Course formats

Course formats are plugins that determine the layout of course resources.

Components

course/format/FORMATNAME/lang/en/format_FORMATNAME.php

Contains the English language strings used in the format. You can also define strings for other languages.

course/format/FORMATNAME/config.php

Contains $format['defaultblocks'] which defines the default blocks loaded with the format.

course/format/FORMATNAME/format.php

This is is the layout itself. It is loaded by course/view.php.

course/format/FORMATNAME/lib.php

The main library of the format.

course/format/FORMATNAME/styles.css

Optional stylesheet.

course/format/FORMATNAME/version.php

Optional version definitions.

Creating a New Format

The easiest way to create a new course format is to copy an existing one.

1. Copy the folder containing the format files.

2. Rename the folder to the new name. NOTE: course format names cannot exceed ten characters. This is a limit set in the database.

3. Rename language files in course/format/FORMATNAME/lang/

4. Change $string['pluginname'] in course/format/FORMATNAME/lang/en/format_FORMATNAME.php to the new name.

5. Rename callback functions in lib.php. The names of the functions is formed as callback_FORMATNAME_CALLBACKNAME()

6. The new format is ready for modification.