Moodle 2.3 release notes

Releases > Moodle 2.3 release notes

Release date: 18th June 2012 (expected)

Here is the full list of fixed issues in 2.3.

Many thanks to everyone that worked on the new features in this release, particularly:

• Everyone at Moodle HQ
• Damyon and Raymond from Netspot
• Andrew and Ruslan from LUNS
• Davo Smith from Synergy
• ...

Major new features

Files usability

(insert screenshots with realistic example files)

• Nicer-looking File Picker with fewer clicks
• Images now display as true thumbnails throughout Moodle
• Other files have pretty icons for most file types
• Files view can be easily toggled between icons view, or a table view with sizes and dates, or a hierarchical list view.
• You can now drag and drop files directly from your desktop straight into file areas!
• File info (eg license information, sizes, dates) can be easily edited and viewed in a popup dialog
• Files can be created as "aliases/shortcuts" of other files. This allows you to, for example, use a single file in your private files area multiple times in all your courses. If you update the original file then all the aliases will automatically update!
• Aliases are easily identifiable in the file manager interface.

Repository improvements

• If a repository supports it then it's possible to make an alias/shortcut to a file in an external repository. If the file is updated in the repository, then this change is reflected in Moodle. The fie remains under Moodle access control however, and the original URL is not usually revealed. In the 2.3 core release, this is supported by Equella, Filesystem and XXXX repositories.
• The repository plugin is now able to take over the whole right-hand pane of the file picker and provide it's own searching/browsing interface.

Improvements to editing course pages

• All AJAX editing on the course pages has been modernised and cleaned up. It's on by default now too.
• Sections can now be displayed to all users as "one section per page" (via a course setting) with full navigation. Currently only supported by Weeks and Topics formats. (AKA death to scroll-of-death)
• An optional new popup "Activity chooser" has been added with full introduction, examples and links about each activity or resource module.
• You can now drag files, links or even plain text straight into the course page and they will be added as resources.
• You can edit the name of any activity without having to enter the activity settings (works particularly well with drag and drop).
• You can now add/remove sections direct from the course page.

Book module

• The most popular third-party resource module ever, "Book" by our very own Petr Skoda, finally joins core. Welcome!

Assignment module

• Complete rewrite of the assignment module from scratch, by Netspot (Moodle Partner in AU)
• Assignment subtypes no longer needed
• New grading forms

Quiz module

• MDL-3030 More robust handling of quiz attempts that are not submitted by the deadline.
• MDL-3054 & MDL-11047 There is now an option for teacher to force students to answer the quiz questions strictly in order. As part of this, the quiz remembers which page the student was last on, and will take them back there when they resume an attempt.

Security issues

All security issues that were fixed in 2.2.x and 2.1.x were also fixed in 2.3.

For developers: API changes

Core API changes

• MDL-31902 All xxx_get_participants() functions are removed from core

Webservice changes

Few changes could break existing web service clients in 2.3 - untill this version we tried not to break anything. However these changes will make the client's developer life easier, so we prefered to do them now than later. Please take in consideration these improvements and retest your clients:

• Error codes and Warnings
• All text fields have an additional format field as parameter and return value (MDL-32581)
• Thanks to the increasing number of contributions, we improved our contributor web service guide
• From 2.3, all web service functions integrated in master will land (when possible) in supported minor versions (e.g. 2.3.1, 2.3.2...).
• Many fixes and new API functions.

Community hub changes

Some bug fixes and improvements in core and in the plugin. Hub administrators must update their hub to the most recent version regarding CONTRIB-3646.

See also

• Moodle 2.2 release notes