MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Category:Administrator

2008-12-26T07:13:49Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

An index of documentation pages for '''administrators'''.

[[es:Categoría:Administrador]]
[[fr:Catégorie:Administrateur]]
[[ja:Category:管理者]]
[[ru:Категория:Администратору]]
[[pl:Kategoria:Administrator]]

Installations 1000 plus

2008-11-08T02:06:36Z

Topstone: /* Japan */ Osaka International University

This page has descriptions and links by country to Moodle sites with between 1000 and 5000 users.
{{Template:Large Installations}}

==Australia==

*Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College - [http://montenet.monte.nsw.edu.au MonteNet] is used as our colleges student intranet and e-learning portal. Currently running 1.6dev with a few extra custom features thrown in.

*Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College - [http://compass.monte.nsw.edu.au Compass] takes moodle and uses it for a purpose that is a little outside the square. Compass is used as the staff intranet. Each course is refered to as a "Space" and is used by each departmentr to store meating minutes, agendas and teaching documentation. Communications tools such as forums allow to facilitate better teacher communication and the events are used to keep the teachers events online and targeted (e.g. year 9 teachers all know when excursions are on, all english teachers know when reports are due, etc).

*Vermont Secondary College - [http://moodle.vermontsc.vic.edu.au] is used as the college intranet, portal and eLearning since 2004. There are approximately 1500 users consisting of teachers and years 7-12 students. Although using Moodle is an option, over 180 courses have been created across all learning areas and staff administration. All events within the college are constantly being added to the calendar to inform the school community.

*Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview - [http://www.riverview.nsw.edu.au ] - Jesuit College in Sydney, Australia, with 1,600 students. Adopted Moodle in 2007.

==Belgium==

*[http://www.ritacollege.be Sint-Ritacollege] We are a school for 12-18 year old students. Currently our database contains about 1600 active users and 130 courses. Always running latest Moodle code since version 1.0.8.

==Catalonia==

*[http://www.iesterrassa.cat/ IES de TERRASSA ] - [http://moodle.iesterrassa.cat MOODLE de l'IES de TERRASSA] - Institut d'Enseyament Secundari de Terrassa. Tenim més de 1300 usuaris.

==Croatia (Hrvatska)==

*Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb - [http://omega.ffzg.hr Omega sustav ucenja na daljinu] is used as our faculty-wide e-learning system. Currently running 1.8.2 stable with more than 4400 users and 300+ courses. LDAP authorization.

==Czech Republic==

*Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno - [http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/ ELF], 16,000+ users total, 4,000+ active users in Spring Term 2006, 600+ courses; using Moodle from April 2003.

==Finland==

*Tampere Polytechnic or Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu ([http://www.tamk.fi www.tamk.fi]), is a around 5000 student college or "a university of applied sciences" located at Tampere, Finland. Our moodle installation hosts around 2500 active students.

==India==
* [http://www.doeaccmantra.com DOEACCMantra] is a website for [http://www.doeaccmantra.com DOEACC] students currently (as of July 2007) having 44 courses, 4928 users and 5965 posts.

==Italy==

* University of Rome "Roma Tre" - [http://ltaonline.learning.uniroma3.it/ Laboratorio di Tecnologie Audiovisive] hosts two faculties with more than 1600 students.

==Japan==

* Future University-Hakodate - [http://vle.c.fun.ac.jp/moodle/]

* Kyoto Sangyo University - [http://www3.kyoto-su.ac.jp/index-e.html] First university in Japan to completely host all courses in Moodle.

* Osaka International University - [http://moodle.oiu.ac.jp/] Over 3000 users.

* Sapporo Gakuin University - [http://elearning.sgu.ac.jp] About 40 active courses using Moodle, plus 150 courses using it for attendance taking. Over 3000 registered users. Now using LDAP, so all 5000 students can login with their standard school ID and password. 1000 students take an English placement test using Moodle upon entrance to the school.

==Netherlands==

* We are a 5000 people school, one server, 9 locations and using Moodle for almost three years now: https://studiewijzerplus.nl Every schoolyear we start again with counting the number of users and the automatic counter (thanks Penny!) is now pointing at 3103

==Norway==

* ASP Hedmark - [http://pdl.asp-hedmark.no/ pdl.asp-hedmark.no] Region with 20 primary and lower-secondary schools have an installation with something above 2000 users. PDL=Platform for Digital Learning.

== Russia ==
*Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) - distance education programme [http://www.globalcompetence.ru Management of Global Processes]

==Spain==
*[http://www.cicei.com CICEI] - Center of Innovation for the Information Society. We have a production [http://cursos.cicei.com Moodle server] having currently 1,042 users in 72 courses covering a wide range of applications (as of February 6, 2006).

==Switzerland==

*[http://moodle.fri-tic.ch/ Centre fri-tic] - Center for ICT Integration of Canton de Fribourg. Currently running 1 moodle for teachers and students from k-12 to High school, with more than 2000 users and about 130 courses. The [http://www.fri-tic.ch/ Centre fri-tic] is also hosting 9 other moodle installations for specific schools.

==United Kingdom==

* [http://moodle.altoncollege.ac.uk/ Alton College] - a Beacon sixth form college with over 2,500 active users.

* [http://egglescliffe.org.uk/ Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form] - a specialist arts school with over 2,000 active moodlers and 345 courses whose usage was the basis of this [http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1583832,00.html Guardian article]

* [http://vle.gloscol.ac.uk/ Gloucestershire College] - a general FE college in the south west, with nearly five thousand users and nearly eight hundred users, we have presented at many Moodle events in the UK.

* [http://learn.gold.ac.uk Goldsmiths College, London] - over 2,500 active users. See also this [http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/timetable/abstract.php?abstract_id=270 presentation at a 2004 conference].

* [https://moodle.plumsteadmanor.com/ Plumstead Manor School] - A specialist Sports, Performing arts and Vocational secondary school in South East London. 1,700 active students.

* [http://www.thanet.ac.uk/ Thanet College] - a "medium sized general FE college", using Moodle as documented in [http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=13423 this Ferl case study]

* [http://www.westnotts.ac.uk West Nottingahmshire College] - an FE college in the East Midlands.

* [http://www.lifeintheuk.org Prepare: Life in the United Kingdom Test] - a free website dedicated to Life in the UK Test.

==United States of America==
*[http://www.glyphdoctors.com Glyphdoctors] is a site with over 1200 registered users (as of Feb. 2006) on a shared server host, [http://www.opensourcehost.com Open Source Host]. It will offer online courses in Egyptology and Egyptian hieroglyphs to the general public. Currently, there is one free public course available and a course in Egyptian hieroglyphs under beta testing with a small number of students.

*[http://moodle.mcm.edu/ McMurry University]has several Moodle instances, the first begun as a pilot project in June, 2005. McMurry is a small (1400 FTE) undergraduate-only institution affiliated with the United Methodist church. Currently the main instance supports 1700 users (650 active), some 60 instructors, and approximately 180 active courses.

* [http://ahshornets.org Aiken High School]has over 2000 registered users in grades 9 - 12 (Feb. 2006).

* [http://academies.culver.org/moodle The Culver Academies] has over 1000 registered users in grades 9 - 12. The school has been using Moodle in the classroom since the 2002-2003 school year. Administratively we have a Moodle "course" for faculty-only announcements and materials.

* [http://online.warner.edu Warner Southern College] began using Moodle in early 2005 as an experiment to move from a simple webboard system into a full learning management system. The experiment went extremely well and a full transition to Moodle was accomplished in the fall term of 2005. Currently, Warner Southern College has one Moodle instance running with over 1200 registered users (500+ active students, 50+ instructors, 80+ courses and two system administrators) offering associate, bachelor and master of arts degree programs for both traditional site based and full online students. Warner Southern College is a small institution affiliated with the Church of God and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

* [http://moodle.westshore.edu West Shore Community College] currently has just under 2,000 registered users in its database and began as a potential alternative to our Blackboard system. Our site has been active for 3 years and we are now fully migrated to Moodle as our sole LMS. The transition was slow (and a bit painful at times), but now that we're here, things have gone quite well.

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[ja:ユーザ数1000名以上]]

{{Template:Large Installations}}

Question bank

2008-10-07T13:00:50Z

Topstone: adjust links

{{Questions}}
{{Moodle 1.6}}This feature allows a teacher to create, preview, and edit questions in a course question bank, a database of questions. These questions can then be used in [[Quizzes]] and through the export process in a Lesson. The teacher enters the question bank by creating or editing a quiz activity or through the Administration block [[Image:Question Icon Administration Block.JPG]]

The initial Question Bank page has tabs that allow you (as teacher) to edit questions, [[Question categories|categories]], [[Import questions|import questions]] and [[Export questions|export questions]].
[[Image:Question_bank_tabs.gif|frame|center]]
==Select a category==
Questions are organised into categories. Initially each course has only one category called "Default". It is good practice to create more categories to organize your questions. You can create a hierarchy of categories because you can create subcategories inside parent categories. To add or edit categories click on the "[[Question categories|Categories]]" tab.

The question editing screen shows the questions from the currently selected category. You choose this category from the '''Category:''' drop-down menu. Using the tick box below that menu you determine whether to also show the questions from all subcategories.

===Categories are shared in contexts since Moodle 1.9===

{{Moodle 1.9}}Since Moodle 1.9 there are separate question category trees in each different 'context' in which questions are shared. The contexts available to you depend on whether you access the question bank from an activity or from a course and depend on the permissions assigned you for access to questions. See [[Question contexts]] for more information on these contexts.

==Add a new question==
# Click the ''Questions'' tab to access the Question Bank page, if not there already.
# From the '''Category''' drop-down menu, select a category you want to add a question to.
# The page will change to show the questions already in that category
# Select the question type you want to create from the '''Create new question''' drop-down menu.
# Fill in the form for the question type you are creating. Each [[Question types|question type]] has its own form and has its own options.
# Click ''Save Changes'' at the bottom of the form.

==Preview, Edit, Delete, and Move==
The first column in the list of questions contains a number of icons and a selection box.

Clicking on the '''Preview''' icon will open a preview window in which you can test the question. The '''Edit''' icon allows you to edit the question via the same form that you used to create it. The '''Delete''' icon deletes the question, provided it is not already in use in some activity. The selection box allows you to select a subset of questions that you can then move to another category using the controls below the list of questions.

{{Moodle 1.9}}As of Moodle 1.9 the '''move''' icon allows you to move one question at a time.

==Tips and tricks==
*Put the answer into the question name so you can quickly see the answers when students are asking for answers. This is especially useful if you're dealing with large sets of questions! (No option yet for viewing category or answer of question in the list of questions.)
*Export questions in GIFT or Moodle XML formats, then import them into a Lesson. (Future versions of Moodle will make Question bank available to both Lesson and Quiz activities.)
*Remember that while some of the same question types can be found in both the Quiz and Lesson modules, they can be very different. Scoring and grading each student's choice is more robust in a Quiz. On the other hand, each Lesson question answer also has a [[Jumps|jump]] associated it.
*Use GIFT or other export modes to print questions and answers in a category. Hint, clever use of word processor macros, using search and replace, can tidy up a GIFT file for printing.

==See also==
For info on question sharing relevant to versions of Moodle before Moodle 1.9 see :

*[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&advanced=1&f_46=Question+Type&f_98=Third-Party Third-party question types]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&advanced=1&f_46=Question+Import/Export+Format&f_98=Third-Party Third-Party question import/export formats]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=58774 Sharing Question Databases] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33335&parent=154984 Media in Quiz questions] forum reply

For info on Question bank changes from Moodle 1.9 see :

* [[Question_Engine_Changes_in_Moodle_1.9]]

[[es:Banco de Preguntas]]
[[eu:Galdera-bankua]]
[[fr:Questions]]
[[ja:問題バンク]]
[[zh:题库]]
[[ca:Banc_de_preguntes]]

Installations 1000 plus

2008-09-29T13:27:03Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

This page has descriptions and links by country to Moodle sites with between 1000 and 5000 users.
{{Template:Large Installations}}

==Australia==

*Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College - [http://montenet.monte.nsw.edu.au MonteNet] is used as our colleges student intranet and e-learning portal. Currently running 1.6dev with a few extra custom features thrown in.

*Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College - [http://compass.monte.nsw.edu.au Compass] takes moodle and uses it for a purpose that is a little outside the square. Compass is used as the staff intranet. Each course is refered to as a "Space" and is used by each departmentr to store meating minutes, agendas and teaching documentation. Communications tools such as forums allow to facilitate better teacher communication and the events are used to keep the teachers events online and targeted (e.g. year 9 teachers all know when excursions are on, all english teachers know when reports are due, etc).

*Vermont Secondary College - [http://moodle.vermontsc.vic.edu.au] is used as the college intranet, portal and eLearning since 2004. There are approximately 1500 users consisting of teachers and years 7-12 students. Although using Moodle is an option, over 180 courses have been created across all learning areas and staff administration. All events within the college are constantly being added to the calendar to inform the school community.

*Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview - [http://www.riverview.nsw.edu.au ] - Jesuit College in Sydney, Australia, with 1,600 students. Adopted Moodle in 2007.

==Belgium==

*[http://www.ritacollege.be Sint-Ritacollege] We are a school for 12-18 year old students. Currently our database contains about 1600 active users and 130 courses. Always running latest Moodle code since version 1.0.8.

==Catalonia==

*[http://www.iesterrassa.cat/ IES de TERRASSA ] - [http://moodle.iesterrassa.cat MOODLE de l'IES de TERRASSA] - Institut d'Enseyament Secundari de Terrassa. Tenim més de 1300 usuaris.

==Croatia (Hrvatska)==

*Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb - [http://omega.ffzg.hr Omega sustav ucenja na daljinu] is used as our faculty-wide e-learning system. Currently running 1.8.2 stable with more than 4400 users and 300+ courses. LDAP authorization.

==Czech Republic==

*Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno - [http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/ ELF], 16,000+ users total, 4,000+ active users in Spring Term 2006, 600+ courses; using Moodle from April 2003.

==Finland==

*Tampere Polytechnic or Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu ([http://www.tamk.fi www.tamk.fi]), is a around 5000 student college or "a university of applied sciences" located at Tampere, Finland. Our moodle installation hosts around 2500 active students.

==India==
* [http://www.doeaccmantra.com DOEACCMantra] is a website for [http://www.doeaccmantra.com DOEACC] students currently (as of July 2007) having 44 courses, 4928 users and 5965 posts.

==Italy==

* University of Rome "Roma Tre" - [http://ltaonline.learning.uniroma3.it/ Laboratorio di Tecnologie Audiovisive] hosts two faculties with more than 1600 students.

==Japan==

* Kyoto Sangyo University - [http://www3.kyoto-su.ac.jp/index-e.html] First university in Japan to completely host all courses in Moodle.

* Sapporo Gakuin University - [http://elearning.sgu.ac.jp] About 25 active courses using Moodle. Over 1000 registered users. Now using LDAP, so all 5000 students can login with their standard school ID and password.

==Netherlands==

* We are a 5000 people school, one server, 9 locations and using Moodle for almost three years now: https://studiewijzerplus.nl Every schoolyear we start again with counting the number of users and the automatic counter (thanks Penny!) is now pointing at 3103

==Norway==

* ASP Hedmark - [http://pdl.asp-hedmark.no/ pdl.asp-hedmark.no] Region with 20 primary and lower-secondary schools have an installation with something above 2000 users. PDL=Platform for Digital Learning.

== Russia ==
*Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) - distance education programme [http://www.globalcompetence.ru Management of Global Processes]

==Spain==
*[http://www.cicei.com CICEI] - Center of Innovation for the Information Society. We have a production [http://cursos.cicei.com Moodle server] having currently 1,042 users in 72 courses covering a wide range of applications (as of February 6, 2006).

==Switzerland==

*[http://moodle.fri-tic.ch/ Centre fri-tic] - Center for ICT Integration of Canton de Fribourg. Currently running 1 moodle for teachers and students from k-12 to High school, with more than 2000 users and about 130 courses. The [http://www.fri-tic.ch/ Centre fri-tic] is also hosting 9 other moodle installations for specific schools.

==United Kingdom==

* [http://moodle.altoncollege.ac.uk/ Alton College] - a Beacon sixth form college with over 2,500 active users.

* [http://egglescliffe.org.uk/ Egglescliffe School and Sixth Form] - a specialist arts school with over 2,000 active moodlers and 345 courses whose usage was the basis of this [http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,,1583832,00.html Guardian article]

* [http://vle.gloscol.ac.uk/ Gloucestershire College] - a general FE college in the south west, with nearly five thousand users and nearly eight hundred users, we have presented at many Moodle events in the UK.

* [http://learn.gold.ac.uk Goldsmiths College, London] - over 2,500 active users. See also this [http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/timetable/abstract.php?abstract_id=270 presentation at a 2004 conference].

* [https://moodle.plumsteadmanor.com/ Plumstead Manor School] - A specialist Sports, Performing arts and Vocational secondary school in South East London. 1,700 active students.

* [http://www.thanet.ac.uk/ Thanet College] - a "medium sized general FE college", using Moodle as documented in [http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=13423 this Ferl case study]

* [http://www.westnotts.ac.uk West Nottingahmshire College] - an FE college in the East Midlands.

* [http://www.lifeintheuk.org Prepare: Life in the United Kingdom Test] - a free website dedicated to Life in the UK Test.

==United States of America==
*[http://www.glyphdoctors.com Glyphdoctors] is a site with over 1200 registered users (as of Feb. 2006) on a shared server host, [http://www.opensourcehost.com Open Source Host]. It will offer online courses in Egyptology and Egyptian hieroglyphs to the general public. Currently, there is one free public course available and a course in Egyptian hieroglyphs under beta testing with a small number of students.

*[http://moodle.mcm.edu/ McMurry University]has several Moodle instances, the first begun as a pilot project in June, 2005. McMurry is a small (1400 FTE) undergraduate-only institution affiliated with the United Methodist church. Currently the main instance supports 1700 users (650 active), some 60 instructors, and approximately 180 active courses.

* [http://ahshornets.org Aiken High School]has over 2000 registered users in grades 9 - 12 (Feb. 2006).

* [http://academies.culver.org/moodle The Culver Academies] has over 1000 registered users in grades 9 - 12. The school has been using Moodle in the classroom since the 2002-2003 school year. Administratively we have a Moodle "course" for faculty-only announcements and materials.

* [http://online.warner.edu Warner Southern College] began using Moodle in early 2005 as an experiment to move from a simple webboard system into a full learning management system. The experiment went extremely well and a full transition to Moodle was accomplished in the fall term of 2005. Currently, Warner Southern College has one Moodle instance running with over 1200 registered users (500+ active students, 50+ instructors, 80+ courses and two system administrators) offering associate, bachelor and master of arts degree programs for both traditional site based and full online students. Warner Southern College is a small institution affiliated with the Church of God and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[ja:ユーザ数1000名以上]]

{{Template:Large Installations}}

Quiz module

2008-09-16T03:39:13Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{Quizzes}}

The '''Quiz''' [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activity]] module allows the teacher to design and set quizzes consisting of a large variety of [[Question types]], among them multiple choice, true-false, and short answer questions. These questions are kept in the course [[Question bank]] and can be re-used within courses and between courses. Quizzes can allow multiple attempts. Each attempt is automatically marked, and the teacher can choose whether to give feedback and/or show the correct answers.

Feedback on performance is a critical part of a learning environment and assessment is one of the most important activities in education. As educators, we can’t tell what’s going on inside the heads of students, so we need a way for them to demonstrate what they understand and what they don’t. A well-designed test, even a multiple-choice test, can give you critical information about student performance. If the feedback is rapid enough, it can also be a critical tool for students to gauge their own performance and help them become more successful.

Moodle’s quiz module has a large number of options and tools, making it extremely flexible. You can create quizzes with different question types, randomly generated quizzes from pools of questions, allow students to have repeated attempts at a question or retake quizzes multiple times, and have the computer score it all.

These features open up a number of strategies which usually aren’t practical with paper based testing. It’s hard enough to score one batch of quizzes, and nearly impossible to score it 10 times for each student. When the computer does the work for you, it’s easy to give students a chance to practice taking a test, or to give frequent small quizzes. We explore how to apply these advantages on the page [[Effective quiz practices]].

The quiz module index page lists all the quiz activities in the course, organized under four headings:

# '''Topic''' - the number of the block, in which the given quiz appears
# '''Name''' - the name of the quiz
# '''Quiz closes''' - the date after which the quiz will be closed
# '''Attempts''' - if there have been any attempts at the quiz, you will see the text 'View reports for x attempts (y Students)', 'x' being the number of attempts and 'y' the number of students attempting at the quiz. Otherwise, the field will be empty.

== See also ==

*[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&advanced=1&f_46=Quiz+Report&f_98=Third-Party Third-party quiz reports]
*[[Using Moodle book]] Chapter 6: Quizzes
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Lesson#Types_of_questions_available_within_a_lesson Questions available in a Lesson]

[[Category:Modules]]

[[es:Cuestionarios]]
[[eu:Galdetegiak]]
[[ja:小テストモジュール]]
[[ru:Тест]]
[[fr:Test]]
[[pl:Quizy]]
[[de:Test]]

Large installations

2008-09-15T20:01:45Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

== Large Moodle installations listing ==

This page was started on Wednesday 14th December 2005 at 1900GMT.
There are MANY more schools to add, it's just begun!

*[[Installations 1000 plus]]
*[[Installations 5000 plus]]
*[[Installations 10000 plus]]
*[[Installations 30000 plus]]

== See also ==
*[http://moodle.org/mod/choice/view.php?id=3934 How big is your Moodle site?] choice activity
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=36216 Chart of schools (by size) that are using Moodle] forum discussion
*[http://www.frappr.com/moodle World map of Moodle users]
*[http://moodle.org/stats/ Moodle statistics]
*[[Institutions that have Migrated to Moodle]]

[[ja:Moodleの大規模インストール]]

[[Category:Administrator]]

Choice module

2008-09-15T19:10:01Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{Choices}}
[[Image:Choices_Icon.GIF]] A '''choice''' [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activity]] is very simple – the teacher asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses. It can be useful as a quick poll to stimulate thinking about a topic; to allow the class to vote on a direction for the course; or to gather research consent.

Choice requires some preparation time for creating your activity and thinking about what results you would like to achieve, but your participation with activity itself is likely to be minimal.

==Educational Benefits of Using Choice==
Pedagogically, the choice activity can be used to provide an opportunity to share starting points through which learners are encouraged to think about and articulate existing knowledge and understandings of a topic. For example, you can ask students to make ‘choices’ about a statement such as “in learning to become a teacher, the most significant issue for me is” (giving the following choices): trust, theoretical underpinnings, communication or delivering materials to students.

This has two benefits: firstly, it forces participants to engage with their choice and think, in advance of a further related activity (you might wish to follow up such a choice activity with a forum discussion or a reflective activity like the online text assignment), about the context and consequences of this choice. Secondly, it allows tutors and students to gain a better understanding of existing views/understandings/knowledge related to the question, idea or concept at hand in the Choice activity.

The choice activity in Moodle only allows a participant to select one choice from a variety of options (that you provide), but you may set the activity so that participants can change their choices. You can also set the activity so that it ‘closes’ or ‘locks down’ on a specific date, making all choices final from that point on. This allows participants to change their minds several times before a final date.

== See also ==

* [[Using Moodle book]] Chapter 14: Surveys and Choices
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shkelQDKbtM Choice module video]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=43536 Have Your Students "Sign" an Agreement] forum discussion
* [[Choice block]] - a 3rd party block

[[Category:Modules]]

[[cs:Modul Anketa]]
[[de:Abstimmung]]
[[es:Consulta]]
[[eu:Inkesta]]
[[fr:Sondage]]
[[ja:投票]]

Category:Modules

2008-09-15T19:07:45Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

An index of the activity '''modules''' available in Moodle. Modules listed below are all available in a standard Moodle 1.6 installation. You can follow the ''Modules (non-standard)'' link to find other modules available for download.

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Teacher]]
[[de:Module]]
[[fr:Catégorie:Modules]]
[[it:Categoria:Moduli]]
[[ja:Category:モジュール]]
[[ru:Категория:Модули]]

2.1:Question types

2008-09-13T13:05:17Z

Topstone: link to other languages

{{Questions}}

You may add a variety of different types of questions in the Quiz and Lesson modules. This page is about [[Quiz module]] question types, some will be similar to [[Lesson questions]] types, which are fewer in number and function differently. The standard quiz question types are listed below with brief descriptions. '''Please use the links on the right side of this page to find more detailed information about standard questions types that are found in both modules.'''

==Standard question types==

=== Calculated ===
Calculated questions offer a way to create individual numerical questions by the use of wildcards that are substituted with individual values when the quiz is taken. [[Calculated_question_type|More on the Calculated question type]]

=== Description ===
This is not a real question. It simply prints some text (and possibly graphics) without requiring an answer. This can be used to provide some information to be used by a subsequent group of questions, for example. [[Description_question_type|More on the Description question type]]

=== Essay ===
In response to a question (that may include an image) the respondent writes an answer in essay format. [[Essay_question_type|More on the Essay question type]]

=== Matching ===
A list of sub-questions is provided, along with a list of answers. The respondent must "match" the correct answers with each question. [[Matching_question_type|More on the Matching question type]]

=== Embedded Answers (Cloze Test / Gap Fill) ===
These very flexible questions consist of a passage of text (in Moodle format) that has various answers embedded within it, including multiple choice, short answers and numerical answers. [[Embedded_Answers_(Cloze)_question_type|More on the Embedded Answers question type]]

=== Multiple Choice ===
In response to a question (that may include a image) the respondent chooses from multiple answers. There are two types of multiple choice questions - single answer and multiple answer. [[Multiple_Choice_question_type|More on the Multiple Choice question type]]

=== Short Answer ===
In response to a question (that may include a image), the respondent types a word or phrase. There may several possible correct answers, with different grades. Answers may or may not be sensitive to case. [[Short-Answer_question_type|More on the Short Answer question type]]

=== Numerical ===
From the student perspective, a numerical question looks just like a short-answer question. The difference is that numerical answers are allowed to have an accepted error. This allows a continuous range of answers to be set. [[Numerical_question_type|More on the Numerical question type]]

=== Random Short-Answer Matching ===
From the student perspective, this looks just like a Matching question. The difference is that the sub-questions are drawn randomly from Short Answer questions in the current category. [[Random_Short-Answer_Matching_question_type|More on the Random Short-Answer Matching question type]]

=== True/False ===
In response to a question (that may include a image), the respondent selects from two options: True or False. [[True/False_question_type|More on the True/False question type]]

==Third-party question types==

Besides the standard question types that are part of the core Moodle distribution, there are question type plugins contributed by the community.

===Drag and Drop===

Please see the [[Drag and Drop question tutorial]] for more information.

===Molecule design===

The [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=296 Java Molecular Editor question type] allows you to ask students to design and submit a molecular structure.

===Opaque===

[[Development:Opaque|Opaque]] is a system for using questions from other systems that support the Opaque protocol within Moodle quizzes. This question type is the Moodle end of that bridge. It can be downloaded from http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=798. See the [[Opaque question type]] tutorial for more information.

===RQP===

RQP was an earlier attempt to do the same thing that Opaque does, but as of Moodle 1.6 it did not work. It used to be in Moodle core, but in Moodle 1.9 it was moved to be a third-part question type. It is probably now only of historical interest.

===Regular Expression Short Answer===
{{Moodle 1.6}}Like the Short Answer question, the RegExp Short Answer question expects the student to answer an "open" question with a word or a short phrase. However, using so-called '''regular expressions''' gives you access to a more powerful system for analysing the student's answers and thus providing more adapted feedback messages.
The [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=338 Regular Expression Short Answer question type] is available for Moodle 1.6 from the Modules and plugins database.

==Versions and questions==
*Some question types can be exported in version 1.6 to a lesson through use of a GIFT or XML Moodle file.

==Question bank==
Moodle 1.6 created "[[Question bank]]", a database of questions for the quiz module. This database will be available for both quiz and lesson modules in 2.0.

==See also==
[[Lesson questions]]

[[Category:Quiz]]
[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Lesson]]
[[ca:Tipus_de_preguntes]]
[[es:Tipos de preguntas]]
[[ja:問題タイプ]]

Question types

2008-09-13T13:05:17Z

Topstone: link to other languages

Development:Implementing Reset course functionality in a module

2008-09-12T18:28:14Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

The course reset code is triggered from /course/reset.php. To have your module included, you need to implement the two fuctions described below. To work out how to do this, a good example is to look at the implementations in /mod/fourm/lib.php

==''mymodule''_reset_course_form($course)==

This is called directly by /course/reset.php. It needs to output some form controls to control different options for resetting your module.

The convention is to call settings relating your your module reset_''mymodule''_''something''.

The forum implementation is a good model:

<pre><nowiki>
/**
* Called by course/reset.php
*/
function forum_reset_course_form($course) {
echo get_string('resetforums', 'forum'); echo ': ';
print_checkbox('reset_forum_news', 1, true, get_string('namenews','forum'), '', ''); echo ' ';
print_checkbox('reset_forum_single', 1, true, get_string('singleforum','forum'), '', ''); echo ' ';
print_checkbox('reset_forum_eachuser', 1, true, get_string('eachuserforum','forum'), '', ''); echo ' ';
print_checkbox('reset_forum_general', 1, true, get_string('generalforum','forum'), '', ''); echo ' ';
echo '';
print_checkbox('reset_forum_subscriptions', 1, true, get_string('resetsubscriptions','forum'), '', '');
echo '';
}
</nowiki></pre>

==''mymodule''_delete_userdata($data, $showfeedback)==

This actually does the resetting. It is called indirectly, /course/reset.php calls reset_course_userdata() in /lib/moodlelib.php, which then calls the functions for each module.

The $data parameter is what came back from the form printed by forum_reset_course. In particular, $data->courseid is the id of the coures we are cleaning up.

The $showfeedback parameter determines whether we should output progress information as we go along.

The forum implementation is again a good one to study, here is a very simple example:

<pre><nowiki>
function example_delete_userdata($data, $showfeedback=true) {
if (!empty($data->reset_example_frogs)) {
if (delete_records('example_frogs', 'couresid', $data->courseid) and $showfeedback) {
notify(get_string('frogsdeleted', 'example'), 'notifysuccess');
}
}
if (!empty($data->reset_example_newts)) {
if (delete_records('example_newts', 'couresid', $data->courseid) and $showfeedback) {
notify(get_string('newtsdeleted', 'example'), 'notifysuccess');
}
}
}
</nowiki></pre>

[[ja:開発:コースのリセット機能をモジュールに実装する]]

Development:Database fields

2008-09-06T14:30:06Z

Topstone: link to Japanese page

Moodle's [[Database module]] has some predefined [[Database_fields|field types]] (text, date, URL, picture, etc), but you can customise this to create new field types. For example, you might like to create:

; Discipline-specific field types : e.g. "Protein PDB code" - people can enter the PDB code for a protein, and then the display could (for example) include a 3D viewer for the protein structure, or link out to molecular databases.
; Institution-specific field types : e.g. "library reference number" - people can enter a number into the field, and this is automatically turned into a direct link to your library webpages
; Module-specific field types : e.g. "wiki page" - people see a drop-down list containing the names of pages in your wiki, and can choose which page this particular entry refers to

==Basic concepts==

To create a new field type in Moodle we need to create a new folder in /moodle/mod/data/field. Inside this folder will be PHP code telling Moodle:

# What HTML to output when people are looking at a record in the database
# What form fields to output when people are adding/editing a record in the database
# What to do (what info to store) when someone submits the record-add/edit form
# What form fields to output when the teacher is adding/editing an instance of the field
# What to do (what info to store) when the teacher submits the field-add/edit form

==The files==

The best way to get an understanding of the plugin architecture is to look at an existing field type - I recommend you look at '''the URL field type''', stored in /moodle/mod/data/field/url. There are three files:

* '''field.class.php''' - the most important file, this defines a PHP class which defines the majority of the data field's behaviour. See below for more detail on this.
* '''mod.html''' - contains a HTML "fragment" defining how the form fields will appear when the teacher is adding/editing an instance of the field.
* '''icon.gif''' - the icon to be displayed along with the field, as a visual cue to the teacher about what sort of data is stored in this field.

==The PHP class==

If you look at the file "field.class.php" for the URL field type you'll see that the class is named "data_field_url" and it is a subclass of "data_field_base". This is very important - the class "data_field_base" (defined in /moodle/mod/data/lib.php, by the way) defines some of the core behaviours without which your field will not work.

Your class's name should match the subfolder you have created. For example, if we're creating a new data type called "Tastiness", we want to create our plugin in a folder "tastiness" and the PHP class should be data_field_tastiness. The class should also define a class variable $type, which again should use the same name - in our example, we'd give it the value 'tastiness'. So the top of our field.class.php would look like this:

<?php
class data_field_tastiness extends data_field_base {
var $type = 'tastiness';

If you want to take an existing field type, duplicate it, and rename it to a new type (which you can modify later), this is all you need to do. You might like to try this (again, the URL field is a good one to start with) and see how it works.

The base class defines some simple behaviours which you can override in your subclass, to make the plugin do exactly what you want. For example:

function display_add_field($recordid=0) // Return some HTML for use when a user is adding/editing a record
function display_browse_field($recordid, $template) // Return some HTML for displaying a record
function update_content($recordid, $value, $name='') // Used when a user stores data for a record
function get_sort_sql($fieldname) // Specify SQL for how this field should be sorted

If you don't bother to specify these functions inside your new class, then the default behaviours specified by data_field_base will be used. Simply add these functions to your new class to make something different happen.

''To be continued...''

[[Category:Developer]]

[[ja:データベースフィールド]]

Category:Teacher

2008-09-06T14:23:24Z

Topstone: link to Japanese page

An index of documentation pages for '''teachers'''.

[[es:Categoría:Profesor]]
[[eu:Kategoria:Irakasleak]]
[[fr:Catégorie:Enseignant]]
[[ja:Category:教師]]
[[ru:Категория:Учителю]]

Administrator documentation

2007-06-11T17:29:39Z

Topstone: link to other languages

The purpose of this page is to list useful links by general topics for administrators.

== Installation & Upgrading ==

*[[Installation Quickstart]] for an overview of the installation steps
*[[Installing Moodle]] for detailed installation instructions
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Installing AMP|Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP]]
*[[Upgrading|Upgrading Moodle]]

== System-specific Instructions & Packages ==

* [[SUSE Linux Server 10|Automated Installation Guide for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10]] operating system
* [[RedHat Linux installation|Step by Step Installation Guide for RedHat]] operating system
* [[Debian GNU/Linux installation|Step by Step Installation Guide for Debian GNU/Linux]] operating system
* [[Step-by-step Install Guide for Ubuntu]]
* [[Windows installation|Complete Install Packages for Windows XP and instructions for Windows NT/2000/2003 servers]]
* [[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X]]
* [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client | Step-by-Step Guide for Installing Moodle using the internal web server on Mac OS X 10.4 Client]]
* [[1and1_MySQL_installation | Installation on 1and1 web hosting]]

==Security, Performance and Roles==

*[[Security]] contains important security procedures for a production site
*[[Performance | Performance and optimization]] for ideas on improving the speed of your installation
*[[Manage roles | Managing roles]] For Moodle 1.7 and later

== FAQs ==

*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Administration FAQ]]
*[[Backup FAQ]]

== Configuration Settings ==

*[[Variables]]
*[[Site settings]]
*[[Themes]]
*[[Language]]
*[[Modules (administrator)|Modules]]
*[[Blocks (administrator)|Blocks]]
*[[Filters (administrator)|Filters]]
*[[Backup (administrator)|Backup]]
*[[Editor settings]]
*[[Calendar (administrator)|Calendar]]
*[[Maintenance mode]]

* See also: [[Location of admin settings in 1.7|Comparision between configuration settings in Moodle 1.6 & 1.7]]

==User Management==

*[[Authentication]]
*[[Edit user accounts]]
*[[Edit profile|Add a new user]]
*[[Flat file|Upload users]]
*[[Enrolment plugins]]
*[[Courses (administrator)|Enrol students]]
*[[Courses (administrator)|Assign teachers]]
*[[Assign creators]]
*[[Assign administrators]]

==Other==

*[[Courses (administrator)|Courses]] and [[Course formats|course formats]]
*[[Logs]]
*[[Site files]]
*[[Moodle database|Database]]
*[[Environment]]
*[[Moodle Network]] and Moodle Community Hub

==See also==

*[[:Category:Administrator | Index of all Administrator-related pages]]
*[[Integrations]]
*[[CVS (administrator)|CVS documentation]]
*[[Email processing]]
*[[Search engine optimization]]
*[[Messaging]]
*[[Migration]]
*[[Metacourses]]
*[[Block layout]]
*[[Customizing Moodle]]
*[[Administrator do's and don'ts]]
*[http://download.moodle.org/docs/using_moodle/ch16_server_admin.pdf Using Moodle Chapter 16: Moodle Administration]

[[Category: Administrator]]
[[cs:Rukověť správce]]
[[es:Documentación para Administradores]]
[[fr:Documentation administrateur]]
[[ja:管理者ドキュメント]]
[[ko:관리자 문서]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor beheerders]]
[[ru:Администраторам]]
[[zh:管理员文档]]

Help:Editing

2007-06-05T17:59:46Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{Help}}
This page is for editing Moodle Documentation (MoodleDocs). This is a similar but much more robust type of program than the [[Wiki module|standard Moodle wiki]].

==Edit tab==
Every ModdleDoc page has an "edit" tab at the top . This link will let you edit the page you are viewing. Please try editing a page by using this [[Sandbox|sandbox link]]. We will cover more formatting and special MoodleDoc features below.

=== Show preview ===
In edit mode, the show preview button at the bottom of the page lets you see what the page will look like after your edit, before you actually save. We all make mistakes; this feature lets you catch them immediately. Using Show preview before saving also lets you try format changes and other edits without cluttering up the page history, and has a number of other advantages. Don't forget to save your edits after previewing, though!

=== Edit summary ===
Before saving the page, it's considered good practice to enter a very brief summary of your changes in the summary box below the edit-box.

== Formatting ==

Most '''formatting''' in MoodleDocs is usually done with MediaWiki markup - you don't have to learn HTML!

=== Bold and italics ===
'''Bolding''' and ''italicizing'' is done by surrounding a word or phrase with multiple apostrophes (<tt>'</tt>):

:<code><nowiki>''italics''</nowiki></code> appears as ''italics''. (2 apostrophes on both sides)
:<code><nowiki>'''bold'''</nowiki></code> appears as '''bold'''. (3 apostrophes on both sides)
:<code><nowiki>'''''bolded italics'''''</nowiki></code> appears as '''''bolded italics'''''. (5 apostrophes on both sides)

=== Headings and subheadings ===
Headings and subheadings are an easy way to improve the organization of an article.

Headings can be created like this:
:<code><nowiki>==Top level heading==</nowiki></code> (2 equals signs)
:<code><nowiki>===Subheading===</nowiki></code> (3 equals signs)
:<code><nowiki>====Another level down====</nowiki></code> (4 equals signs)

If an article has at least four headings, a table of contents will automatically be generated.

=== Indentations ===
The simplest way of indenting is to place a colon (<code>:</code>) at the beginning of a line. The more colons you put, the further indented the text will be. A newline marks the end of the indented paragraph e.g.
:<code>This is aligned all the way to the left.</code>
:<code><nowiki>:</nowiki>This is indented slightly.</code>
:<code><nowiki>::</nowiki>This is indented more.</code>
is shown as
:This is aligned all the way to the left.
::This is indented slightly.
:::This is indented more.

=== Lists ===
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
!What it looks like
!What you type
|-
|
* ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do:
** start every line with a star
*** more stars means deeper levels
*A newline
*in a list
marks the end of the list.

|<pre><nowiki>* Unordered Lists are easy to do:
** start every line with a star
*** more stars means deeper levels
*A newline
*in a list
marks the end of the list.
</nowiki></pre>
|-
|
# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
#A newline
#in a list
marks the end of the list.
|<pre><nowiki># Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
#A newline
#in a list
marks the end of the list.
</nowiki></pre>
|-
|Descriptive lists:
; first tag : accompanying description
; second tag : more description
; third tag : surprise! more description
|<pre><nowiki>Descriptive lists:
; first tag : accompanying description
; second tag : more description
; third tag : surprise! more description
</nowiki></pre>
|}

=== Preserving formatting ===

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
!What it looks like
!What you type
|-
|
Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting.

Putting a space at the beginning of each line
stops the text from being reformatted.
|<pre><nowiki>Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting.

Putting a space at the beginning of each line
stops the text from being reformatted.
</nowiki></pre>
|}

You can also use <pre><pre></pre> tags around code and other preformatted text.
or use block the text and use the nowiki tool

== Links ==
Links to other pages are the heart of a wiki and MoodleDocs.

=== Wiki links ===
To make a wiki link, simply put the word in double square brackets, like this: <code><nowiki>[[Sandbox]]</nowiki></code> . Highlight text and using the "internal link" tool will do this as well.

If you want to use words other than the article title as the text of the link, you can do so by adding the pipe "|" divider followed by the alternative name or text.

For example, if you wanted to make a link to the [[Sandbox]], but wanted it to say "my text" you would write it as: <code><nowiki>[[Sandbox|my text]]</nowiki>...</code> It would appear as: [[Sandbox|my text]]... but would link to the sandbox.

=== External links ===

The easiest way to make an external link is to simply type in the full URL for the page you want to link to e.g. http://moodle.com.

To make the link display something other than the URL, use one square bracket at each end. If you want to make a link to moodle.com, type <code><nowiki>[http://moodle.com/]</nowiki></code>
This will display the link as a number in brackets, like this: [http://moodle.com/]. There is also the external link tool which can also assist you.

If you want the link to appear with text that you specify, add an alternative title after the address separated by a '''space''' (''not'' a pipe). So if you want the link to appear as [http://moodle.com Moodle], just type <code><nowiki>[http://moodle.com Moodle] </nowiki></code>.

===Categories links===
A catagory is a type of index page, a page of links listed in alphabetical order. In page view mode, a list of catagories that a page is linked to, appears at the bottom.
To put a page in a category, just type <code><nowiki>[[Category:]]</nowiki></code>, and put the name of the category between the colon and the brackets.

To link directly to a category use <code><nowiki>[[:Category:Teacher | teacher]]</nowiki></code>, this will show as [[:Category:Teacher | teacher]], note the preceding ":", which is different to <code><nowiki>[[Category:Teacher | teacher]]</nowiki></code>. The second will put the current page in the teacher category as mentioned above.

This page is linked to the single catagory "MoodleDocs".

===Inter-language links===

Simply type <code><nowiki>[[es:Corresponding page title in Spanish]]</nowiki></code> in the English Moodle Docs, or <code><nowiki>[[en:Corresponding page title in English]]</nowiki></code> in the [[:es:Portada|Spanish Moodle Docs]], at the bottom of the page, below the category link. Inter-language links will appear automatically in the "In other languages" block.

===User-page links===
User names can be linked to a user page. For example <nowiki>[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] </nowiki> will appear [[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] and link to the user's page. Comments by other users are generally left on the Users page comment tab.

==Page comments==
The page comment tab is used for discussion about the page. Sometimes before making an edit on the page for the first time, it is a good idea to check the page comments. It can be formatted the same as a main page, thus can be used to show a draft of a proposed change.

Talk page contributions may be signed and dated by typing four tildes <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. This will appear as [[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 06:35, 19 February 2006 (WST), for example.

==Page history==
The page history tab allows a way to look at changes between different edits. It is also possible to revert (roll back) an edit to a previous version. Usually this is left to the administrator, but you certainly can rollback your recent edits.

==Watch and unwatch page==
A watched page will appear on "my watchlist" when ever someone edits the page. There is a tab next to history which acts as a toggle between watch and unwatch. There is also at the bottom of the page in edit mode a "Watch this page" check off box.

==See also==
*[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing MediaWiki Help:Editing]
*[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:HTML_in_wikitext Help:HTML in wikitext]
*[http://diberri.dyndns.org/html2wiki.html HTML to MediaWiki converter]
*[http://wikipedia.mozdev.org/ Firefox Wikipedia extension] - The Wikipedia extension makes editing of wiki pages easier by adding a new toolbar to your browser and by providing new menu items in the context menu (right mouse key).
*[[Wiki module]] for the wiki included as part of the standard Moodle

[[Category:MoodleDocs]]

[[es:Ayuda:Cómo se edita una página]]
[[fr:Aide:Comment éditer une page]]
[[ja:Help:編集方法]]
[[nl:Meehelpen]]
[[ru:Справка:Редактирование]]

Sandbox

2007-06-01T10:32:54Z

Topstone:

abcdef deneme 1 2

Very nice :-) 
Moodle is Great! 

'''== אחת שתיים שלו ארבע
==== Headline text ==== Headline text =='''Bold text''''''

====bbbbbb====
[[Table]]
$$ x^2 $$

<math>x^2</math>
== Headline text ==

== Aesthetic buggery to follow! ==
<hr size=5>
<hr size=10>
<hr size=20>
... well, that's too bad: <tt> I was expecting to be able to make larger headers! [pout!]</tt>

:Interesting. Don't know much about HTML but
#remember this is a Mediawiki.
#When I want to try something off the beaten track in MoodleDocs, I [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing#Templates start here with a search on editing tips].
#Since I am a clutz, I created a web page using a word processor. Then opened my browser and revealed the page code. Then placed it below. So you can make larger headers several ways. chris collman
::see examples below

==This is 26.opt test==

Notice it still is a header just not the default font

===This is a 3rd level - a little smaller===

====This is a 3rd level header - Probably no difference====

== Headline text ==

Martha is a radical

=Is a 1st level header - the larger header topic=

just to see what would happen

=This is a 400.opt font test

Hmm...

Just testing it out!

Seems OK!

----

Here's some text.
:Here's some indented text.
::And a bit more indented.
::::::::::Now you're just being silly.

----

[[fr:Bac à sable]]
[[ja:サンドボックス]]

HTML in Moodle

2007-05-31T11:12:12Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

When writing HTML in Moodle, you are free to use almost any HTML tags you like to produce the effect you want.

Note that scripting (eg Javascript or VB Script) is not allowed, and will be removed automatically.

Your code will normally be printed on the page within a table cell, so:

* there is no need to use any <HEAD> or <BODY> tags
* be careful about unmatched </TABLE> tags that may mess up the display.

Smilies (emoticons) will be converted into their graphical equivalent, and bare URLs will be converted into links.

==See also==
[[HTML editor]] | [[overlib]]

[[ja:MoodleでのHTML]]

Development:Coding

2007-05-31T03:46:20Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Any collaborative project needs consistency and stability to stay strong.

These '''coding guidelines''' are to provide a goal for all Moodle code to strive to. It's true that some of the older existing code falls short in a few areas, but it will all be fixed eventually. All new code definitely must adhere to these standards as closely as possible.

==General rules==

# All code files should use the .php extension.
# All template files should use the .html extension.
# All text files should use Unix-style text format (most text editors have this as an option).
# All php tags must be 'full' tags like <?php ?> ... not 'short' tags like <? ?>.
# All existing copyright notices must be retained. You can add your own if necessary.
# Each file should include the main config.php file.
# Each file should check that the user is authenticated correctly, using require_login() and isadmin(), isteacher(), iscreator() or isstudent().
# All access to databases should use the functions in ''lib/dmllib.php'' whenever possible - this allows compatibility across a wide range of databases. You should find that almost anything is possible using these functions. If you must write SQL code then make sure it is: cross-platform; restricted to specific functions within your code (usually a lib.php file); and clearly marked.
# Don't create or use global variables except for the standard $CFG, $SESSION, $THEME, $SITE, $COURSE and $USER.
# All variables should be initialised or at least tested for existence using isset() or empty() before they are used.
# All strings should be translatable - create new texts in the "lang/en_utf8" files with concise English lowercase names and retrieve them from your code using get_string() or print_string(). Never delete strings to ensure backwards compatibility of the language packs is maintained.
# All errors should be printed using print_error() to maximise translation and help for users (it automatically links to the docs wiki).
# All help files should be translatable - create new texts in the "lang/en_utf8/help" directory and call them using helpbutton(). If you need to update a help file:
#* with a minor change, where an old translation of the file would still make sense, then it's OK to make the change but you should notify translation AT moodle DOT org.
#* for a major change you should create a new file by adding an incrementing number (eg filename2.html) so that translators can easily see it's a new version of the file. Obviously the new code and the help index files should also be modified to point to the newest versions.
# Incoming data from the browser (sent via GET or POST) automatically has magic_quotes applied (regardless of the PHP settings) so that you can safely insert it straight into the database. All other raw data (from files, or from databases) must be escaped with addslashes() before inserting it into the database. Because this is so often done incorrectly, there is more explanation on this issue of adding and stripping slashes on a [[Developer:Slashes|separate page]].
# VERY IMPORTANT: All texts within Moodle, especially those that have come from users, should be printed using the format_text() function. This ensures that text is filtered and cleaned correctly. More information can be found on the page about [[Development:Output_functions|output functions]].
# User actions should be logged using the [[Development:Logs|add_to_log()]] function. These logs are used for [[Settings#Show_activity_reports|activity reports]] and [[Logs]].
# When generating a HTML link, always make it relative to the full site root, i.e. link to ''$CFG->wwwroot/mod/blonk/view.php?id=99'' rather than just ''view.php?id=99''. This means that your code will work if called by a script in another folder, among other things.

==Coding style==

I know it can be a little annoying to change your style if you're used to something else, but balance that annoyance against the annoyance of all the people trying later on to make sense of Moodle code with mixed styles. There are obviously many good points for and against any style that people use, but the current style just is, so please stick to it.

1. Indenting should be consistently 4 spaces. Don't use tabs AT ALL.

2. Variable names should always be easy-to-read, meaningful lowercase English words. If you really need more than one word then run them together, but keep them short as possible. Use plural names for arrays of objects.

GOOD: $quiz
GOOD: $errorstring
GOOD: $assignments (for an array of objects)
GOOD: $i (but only in little loops)

BAD: $Quiz
BAD: $aReallyLongVariableNameWithoutAGoodReason
BAD: $error_string

3. Constants should always be in upper case, and always start with the name of the module. They should have words separated by underscores.

define("FORUM_MODE_FLATOLDEST", 1);
4. Function names should be simple English lowercase words, and start with the name of the module to avoid conflicts between modules. Words should be separated by underscores. Parameters should always have sensible defaults if possible. Note there is no space between the function name and the following (brackets).

function forum_set_display_mode($mode=0) {
global $USER, $CFG;

if ($mode) {
$USER->mode = $mode;
} else if (empty($USER->mode)) {
$USER->mode = $CFG->forum_displaymode;
}
}

5. Blocks must always be enclosed in curly braces (even if there is only one line). Moodle uses this style:

if ($quiz->attempts) {
if ($numattempts > $quiz->attempts) {
error($strtoomanyattempts, "view.php?id=$cm->id");
}
}

6. Strings should be defined using single quotes where possible, for increased speed.

$var = 'some text without any variables';
$var = "with special characters like a new line \n";
$var = 'a very, very long string with a '.$single.' variable in it';
$var = "some $text with $many variables $within it";

7. Comments should be added as much as is practical, to explain the code flow and the purpose of functions and variables.

* Every function (and class) should use the popular [http://www.phpdoc.org/ phpDoc format]. This allows code documentation to be generated automatically.
* Inline comments should use the // style, laid out neatly so that it fits among the code and lines up with it.

/**
* The description should be first, with asterisks laid out exactly
* like this example. If you want to refer to a another function,
* do it like this: {@link clean_param()}. Then, add descriptions
* for each parameter as follows.
*
* @param int $postid The PHP type is followed by the variable name
* @param array $scale The PHP type is followed by the variable name
* @param array $ratings The PHP type is followed by the variable name
* @return mixed
*/
function forum_get_ratings_mean($postid, $scale, $ratings=NULL) {
if (!$ratings) {
$ratings = array(); // Initialize the empty array
if ($rates = get_records("forum_ratings", "post", $postid)) {
// Process each rating in turn
foreach ($rates as $rate) {
....etc

8. Space should be used liberally - don't be afraid to spread things out a little to gain some clarity. Generally, there should be one space between brackets and normal statements, but no space between brackets and variables or functions:

foreach ($objects as $key => $thing) {
process($thing);
}

if ($x == $y) {
$a = $b;
} else if ($x == $z) {
$a = $c;
} else {
$a = $d;
}

9. When making a COPY of an object, always use the php5 clone() function (otherwise you may end up with just a reference to the first object). Moodle will make sure this works consistently on php4 too.

BAD: $b = $a;
GOOD: $b = clone($a);

If the thing you want to copy is not an object, but may contain objects (eg an array of objects) then use fullclone() instead.

==Database structures==

To help you create tables that meet these guidelines, we recommend you use the built in [[Development:XMLDB_defining_an_XML_structure#The_XMLDB_editor|database definition (XMLDB) editor]].

# Every table must have an auto-incrementing id field (INT10) as primary index. (see [[IdColumnReasons]])
# The main table containing instances of each module must have the same name as the module (eg widget) and contain the following minimum fields:
#* id - as described above
#* course - the id of the course that each instance belongs to
#* name - the full name of each instance of the module
# Other tables associated with a module that contain information about 'things' should be named widget_things (note the plural).
# Table and column names should avoid using [[Database reserved words|reserved words in any database]]. Please check them before creation.
# Column names should be always lowercase, simple and short, following the same rules as for variable names.
# Where possible, columns that contain a reference to the id field of another table (eg widget) should be called widgetid. (Note that this convention is newish and not followed in some older tables)
# Boolean fields should be implemented as small integer fields (eg INT4) containing 0 or 1, to allow for later expansion of values if necessary.
# Most tables should have a timemodified field (INT10) which is updated with a current timestamp obtained with the PHP time() function.
# Always define a default value for each field (and make it sensible)
# Each table name should start with the database prefix ($CFG->prefix). In a lot of cases, this is taken care of for you automatically. Also, under Postgres, the name of every index must start with the prefix too.
# In order to guarantee [[Development:XMLDB problems#Table and column aliases - the AS keyword|cross-db compatibility]] follow these simple rules about the use of the '''AS''' keyword (only if you need table/colum aliases, of course):
#* '''Don't use''' the '''AS''' keyword for '''table aliases'''.
#* '''Do use''' the '''AS''' keyword for '''column aliases'''.
# '''Never''' create UNIQUE KEYs (constraints) at all. Instead use UNIQUE INDEXes. In the future, if we decide to add referential integrity to Moodle and we need UNIQUE KEYs they will be used, but not now. Please note that the XMLDB editor allows you to specify both XMLDB-only UNIQUE and FOREIGN constraints (and that's good, in order to have the XML well defined) but only underlying INDEXes will be generated.
# Those XMLDB-only UNIQUE KEYs (read previous point) only must be defined if such field/fields '''are going to be the target''' for some (XMLDB-only too) FOREIGN KEY. Else, create them as simple UNIQUE INDEXes.
# Tables associated '''with one block''' must follow this convention with their names: '''$CFG->prefix + "block_" + name_of_the_block + anything_else'''. For example, assuming that $CFG->prefix is 'mdl_', all the tables for the block "rss_client" must start by 'mdl_block_rss_client' (being possible to add more words at the end, i.e. 'mdl_block_rss_client_anothertable'...). This rule will be 100% enforced with Moodle 2.0, giving time to developers until then. See [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-6786 Task 6786] for more info about this.
# '''Never''' make database changes in the STABLE branches. If we did, then users upgrading from one stable version to the next would have duplicate changes occurring, which may cause serious errors.

==Security issues (and handling form and URL data)==

# Do not rely on 'register_globals'. Every variable must be properly initialised in every code file. It must be obvious where the variable came from.
# Initialise all arrays and objects, even if empty. $a = array() or $obj = new stdClass();.
# Do not use the optional_variable() function (this function is now deprecated). Use the optional_param() function instead. Pick the correct PARAM_XXXX value for the data type you expect.
# Do not use the require_variable() function (this function is now deprecated). Use the required_param() function instead. Pick the correct PARAM_XXXX value for the data type you expect.
# Use data_submitted(), with care. Data must still be cleaned before use.
# Do not use $_GET, $_POST or $_REQUEST. Use the appropriate required_param() or optional_param() appropriate to your need.
# Do not check for an action using something like if (isset($_GET['something'])). Use, e.g., $something = optional_param( 'something',-1,PARAM_INT ) and then perform proper test for it being in its expected range of values e.g., if ($something>=0) {....
# Wherever possible group all your required_param(), optional_param() and other variables initialisation at the beginning of each file to make them easy to find.
# Use 'sesskey' mechanism to protect form handling routines from attack. Basic example of use: when form is generated, include <input type="hidden" name="sesskey" value="<?php echo sesskey(); ?>" />. When you process the form check with if (!confirm_sesskey()) {error('Bad Session Key');}.
# All filenames must be 'cleaned' using the clean_filename() function, if this has not been done already by appropriate use of required_param() or optional_param()
# Any data read from the database must have [[Developer:Slashes|addslashes()]] applied to it before it can be written back. A whole object of data can be hit at once with addslashes_object().
# Wherever possible, data to be stored in the database must come from POST data (from a form with method="POST") as opposed to GET data (ie, data from the URL line).
# Do not use data from $_SERVER if you can avoid it. This has portability issues.
# If it hasn't been done somewhere else, make sure all data written to the database has been through the clean_param() function using the appropriate PARAM_XXXX for the datatype.
# If you write custom SQL code, make very sure it is correct. In particular watch out for missing quotes around values. Possible SQL 'injection' exploit.
# Check all data (particularly that written to the database) in every file it is used. Do not expect or rely on it being done somewhere else.
# Blocks of code to be included should contain a definite PHP structure (e.g, a class declaration, function definition(s) etc.) - straight blocks of code promote uninitialised variable usage.

[[Category:Developer|Coding]]

[[es:Manual de Estilo de Código]]
[[ja:コーディング]]
[[zh:代码指南]]

Upgrading to Moodle 1.6

2007-05-28T17:05:42Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{Moodle 1.6}}
Since the changes for the upgrade from Moodle 1.5.x to Moodle 1.6 not only change the database structure, but also the database content (everything is converted to UTF-8), some considerations are important before you start. If you are upgrading a really important site, it will probably be worth doing a test upgrade on a separate copy of your site first just to make sure it goes OK.

==Check the system requirements==
Go to Administration >> [[Environment]] (in recent versions of Moodle 1.5) and choose Moodle 1.6 ;-)
You will get a report of whether your server specs meet the requirements for Moodle 1.6 and what needs to be done. Basically you need PHP 4.3.0 or later (for PHP5, version 5.1.0 or later is required), and MySQL 4.1.16 or later (4.1.12 is ok if your site is latin-only) or PostgreSQL. Native iconv support in PHP will really speed things up too (it needs to be specified during compilation) but is not required.

==Update the Moodle files==
Perform a [[Upgrading|normal upgrade]] of your Moodle installation, '''[[Upgrading#3._Your_database |backing up your database first]]'''.
Take care to include ALL optional modules you have in your existing installation. Conversion of the data to UTF-8 of these modules will not be possible if you forget this.

==Database migration==
Although not strictly necessary, it is HIGHLY recomended that you migrate your database to UTF-8 immediately after upgrading. You'll find the link to do this waiting for you at the top of the admin page. Please see [[Database migration|MySQL database migration]] or [[UTF-8 PostgreSQL|PostgreSQL database migration]] for further details.

==Languages==

An entirely new interface for languages has been designed. By default, Moodle only contains one language (English), and you need to install all the language packs you need individually. The new interface makes this easy - it will download them for you from moodle.org and install them in your data directory.

After the migration of the database, you may go to Administration >> [[Configuration]] >> [[Language]] and follow the [[Language import utility]] link. You may select the desired language packs on the right pane and install them directly. Updating the language packs can now easily be done by following the update link.

Take care to use always a language pack that matches your database content:

* Upgraded installations: first database migration, then UTF-8 language packs
* New 1.6 installations: you will immediately use UTF-8 language packs

You will not find the en_utf8 language pack in your ''moodledata/lang'' folder. It is in the moodle/lang folder and is not to be modified at all. It should never be upgraded, since it is part of the installation. All other language packs, even modifications for the en language pack go in the ''moodledata/lang'' folder (and are in the case of the en language pack called en_utf8_local or en_xx_utf8 but then with parent language string in moodle.php)

If you use the langlist variable on the config variables page, don't forget to change the language names from xx to xx_utf8 or the languages will not be shown in the language drop down menu.

IMPORTANT: There is a bug in 1.6 and 1.6.1 that blocks the locales specified in language packs. Workaround is to override locale for all languages by setting it in Administration >> Configuration >> Variables >> locale. You can find suitable values in the [[Table of locales]] (en.UTF-8 , es_ES.UTF-8,...). If you are using 1.6.1+ and later the correct value is usually empty field.

===Localisations of existing language packs===

Localisations of an existing xx_utf8 language pack should be called xx_utf8_local, should be UTF-8 encoded and should also be put in the moodledata/lang folder. It is still possible to give it another name like xx_mypack_utf8, but then you should add the parentlanguage string in moodle.php from your localisation.

===Custom language packs===

Custom made new language packs go in ''moodledata/lang''. They have to be in a xx_utf8 folder and MUST be UTF-8 encoded (Unicode). We no longer support other encodings, especially when mixed with UTF-8 packs.

If you are using custom language packs before the UTF-8 migration, please remember that they need to include either 1) thischarset or 2) parentlanguage in their moodle.php. Please also rename them from xx to xx_utf8 after the migration. You might need to convert the custom packs into UTF-8 format before using them in a migrated Moodle 1.6.

===Advanced languages===

If you want to download all the languages at once, we suggest checking the whole lang directory out directly from CVS into your ''moodledata/lang'' directory.

cvs -z3 -d:ext:myusername@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle co lang

This is the recommended method for translators, as you can edit these packs within Moodle and just check them straight back into CVS.

==Finishing up==

Congratulations! After migrating your database and updating your languages you should have a functional 1.6 site. You'll probably want to visit the various admin pages (especially [[Variables]]) to turn some of the features on and off.

==See also==

*[[Translation]] - More details on language packs in 1.6, especially customized packs
*[[Converting files to UTF-8]] - General text on how to convert files, like non-standard language packs, to UTF-8

Using Moodle forum discussions:
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=39153 utf-8 and mysql]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=44073 utf db migration in optional modules]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=43527 Local language modifications]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=46900 Language packs and migration to UTF-8]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49668 Is there now only one local language pack allowed?]

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Actualización a moodle 1.6]]
[[fr:Mise à jour à Moodle 1.6]]
[[ja:Moodle1.6へのアップグレード]]
[[zh:升级到Moodle 1.6]]

Language packs

2007-05-28T17:04:37Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{Moodle 1.6}}

Location: ''Administration > Language > Language packs''

* Additional language packs may be selected from the list in the right pane and installed directly.
* The new location for language files is ''moodledata/lang''.
* Please note that certain language packs contain only the modified language strings from their parent language, rather than a complete set. Thus, it is necessary to install the parent language pack too. These language packs are:
** de_du (which requires de)
** es_mx and es_ar (which require es)
** fr-ca (which requires fr)

==See also==

*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=48492 Language import utility broken] forum discussion

[[Category:Language]]

[[fr:Utilitaire d'importation de langues]]
[[ja:言語インポートユーティリティ]]
[[zh:语言倒入工具]]

Translation

2007-05-28T14:27:57Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Moodle has been designed for internationalisation. Each 'string' or 'page' of text that is displayed as part of the interface is drawn from a set of language files.

== Structure of a Moodle language pack ==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
*All Moodle language packs may be found in the ''lang'' folder, with each language in a unique folder named the same as the language short name e.g. ''es'', ''nl''. From Moodle 1.6 upwards, the ''lang'' folder may be found in ''moodledata'', with pack names indicating they are UTF-8 language packs e.g. ''es_utf8'', ''nl_utf8''. The default English language pack, ''en_utf8'', remains in ''moodle/lang'', along with a tiny non-UTF-8 version (''en'') for use in the 1.5 to 1.6 upgrade, prior to the database migration process.

*All the main files are in the ''lang/xx_utf8'' folder, with .php extensions (eg ''moodle.php'', ''resource.php'' etc). These files contains short phrases, often called "strings". Each string supports variable substitution, to support variable ordering in different languages.

:e.g. <code>$strdueby = get_string("assignmentdueby", "assignment", userdate($date));</code>

:If a string doesn't exist in a particular language, then the equivalent in English will automatically be used instead.

:There is also a ''help'' folder containing HTML pages for pop-up context-sensitive help.

*Installation language packs may be found in the ''install/lang'' folder. These language packs contain only the strings needed for the installation process. The files are generated automatically every night by the download.moodle.org server and '''must not be changed manually'''. For translators this is a unusual experience, since changes you add to the strings used in the installation script will not be visible until 24 hours later in a new download of your 1.6 installation.

==Creating a new language pack==

If your language is not yet supported by Moodle, you may want to start a new translation. If you are starting a new language, please contact [[User:koen roggemans|Koen Roggemans]] our Translation Coordinator (''translation@moodle.org''). You may also like to post in the Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=43 Languages Forum].

All you need to do is create a new folder in the lang directory using the 2-letter code for your language. You can find these standard codes in ''lib/languages.php''. If you are making a local variation of another language, use the code of that language with an underscore and a meaningful two letter extension (e.g. pt for Portuguese and pt_br for Brasilian variation of the Portuguese language pack). If you are making a Unicode version add _utf8 at the end (eg sr_utf8). Language packs created with a new Moodle 1.6 or with a Moodle 1.6 in Unicode mode are always in Unicode and should get the _utf8 suffix.

Next, copy the ''langconfig.php'' from another language into your new directory. The one from the "en_utf8" folder is usually best.

You are now ready to start inserting new strings by editing your language... see below for details on this.

Note that your new language pack may not show up immediately on the dropdown list if under your site configuration you have langcache set to "Yes."

{{Moodle 1.6}}
Since Moodle 1.6, only UTF-8 is used as characterset. This setting is located in a string named "thischarset" in ''langconfig.php'' and should not be changed. All other settings for your language pack, as the notation of dates, the locale string, the direction etc. are in this file and can be changed there. Just be careful! ;-)

==Editing an existing language pack==

===Making small customisations===

If you just want to change a few things in the interface to suit your own site better, don't start editing one of the standard language packs. If you do then your changes will be overwritten next time you upgrade to a new Moodle.

Instead, use the instructions above for making a brand new language pack, add a string 'parentlanguage' (in '''''langconfig.php''''') with the code of the language that is most similar to yours. That language will be checked by Moodle for anything missing from yours. Here's an example of such a line:

$string['parentlanguage'] = 'en_utf8';

A good name for a local English variant could be "en_utf8_local", and the parent language would be defined as "en_utf8" or "en_us_utf8". ''(For Moodle 1.5 and earlier, omit the "_utf8" from the names, since older versions of Moodle don't use UTF8.)''

Note that you also have to create a string 'thislanguage' in '''''moodle.php''''' for your "en_utf8_local" language pack:

$string['thislanguage'] = 'English at OCU';

In Moodle 1.5.x and earlier you would have to then make sure everyone chooses your new language pack. They can change it in their profiles or you can issue an SQL command to change everyone, and prevent them changing it by restricting the available languages on Administration >> Configuration >> [[Variables]].

{{Moodle 1.6}}
Starting in Moodle 1.6, the very best method is just to create a new language directory called "xxxx_local" where xxxx is the name of the language pack you want to modify (eg es_utf8_local or ja_utf8_local). This new local language pack will automatically be checked before the main one. The local pack only needs to contain the local changes (you don't need a complete copy of the language you are modifying). It will not appear in the language menus for selection and your users do not need to change their settings.

The 'parentlanguage' method described above for 1.5 still works, just in case you want to create more than one variant of one language. In this case, you still have to add the 'thislanguage' string, except in 1.6 you add it to the ''langconfig.php'' and not to ''moodle.php''.

===Translating the Moodle interface language files (the "string" files)===

# Log on to your Moodle server as an administrator.
# Go to Administration >> Configuration >> [[Language]], which is the language administration page.
# On this page you can choose your language from the menu, then choose "Compare and Edit Language".
# You should see forms you can edit for each file. If you do not, then you may have to make sure that the files are writeable - you may have to change file permissions in your web folder.
# The forms consist of three columns, the first is the name of each string, the second is that string in English, and the last is translation in the current language.
# Edit missing strings in each files (highlighted in colour), remembering to hit the "Save changes" button at the end of each form.
# It's OK to leave strings empty - Moodle will simply use the parent language for that string instead. You can define the parent language in langconfig.php, otherwise English is always used by default.
# A quick way to see all the missing strings is by using the button to "Check for missing strings". Leave the untranslated strings completely empty or this handy tool won't work.

===Translating the help files===

There is a built-in editor in Moodle to translate the help files. It uses the en_utf8 language pack as a reference language. You are strongly advised to use this editor: it cleans out some possible problems, it warns you for old translations and it marks (with stars in the drop down list) wich files are out of date and takes care of Unicode.
If you want another language than English as a reference (wich is not a good idea), you copy a help file from the reference language pack and paste it on the same location in your own language pack. Then use a plain text editor with Unicode support to translate the file, making sure not to modify any code in the file (there usually is no code, just HTML-tags). (DON'T USE A WORDPROCESSOR to write the help-files because these programs add too much rubbish to the files).
Don't leave untranslated help files or empty files in your language pack.

Take care to write the helpfiles XHTML-compliant. This means in short:

* All tags should be closed: <pre>lalala</pre>
* All elements should be nested: <pre> lalala lalala </pre>
* All elements and attributes must be lower case
* All atributes should be written in full and with quotes : <pre> lalala </pre>
* Empty elements must end with />: <pre> <hr /></pre>. You should add an extra space before the "/" symbol.
* An <img should have an alt="" (it can be empty) en must be closed like other empty elements with a space and /> like <pre><img alt="" src="picture.gif" /></pre>
* <?= and <? should be <pre><?php</pre>
* There should not be ANY font tags at all. <pre> <h1> <h2></pre> etc should be enough for the language files ...

None of the files in the help folder need a doc type, html, body, head opening and closing tags - these files are included with ''help.php''. The script will take care of welforming the pages. This means also there is not much room for HTML creativity! Please stick to the English example.
{{Moodle 1.6}}
The files in the docs folder must be completely XHTML compliant, including doc type, header etc. From Moodle 1.6 they will be moved to this wiki.

Clicking on "Check for missing strings" in the language administration screen will also show you what files you are missing. If you have missing files then Moodle will use the parent language instead, so don't leave copies of untranslated help files in your language pack or this handy tool won't work.

==Submitting your language pack to the Moodle project==

Sharing your translation with Moodle will ensure that you help other people who speak your language. Your interface language will be available in future versions of Moodle.

Simply archive your whole new language directory as a zip file and email it to ''translation@moodle.org''.

We will get back to you with further details.

Checklist you can use before committing:

* No empty files?
* No untranslated files or strings?
* Help files not edited with a wordprocessor?
* README file contains language, name and emailadress of the translator?
* Foldername is the right language code (check ''moodle\lib\languages.php'')?
* Does the language pack run errorfree on a testsite?
* Are the strings and files XHTML compliant?
* Does ''langconfig.php'' exists and is it correct?

==Maintenance of a standard language pack==

If you are committed to maintaining a language in Moodle, it's best to use [[CVS for Developers|Moodle CVS]] so that you have an up-to-date version of Moodle, and can easily "check in" your changes directly into the Moodle project.
{{Moodle 1.6}}
You should always use HEAD to do translation. Instead of modifying the lang pack within your main code tree as it was until Moodle 1.6, you will now be modifying the one within your dataroot/lang directory.

* Always check out the very latest Moodle code
* Upgrade your site. Of course you use a NON-PRODUCTION server for this.
* Go to your dataroot directory and check out the new lang directory from CVS there like this on Unix/Linux

cd moodledata (for example)
cvs -z3 -d:ext:me@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle co lang

or like this with Tortoise on Windows,

right click on your dataroot folder, choose "CVS Checkout",
CVSROOT field: :ext:sfusername@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle
Module: lang

* Continue editing languages from within the Moodle GUI as you did before Moodle 1.6.

To check them into CVS, just go into the dataroot/lang directory and commit your changes.

If you really want to continue updating the language packs for 1.5.x or earlier, then you should zip the folder of your langpack and mail it to ''translation@moodle.org''. CVS write access on moodle/lang/xx will be moved to lang/xx_utf8.

Please contact ''translation@moodle.org'' if you need help setting this up.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=43 Languages Forum] - news and discussion about issues that affect translations
*[[Translation credits]]
*To keep in touch with changes in the project on a day-to-day basis it is recommended that you subscribe to the [http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=30935 CVS mailing list]. This helps to keep your translation as close to the English text as possible.

[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:Language]]

[[es:Traducciones]]
[[fr:Traduction]]
[[ja:翻訳]]
[[nl:Vertalen]]

Development:Modules

2007-05-28T14:23:09Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

'''Activity modules''' reside in the 'mod' directory. Each module is in a separate subdirectory and consists of the following mandatory elements (plus extra scripts unique to each module):

* ''mod.html'' - a form to set up or update an instance of this module
* ''version.php'' - defines some meta-info and provides upgrading code
* ''icon.gif'' - a 16x16 icon for the module
* ''db/'' - SQL dumps of all the required db tables and data (for each database type)
* ''index.php'' - a page to list all instances in a course
* ''view.php'' - a page to view a particular instance
* ''lib.php'' - any/all functions defined by the module should be in here. If the modulename is called widget, then the required functions include:
:* widget_add_instance() - code to add a new instance of widget
:* widget_update_instance() - code to update an existing instance
:* widget_delete_instance() - code to delete an instance
:* widget_user_outline() - given an instance, return a summary of a user's contribution
:* widget_user_complete() - given an instance, print details of a user's contribution
:* Other functions available but not required are:
:** widget_delete_course() - code to clean up anything that would be leftover after all instances are deleted
:** widget_process_options() - code to pre-process the form data from module settings
:* To avoid possible conflict, any module functions should be named starting with widget_ and any constants you define should start with WIDGET_
* ''config.html'' - (optional) a form to set up or update global settings of this module
* Lastly, each module will have some language files that contain strings for that module.

IMPORTANT: When creating a new module, the new name of the module must not contain numbers or other special characters!

You should also make sure that your activity module provides appropriate support for groups and metacourses.

==See also==

* http://download.moodle.org/download.php/modules/NEWMODULE.zip - new module template for starting module development. Please follow the README instructions inside the zip.
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 Activity modules] forum
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66165 A new resource type: where do I put the language strings?] forum discussion
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=65986 New Module Template Code for Moodle 1.7] forum discussion

[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:Modules]]

[[es:Módulos de actividades (desarrollador)]]
[[ja:モジュール (開発者)]]

Teaching with Moodle

2007-05-28T14:20:24Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

'''Objective:''' To organize and share resources and "good practices" so that teachers and students have a positive Moodle experience that enhances the learning process. The resources presented will focus on the pedagogical implementation of Moodle in a classroom setting (whatever that classroom may look like).

*[[The Good Teacher]] - The best place for a teacher contemplating using Moodle in their classroom to start learning as well as a great place for experienced Moodlers to remember why they began using it.

*[[Teaching Do's]] & [[Teaching Don'ts]] - Good general/pedagogical guidelines to consider when setting up a course in Moodle and introducing students to it.

*[[Learning Activities Overview]] - A list of the different activities available within Moodle, as well as what type of learning strategy they employ, suggested age level, and a link to each activity's pedagogy page.

*[[Moodle Stories]] - This is a subset of the ''[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=127 Moodle Stories]'' forum. It contains a collection of innovative ways teachers are utilizing [http://www.moodle.org Moodle] in their classroom. This is a great place for teachers who like the idea of Moodle and what it has to offer, but could benefit from ideas to start from.

*[[Teaching FAQ | Common Teacher Questions (FAQs)]]

*[[Teaching Good Practices (K-12) | Good Practices (K-12)]]

*[[NECC 06 Collaboration Session | NECC 2006 Bird's of a Feather Session]] - Notes from the NECC 2006 Bird's of a Feather Session. The focus is on using Moodle in educational settings with ideas about how to use it and hints too.

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61228 How teaching is changing using Moodle] forum discussion

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Enseigner avec Moodle]]
[[ja:Moodleで教える]]

Meta course

2007-05-28T14:18:17Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

A '''metacourse''' automatically enrolls participants from other "child" courses. Metacourses take their enrollments from other courses. This feature can populate many courses from one enrollment or one course from many enrollents.

For example, a course is part of a program (metacourse). Each time a student enrols in (or unenrols from) this course, they are enrolled/unenrolled from any metacourse(s) associated with it.

Please note that metacourse enrolments do not preserve groups and enrolment does not happen immediately.

==Metacourse setup==
Teachers are able to choose whether a course is a metacourse via the "Is this a metacourse?" (yes/no) menu option in the [[Course settings|course settings]]. In Moodle 1.5 and 1.6, if a meta course is chosen, the [[Students|students]] page changes from listing/searching for students to listing/searching for courses. In Moodle 1.7 "Child courses" appears in the teacher's administration block.

==Metacourse examples==
Metacourses may be used in a variety of ways:

* '''Scenario 1:''' X is a metacourse with Course 1 through 4 as normal courses with standard student enrollments. Students enrolling on these courses are automatically enrolled onto Metacourse X.

[[Image:Metacourses1_en.jpg|Standard Metacourse Usage]]

For example, a math teacher or department has 2 algebra and 2 geometry courses. The teacher or department wants course for each of these subjects. But they also want a generic space where they can post things for all of the students in all of their courses, perhaps including compulsory work for all students. By making algebra 1 & 2 and geometry 1 & 2 as each as part of a Math metacourse, they acheive this goal.

* '''Scenario 2:''' Metacourses 1-4 are linked to Y which is a normal course. Students enrolling on Course Y are automatically enrolled on Metacourses 1-4. This would be used, for example, when all five courses are intended to have exactly the same students.

[[Image:Metacourses2_en.jpg|Upsidedown Metacourse Usage]]

In both diagrams you can see students being enrolled normally into standard courses and then the entire student list of a course being added to the Metacourse.

* '''Scenario 3:''' One or more meta courses are used as a library of resources and activities. For example, the English department has collected material useful in writing papers. Teachers can direct or embed a link to a specific reference about citations, or how to select a topic for a paper or suggested reading compiled by students.

* '''Scenario 4:''' The metacourse feature can also be used "in reverse." Say you have a Diploma program that involves courses D1, D2, D3, and D4. In this case, you would create a "Diploma" course as a normal course (non-metacourse). You would then designate programs D1 through D4 as metacourses (plus completing the student enrollment task under Course Administration). When a student enrolls in "Diploma", he or she will be automatically enrolled in courses D1 through D4.

==See also==
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=48901 Metacourses?], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=54389 Metacourses and Roles in 1.7] and [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=39438 Best reference for describing a metacourse] forum discussions

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Enrolment]]

[[es:Metacourses]]
[[fr:Méta-cours]]
[[ja:メタコース]]
[[ru:Метакурсы]]

Migration

2007-05-28T14:16:59Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

== Migrating to/from Moodle ==

*[[WebCT migration|Migrating from WebCT]] (whether Campus Edition or Vista) to Moodle
*[[Blackboard migration|Migrating from Blackboard]] to Moodle
*[[Learnwise migration|Migrating from Learnwise]] to Moodle
*[[Migration from Moodle|Migrating to another system]] from Moodle

== Miscellaneous import/export ==
* [[Import PowerPoint]] into lesson feature in 1.6
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=24572 Import Powerpoint html to lesson] forum discussion
*[http://www.openoffice.org/ OpenOffice] - this software can be used to convert Powerpoint files to Flash animations, which can then be loaded into Moodle

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[ja:移行作業]]

Messaging

2007-05-28T14:16:11Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Site-wide messaging may be disabled/enabled by the Administrator in the permissions section of ''Administration > Configuration > Variables'' (1.6) or in ''Administration > Security > Site policies'' (1.7 onwards).

Unlike [[Forums]] and [[Chats]], Messaging is non-course specific i.e. students may send messages to each other regardless of whether they are enrolled on the same course. Your profile page contains a "Messages" button for opening the Messages window. Alternatively, to encourage the use of messaging in your course, you may wish to add a [[Messages block]] and/or an [[Online Users block]] to your course page.

==Sending messages==

To send a message to an individual:
#In the Messages window click on the Search tab to search for the person, if appropriate checking the box "Only in my courses", then click on their name. (Alternatively, if the person is listed in the Online Users block, simply click on the "Add/send message" envelope opposite their name.)
#Type the message in the pop-up box then click on the "Send message" button.

To send a message to selected course participants (for teachers only):
#Click on the Participants link in the People bock on the course page.
#Select participants from the list or use the "Select all" button at the bottom of the list.
#Choose "Add/send message" from the "With selected users..." drop-down menu.
#Type the message then click the "Preview" button.
#Assuming you are satisfied with the message, click the "Send" button.

==Reading and replying to messages==

When you are sent a message, the Messages window will pop-up. Also, the Messages block will display the name of the person sending the message with a link to read the message. If you have set the email option (see Message Settings below), then you will get a copy of the message in your email after the time you have specified if you are not logged in.

After reading a message, you may type a reply then click on the "Send message" button.

==Searching messages==

In addition to searching for people, the Search tab in the Messages window provides the option to search for keywords, only messages to or from you, and to include in the search people you have previously blocked from contacting you.

[[Image:MsgSearch.jpg|frame|none|Message window Search tab]]

==Managing contacts==

People may be added to your list of contacts (or blocked from contacting you) by clicking the "Add contact" (or "Block contact") icon opposite their name in the Messages window.

By default the contact list is empty. In order to send a message or to create a shortcut to the person you are sending, go to the Search tab.

[[Image:MsgContacts.jpg|frame|none|Message window Contacts tab]]

==Message history==

A record of messages sent to/from a person may obtained by clicking the "History" icon opposite their name in the Messages window.

==Message settings==

Message settings may be changed via the Settings tab in the Messages window.

Here you can decide on having a popup Message window whenever you get a new message, blocking messages from people who are not on your Contacts list, having an audio signal for a new message, using a HTML editor, or getting email messages when you are offline.

[[Image:MsgSettings.jpg|frame|none|Message window Settings tab]]

==See also==

* [[Messaging enhancements]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=476 Messaging forum]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=58977 How can I see student messages?] forum discussion
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=34972 Viewing old messages?] forum discussion

[[Category: Teacher]]
[[Category: Messaging]]

[[es:Mensajería]]
[[fr:Messagerie]]
[[ja:メッセージング]]

Environment

2007-05-28T14:13:01Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

This setting allows administrators compare their server with the minimum requirements for hosting a particular version of moodle.

==1.5.3==

*MySQL version - 3.23 or later is required
*PHP version - 4.1.0 or later is required
*The php_extension mbstring is recommended to be installed/enabled

==1.6==

*MySQL version 4.1.12 or later for sites that are exclusively [http://czyborra.com/charsets/iso8859.html Latin-1], 4.1.16 if you have other languages, or PostgreSQL 7.4.x or later.
*PHP version 4.3.0 or later is required (but don't use versions 5.0.0 to 5.0.6 which were buggy)
*The php_extension iconv is recommended to be installed/enabled
*The php_extension mbstring is recommended to be installed/enabled

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Environnement]]
[[ja:環境]]

LDAP authentication

2007-05-28T14:10:19Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

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. In the drop down listbox titled "Choose an authentication method" select "Use an LDAP Server". 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.
 
 

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| ldap_host_url
| As the IP of your LDAP server is 192.168.1.100, type "'''ldap://192.168.1.100'''" (without the quotes).
|-
| ldap_version
| Unless you are using a really old LDAP server, '''version 3''' is the one you should choose.
|-
| ldap_preventpassindb
| As you '''don't''' want to store the users's password in Moodle's database, choose '''Yes''' here.
|-
| ldap_bind_dn
| 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).
|-
| ldap_bind_pw
| This is the bind user password defined above. Type "'''hardtoguesspassword'''" (without the quotes).
|-
| ldap_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)
|-
| ldap_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.
|-
| ldap_search_sub
| 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'''.
|-
| ldap_opt_deref
| 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'''.
|-
| ldap_user_attribute
| The attribute used to name/search users in your LDAP tree. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_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.
|-
| ldap_memberattribute
| The attribute used to list the members of a given group. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_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'''.
|-
| ldap_objectclass
| The type of LDAP object used to search for users. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_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
|-
| 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 "Change password URL" (at the bottom of the configuration page).

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 is almost not tested, so this may or may not work for other LDAP servers.
|-
| ldap_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, but there is a patch floating around to make it work with MS-AD too (search in the authentication forum).

So unless you have Novell eDirectory server (or use the patch), choose ''No'' here.
|-
| ldap_expiration_warning
| This value sets how many days in advance of password expiration the user is warned that her password is about to expire.
|-
| ldap_exprireattr
| The LDAP user attribute used to check password expiration. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_user_type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.
|-
| ldap_gracelogins
| 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.
|-
| ldap_graceattr
| This setting is currently not used in the code (and is specific to Novell eDirectory).

So you don't need to fill this in.
|-
| ldap_create_context
|
|-
| ldap_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.
|-
| 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
|-
| 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
|-
| 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
|-
| 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
|-
| 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
|-
| Description
| '''description'''

This setting is optional
|-
| ID Number
|

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

This setting is optional
|-
| Instructions
|
|}

The rest of the fields are common to all authentication methods and will not be discussed here..

==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

==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)

==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
* [[LDAP enrolment]]

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Authentication]]

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

Maintenance mode

2007-05-28T14:07:47Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

The idea of maintenance mode is to prevent any users other than admin to use the site while the maintenance process takes place.

When students/guests/teachers try access a course in maintenance mode, they will obtain a message saying the course is in maintenance mode. A customized message may be added, perhaps stating when the site will be available again or giving the reason for doing maintenance.

If for some reason the webinterface is not available you can also put the Moodle installation in maintenance mode by creating a file called ''maintenance.html'' in the folder called ''1'' in your moodle data folder. Any text in that file will be displayed to users trying to access anything other than the frontpage.

==See also==
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=46451 Maintenance mode?] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Mode de maintenance]]
[[ja:メンテナンスモード]]

2.3:HTML editor settings

2007-05-28T14:06:33Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

==Enabling spell-checking==

To use spell-checking within the editor, you MUST have aspell 0.50 or later installed on your server, and you must specify the correct path to access the aspell binary. On Unix/Linux systems, this path is usually ''/usr/bin/aspell'', but it might be something else. On a Windows system it might look like ''c:\program\aspell\bin\aspell'' where the last aspell is the ''aspell.exe'' file. Some people have reported problems with a path like ''c:\program files\aspell'', probably caused by the space before ''files''. It can be best to install aspell in c:\aspell.

[[Configuring aspell on Mac OS X]]

[[Configuring aspell on Windows 2003 Server]]

==External links==

*[http://aspell.sourceforge.net/ GNU Aspell]
*[http://aspell.net/win32/ GNU Aspell (Win32 version)]

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=28465 Check your aspell installation] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41831 When will we be able to use TinyCME in Moodle?] forum discussion

[[Category: Administrator]]
[[ja:エディタ設定]]

HTML editor settings

2007-05-28T14:06:33Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Backup and restore FAQ

2007-05-28T14:05:43Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{FAQ}}
;Site backups
:Site backups, as explained in [[Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data|upgrading Moodle]], are recommended in order to have all data saved with the best confidence and the shortest recovery time.

;Course backups
:Course backups, configured on the [[admin/backup|backup]] page, are more expensive in terms of time and CPU usage. The recovery time to have your site running again is longer. Course backups are useful for obtaining "fresh" copies of courses to be re-used or distributed individually, however they should never be used as a primary backup system (unless your hosting doesn't allow the preferred site backups). In order to make scheduled backups, you have to set up CRON to run periodically. Please refer to the [[Cron|cron instructions]].

==How do I backup my whole Moodle site?==

There are two main things you need to make a copy of - the database and the uploaded files. The Moodle scripts themselves are less important, since you can always download a fresh copy if you have to.

There are many ways to do such backups. Here is an outline of a little script you can run on Unix to backup the database (it works well to have such a script run daily via a cron task):

cd /my/backup/directory
mv moodle-database.sql.gz moodle-database-old.sql.gz
mysqldump -h example.com -u myusername --password=mypassword -C -Q -e -a mydatabasename > moodle-database.sql
gzip moodle-database.sql

For the files, you can use rsync regularly to copy only the changed files to another host:

rsync -auvtz --delete -e ssh mysshusername@example.com:/my/server/directory /my/backup/directory/

'''Character Encoding'''

When dumping the entire Moodle database, Administrators should be careful to watch for possible character encoding issues. In some instances, backups created with mysqldump or phpmyadmin may not properly encode all of the data resulting in spurious A characters. One solution is to use mySQL Administrator 1.1 or another tool that will force a UTF-8 dump of the data.

==How do I restore a backup of my whole Moodle site?==

If you have followed the above instructions and created a backup of a Moodle site, you may need to know how to restore the site backup you created. Here is a set of basic steps that make up the restore process.

1. Rename the original moodle directory to something different (so you still have it) and copy the backed up moodle directory or a newly downloaded moodle directory in its place.

2. If you are running mysql, a backup of the database should be a .sql, .gz or .tar.gz file. If it is .tar.gz or .gz you need to extract it until it is an sql file.

tar -xzvf moodlesqlfile.tar.gz

3. If you are running mysql, import the sql file back into a newly created database on the mysql server. Be careful here, some backups try to import right back into the same working database that moodle is connected to. This causes database problems that damage a Moodle installation. The best thing to do is make a new database, restore the backed up database into it, and change the Moodle config.php file to connect to this new database (this way you still have the original database).

once you have created the new database:
mysql -p new_database < moodlesqlfile.sql

==What data is not contained in course backups?==

By selecting all the options when setting up the backup you can include almost all the data in the course. However you should be aware of the fact that some things are not backed up:
* Quiz questions are only backed up if at least one question from their category has been added to a quiz.
* Scales are only backed up if they are used by at least one activity.

==Error: An error occurred deleting old backup data==

This part of the backup (or restore) procedure tries to delete old info, used in previous executions, performing the following tasks:

* Delete old records from "backup_ids" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old records from "backup_files" table: Check the table exists, repair it and try again.

* Delete old files from "moodledata/temp/backup": Delete the dir completely and try again.

There are various ways of repairing tables, including using MySQL Admin.

==XML error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line YYYY==

This problem can appear at any point in the restore process. It's caused when the XML parser detects something incorrect in the backup file that prevent correct operation. Usually, it's caused by some "illegal" characters added in the original course due to some copy/paste of text containing them (control characters, or invalid sequences...).

The best method to handle this issue is:

* Unzip the problematic backup file under one empty folder.

* Open the moodle.xml with Firefox. It will show you where (exact char) the problem is happening.

* Edit the moodle.xml file with some UTF8-compatible editor and delete such characters. Save changes.

* Test the moodle.xml file again with Firefox until no error was displayed.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but not the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

* Restore still not working? See the next paragraph.

Also, if possible, it's highly recommended to solve those problems in the original course too from Moodle itself. Once "repaired" there, problems will be out if you create new backup files in the future.

==Still XML error: how to clean xml borked file==

In some cases XML backup files may contain characters causing the restore process to abort, even after the steps described in the previous paragraph. In such cases you may want to try the following:

* Download the [http://repository.atlassian.com/atlassian-xml-cleaner/jars/atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar Atlassian XML Cleanr Utility] from the [http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Removing+invalid+characters+from+XML+backups JIRA Atlassian site].

* Unzip the problematic Moodle backup file under one empty folder. Moodle will create the course file folders as long as the unclean moodle.xml file. Please unzip using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Rename the unclean moodle.xml file to moodle-unclean.xml.

* If you don't have access to your Moodle server's command prompt, using the Moodle zip feature, zip the moodle-unclean.xml file only, download the zip file locally and unzip it. It is very important to download the xml file in zipped format to avoid unwanted charachter encoding when transferring from an operating system to another.

* Move the downloaded Atlassian XML Cleaner Utility in the same folder where is your moodle-unclean.xml file.

* Issue the following command from the command prompt:

java -jar atlassian-xml-cleaner-0.1.jar moodle-unclean.xml > moodle.xml

* If you launched the utility on your local computer, zip the just created (and hopefully cleaned) moodle.xml file and upload it in the same place from where you downloaded the moodle-unclean.xml file. Once uploaded, unzip it using the Moodle unzip feature.

* Zip everything again (all the folder contents but the folder itself!).

* Restore the course. It should work now.

==Some of your courses weren't saved!!==

There are three possible causes of this problem:
# Error - this happens when the backup procedure has found an error and so hasn't finished the backup of a particular course. These are "controlled" errors and the scheduled backup continues with the next course.
# Unfinished - this happens when the backup procedure dies without knowing why. When the cron is next executed it detects that the last execution went wrong, and continues skipping the problematic course. A possible solution would be to raise the PHP/Apache limit in your installation (memory, time of execution...). By taking a look to your log tables you should be able to see if the "crash" is happening at exact time intervals (usually a problem with the max_execution_time php's variable), or if there is some exact point were all the courses are breaking (generally internal zip libraries, try to switch to external executables instead).
# Skipped - this happens when a course is unavailable to students and has not been changed in the last month (31 days). This isn't an error situation - it's a feature, especially useful for sites with many unavailable old courses, saving process time.

==Restoring pre 1.6 non-ISO-8859-1 backups to Moodle 1.6 - Unicode==

Any backup files with contents which are not 100% ISO-8859-1 will be a problem to restore to Moodle 1.6 (and upwards) running under Unicode. Instead, please try the following:

# Make a clean install of Moodle 1.5.x (the latest version available)
# Restore all your courses there (they should work if they were working originally)
# Upgrade your site to Moodle 1.6 and run the UTF-8 migration script
# Backup your courses again

This will produce a new set of backup files that will be 100% UTF-8 and you will be able to use them with Moodle 1.6 without any problems.

==Why are some courses being skipped?==

From 1.6 onwards, course backups automatically skip courses which are unavailable to students AND have not been changed in the last month.

== See also ==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=128 Backup and Restore forum]
*[[Backup restore]] Version 1.6 description of screens for both
*[[Restore]] almost same as backup_restore
*[[Roll courses forward]] new Version 1.7 option
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66708 Scheduled backup fails] forum discussion including possible solution to "An error occured while copying files".

== External links ==

*[http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mysql/article.php/10897_3300511_2 Repairing Database Corruption in MySQL]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Backup]]

[[es:FAQ Backup]]
[[fr:FAQ de sauvegarde]]
[[ja:バックアップFAQ]]

Automated course backup

2007-05-28T14:04:23Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

The backup configuration page enables administrators to configure automated course backups and a backup schedule. This menu can be found in the administration block under configuration.

*Course backups are more expensive in terms of time and CPU usage. The recovery time to have your site running again is longer.
*Course backups are useful for obtaining "fresh" copies of courses to be re-used or distributed individually, however they should never be used as a primary backup system (unless your hosting doesn't allow the preferred site backups).
*In order to make scheduled course backups, you have to setup CRON to run periodically. Have a look at [[Cron|Set up cron]] for details.
*Site backups, as explained in [[Upgrading_Moodle#Backup_important_data|upgrading Moodle]], are recommended in order to have all data saved with the best confidence and the shorter recovery time.
{{Moodle 1.6}}
*From 1.6 onwards, course backups automatically skip courses which are unavailable to students AND have not been changed in the last month.

==See also==

*[[Backup FAQ]]
*[[Backup restore]]
[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Backup]]

[[fr:Sauvegarde (administrateur)]]
[[ja:バックアップ (管理者)]]

Filters

2007-05-28T14:03:28Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

'''Filters''' allow for the automatic transformation of entered text into different, often more complex forms. For example the titles of [[Resources|resources]] can automatically become hyperlinks that take you to the relevant resource, URLs pointing to [[mp3]] files can become [[Flash]] controls embedded in the webpage that let you pause and rewind the audio. The possibilities are endless and there are a number of standard filters included with Moodle and many more specialized filters contributed by the community.

Filters are one of Moodle's pluggable resources and may be added or removed simply by using a file manager to add or remove them from the /filters directory. Moodle detects those that are present and makes them available to use.

In versions prior to 1.7, the filters manager and individual filter settings may be found in the site administration block >> [[Configuration]] >> Filters. In 1.7 it can be found in the administration block >> Modules >> Filters.

[[Image:Filters_configuration_table.JPG|thumb|300px|left|Moodle 1.6 Filters administration]]
Prior to Moodle 1.6 the filters administration screen has two columns - '''active''' and '''inactive'''. The arrows are used to move filters from one column to the other. Only filters in the active column will be applied. Note that up and down arrows are provided to the left of the '''active''' column to enable the order in which filters are applied to be changed. In some cases this can be significant.
{{Moodle 1.6}}
Moodle 1.6 has a more unified administration screen (similar to the modules and blocks administration screens).

The filters administration screen enables individual filters to be shown (enabled) or hidden (disabled). Only enabled filters will be applied to displayed text. The order in which filters are applied to displayed text can be significant - you can change the order in which enabled filters are applied using the up and down buttons. The enabled filters are applied from the top of the list down. Some filters have their own settings screen. Please refer to the documentation for the individual filter for more information.

Underneath the filter selection area, there are fields which control the cache.
 

==Filters==

*Activity Names Auto-linking - This scans text for activity titles that exist in the same course and creates a link.
*[[Algebra filter|Algebra]] - This filter will convert algebra code into GIF images. It requires the tex filter to be installed ([[#TeX notation|see below]]). Note also that your system must also include the following Perl module: HTML::Entities.pm
*Database auto-linking - As the name suggests, this filter enables automatic linking of [[Database module]] entries.
*Email Protection - This filter scans the text for any email addresses. Where found they are changed to reduce the chance of being added to a spammers list.
*Glossary auto-linking - As the name suggests, this filter enables automatic linking of [[Glossary module]] entries. In addition to this filter, individual glossary entries should have the "This entry should be automatically linked" box checked.
*[[Multi language content]] - This filter enables resources to be created in multiple languages. It looks for <span lang="xx" class="multilang">... tags which indicate that a text contains multiple languages. Then it selects and outputs the best language for the current user. The language of the resource will change when the user changes their selected Moodle language. Please note: going to the past, the multilang filter supported the <lang> tag. Then, officially, we changed it to the standard HTML tag and the <lang> solution is now deprecated.
*[[Multimedia plugins]]
*Resource Names Auto-linking - The titles of [[Resources]] can automatically become hyperlinks that take you to the relevant resource within the same course.
*[[TeX filter|TeX notation]]
*Tidy - This filter checks whether HTML code is XHTML compliant, tidying where necessary. To make this filter work you need to have PHP compiled with the libtidy option; see http://www.php.net/tidy. The Using Moodle discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=28418 Tidy Filter for Moodle 1.5] contains more details.
*Wiki Page Auto-linking
*[[Word censorship]] - This filter "blacks out" words found on a list.

==Cache Controls==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
*Text cache lifetime - To reduce load on the server and to speed display of pages, Moodle can store previously processed pages (that have not changed) for a period of time. This setting controls the time for which processed pages are stored. A longer setting may improve performance but has the effect that changes to pages may not become visible for a time. You can switch caching off completely here.
*Filter uploaded files - This setting enables uploaded files (HTML and text only) to be processed by the filters system. You can choose to have none, only HTML or all files filtered.
*Filter match once per page - This setting effects the glossary, activity and resource linking filters. If set to yes, only the first match on the complete page will be converted to a link. All others will be ignored.
*Filter match once per text - This setting effects the glossary, activity and resource linking filters. If set to yes, only the first match in a discrete block of text will be converted to a link. All others in that text block will be ignored.
*Filter all strings - When set to yes, almost all Moodle text will be filtered. This is probably only necessary when using the multi-language filter.

==Config.php settings==
{{Moodle 1.5}}
*For Moodle 1.6 see the Cache Settings above. For earlier versions of Moodle, the filter/config.php file will need to be changed for the visual effects below. The following two settings affect the glossary, activity and resource linking filters:
:To convert only the first matching title on a page, insert or uncomment the following line in config.php: <code>$CFG->filtermatchoneperpage = true;</code>
:To convert only the first matching title in a discrete block of text, insert or uncomment the following line in config.php: <code>$CFG->filtermatchonepertext = true;</code>

==See also==

*[[Development:Filters]]
Non-standard filters:

* [[Jmol filter|Jmol]] - for interactive 3D viewing of molecular structures
* [[Code Syntax Highlighting]] - for more readable excerpts of programming languages including [[PHP]], [[HTML]], [[CSS]], and XML amongst many others

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Filter]]

[[es:Filtros (Administrador)]]
[[fr:Filtres (administrateur)]]
[[ja:フィルタ (管理者)]]

Block layout

2007-05-28T14:01:43Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

==Default block layout for new courses==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
*[[Sticky blocks]] may be used in Moodle 1.6.

{{Moodle 1.5}}
To amend the default block layout for new courses in Moodle 1.5, add one or more of the following lines (omitting the forward slashes) to ''config.php'' and amend the block names as required.
// These variables define DEFAULT block variables for new courses
// If this one is set it overrides all others and is the only one used.
// $CFG->defaultblocks_override = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,admin,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity';
//
// These variables define the specific settings for defined course formats.
// They override any settings defined in the formats own config file.
// $CFG->defaultblocks_site = 'site_main_menu,admin,course_list:course_summary,calendar_month';
// $CFG->defaultblocks_social = 'participants,search_forums,calendar_month,calendar_upcoming,social_activities,recent_activity,admin,course_list';
// $CFG->defaultblocks_topics = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,admin,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity';
// $CFG->defaultblocks_weeks = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,admin,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity';
// These blocks are used when no other default setting is found.
// $CFG->defaultblocks = 'participants,activity_modules,search_forums,admin,course_list:news_items,calendar_upcoming,recent_activity';</pre>
(code copied from ''config-dist.php'')

==Resetting the block layout for existing courses==

The block layout for existing courses may be reset by copying the following script into a text file, saving it as ''resetblocks.php'', copying it into the Moodle root directory, then visiting <code><nowiki>http://yourmoodlesite.org/resetblocks.php</nowiki></code>. Please note that a database backup is recommended before using the script. ;-)
<?php
require_once('config.php');
require_once($CFG->libdir.'/blocklib.php');
$courses = get_records('course');
foreach($courses as $course) {
$page = page_create_object(PAGE_COURSE_VIEW, $course->id);
blocks_repopulate_page($page);
}
print_heading('Done!');
?>

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Block]]
[[ja:ブロックレイアウト]]

Blocks administration

2007-05-28T14:00:42Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Location: Administration >> [[Configuration]] >> Blocks

The '''blocks''' configuration page allows you to manage installed blocks and their settings.

== Instances ==

This number tells you how many times a particular type of block is used in the courses on your Moodle site.

== Multiple ==

Some blocks can be added multiple times to the same course. This of course is supported only by blocks for which it makes sense. For example, it makes sense to have two HTML blocks (and configure each one to show something different), but it doesn't make sense to have two Administration blocks. For those blocks which do support multiple instances, the administrator can choose to allow it or not.

== Delete==

To delete a block click here and it will be removed from Moodle. However you will need to use a file manager and remove/delete the actual module directory from the moodle/blocks directory, otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you visit the admin page.

==Adding a non-standard block==

You may add [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] simply by using a file manager to copy the new block as a directory into the moodle/blocks directory and Moodle will install it next time you visit the admin page. Moodle uses the name of the directory as the name of the block. The same applies for blocks which you delete and wish to reinstall later.

==Block configuration==

*[[Courses block configuration|Courses]]
*[[Online Users block configuration|Online Users]]
*[[Remote RSS Feeds block configuration|Remote RSS Feeds]]

==See also==

*[[Block layout]]

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Block]]
[[ja:ブロック管理 (管理者)]]

Activity modules administration

2007-05-28T13:58:30Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Location: Administration >> [[Configuration]] >> Modules

*[[Assignment configuration|Assignment]]
*[[Chat configuration|Chat]]
*[[Database configuration|Database]] (1.6)
*[[Forum configuration|Forum]]
*[[Glossary configuration|Glossary]]
*[[Hotpot configuration|Hotpot]] (1.6)
*[[LAMS configuration|LAMS]] (1.6)
*[[Quiz configuration|Quiz]]
*[[Resource configuration|Resource]]
*[[SCORM/AICC configuration|SCORM/AICC]]

==See also==

*[[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|Non-standard modules]] - a list of additional modules available plus installation instructions

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Modules]]

[[fr:Modules (administrateur)]]
[[ja:モジュール管理 (管理者)]]

Language editing

2007-05-28T12:02:17Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

__NOEDITSECTION__
== Manage language ==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
Moodle 1.6 includes a [[Language import utility]].

== Edit strings ==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
Text in Moodle may be changed by editing the language strings, either via Administration >> [[Configuration]] >> Language or directly i.e. in ''moodledata/lang/''.
* Click the button "switch" and a local language folder, ''parentlanguage_local'', will automatically be created in ''moodledata/lang/''. Files of edited strings will then be saved in this folder. This will prevent your local changes to be overwritten by a newer language pack while updating.
* When returning to edit further strings, check that files of edited strings will again be saved to the folder ''parentlanguage_local'', switching folder if necessary.

[[Image:Edit-strings.gif]]

==Previous admin/lang==
{{Moodle 1.5}}
Text in Moodle 1.5 may be changed by editing the language strings, either via Administration >> [[Configuration]] >> Language or directly e.g. in ''lang/en''.

'''Local language pack'''

To ensure that any changes are not overwritten by a new version when upgrading, you need to create your own local language pack as follows:

* Copy the contents of your language folder (e.g. ''lang/en'') into a new folder (e.g. ''lang/en_local'') - you will need access to the server to achieve this step, it cannot be done from within Moodle.
* Make your local language pack the default for the site via Administration >> [[Configuration]] >> [[Variables]].

== See also ==

* [[Translation]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=43 Languages] forum
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49150 Local language] forum discussion

[[Category: Administrator]]
[[Category:Language]]

[[es:admin/lang]]
[[fr:Langue]]
[[ja:言語]]
[[zh:语言]]

Themes

2007-05-28T12:01:25Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

{{Themes}}

Moodle has a powerful '''themes''' system that allows for a variety of effects through the use of XHTML and CSS.

* Themes may be [[Theme config|configured]] at site level, course level and/or user level.
* Each page is individually-addressable via CSS, allowing you to pinpoint exact items.
* Our CSS class naming system uses simple English, is consistent and easily understood.
* New modules can tell Moodle what styles they need and automatically include these in the stylesheet.
* Themes can be based on the ''standard'' theme, which is very plain but functional. You simply override styles you want to change by adding to the stylesheet in your own theme. This means that if you upgrade Moodle later and new styles are needed, your custom theme will still work without any changes, because the new classes will be defined in the ''standard'' theme.
* Themes can also be based on any other theme. This allows you to easily create families of themes, or variations on a theme. For example you might create a spectrum of pastel shades for use in different courses, but with the same basic layout and logos. You may also want to create a family of differently-coloured themes for accessibility purposes.

== Creating your own theme ==

If you plan to work on your own theme please create a new one (with its own named subfolder) and use Moodle's [what] feature to base your theme on an existing theme such as ''standard''. If you just modify one of the delivered themes it will be overwritten by the next Moodle update.

== Installing your own theme ==

Once you have your own theme created, you should follow these steps to install it on your site:

# Zip the theme folder using winzip or similar
# Upload the .zip file into the theme folder moodle/themes/
# Unzip
# note: make sure the new theme folder and its contents are readable by the webserver. in Mac OS X, set Group and Other privileges to 'Read & Write' (select File> Get Info> Ownership & Permissions) otherwise Moodle may not be able to display the newly installed theme.
# Choose your new theme from within Moodle Admin>Appearances>Themes (version 1.7 +). For older versions, the path is Moodle Admin>Configuration>Themes

== Theme system changes across Moodle versions ==

Moodle 1.5 themes are quite different from previous versions and so a [[Theme upgrade|theme upgrade]] is required. A theme upgrade is also required for the [[1.6 theme upgrade|transition from 1.5 to 1.6]], since the XHTML structure has been reworked for improved [[Accessibility|accessibility]].

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:Themes]]

[[es:Temas]]
[[fr:Thèmes]]
[[ja:テーマ]]

Site settings

2007-05-28T12:00:33Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

This page provides options for defining the appearance of the site homepage.

The site homepage is effectively a course with id = 1 (usually). ''<nowiki>http://yourmoodlesite.org/course/teacher.php?id=1</nowiki>'' may be used to give users other than admins editing rights (including the rights to post in a no discussions, no replies forum or add an entry to a teacher-only glossary) to the site homepage.

== See also ==
* [[Homepage design|Homepage design of moodle.org]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=38614 Front page format] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[ja:サイト設定]]
[[zh:站点设置]]

Variables

2007-05-28T11:59:30Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

== Interface ==

*''lang'' - If you wish to change any text on your site, it is recommended that a local language pack is created. Please refer to [[Language]] for details
*''timezone'' - This field is used to set the default timezone used by Moodle. It effects time-related messages on the system such as assignment deadlines. If you have set this and still have time problems, make sure the time is set correctly on the server. Users can also set their timezone, see [[Edit profile]].
*''themelist'', ''allowuserthemes'', ''allowcoursethemes'' - Please refer to the [[Theme config|Theme configuration]] for details

== Operating System ==

*''slasharguments'' - Please refer to the FAQ [[Installation_FAQ#Uploaded_files_give_.22File_not_found.22|Uploaded files give "File not found"]] and the [[Installing_Moodle#Check_web_server_settings|check web server settings]] instructions

==User==

*''autologinguests'' - Please refer to [[Guest access]]

== Permissions ==

*''opentogoogle'' - Please refer to [[Search engine optimization]] for further information

== Miscellaneous ==

*''maxeditingtime'' - Please refer to the forum discussions [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=28679 Editing a forum post after the 30 minutes deadline] and [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5367 The philosophy underlying "no editing after 30 minutes"]

*''debug'' - Set debug to on in order to get more information about PHP errors. This is often helpful to an administrator when trying to get more information about an error or problem being experienced. Normally, debug is set to off. For more information about debugging in Moodle 1.7 onwards, see [[Debugging]].

== See also ==

*[[Administration FAQ]]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32306 How to make individual course policies (vs. site policies)] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Paramètres techniques]]
[[es:Variables]]
[[ja:詳細設定]]

Upgrading

2007-05-28T11:56:25Z

Topstone: link to Japanese

Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from any earlier version to any later version. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.7]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] for particular considerations related to features of the version you are upgrading to.
__TOC__
When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:

==Check the system requirements==
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]]. Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.

== Backup important data ==

Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.

There are three areas that need backing up:

=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===

Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc

=== 2. Your data directory ===

This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.

=== 3. Your database ===

Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":

mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql

Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.

If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:

mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql

You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. This interface can be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.

== Install the new Moodle software ==

=== Using a downloaded archive ===

Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.

mv moodle moodle.backup
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz

Next, copy across your config.php and any other plugins such as custom themes:

cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme

=== Using CVS ===

You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.

Until 25th April 2007, we only had one server available for anonymous CVS (moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net). Unfortunately this server is now disabled. But you can use any of the [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.

'''For Linux servers'''

To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.

<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki>
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.

Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type

<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@moodle.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki>
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)

To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:

cvs update -dP
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE

Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.

'''For Windows servers'''

You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.

If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.

Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update proces has completed.

== Finishing the upgrade ==

The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.

To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''

It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.

Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.

Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]
*[[Installing Moodle]]
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial].
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated] forum discussion with a happy ending :-)
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg.] forum discussion

[[Category:Core]]
[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Actualización de moodle]]
[[fr:Mise à jour]]
[[ja:アップグレード]]
[[nl:Upgraden]]
[[zh:升级]]

Administrator documentation

2007-05-28T11:29:57Z

Topstone: link to Japanese page

The purpose of this page is to list useful links by general topics for administrators.

== Installation & Upgrading ==

*[[Installation Quickstart]] for an overview of the installation steps
*[[Installing Moodle]] for detailed installation instructions
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Installing AMP|Installing Apache, MySQL and PHP]]
*[[Upgrading|Upgrading Moodle]]

== System-specific Instructions & Packages ==

* [[SUSE Linux Server 10|Automated Installation Guide for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10]] operating system
* [[RedHat Linux installation|Step by Step Installation Guide for RedHat]] operating system
* [[Debian GNU/Linux installation|Step by Step Installation Guide for Debian GNU/Linux]] operating system
* [[Step-by-step Install Guide for Ubuntu]]
* [[Windows installation|Complete Install Packages for Windows XP and instructions for Windows NT/2000/2003 servers]]
* [[Complete Install Packages for Mac OS X]]
* [[Step-by-step Guide for Installing Moodle on Mac OS X 10.4 Client | Step-by-Step Guide for Installing Moodle using the internal web server on Mac OS X 10.4 Client]]

==Security, Performance and Roles==

*[[Security]] contains important security procedures for a production site
*[[Performance | Performance and optimization]] for ideas on improving the speed of your installation
*[[Manage roles | Managing roles]] For Moodle 1.7 and later

== FAQs ==

*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Administration FAQ]]
*[[Backup FAQ]]

== Configuration Settings ==

*[[Variables]]
*[[Site settings]]
*[[Themes]]
*[[Language]]
*[[Modules (administrator)|Modules]]
*[[Blocks (administrator)|Blocks]]
*[[Filters (administrator)|Filters]]
*[[Backup (administrator)|Backup]]
*[[Editor settings]]
*[[Calendar (administrator)|Calendar]]
*[[Maintenance mode]]

* See also: [[Location of admin settings in 1.7|Comparision between configuration settings in Moodle 1.6 & 1.7]]

==User Management==

*[[Authentication]]
*[[Edit user accounts]]
*[[Edit profile|Add a new user]]
*[[Flat file|Upload users]]
*[[Enrolment plugins]]
*[[Courses (administrator)|Enrol students]]
*[[Courses (administrator)|Assign teachers]]
*[[Assign creators]]
*[[Assign administrators]]

==Other==

*[[Courses (administrator)|Courses]] and [[Course formats|course formats]]
*[[Logs]]
*[[Site files]]
*[[Moodle database|Database]]
*[[Environment]]
*[[Moodle Network]] and Moodle Community Hub

==See also==

*[[:Category:Administrator | Index of all Administrator-related pages]]
*[[Integrations]]
*[[CVS (administrator)|CVS documentation]]
*[[Email processing]]
*[[Search engine optimization]]
*[[Messaging]]
*[[Migration]]
*[[Metacourses]]
*[[Block layout]]
*[[Customizing Moodle]]
*[[Administrator do's and don'ts]]
*[http://download.moodle.org/docs/using_moodle/ch16_server_admin.pdf Using Moodle Chapter 16: Moodle Administration]

[[Category: Administrator]]
[[cs:Rukověť správce]]
[[es:Documentación para Administradores]]
[[fr:Documentation administrateur]]
[[ja:管理者ドキュメント]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor beheerders]]
[[zh:管理员文档]]