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
Tim Hunt and Sam Marshall from OU
Damyon and Raymond from NetSpot
Andrew and Ruslan from Lancaster University Network Services
Davo Smith from Synergy Learning
...

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.

(MDL-31907)

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.

(MDL-28666)

Improvements to editing course pages

MDL-31263 - Blocks drag and drop returns
MDL-31052 - All AJAX editing on the course pages has been modernised and cleaned up. It's on by default now too.
MDL-32508 - 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)
MDL-30617 - An optional new popup "Activity chooser" has been added with full introduction, examples and links about each activity or resource module.
MDL-22504 - You can now drag files, links or even plain text straight into the course page and they will be added as resources.
MDL-31215 - You can edit the name of any activity without having to enter the activity settings (works particularly well with drag and drop).
MDL-31121 - 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!

(MDL-32709)

Assignment module

MDL-26997 -Complete rewrite of the assignment module from scratch, by NetSpot (Moodle Partner in Australia)
Assignment subtypes no longer needed
MDL-31731 - New 'marking guide' advanced grading method, where a teacher enters a comment per criterion and a mark up to a maximum

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.

Available update notifications

MDL-20438 - Admins can check for any updates available for core code and for any contributed plugins installed on the site (from the plugins directory) via buttons on the notifications and plugins overview pages.

Other highlights

MDL-26099 - Option to make the workshop switch to the assessment phase automatically after the submissions deadline (including automatic allocation of submissions for assessment)
MDL-25660 - Workshop submission deadlines are shown in the calendar
MDL-31121 - Option to display file size and/or type on course page for file resource
MDL-32009 - Admin option for uninstalling messaging outputs and report of messaging output statuses on plugins overview page

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

Plugin API changes

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.

Unit tests

Add some info about phpunit here!

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.

Documentation