Plugin types

The M in Moodle stands for modular, and the easiest, most maintainable way to add new functionality to Moodle is by writing a plugin using one of the many plugin APIs:

Plugin types

Plugin type	Component name	Moodle path	Description	Moodle versions
Activity modules	mod	/mod	Activity modules are the most important type of plugins. They provide activities in courses. For example: Forum, Quiz and Assignment.	All
Admin reports	report	/admin/report	Provides useful views of data in a Moodle site, for admins only.	All until 2.1 (for 2.2+ see Reports)
Admin tools	tool	/admin/tool	Provides utility scripts useful for admins to examine and modify a Moodle site	2.2+
Assignment types	assignment	/mod/assignment/type	Different forms of assignments to be graded by teachers	1.x - 2.2
Authentication plugins	auth	/auth	Allows connection to external sources of authentication	2.0
Blocks	block	/blocks	Small information-displays or tools that can be moved around pages	All
Course formats	format	/course/format	Different ways of laying out the activities and blocks in a course	All
Course reports	coursereport	/course/report	Reports of activity within the course	All until 2.1 (2.2+ see Reports)
Database fields	datafield	/mod/data/field	Different types of data that may be added to databases	All
Database presets	datapreset	/mod/data/preset	Pre-defined templates for databases	All
Editors	editor	/lib/editor	Alternative text editors for editing content	2.0+
Enrolment plugins	enrol	/enrol	Ways to control who is enrolled in courses	2.0+
Filters	filter	/filter	Automatically convert, highlight, and transmogrify text posted into Moodle.	1.6+
Gradebook export	gradeexport	/grade/export	Export grades in various formats	1.9+
Gradebook import	gradeimport	/grade/import	Import grades in various formats	1.9+
Gradebook reports	gradereport	/grade/report	Display/edit grades in various layouts and reports	1.9+
Grading methods	gradingform	/grade/grading/form	Interfaces for actually performing grading in activity modules (eg Rubrics).	2.2+
Local plugins	local	/local	Generic plugins for local customisations	2.0+
Messaging consumers	message	/message/output	Send messages to users via different methods (email, sms, jabber, etc)	2.0+
Mnet services	mnetservice	/mnet/service
Plagiarism plugins	plagiarism	/plagiarism	Define external services to process submitted files and content	2.0+
Portfolio plugins	portfolio	/portfolio	Connect external portfolio services as destinations for users to store Moodle content	1.9+
Question behaviours	qbehaviour	/question/behaviour
Question formats	qformat	/question/format
Question types	qtype	/question/type
Quiz reports	quiz	/mod/quiz/report	Perform analysis of quiz attempts
Reports	report	/report	Provides useful views of data in a Moodle site for admins and teachers	2.2+
Repository plugins	repository	/repository	Connect to external sources of files to use in Moodle	2.0+
SCORM reports	scormreport	/mod/scorm/report	Analysis of SCORM attempts	2.2+
Themes	theme	/theme	Change the look of Moodle by changing the the HTML and the CSS. See also Themes 1.9.	2.0+
User profile fields	profilefield	/user/profile/field	Add new types of data to user profiles	1.9+
Webservice protocols	webservice	/webservice	Define new protocols for web service communication (such as SOAP, XML-RPC, JSON, REST ...)	2.0+
Workshop allocation strategies	workshopallocation	/mod/workshop/allocation		2.0+
Workshop evaluation plugins	workshopeval	/mod/workshop/eval		2.0+
Workshop grading forms	workshopform	/mod/workshop/form		2.0+

Other information that applies to all types of plugins:

• Where to put language strings for your plugin
• Defining the database tables for your plugin

Please see the Guidelines for contributed code for an overview of how to contribute to the Moodle code.

Sometimes it is not possible to write a proper plugin for what you want to do, in which case you may have to resort to using the local customisations hook.

See also

• Frankenstyle