports
• nonstandard admin reports
• missing admin management of reports (enable, disable, uninstall, etc.)
• non-report plugins included in admin reports (customlang, splamcleaner)

Benefits

• standardised /report/ plugin type is good starting place for development of new reports that we need really badly
• reports can be context oriented - we need custom reports at all levels, especially user context
• cleanup in /admin/

Upgrades

How to migrate existing admin reports:

1. move all files to new /report/yourplugin/ location
2. if settings.php exists add $settings=null;
3. if settings.php does not exist create it and link the report, index.php is not linked automatically any more
4. update require('../../config.php'); - remove one ../
5. update all others includes and requires
6. update all links to report pages by removing /admin/ or /$CFG->admin/
7. add language pack with at least 'pluginname' string
8. update CSS selectors

How to migrate existing course reports (optional):

1. move all files to new /report/yourplugin/ location
2. update require('../../config.php'); - remove one ../
3. update all others includes and requires
4. update all links to report pages by removing /course/ part
5. update all language strings (use 'report_yourplugin' instead of 'coursereport_yourplugin') - use AMOS hints in commit message
6. update all capability names
7. grep the plugin codebase and look for any remaining 'coursereport' occurrences
8. add new navigation hooks in lib.php - ex: report_stats_extend_navigation_course(), report_stats_extend_navigation_user()
9. add new page types in lib.php
10. create db/install.php migration script - delete old settings and capabilities (see converted plugins for examples)
11. update CSS selectors

FAQs

Are gradebook reports affected?

No. Gradebook reports are more specialised, they span multiple contexts and read information directly from gradebook.

Is it necessary to migrate existing admin reports?

Yes. Old admin reports directory is completely ignored.

Is it difficult to migrate admin reports?

No, it takes less than an hour to migrate and test old admin reports.

Is it necessary to migrate all course reports for 2.2

No. The course reports were deprecated in 2.2, but the support for them will be removed later in 2.3.

What is the difference between report and admin tool?

Report is a view of live or historical data, it may also contain export feature, reports usually do not modify data. Admin tools are intended mostly for administrators, they usually work only in system context.

Is it possible to create course category report?

Not yet, the course category navigation is not fully implemented yet.