MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

LDAP authentication

2008-12-13T19:25:02Z

Mattgibson: Added cron syncronisation instructions

{{Moodle 1.9}}
Location: Settings link in ''Administration > Users > [[Authentication]] > LDAP Server''

This document describes how to set up Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) authentication in Moodle. We cover the basic, advanced and some trouble shooting sections to assist the user in the installation and administrating LDAP in Moodle.

==Basic Scenario==
The simple and straightforward approach for most installations.

===Assumptions===

# Your Moodle site is located at '''http://your.moodle.site/'''
# You have configured your PHP installation with the LDAP extension. It is loaded and activated, and it shows when you go to '''http://your.moodle.site/admin/phpinfo.php''' (logged in as user 'admin').
# Your LDAP server has '''192.168.1.100''' as its IP address.
# You are not using LDAP with SSL (also known as LDAPS) in your settings. This might prevent certain operations from working (e.g., you cannot update data if you are using MS Active Directory -- MS-AD from here on --), but should be OK if you just want to authenticate your users.
# You don't want your users to change their passwords the first time they log in into Moodle.
# You are using a single domain as the source of your authentication data in case you are using MS-AD (more on this in the Appendices).
# You are using a top level distinguished name (DN) of '''dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' as the root of your LDAP tree.
# You have a non-privileged LDAP user account you will use to bind to the LDAP server. This is not necessary with certain LDAP servers, but MS-AD requires this and it won't hurt if you use it even if your LDAP server doesn't need it. Make sure '''this account and its password don't expire''', and make this password as strong as possible. Remember you only need to type this password once, when configuring Moodle, so don't be afraid of making it as hard to guess as possible. Let's say this user account has a DN of '''cn=ldap-user,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''', and password '''hardtoguesspassword'''.
# All of your Moodle users are in an organizational unit (OU) called '''moodleusers''', which is right under your LDAP root. That OU has a DN of '''ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain'''.
# You '''don't''' want your LDAP users' passwords to be stored in Moodle at all.

===Configuring Moodle authentication===

Log in as an admin user and go to Administration >> Users >> Authentication >> Manage authentication. In the table that appears, enable the "LDAP Server" authentication option (click on the closed eye to make it open) and then click on the associated 'Settings' link. You will get a page similar to this one:

 
::: [[Image:auth_ldap_config_screenshot.jpg]]
 

Now, you just have to fill in the values. Let's go step by step.
 
 

====LDAP Server Settings====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Host URL
| As the IP of your LDAP server is 192.168.1.100, type "'''ldap://192.168.1.100'''" (without the quotes), or just "'''192.168.1.100'''" (some people have trouble connecting with the first syntax, specially on MS Windows servers).
|-
| Version
| Unless you are using a really old LDAP server, '''version 3''' is the one you should choose.
|-
| LDAP Encoding
| Specify encoding used by LDAP server. Most probably utf-8.
|}

====Bind settings====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Hide passwords
| As you '''don't''' want to store the users's password in Moodle's database, choose '''Yes''' here.
|-
| Distinguisned Name
| This is the distinguished name of the bind user defined above. Just type "'''cn=ldap-user,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain'''" (without the quotes).
|-
| Password
| This is the bind user password defined above. Type "'''hardtoguesspassword'''" (without the quotes).
|}

====User lookup settings====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| User type
| Choose:
* '''Novel Edirectory''' if your LDAP server is running Novell's eDdirectory.
* '''posixAccount (rfc2307)''' if your LDAP server is running a RFC-2307 compatible LDAP server (choose this is your server is running OpenLDAP).
* '''posixAccount (rfc2307bis)''' if your LDAP server is running a RFC-2307bis compatible LDAP server.
* '''sambaSamAccount (v.3.0.7)''' if your LDAP server is running with SAMBA's 3.x LDAP schema extension and you want to use it.
* '''MS ActiveDirectory''' if your LDAP server is running Microsoft's Active Directory (MS-AD)
|-
| Contexts
| The DN of the context (container) where all of your Moodle users are found. Type '''ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' here.
|-
| Search subcontexts
| If you have any sub organizational units (subcontexts) hanging from '''ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' and you want Moodle to search there too, set this to '''yes'''. Otherwise, set this to '''no'''.
|-
| Dereference aliases
| Sometimes your LDAP server will tell you that the real value you are searching for is in fact in another part of the LDAP tree (this is called an alias). If you want Moodle to 'dereference' the alias and fetch the real value from the original location, set this to '''yes'''. If you don't want Moodle to dereference it, set this to '''no'''. If you are using MS-AD, set this to '''no'''.
|-
| User attribute
| The attribute used to name/search users in your LDAP tree. This option takes a default value based on the ''User type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.

By the way, it's usually '''cn''' (Novell eDirectory and MS-AD) or '''uid''' (RFC-2037, RFC-2037bis and SAMBA 3.x LDAP extension), but if you are using MS-AD you could use '''sAMAccountName''' (the pre-Windows 2000 logon account name) if you need too.
|-
| Member attribute
| The attribute used to list the members of a given group. This option takes a default value based on the ''User type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.

By the way, the usual values are '''member''' and '''memberUid'''.
|-
| Member attribute uses dn
| Whether the member attribute contains distinguished names (1) or not (0).This option takes a default value based on the ''User type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.
|-
| Object class
| The type of LDAP object used to search for users. This option takes a default value based on the ''User type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.

Here are the default values for each of the ''ldap_user_type'' values:
* '''User''' for Novel eDirectory
* '''posixAccount''' for RFC-2037 and RFC-2037bis
* '''sambaSamAccount''' for SAMBA 3.0.x LDAP extension
* '''user''' for MS-AD
If you get an error about a problem with updating the ldap server (even if you have specified not to write changes back to the ldap server) try setting the ldap object class to * - see http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=70566 for a discussion on this problem
|}

====Force change password====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Force change password
| Set this to ''Yes'' if you want to force your users to change their password on the first login into Moodle. Otherwise, set this to ''no''. Bear in mind the password they are forced to change is the one stored in your LDAP server.

As you don't want your users to change their passwords in their first login, leave this set to ''No''
|-
| Use standard Change Password Page
|
* Setting this to ''Yes'' makes Moodle use it's own standard password change page, everytime users want to change their passwords.
* Setting this to ''No'' makes Moodle use the the page specified in the field called "Password change URL" (see below).

Bear in mind that changing your LDAP passwords from Moodle might require a LDAPS connection (this is true at least for MS-AD).

Also, code for changing passwords from Moodle for anything but Novell eDirectory and Active Directory is almost not tested, so this may or may not work for other LDAP servers.
|-
| Password Format
| Specify how the new password is encrypted before sending it to the LDAP server: Plain text, MD5 hash or SHA-1 hash. MS-AD uses plain text, for example.
|-
| Password change URL
| Here you can specify a location at which your users can recover or change their username/password if they've forgotten it. This will be provided to users as a button on the login page and their user page. if you leave this blank the button will not be printed.
|}

====LDAP password expiration settings====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Expiration
|
* Setting this to ''No'' will make Moodle not to check if the password of the user has expired or not.
* Setting this to ''LDAP'' will make Moodle check if the LDAP password of the user has expired or not, and warn her a number of days before the password expires.

Current code only deals with Novell eDirectory LDAP server and MS-AD.

So unless you have Novell eDirectory server or MS-AD, choose ''No'' here.
|-
| Expiration warning
| This value sets how many days in advance of password expiration the user is warned that her password is about to expire.
|-
| Expiration attribute.
| The LDAP user attribute used to check password expiration. This option takes a default value based on the ''User type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.
|-
| Grace logins
| This setting is specific to Novell eDirectory. If set to ''Yes'', enable LDAP gracelogin support. After password has expired the user can login until gracelogin count is 0.

So unless you have Novell eDirectory server and want to allow gracelogin support, choose ''No'' here.
|-
| Grace login attribute
| This setting is currently not used in the code (and is specific to Novell eDirectory).

So you don't need to fill this in.
|}

====Enable user creation====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Create users externally
| New (anonymous) users can self-create user accounts on the external LDAP server and confirm them via email. If you enable this, remember to also configure module-specific options for user creation and to fill in some instructions in ''auth_instructions'' field in Administration >> Users >> Authentication >> Manage authentication. Otherwise the new users won't be able to self-create new accounts.

As of now, only Novell eDirectory and MS-AD can create users externally.
|-
| Context for new users
| Specify the context where users are created. This context should be different from other users' contexts to prevent security issues.
|}

====Course creation====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Creators
| The DN of the group that contains all of your Moodle creators. This is typically a posixGroup with a "memberUid" attribute for each user you want to be a creator. If your group is called ''creators'', type '''cn=creators,ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' here. Each memberUid attribute contains the CN of a user who is authorized to be a creator. Do not use the user's full DN (e.g., not '''memberUid: cn=JoeTeacher,ou=moodleusers,dc-my,dc=organizations,dc=domain''', but rather '''memberUid: JoeTeacher''').

In eDirectory, the objectClass for a group is (by default) not '''posixGroup''' but '''groupOfNames,''' whose member attribute is '''member,''' not '''memberUid,''' and whose value is the full DN of the user in question. Although you can probably modify Moodle's code to use this field, a better solution is just to add a new '''objectClass''' attribute of '''posixGroup''' to your creators group and put the CNs for each creator in a '''memberUid''' attribute.

In MS Active Directory, you will need to create a security group for your creators to be part of and then add them all. If your ldap context above is 'ou=staff,dc=my,dc=org' then your group should then be 'cn=creators,ou=staff,dc=my,dc=org'. If some of the users are from other contexts and have been added to the same security group, you'll have to add these as separate contexts after the first one using the same format.
|}

====Cron synchronization script====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Removed ext user
| Specify what to do with internal user account during mass synchronization when user was removed from external source. Only suspended users are automatically revived if they reappear in ext source.
|}

====NTLM SSO====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| Enable
| If you want to use NTLM SSO (see details at [[NTLM_authentication]], choose ''Yes'' here. Otherwise, choose ''No''.
|-
| Subnet
| Specify the subnets of the clients that will use NTLM SSO (see details at [[NTLM_authentication]]).
|}

====Data Mapping====
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| First name
| The name of the attribute that holds the first name of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''givenName'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Surname
| The name of the attribute that holds the surname of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''sn'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Email address
| The name of the attribute that holds the email address of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''mail'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| City/town
| The name of the attribute that holds the city/town of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''l''' (lowercase L) or '''localityName''' (not valid in MS-AD).

This setting is optional
|-
| Country
| The name of the attribute that holds the couuntry of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''c''' or '''countryName''' (not valid in MS-AD).

This setting is optional
|-
| Language
| '''preferredLanguage'''

This setting is optional
|-
| Description
| '''description'''

This setting is optional
|-
| Webpage
| This setting is optional
|-
| ID Number
|

This setting is optional
|-
| Institution
|

This setting is optional
|-
| Department
| The name of the attribute that holds the department name of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''departmentNumber''' (for posixAccount and maybe eDirectory) or '''department''' (for MS-AD).

This setting is optional
|-
| Phone 1
| The name of the attribute that holds the telephone number of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''telephoneNumber'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Phone 2
| The name of the attribute that holds an additional telephone number of your users in your LDAP server. This can be '''homePhone''', '''mobile''', '''pager''', '''facsimileTelephoneNumber''' or even others.

This setting is optional
|-
| Address
| The name of the attribute that holds the street address of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''streetAddress''' or '''street'.

This setting is optional
|}

===Setting up regular automatic synchronisation using cron===
There is a script located at /auth/ldap/auth_ldap_sync_users.php which will create or suspend/delete (see the setting above) all LDAP accounts automatically. Ideally, this is called from the command line once a day during a quiet time using exactly the same procedure as the standard [[Cron|cron]] job (so you will end up with two cron entries). It is important, however, to make sure that all of the above LDAP settings are working properly before you try this, as well as backing up your database and moodledata folders. Poor LDAP configuration could lead to users being wrongly deleted.

If you find that the script is not running through all of your users properly and you have MS Active Directory + over 1000 users, this is because by default, MS AD only sends back 1000 users at a time. Follow the instructions [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315071 here] to set the MaxPageSize setting to a number higher than your total number of users (both now and in future) to fix it.

==Active Directory Troubleshooting Help==

===Warning: The PHP LDAP module does not seem to be present. Please ensure it is installed and enabled.===
This usually means that the main ldap dll or one of the supporting dlls are missing.
Let's start with the main one itself.
Browse to http://(moodleserver)/admin/phpinfo.php and examine the "Configuration File (php.ini) Path" field to determine which php.ini is being used and open it with an editor. Find the line 'extension=php_ldap.dll' and take out the semi-colon if it is there. That semi-colon will stop it loading the module all together!
While you have that file open, search for 'extension_dir' and note which folder it is set to. Open that folder and ensure the php_ldap.dll file is in there. If it isn't then put it in there.
If that still hasn't fixed it you are missing a supporting dll, but you don't get told that. To see what dlls are missing open the Command Prompt and navigate to the php directory and execute the following line 'php -m'. You should get some error messages now. Ugly, but at least they give you information! Find the dlls listed and copy them to the php directory. You may now need to restart the apache/httpd service. Run 'php -m' again and you should be error free and the message in Moodle should be gone now.

===LDAP-module cannot connect any LDAP servers : Server: 'ldap://my.ldap.server/' Connection: 'Resource id #26' Bind result: ''===
Getting this message when you are trying to log in is a result of incorrect details for the Bind user, or the user account having insufficient permissions in Active Directory. The best way to test and resolve this is use ldp.exe to test binding until it suceeds. There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.
Open the program and Connect to AD, giving the server name, then from the Connection menu choose Bind. Enter the details you think are correct and you will probably find that an error is returned. Try adjusting the accounts priveleges or another account until you are returned an "Authenticated as" message.
Once you are sure your account can be used to bind to AD, check that the DN of that users name is correct. Expand the tree on the left until you find the user you used to bind. Right click on that item and choose Copy DN. Go to the User Authentication page in Moodle and paste the value into the ldap_bind_dn field. Add the password and you can now feel safe your user is binding sucessfully.

===Getting correct CNs for Contexts and Creators===
For those not familiar with AD this could be very confusing, and not that easy for some who are familiar with it. Again, ldp.exe is your friend. There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.
Open it up and expand the tree on the left until you find the group or user you want to use and right click on it and select Copy DN. Go back to the Moodle User Authentication page and paste that value into either ldap_contexts or ldap_creators.

===Getting the right user_attribute===
By default, Moodle uses an accounts cn (full name) to verify against, but most networks don't use a full given name for logon as it's too easy to guess and you can easily have two people with the same name. If this is the case for you too you need to tell Moodle to look at another field for the logon id.
In ldp.exe navigate the tree on the left to find a user account, preferably your own. Double-click the item in the tree and full-details will be loaded into the screen on the right. Look down the details until you find your logon id and note the item listed against it. For me, and a lot of people, it is sAMAccountName. Copy this name and paste it into the ldap_user_attribute on the Moodle User Authentication page.
There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.

===Installing ldp.exe Server Tool===
ldp.exe comes as part of the Server Tools on most versions of Windows Server. Find your Windows Server installation disc and find a folder on it called Support\Tools. In there will be a SupTools.msi which will install the server tools if run. You should now have a folder under Program Files called Support Tools, in which will be ldp.exe. ldp.exe is also available in the Windows XP Support Tools, which you can download from Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=49AE8576-9BB9-4126-9761-BA8011FABF38&displaylang=en here]. Alternatively, a single download of ldp.exe is available [http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/utilities/ldp.htm here].

===Example Active Directory Configuration===
Below is an example configuration for Active Directory. As detailed above, the values may vary based on your local Active Directory configuration, but should provide a good starting point for most cases.

ldap_host_url = ldap://ads.example.com
ldap_version = 3
ldap_preventpassindb = yes
ldap_bind_dn = bind-user@example.com
ldap_bind_pw = bind-password
ldap_user_type = MS ActiveDirectory
ldap_contexts = ou=moodleusers,dc=example,dc=com
ldap_user_attribute = sAMAccountName

Note that the ldap_bind_dn value should work in either the CN=bin-user,CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com format as shown in the main instructions or the bind-user@example.com format shown in this example.

==Advanced Scenarios - Multiple servers or locations==
For larger installations with multiple LDAP servers, or multiple locations (contexts) in a LDAP tree.

===Using multiple LDAP Servers===
Entering more than one name in the ldap_host_url field can provide some sort of resilience to your system. Simply use the syntax :
ldap://my.first.server ; ldap://my.second.server ; ...

Of course, this will only work if all the servers share the same directory information, using a replication or synchronization mecanism once introduced in eDirectory and now generalized to the main LDAP-compatible directories.

There is one drawback in Moodle 1.5 - 1.6 implementation of LDAP authentication : the auth_ldap_connect() function processes the servers sequentially, not in a round robin mode. Thus, if the primary server fails, you will have to wait for the connection to time out before switching to the following one.

===Using multiple user locations (contexts) in your LDAP tree===
There is no need to use multiple user locations if your directory tree is flat, i.e. if all user accounts reside in a '''ou=people,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' or '''ou=people,o=myorg''' container.

At the opposite, if you use the ACL mecanism to delegate user management, there are chances that your users will be stored in containers like '''ou=students,ou=dept1,o=myorg''' and '''ou=students,ou=dept2,o=myorg''' ...

Then there is an alternative :
* Look at the '''o=myorg''' level with the ldap_search_sub attribute set to '''yes'''.
* Set the ldap_context to '''ou=students,ou=dept1,o=myorg ; ou=students,ou=dept2,o=myorg'''.

Choosing between these two solutions supposes some sort of benchmarking, as the result depends heavily on the structure of your directory tree '''and''' on your LDAP software indexing capabilities. Simply note that there is a probability in such deep trees that two users share the same ''common name'' (cn), while having different ''distinguished names''. Then only the second solution will have a deterministic result (returning allways the same user).

===Using LDAPS (LDAP + SSL)===
====MS Active Directory + SSL ====

If the Certificate Authority is not installed you'll have to install it first as follows:
# Click '''Start''' -> '''Control Panel''' -> '''Add or Remove programs.'''
# Click '''Add/Remove Windows Components''' and select '''Certificate Services.'''
# Follow the procedure provided to install the '''Certificate Authority'''. Enterprise level is a good choice.

Verify that SSL has been enabled on the server by installing suptools.msi from Windows installation cd's \Support\tools directory. After support tools installation:
# Select '''Start''' -> '''Run''', write '''ldp''' in the Open field.
# From the ldp window select '''Connection''' -> '''Connect''' and supply valid hostname and port number '''636'''. Also select the SSL check box.

If successful, you should get information about the connection.

Next step is to tell PHP's OpenLDAP extension to disable SSL certificate checking. On Windows servers you're most likely using pre-compiled PHP version, where you must create a path ''C:\OpenLDAP\sysconf''. In this path create a file called "ldap.conf" with content:

TLS_REQCERT never.

Now you should be able to use '''ldaps://''' when connecting to MS-AD.

==Appendices==

===Child Domains and the Global Catalog in MS Active Directory===

Moodle currently only has limited support for multiple domain controllers; specifically it expects each of the LDAP servers listed to contain identical sets of information. If you have users in multiple domains this presents an issue. One solution when working with MS-AD is to use the Global Catalog. The Global Catalog is designed to be a read-only, partial representation of an entire MS-AD forest, designed for searching the entire directory when the domain of the required object is not known.

For example your organisation has a main domain example.org, staff and students are contained in two child domains staff.example.org and students.example.org. The 3 domains (example.org, staff.example.org and students.example.org) each have a domain controller (dc01, dc02 and dc03 respectively.) Each domain controller contains a full, writable, representation of only the objects that belong to its domain. However, assuming that the Global Catalog has been enabled (see below) on one of the domain controllers (for example dc01) a query to the Global Catalog would reveal matching objects from all three domains. The Global Catalog is automatically maintained through replication across the active directory forest, it can also be enabled on multiple servers (if, for example, you need redundancy / load balancing.)

To make use of this in Moodle to allow logins from multiple domains is simple. The Global Catalog runs on port 3268 as opposed to 389 for standard LDAP queries. As a result, still assuming the Global Catalog is running on dc01, the ''''ldap_host_url'''' would be ''ldap://dc01.example.org:3268''. The rest of the settings are the same as for other MS-AS Auth setups.

You should use the ''''ldap_contexts'''' setting to indicate the locations of individuals you wish to grant access. To extend the example above a little: In the example.org domain users are all in the'' 'Users' ''OU, in the staff.example.org domain users are in two OUs at the root of the domain,'' 'Support Staff' ''and'' 'Teaching Staff' '', and in the students.example.org domain students are in an OU indicating the year that they enrolled, all of which are under the'' 'Students' ''OU. As a result our ''''ldap_contexts'''' setting may look a little like this:'' 'OU=Users,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Support Staff,DC=staff,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Teaching Staff,DC=staff,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Students,DC=students,DC=example,DC=org''.' The ''''ldap_search_sub'''' option should be set to'' 'Yes' ''to allow moodle to search within the child OUs.

Its worth noting that the Global Catalog only contains a partial representation of the attributes of each object, as defined in the Partial Attribute Set supplied by Microsoft. However common information likely to be of use to a general Moodle installation (Forename, Surname, Email Address, sAMAccountName etc) is included in the set. For specific needs the schema can be altered to remove or add various attributes.

In most cases the Global Catalog is read-only, update queries must be made over the standard LDAP ports to the domain controller that holds the object in question (in our example, updating a student's details would require an LDAP query to the students.example.org domain controller - dc03, it would not be possible to update details by querying the Global Catalog.) The exception to this would be in an environment where there is only a single domain in the active directory forest; in this case the Global Catalog holds a writable full set of attributes for each object in the domain. However, for the purposes of Moodle authorisation, there would be no need to use the Global Catalog in this case.

===Enabling the Global Catalog===

The Global Catalog is available on Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Active Directory servers. To enable, open the ‘Active Directory Sites and Services’ MMC (Microsoft Management Console) snap-in. Extend ‘Sites’ and then the name of the Site containing the active directory forest you wish to use. Expand the server you wish to enable the Global Catalog on, right click ‘NTDS settings’ and select the ‘Properties’ tab. To enable, simply click the ‘Global Catalog’ checkbox. Under a Windows 2000 server it is necessary to restart the server (although it won’t prompt you to); under Windows 2003 server it is not necessary to restart the server. In either case you will generally have to wait for the AD forest to replicate before the Global Catalog offers a representation of the entire AD forest. Changes made in Active Directory will also be subject to a short delay due to the latency involved with replication. If your AD servers are firewalled port 3268 will need to be opened for Global Catalog servers.
If your organisation uses Microsoft Exchange then it its highly likely that at least one Domain Controller will already have Global Catalog enabled – Exchange 2000 and 2003 rely on the Global Catalog for address information, users also access the Global Catalog when using the GAL (Global Address List)

===ldap auth_user_create() only suports Novell===

After configuring user authentication with ldap I realized ldap only support edir (Novell) when combining ldap an email user confirmation. For example in my case (I use openldap) I have the following error after filling the user form:

auth: ldap auth_user_create() does not support selected usertype:"rfc2307" (..yet)

{{Moodle 1.9}}
The previous comment only applies to Moodle 1.8 and below. Moodle 1.9 adds support for MS Active Directory too.

=== Active Directory with Moodle 1.8===

There is an issue with the PHP ldap options that are required for Active Directory access in version 1.8 of Moodle.

Using moodle on a LAMP platform with authentication to Active Directory may give some errors.

Check this bug [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-10921 MDL-10921] or this post http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78316 for further information.

==See also==

*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=42 Using Moodle: User authentication] forum
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32168 PHP LDAP module does not seem to be present] forum discussion
* [[NTLM_authentication]]
* [[LDAP enrolment]]

[[Category:Authentication]]

[[es:LDAP_authentication]]
[[fr:Utiliser un serveur LDAP]]
[[ja:LDAP認証]]
[[zh:LDAP认证]]

2.1:Ajax marking block

2008-12-09T21:02:55Z

Mattgibson:

The AJAX marking block allows you to view and complete all of your marking without leaving the page you are on. It displays all the ungraded work you need to mark in a tree structure of all of the courses you teach in, along with a count of how many items there are for each course & assessment item.
[[Image:Ajax_marking.png|right]]
====Keep track of what you have graded so far====
When the tree nodes are expanded and a student's name is clicked, a pop-up opens with the work to be graded. Once 'Submit' has been clicked in that window, the pop-up closes and tree updates itself by removing the student's node and altering its total count.

====Instantly update without leaving the page====
The [[AJAX]] bit means that every time you click on the nodes to expand them, the data for the child nodes is fetched in the background without refreshing the whole page. This saves on loading the whole lot at the start, which could be time consuming. Clicking 'Collapse and refresh' will re-load the whole tree, with an updated count of your marking including anything that was submitted a second or two ago, and excluding any that were marked by someone else and now don't need your attention.

====Only show grading for your own teaching groups====
Some sites run training courses that don't need grading, or a single course with many teachers and teaching groups following the same programme of study. You can easily choose to hide the work that is not your using the '''configure''' link, which will open a pop up allowing you to show or hide each item individually, or choose to show only the work of some groups, so you only ever see the work that you actually need to mark.

==Installation==
Download the zip file [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/plugins/blocks/ajax_marking.zip here]. Copy it to your /blocks/ folder and unzip it there. Then, go to the notifications screen (Front page -> administration block -> notifications) where you should see a message about the tables having been set up correctly.

===Configuring the display of each individual assessment item===
The block can be set to show or hide each individual assessment item, or show only the assessments by students in certain groups. Clicking on '''configure''' will bring up an additional tree, which shows all of your courses and names of all the assessment items. When you click on one of the assessments, you will be faced with a number of options on the right:
* Show - the default state, where you will see all students' work
* Show by group - a set of checkboxes will appear with the names of the current groups for that course. You choose which you want to see and group nodes will then be shown between the assessment and student nodes in the main block. The nodes for that assessment will then look like this: '''Course -> Assessment -> Group -> Submission'''
* Hide - do not display any submissions for this assessment item.

The counting of unmarked submissions respects these choices and they are specific to the user who created them. If you are an admin and wish to set the preferences for others, use the 'login as' function to do so.

==Supported types==
* Assignment
* Forum (only if ratings are on)
* Workshop
* Journal
* Quiz (essay questions only)

[[Category:Contributed code]]
[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Administrator]]

Ajax marking block

2008-12-09T21:02:55Z

Mattgibson:

Ajax marking block

2008-12-09T21:01:50Z

Mattgibson:

Accessibility

2008-11-13T12:36:06Z

Mattgibson: /* See also */

Websites built with '''accessibility''' in mind are flexible in meeting different user needs, preferences and situations. Though these methods can increase [[usability]] for everyone who uses the web they are often legally required to be implemented in a specific effort to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities.

See the tracker under [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7396 Accessibility Compliance in Moodle 1.8] and [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7860 Compliance with Italian Legislation on Accessibility] for more information on what we are doing for Moodle 1.8.

== Starting points ==

These are some readable introductions to accessibility that cover; what accessibility is, why it is important, as well as practical advice.
* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php Web Accessibility Initiative's ''Introduction to Web Accessibility'']
* [http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ Mark Pilgrim's ''Dive into Accessibility'']
* [http://joeclark.org/book/ Joe Clark's ''Building Accessible Websites'' book]

== Standards, guidelines and legislation ==

* [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200001/ldbills/003/2001003.htm SENDA - Special Educational Needs and Disability Act/Bill]
* [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm Disability Discrimination Act 1995]
* [http://www.section508.gov/ Section 508]
* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/ Web Accessibility Initiative]
** [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)]
** [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (draft)]
*** [http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tohellwithwcag2 an article on the problems with WCAG2]

== Tools ==

* [[Web developer extension]] for [[Firefox]]
* [[Accessibility extension]] for Firefox
* [[W3C validation]] (for [[HTML in Moodle]], [[CSS]] and [[RSS]])
* [http://cynthiasays.com/ Cynthia Says accessibility checker]

see also this [http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete long list of accessibility tools].

== Resources ==

* [http://webstandards.org/action/atf/manifesto/ Web Standards.org's ''Accessibility Task Force Manifesto'']
* [http://alistapart.com/topics/userscience/accessibility/ Accessibility articles from ''A List Apart'']
* [http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/29/semantics Mark Pilgrim's ''Won’t somebody please think of the gerbils?'']
* [http://joeclark.org/access/webaccess/ Joe Clark's writings on accessibility]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility Wikipedia article on ''Web Accessibility'']
* [http://juicystudio.com/article/validity-accessibility.php ''Validity and Accessibility'']
* [http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/inter/support/accessibility/access_vids.cfm Videos showing as student accessing another Learning Management System via Screen Reader software]

== See also ==

* [[Moodle Accessibility Specification]]
* [[Semantic HTML]]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=820 Accessibility forum on Moodle.org]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=85119 New Accessibility Themes] forum discussion
* [http://www.easy.pro.br/ EASY: Interface Between The Virtual Environment Moodle Learning and People with Visual Impairments]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/03/homepage_accessibilty.html BBC blog post on how their Web 2.0 homepage was made accessible]

[[Category:Accessibility]]

About Moodle

2008-11-03T15:37:09Z

Mattgibson:

{{About Moodle}}
'''[[Moodle]]''' is a [http://download.moodle.org/ software package] for producing internet-based courses and web sites. It is a world-wide, ongoing development project designed to support a [[Philosophy|social constructionist]] framework of education.

Moodle is provided freely as [http://opensource.org/docs/osd Open Source] software (under the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU Public License]). Basically this means Moodle is copyrighted, but that you have additional freedoms. You are allowed to copy, use and modify Moodle provided that you agree to: '''provide the source to others; not modify or remove the original license and copyrights''', and '''apply this same license to any derivative work'''. Read the [[License|license]] for full details and please contact the [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=1&course=1 copyright holder] directly if you have any questions.

Moodle can be [[Installing Moodle|installed]] on any computer that can run [http://www.php.net/ PHP], and can support an SQL type database (for example [http://www.mysql.com/ MySQL]). It can be run on [[Complete_install_packages|Windows and Mac]] operating systems and many flavors of linux (for example [[RedHat Linux installation| Red Hat]] or [[Debian GNU/Linux installation|Debian GNU]]). There are many knowledgable [http://moodle.com/partners/ Moodle Partners] to assist you, even [http://moodle.com/hosting/ host your Moodle site].

The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, which is mostly useful to programmers and education theorists. It's also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. As such it applies both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the way a student or teacher might approach studying or teaching an online course. Anyone who uses Moodle is a Moodler.

Come [http://moodle.org/community/ moodle with us]!

==See also==
*[[Teacher documentation |What does a teacher need to know?]] A good starting place to learn about the robust features in a Moodle course.
*[http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=34 The Moodle "Features" Course] is a place to see how these things work.
*Later you might be ready for [http://demo.moodle.org/ Demo.moodle]. Here you can play on a Moodle site as a teacher, administrator or student. Or [[Complete_install_packages#Install_complete_package| create a Moodle ]] on your own computer
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle The Moodle page at Wikipedia]. MoodleDocs and Wikipedia both use [[MediaWiki]].
*[http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Moodle Moodle] (Wikiversity)
*[[Moodle_manuals]] has many links or there is the [[Using Moodle book]] for those who must have an Adobe document to read or print.
*[[Moodle presentations| Here is where Moodlers]] share their "This is Moodle" presentations.
*[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=moodlemoot Moodlemoots] are exciting Moodle conferences all over the world, with both face to face and virtual components.
*[[Documents useful for decision makers|Which course management software ?]] - Documents useful for decision makers
*Each of the links below will take you to a different alphabetical index of topics, such as the Administrator index or Teacher index.

[[ca:Quant al Moodle]]
[[es:Acerca de Moodle]]
[[eu:Moodle-ri buruz]]
[[fr:À propos de Moodle]]
[[nl:Over Moodle]]
[[de:Was ist Moodle?]]
[[hr:O_Moodle_rješenju]]
[[ja:Moodleとは]]
[[pt:Sobre o Moodle]]
[[zh:关于Moodle]]
[[ru:О Moodle]]
[[ko:무들에 대하여]]

[[Category:Learning management system]]

2008-07-22T14:13:51Z

Mattgibson:

The AJAX marking block displays a tree structure of all of the courses you are part of where there are unmarked assessments waiting to be graded, along with a count of the totals. At its simplest level, e.g. assignments, it shows Course name > Assignment name > Student name. When the student;s name is clicked, a pop-up opens with the work to be graded. Once 'Submit' has been clicked in that window, the pop-up closes and tree updates itself by removing the student's node and altering its total count.

The [[AJAX]] bit means that every time you click on the nodes to expand them, the data for the child nodes is fetched in the background without refreshing the whole page. Clicking 'Collapse and refresh' will re-load the whole tree, with an updated count of your marking including anything that was submitted a second or two ago.

==Configuration==
The block can be set to show or hide each individual assessment item, or show only the assessments by students in certain groups. Clicking on 'configure' will bring up an additional tree, which shows only the courses and names of the assessment items. When you click on one of the assessments, you will be faced with a number of options on the right:
* Show - the default state, where you will see all students' work
* Show by group - a set of checkboxes will appear with the names of the current groups for that course. You choose which you want to see and group nodes will then be shown between the assessment and student nodes in the main block.
* Hide - do not display any submissions for this assessment item.

The counting of unmarked submissions respects these choices and they are specific to the user who created them. If you are an admin and wish to set the preferences for others, use the 'login as' function to do so.

Ajax marking block

2008-07-22T14:13:18Z

Mattgibson:

The AJAX marking block displays a tree structure of all of the courses you are part of where there are unmarked assessments waiting to be graded, along with a count of the totals. At its simplest level, e.g. assignments, it shows Course name > Assignment name > Student name. When the student;s name is clicked, a pop-up opens with the work to be graded. Once 'Submit' has been clicked in that window, the pop-up closes and tree updates itself by removing the student's node and altering its total count.

The [[AJAX]] bit means that every time you click on the nodes to expand them, the data for the child nodes is fetched in the background without refreshing the whole page. Clicking 'Collapse and refresh' will re-load the whole tree, with an updated count of your marking including anything that was submitted a second or two ago.

=Configuration=
The block can be set to show or hide each individual assessment item, or show only the assessments by students in certain groups. Clicking on 'configure' will bring up an additional tree, which shows only the courses and names of the assessment items. When you click on one of the assessments, you will be faced with a number of options on the right:
* Show - the default state, where you will see all students' work
* Show by group - a set of checkboxes will appear with the names of the current groups for that course. You choose which you want to see and group nodes will then be shown between the assessment and student nodes in the main block.
* Hide - do not display any submissions for this assessment item.

The counting of unmarked submissions respects these choices and they are specific to the user who created them. If you are an admin and wish to set the preferences for others, use the 'login as' function to do so.

2008-04-29T08:12:47Z

Mattgibson:

Teacher, tester and programmer (in that order).

Development talk:Repository API

2008-04-29T08:12:00Z

Mattgibson: /* Backup/restore relinking */

Development:Repository API

2008-04-29T08:08:59Z

Mattgibson: /* Repository plugins */

This page describes the specification for a future feature, currently being worked on for Moodle 2.0. This spec is STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

See MDL-13766 to track the status of the implementation.

The page is open for everyone so everyone can help correct mistakes and help with the evolution of this document. However, if you have questions to ask, problems to report or major changes to suggest, please add them to the [[Development_talk:Repository_API|page comments]], or start a discussion in the [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1807 Repositories forum]. We'll endeavour to merge all such suggestions into the main spec before we start development.

Note that parts of this document have been now split off into a separate [[Development:File_API]]

==Objectives==

# Allow all Moodle users to easily bring content into Moodle from external repositories
# Provide a consistent interface to any external repository, for any Moodle module

==Use cases==

===Teacher adding an external file as a new resource===

# Teacher wants to add a new resource to a course
# Teacher clicks the "Choose a resource" button
# Teacher is presented with a simple file picker to choose a file (with a menu to switch between multiple configured repositories)
# Teacher chooses a file in an external repository
# File is COPIED into Moodle and stored by the resource module
# File is marked as owned by that user
# Whenever someone wants to view that file, the resource module controls access (see [[Development:File API]] )

===Student submitting an assignment===
# Student needs to submit an assignment and presses the "Choose files" button
# Student sees a "file picker" where they can see files listed on any of several configured repositories
# Student chooses MySpace from the list
# Student is prompted to enter MySpace username/password (if admin allows it, a checkbox could be there to "remember this for next time" but remember security)
# Student sees their files in MySpace and chooses one or more
# Files are copied from MySpace to Moodle
# Assignment module controls the permissions so that only the Student and assignment graders can see the file (other students would not have permission).

===Student attaching an image to a forum===
# Student needs to attach an image and presses the "Choose files" button in the posting screen
# Student sees a "file picker" where they can see files listed on any of several configured repositories
# Student chooses Mahara from the list
# Student is prompted to enter Mahara username/password
# Student sees their files in Mahara and chooses one image
# Image is copied to Moodle
# Image file is attached to forum post by Forum module (by reference)
# Forum module controls permissions so that anyone who can read that forum can see that file

===Student attaching the same image in another forum===

# Student needs to submit an assignment and presses the "Choose files" button
# Student sees a "file picker" where they can see files listed on any of several configured repositories
# Student chooses "Local files" from the list and sees all the files they've uploaded before
# A COPY of the image file is attached to forum post by Forum module
# Forum module controls access to this file.

Please add more use cases in this same format

==General architecture==

Each repository plugin (a standard Moodle plugin stored under /repository/xxx) will subclass the standard API and override methods specific to that repository.

As is usual in Moodle, there will be admin settings to disable/enable certain repository plugins as standard, as well as user settings so that users can add their own personal repositories to the standard list (eg [http://briefcase.yahoo.com Yahoo Briefcase] or [http://docs.google.com Google Docs]) and to select their default repository.

Once a repository has been used the file will usually be copied into Moodle there and then. However there will also be options to:
* only return the URL to the file if it's desired to keep it external (but this does present security and integrity risks), or
* refresh the local file copy regularly and automatically
* refresh the file manually if desired

Once in Moodle, it is subject to the [[Development:File API]] for access control like any other file.

==Repository requirements==

From the Moodle point of view, each repository is just a hierarchy of nodes.

The repository MUST provide:
# A URL to download each node (eg file).
# A list of the nodes (eg files and directories) under a given node (eg directory). This allows Moodle to construct a standard browse interface (much like a standard OS file picker). However some repository plugins may choose to completely override the repository_browse() method and implement their own interface, that's OK, as long as they end up with a URL for the file.

The repository can OPTIONALLY:
# Require some authentication credentials
# Provide more metadata about each node (mime type, size, dates, related files, dublin core stuff, etc)
# Describe a search facility (so that Moodle can construct a search form)
# Provide copyright and usage rules (or just information about the rules)

==Repository plugins==

Some plugins I'd like to see developed for the first version are:
* local - very similar to the current course-based file manager, except user-based
* moodle - an interface to another Moodle site, accessed over a secure mnet connection
* jsr170 - an interface that can talk to anything that supports jsr170 (eg [http://www.alfresco.com/ Alfresco])
* oki - an OKI emulator allowing us to access things with OKI interfaces,like [http://www.fedora.info/ Fedora]
* briefcase - an interface to [http://briefcase.yahoo.com/ Yahoo Briefcase]
* myspace - an interface to MySpace files (perhaps via [http://www.programmableweb.com/api/myspace this MySpace API])
* googledocs - an interface to [http://docs.google.com Google Docs]
* skydrive - an interface to Microsoft's [http://skydrive.live.com/ SkyDrive] files
* facebook - an interface to Facebook files
* merlot - an interface to the learning materials in [http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm Merlot.org]
* flickr - an interface to [http://flickr.com flickr]
* youtube - an interface to [http://youtube.com YouTube]
* mahara - an interface to a Mahara installation
* Dspace - a repository from MIT
* DOOR - another popular open source repository
* An interface for windows shares e.g. personal folders on network drives. Would need to link with LDAP as usernames will often be wholly/partially the same as network folder names. This could be done using SAMBA, but would also need to work on windows machines natively. See [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=991 this block] for a linux implementation.

==Tables==

=== repository ===

This table contains one entry for every configured external repository instance.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|'''Field'''
|'''Type'''
|'''Default'''
|'''Info'''

|-
|'''id'''
|int(10)
|
|autoincrementing

|-
|repositoryname
|varchar
|
|A custom name for this repository (non-unique)

|-
|'''repositorytype'''
|varchar
|
|The name of the plugin being used (1 special case: "local" which covers all files uploaded from desktop)

|-
|'''userid'''
|int(10)
|
|The person who created this repository instance

|-
|'''contextid'''
|int(10)
|
|The context that this repository is available to ( = system context for site-wide ones)

|-
|username
|varchar
|
|username to log in with, if required

|-
|password
|varchar
|
|password to log in with, if required

|-
|option1
|varchar
|
|Other information useful to the plugin

|-
|option2
|varchar
|
|Other information useful to the plugin

|-
|option3
|varchar
|
|Other information useful to the plugin

|-
|option4
|varchar
|
|Other information useful to the plugin

|-
|option5
|varchar
|
|Other information useful to the plugin

|-
|timecreated
|int(10)
|
|The time this repository was created

|-
|timemodified
|int(10)
|
|The last time the repository was modified
|}

==Class methods==

===Repository class===

This class implements the interface to a particular repository, for browsing, selecting and updating files.

====get_file($path)====

====get_listing($parent='/', $search='''''''')====

====cron()====

====etc====

==See also==

* [[Development:File API]]
* [[Development:Portfolio API]]

TeX notation filter

2008-04-14T14:23:14Z

Mattgibson: /* Using MimeTeX */

The [[TeX Filter]] converts TeX code into GIF images. It uses a binary program(s) on the server to render the images (either the full LaTeX implementation, in Moodle 1.6 or later, or the [[MimeTeX]] binary that ships with Moodle for various platforms). Versions of MimeTex for Linux (glib2.3), Windows, Mac OS X and FreeBSD are included in the Moodle distribution.

No additional software or plugins are required on the client computers to display the images.

=== Usage ===

To use the filter the resource should include a TeX expression delimited by double-dollar signs. Example:

$$ sqrt( x + y ) $$

=== Using MimeTeX ===

MimeTeX is a number of pre-built binaries that are included in the Moodle standard distribution and are located in the filters/tex directory. There are a number of different versions for different operating systems. The TeX filter picks the appropriate binary for the detected host operating system (you will need to hack the script if your operating system is not included). Note that your web server needs to be set up with appropriate permissions for running binaries in that location. This appears to be particularly problematic on the Windows platform. See the [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=752 Mathematical Tools Forum] for more information.

If you are using the '''windows installer package''', type something like this into the box called 'path of ''latex'' binary'
"C:\Moodle_webserver\moodle\filter\tex\mimetex.exe"
Where you replace 'Moodle_webserver' with the real path to your moodle install. Note that on windows, the red x to the right of the input box will never go away, even when the details are correct.

If you use TeX in a GIFT question import file you must escape { } and = (even # and ~) with a \ before each symbol.

=== Improvements in 1.6 ===

{{Moodle 1.6}}

Moodle 1.6 adds the ability to use the full TeX formatting facilities (MimeTex only provides a subset). Three external binaries are used to render the images which may need setting up for your system. The filter will first check for a LaTeX renderer (Ghostscript is also required for this method, ImageMagick in the case of Linux) and failing that will use the simpler [[MimeTeX]] binary included in the Moodle distribution. LaTex permits the whole range of syntax, whereas [[MimeTeX]] only supports a mathematical subset.

=== Settings Page ===

The TeX filter settings page are primarily intended to adjust the operation of the LaTeX renderer. The defaults for the three path settings are selected according to the detection of the operating system on which Moodle is running. These are simply suggested common values - Moodle does not check that the binaries actually exist at these locations. Later versions of Moodle show a green tick or a red cross next to the path setting - this shows that the binary exists at that location (only). The settings have no effect on the operation of the MimeTex binary (used if any of these binaries are not found).

==== LaTeX preamble ====

Enables the LaTeX preamble to be specified. The default should work for most users, but you may need to change it to support non-latin character sets etc. Please see the LaTeX documentation for further details.

==== Transparent colour ====

This should be set to your normal text background colour. The default setting is #FFFFFF (i.e., white).

==== Density ====

This setting effects the size of the resulting image.

==== Path of ''latex'' binary ====

Path to standard latex binary.

On a MacOS X, the path is "/usr/texbin/".

==== Path of ''dvips'' binary ====

Path to standard dvips binary - generally distributed as part of a LaTeX system.

On a MacOS X, the path is "/usr/texbin/".

==== Path of ''convert'' binary ====

Path to standard convert binary. This is distributed as part of the Ghostscript system, or ImageMagick in Linux.

A simple check is made to establish if the binaries exist at the given paths. A tick or a cross is displayed alongside each as a result. Note that this does not check that the application actually works, just that it is there.

On a MacOS X, the path is "/usr/local/bin/".

=== Debugging TeX filter ===

The TeX filter has a debugging script included that should help if you are having problems. The URL will be as follows...

http://your.moodle.path/filter/tex/texdebug.php

You can either enter this path explicitly or with appropriate role permissions the TeX images (or more likely incorrectly rendered text, if you need debugging) will link to this. There are a number of options and suggestions to facilitate debugging the filter. Note that options for the latex/ghostscript versions are only provided from Moodle version 1.8.3.

== See also ==

* [[Filters (administrator)]]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/glossary/view.php?id=2739&mode=letter&hook=M&sortkey=CREATION&sortorder=asc TeX Filter Glossary] - a [[Glossary|glossary]] you can add to your course which details usage of the supported [[TeX notation]].
* [http://www.latex-project.org/ LaTeX] - the LaTeX document preparation system.
* [http://www.ghostscript.com/ ghostscript] - required to render the image
* [http://www.forkosh.com/mimetex.html mimetex] - generates mathematical expressions
* [http://www.miktex.org/ MikTeX] - LaTeX for Windows systems

[[Category:Filter]]
[[Category:Mathematics]]

Adding Feedback questions

2008-03-19T10:55:51Z

Mattgibson: /* Captcha */

{{Feedback}}

After setting a new Feedback you design it by '''adding questions'''. Select the type of question from the drop down list in the top left corner then click the ''Add question to activity'' button.

== Standard options ==

The following apply to all or most question types.

=== Position ===

This number controls the order of the questions. Position 1 is the question nearest the top of the page, so when you create or edit a question, you can choose from the dropdown of available positions (which will vary depending on how many other questions there are). You can also rearrange questions by clicking the position up and down arrows on the main add questions screen.

=== Required ===

These questions are required to be answered and will prompt the user if they are left unaswered. These questions are highlighted with a red star for users, and have a yellow exclamation point beside them when editing Feedback questions.

== Available question types ==

===Captcha===
An test to make sure a real person is filling in the form and not an automatic spamming program of some sort. Asks a person to write out some distorted text which is displayed on screen. You normally won't need this unless you find you are getting spammed a lot.

=== Multiple choice - multiple answers ===

This will give you a series of options with a checkbox next to each one. The respondent can check as many as they want and there is currently no way to specify a limit to how many they can choose which is lower than the total.

=== Multiple choice - single answer allowed (dropdownlist) ===

This will give you a dropdown list from which only one answer can be selected

=== Dropdownlist (rated) ===

This is visually indistinguishable from the option above. Not sure what the difference is, so please fill it in here if you know. [[User:Matt Gibson|Matt Gibson]] 04:27, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

=== Label ===

Similarly to a standard Moodle label, this allows you to add abritrary text between questions allowing for extra explanation or to divide the Feedback into sections.

=== Numeric answer (added in Moodle 1.7) ===
Here, you ask a question which must have a number as an answer and specify the acceptable range e.g. "How many arms would you like, if more than 2 were possible? (please specify 0-10)" with a range of 0-10 set in the options. It helps if you specify the acceptable range in the question text.

=== Picture ===

This question type allows you make a question where users must choose from a range of images as their answer. For example: "Which of these flags is known as the Union Jack?". You write your question and CTRL-Click to choose the images you want. Currently, there seems to be only the option to use flags that are provided with the module. Can other images be used? [[User:Matt Gibson|Matt Gibson]] 04:32, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

=== Multiple choice - single answer ===

This will give you a series of radio buttons, which starts on 'Not selected' and then has your options afterwards. Only one can be chosen and 'Not selected' is a valid answer if the question is not set to 'required'.

=== Radiobutton (rated) ===

This is the same as the Multiple choice one above, but you can allocate a numerical value to each of the answers as well, which makes things a little more quantitative if you intend to analyse the results statistically.

=== Longer Text Answer ===

This option is for creating a text box (you specify how big it will appear in rows and columns) which people can write a long answer into.

=== Short Text Answer ===

This option lets you specify a single line answer, with an input box which is a set number of characters long (you choose). You also specify the maximum number of characters you will accept, so that the answer is not too long and/or does not run over the length of the box on screen.

[[Category:Feedback]]
[[Category:Teacher]]

Adding Feedback questions

2008-03-19T10:55:22Z

Mattgibson: /* Numeric answer (added in Moodle 1.7) */

{{Feedback}}

After setting a new Feedback you design it by '''adding questions'''. Select the type of question from the drop down list in the top left corner then click the ''Add question to activity'' button.

== Standard options ==

The following apply to all or most question types.

=== Position ===

This number controls the order of the questions. Position 1 is the question nearest the top of the page, so when you create or edit a question, you can choose from the dropdown of available positions (which will vary depending on how many other questions there are). You can also rearrange questions by clicking the position up and down arrows on the main add questions screen.

=== Required ===

These questions are required to be answered and will prompt the user if they are left unaswered. These questions are highlighted with a red star for users, and have a yellow exclamation point beside them when editing Feedback questions.

== Available question types ==

===Captcha===
An test to make sure a real person is filling in the form and not an automatic spamming program of some sort. Asks a person to write out some distorted text which is displayed on screen.

=== Multiple choice - multiple answers ===

This will give you a series of options with a checkbox next to each one. The respondent can check as many as they want and there is currently no way to specify a limit to how many they can choose which is lower than the total.

=== Multiple choice - single answer allowed (dropdownlist) ===

This will give you a dropdown list from which only one answer can be selected

=== Dropdownlist (rated) ===

This is visually indistinguishable from the option above. Not sure what the difference is, so please fill it in here if you know. [[User:Matt Gibson|Matt Gibson]] 04:27, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

=== Label ===

Similarly to a standard Moodle label, this allows you to add abritrary text between questions allowing for extra explanation or to divide the Feedback into sections.

=== Numeric answer (added in Moodle 1.7) ===
Here, you ask a question which must have a number as an answer and specify the acceptable range e.g. "How many arms would you like, if more than 2 were possible? (please specify 0-10)" with a range of 0-10 set in the options. It helps if you specify the acceptable range in the question text.

=== Picture ===

This question type allows you make a question where users must choose from a range of images as their answer. For example: "Which of these flags is known as the Union Jack?". You write your question and CTRL-Click to choose the images you want. Currently, there seems to be only the option to use flags that are provided with the module. Can other images be used? [[User:Matt Gibson|Matt Gibson]] 04:32, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

=== Multiple choice - single answer ===

This will give you a series of radio buttons, which starts on 'Not selected' and then has your options afterwards. Only one can be chosen and 'Not selected' is a valid answer if the question is not set to 'required'.

=== Radiobutton (rated) ===

This is the same as the Multiple choice one above, but you can allocate a numerical value to each of the answers as well, which makes things a little more quantitative if you intend to analyse the results statistically.

=== Longer Text Answer ===

This option is for creating a text box (you specify how big it will appear in rows and columns) which people can write a long answer into.

=== Short Text Answer ===

This option lets you specify a single line answer, with an input box which is a set number of characters long (you choose). You also specify the maximum number of characters you will accept, so that the answer is not too long and/or does not run over the length of the box on screen.

[[Category:Feedback]]
[[Category:Teacher]]