The Moodle 2.0 release notes state:
"All files are stored in an internal encrypted database, with full meta data (author, date, license, etc)"
Can anyone clarify what exactly this means? Are files going to now be stored as Blobs in the SQL database?
I think I have clarified that bit of the release notes, it was a bit confusing.
Files are still stored on disc. If the same file is uploaded more than once, it is still only stored once. (The file on disc has a name that is the sha1 hash of the file contents.)
There is then one or more rows in the files table in the database that says where the file is used, who put it there, and so on.
Files are still stored on disc. If the same file is uploaded more than once, it is still only stored once. (The file on disc has a name that is the sha1 hash of the file contents.)
There is then one or more rows in the files table in the database that says where the file is used, who put it there, and so on.
Thanks!
That would explain why I am having a problem. I have far too many files to go through when trying to add an image, say. To create a new repository, I need to go to the moodledata folder, then create the folder manually then loose it somewhere because I cannot access it? Or do I go to the database in phpmyAdmin and create it manually then activate it? Or what?
Tim, I am being narky here I got seriously busy in the last part of the year and have left Moodle 2.0 alone, and now the latest release is a bit different to what I seem to recall. File handling is a lot more complex than I thought it was and I am not getting access to the zip files I need to. I can upload it, but I cannot find/replace the location strings with a valid address of an image as I do not seem to be able to import and unzip a file to a place where the images can be accessed from a course. (I am a little frustrated, I have a graphic design course with over 400 images and screen grabs, not to mention videos, PDFs and other docs that is just taking far too long to set up in Moodle 2.0 when I seem to have to reconstruct every image, every link on every page. At 70 pages, plus external links, a course this big becomes unmanageable and it is unrealistic for me to be spending so much time setting it up.)
I just cannot see how this is even working! The instructions given in the File Handling 2.0 and then in File system Repository configuration do not seem to make sense, they refer to things that have seemed to have disappeared. Where is the button at the bottom of the page to link into a created repository? How can I create a repository if I do not have access to the moodledata folder? I would suggest the documentation is seriously lagging at this point, something that is going to have to be remedied, but how?
Have you looked at Gavin's screencast here http://moodle.drupalgardens.com/article/tue-06152010-1918/ftp-files-moodle-20-repository-api (bottom of docs page) Does that help? And no -if you don't have access to the server to create your repository then you can't make one. (But then if the admin added another repo like google docs or dropbox, users could lift files from there)
That is certainly true Mary, but the problem in our very generic system is that many of the people who are making decisions about what is acessible for students have little or no idea of what these things are. This obviously leads to fear, fear of litigation mostly, so they lock things down so tightly that you need to make requests for things to be accessible in triplicate. (For example, look at the late Harry Siedel's architectural site, blocked under the heading of "pornography". Harry Siedel is our Frank Lloyd Wright, and as imaginative as any architect could be in a very conservative 1950s. You would not believe the nonsense I went through to get access.) Thanks for the video tip, hopefully that will clear up some of this.
btw.. I have updated to the 20101225 build, but this magic button has not reappeared..
Which magic button, Colin? Ah - did you mean from this section of the docs? When I had enabled file system repo in site admin, at the bottom of the next screen I got the next screenshot
And when I went into a course as admin I had a link "repositories" in my course admin settings and when I clicked on that, it brought up a screen like here:
Thanks Mary, I got it, eventually, in this case the term "filesystem" does not refer to Moodle 2.0 file system but rather to a local possible repository. The penny dropped at last and I am working it out, badly.
However, my essential problem remains. I followed all instructions and now have a "graphicdesign" repository, but it does not do what I want it to do. So either I am asking too much, or I am going about it the wrong way.
This is the same conversation we had nearly three years ago, I seem to recall, before I got serious about using Moodle. What I want to do is to have a single file upload consisting of an unbelievable 740 images, 32 videos, 16 PDFs and 14 word documents in 14 folders held in a single repository. That works, really well using FTP. Being an incredibly lazy schmuck, what I want to do next is to take the code from the page opened in my text editor, or even using the find/replace in TinyMCE, and insert into it the appropriate paths to each image, video, PDF and Word file used in that page, rather than do it all, again, manually. That is where it is going wrong - it is not working as I would like it to. So am I doing it wrong or am I pushing it trying to accomplish something that cannot be done? Any ideas?
Cheers...
EDIT: I just had another thought, if I have it right, new courses are actually created and stored in the database, not in the moodledata folder. If so, then is it possible to produce an upload page for each course that loads files directly into the database?
Well, that is sorted, but I am still handling individual files and links manually, anyone have a suggestion?