[Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

[Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by Martin Vögeli -
Number of replies: 6

Dear Mary & Miriam smile

I'm in the process of fixing a Moodle bug [1], which has the effect that the Safe Exam Browser (SEB) [2] window is not safe. The second patch [3] I've come up with involves an additional layout. That's why Tim Hunt asked me to get your opinion. This is a copy of my reasoning back at the Moodle Tracker:

"It [the patch] works out of the box with the standard themes because there is no additional CSS. Moreover, it affects only those who actually use the SEB or the secure window (if we use the same layout) in the first place. So if there is an issue with a custom theme one resorts to the standard.

Before I created the layout "safebrowser" (we better call it "secure", as it also works for the secure window) I tried to use the existing ones. But (for example) there was no way to rid the user's name from the profile link or to remove the logout. With a heavy heart, I decided to create a new layout.

But if there really is no way this patch can be part of Moodle I'd like a nudge in the right direction. Because we really want this loophole fixed for the ever growing SEB community. So, if necessary I'll deliver a third version of the patch which will consider both past and future inputs of your part."

Please help me out! If you're okay with the patch, we can go on...

[1] http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-31365
[2] http://www.safeexambrowser.org/
[3] https://github.com/birdy1976/moodle/[...]

Best wishes, Martin martin

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In reply to Martin Vögeli

Re: [Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by Mary Evans -
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Hi Martin,

Creating a new layout sounds like the way to go, this way, as you are probebly finding, you have more control over the page and the actual layout, which does not necessarily need to be in the same layout style as Base theme.

I'll take a look at what you are doing in MDL-31365 and also check out the links you added.

Thanks for the heads-up on this, it's always good to find out what's happening with BUG fixing and new developments especially.

Cheers

Mary

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: [Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by Martin Vögeli -

Dear Mary smile

Thx for your speedy reply... I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Best wishes, Martin smile

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In reply to Martin Vögeli

Re: [Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by Mary Evans -
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Hi Martin,

I don't know enough about coding Moodle and so feel frustrated that I can't do more to help you.

However, I did find a recent discussion where Tim Hunt explained how to set up a new pagelayout in a theme. You will find the relevent information in the attached file, which is more to do with blocks, but it is interesting nonetheless, and I hope you find it useful with regards to the Safe Exam Browser layout.

As I said, the attached file (test.php) explains how to create a new instance of pagelayout for a specific purpose as you described in MDL-31365.

So in config it would look like this...

    // Pages for Safe Exam Browser that appear in pop-up windows - no navigation, no blocks, no header.
    'safebrowser' => array(
        'file' => 'safebowser.php',
        'regions' => array(),
        'options' => array('nofooter'=>true, 'nonavbar'=>true, 'nocustommenu'=>true, 'nologininfo'=>true),
    ),

which is, I think, what you need.

Of course I may have got all this wrong, but I trust Tim will be able to help sort it out if I have, although he is busy I am sure he will find time.

Cheers

Mary

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In reply to Mary Evans

Re: [Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by Martin Vögeli -

Dear Mary smile

Thank you for your confirmation! That's exactly what I did with my patch for MDL-31365... Tim was worried that the themes team would have objections to a new page layout especially for the Safe Exam Browser (SEB) and secure window exams but now we can go on. Big thanks again for your most useful input cool

Best wishes, Martin smile

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In reply to Martin Vögeli

Re: [Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by Mary Evans -
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Tim is right in a way as this is going to be a lot of work for me, but if you get this approved for Base theme I don't see it being too difficult to implement in all themes as it would be just a matter of adding in the new $THEME->layout for SEB into each theme's config.php, so that when it is requested it will automatically get the safebrowser.php from BASE theme.

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In reply to Martin Vögeli

Re: [Moodle Tracker] MDL-31365: Safe Exam Browser window is not safe

by John St -

I would have to agree with Tim. This is going to produce a bug in literally hundreds of custom themes. I just can't see a new layout for such a small (no offense intended) piece of Moodle.  

I personally would be against this unless it was the absolute last resort, after you have exhausted every other avenue imaginable. Please, please rethink this. 

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