John Tutchings

Made the mod at the end of

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=82806#p486405

Looking at tracking alterations  to the gradebook in Moodle, the first place to start is the “gradelib” in the lib directory.  The functions that jumps to mind would be the grade_update one, this seems to create the grade if it is a new one as well so hopefully it will be the place to do it.

Turns out that it is the grade/report/grader/lib.php process_data that holds the key.

~/lib/gradelib grade_update()

grade_update($source, $courseid, $itemtype, $itemmodule, $iteminstance, $itemnumber, $grades=NULL, $itemdetails=NULL)   X-Ref

Submit new or update grade; update/create grade_item definition. Grade must have userid specified,

rawgrade and feedback with format are optional. rawgrade NULL means ‘Not graded’, missing property

or key means do not change existing.

Only following grade item properties can be changed ‘itemname’, ‘idnumber’, ‘gradetype’, ‘grademax’,

‘grademin’, ’scaleid’, ‘multfactor’, ‘plusfactor’, ‘deleted’ and ‘hidden’. ‘reset’ means delete all current grades including locked ones.

Manual, course or category items can not be updated by this function.

param: string $source source of the grade such as ‘mod/assignment’

param: int $courseid id of course

param: string $itemtype type of grade item - mod, block

param: string $itemmodule more specific then $itemtype - assignment, forum, etc.; maybe NULL for some item types

param: int $iteminstance instance it of graded subject

param: int $itemnumber most probably 0, modules can use other numbers when having more than one grades for each user

param: mixed $grades grade (object, array) or several grades (arrays of arrays or objects), NULL if updating grade_item definition only

param: mixed $itemdetails object or array describing the grading item, NULL if no change

We also  need to look at adding to the log files, this is done using the add_to_log function.

Things to watch for is if the person is logged in as so that we record the fact that someone was impersonating someone to make the changes and record who the real user is and who they were impersonating.

add_to_log($courseid, $module, $action, $url=”, $info=”, $cm=0, $user=0)   X-Ref

Add an entry to the log table.

Add an entry to the log table.  These are “action” focussed rather

than web server hits, and provide a way to easily reconstruct what

any particular student has been doing.

param: int     $courseid  The course id

param: string  $module  The module name - e.g. forum, journal, resource, course, user etc

param: string  $action  ’view’, ‘update’, ‘add’ or ‘delete’, possibly followed by another word to clarify.

param: string  $url     The file and parameters used to see the results of the action

param: string  $info    Additional description information

param: string  $cm      The course_module->id if there is one

param: string  $user    If log regards $user other than $USER

We have included the user’s username on the “Admin/Users/Accounts/Browse List of User” page by following the guide at http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=142294

Edit ~moodle/grade/report/user/lib.php line 98Change $this->showrange = true;to$this->showrange = false;

I needed to replicate an ISS web server several times on to different servers so using the AppCmd.exe command, that is found in  %windir%\system32\inetsrv\ directory, it was a simple case of LISTing the APPPOOLs and the APPs in xml files. The files needed to be edited to remove any duplicates for current app pools that already existed and then the xml files were ADDed.

To Export

1. AppCmd.exe LIST APP  /config /XML > applications.xml
2. AppCmd.exe LIST APPPOOL  /config /XML > apppools.xml

To Import

1. AppCmd.exe ADD APP /IN < applications.xml
2. AppCmd.exe ADD APPPOOL /IN < apppools.xml

I have recently been asked about an app for i-phone/pads/touch that could allow for a set of random questions from a Moodle course to be downloaded to the app, allow the students to work on the questions and then upload the answers to Moodle for marking.As with all technology  it would be possible, again with all these things there are a load of “buts” and “what ifs” but I’ll come on to those later.  First I’ll mull over how it may work as it sounds more positive

So How It May Work

•  The student downloads the app from the app store
• They start the app which starts with a Wizard to find out their username, password, Moodle installation and the course where the questions are stored
• After selecting the correct Moodle course a random set of questions are downloaded to the i-device so they can be used off-line
• The student works through the questions in their own time
• When they are ready the student selects the option to upload their answers
• The answers supplied are fed into the Moodle quiz
• The next set of questions are then downloaded

Sounds simple.
Now For The Buts and What Ifs

One big one is who is allowed to download the questions, well we are getting the student to authenticate to Moodle so we know who they are and what access they have.

At Coventry we run Moodle using Moodle NetWork, that means we have a Hub and each Faculty has their own installation hung off it.  One of the affects of this is that you can not log in directly to a Faculty, you have to go to the Hub first. This can be worked around as the Hub lists all the courses that a student is enrolled on and as part of the Wizard mentioned above.

A more difficult one is versioning , because the whole system is asynchronous we have problems with the version of a question that a student downloads and the current version of the question in the question bank.  Their are several reasons why a question may be updated in Moodle from simply fixing a spelling mistake to correcting an answer.  Questions may also be removed from Moodle which has already been download by the student.

The app would either have to be able to handle all the question types that are available in Moodle or you would need to be aware that the question bank must have a restriction on the type of questions used.  In the description of some questions it is possible to link to resources that the student should read/watch/listen to before answering the question, these external references would need to be accessible to the device, which may limit if you could answer the question off-line and also restrict what type of resource you use: Sorry Apple folks no Flash.

Now More Positive Bits

I believe that most of this can be done without touching the Moodle code base, it should be possible to do this using an intermediate layer knows how to talk to the app and also talk to the various components in Moodle.  If this intermediate layer was created it should also mean that other mobile devices could do the same, e.g. Andriod phones

Any additional resources for the questions could possible come from a pod/vod cast.

Thinking of installingUnanswered Discussions http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=4027Slide-Cast http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=4033Editor Hack http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=3945Public Private http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=2768Trouble Ticket http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1840

To sort the course list order in Moodle for users you can edit

moodle/my/index.php line 70 and change the default to

$courses = get_my_courses($USER->id, ‘visible DESC,fullname DESC’, ‘*’, false, $courses_limit);

for the main page

Moodle/lib/datalib.php line 1488

$sql = “SELECT c.id, c.remoteid, c.shortname, c.fullname,
c.hostid, c.summary, c.cat_name,
h.name AS hostname
FROM   {$CFG->prefix}mnet_enrol_course c
JOIN   {$CFG->prefix}mnet_enrol_assignments a ON c.id=a.courseid
JOIN   {$CFG->prefix}mnet_host h        ON c.hostid=h.id
WHERE  a.userid={$userid}
order by c.fullname desc”;

I have found an application to load on my Smart Phone to allow it to read QR Codes.The above QR Code is the url for this blog and was generated using http://qrcode.kaywa.com/. My phone can read it because I install NeoReader from http://get.neoreader.com.You can also generate them at http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/I found a reader that works really well at http://www.i-nigma.com/Downloadi-nigmaReader.html or go to http://www.i-nigma.mobi on your mobile.  This app will work with v-cards and sms qr codes.