link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Lael ... -
Number of replies: 9

Situation is this - I create a file / copy a file into the file repo. I link to the file either as a hyperlink, or as a resource>>file link on the course page. I then update / change the file, but retain the same file name.

What happens next? On the test version of Moodle 2 I've installed the file remains at the previous version. If I move the file - it still seems to link fine. Does this mean (I'm guessing from reading etc I've done on the new repo system) that the file that Moodle is serving is the one that has been copied into the Moodle file store - not the one in the repo?

Is there a way to allow the 'linking' system on a File Repository? ie - user always gets the most recent file ( or is this something that is waiting for file synchronisation for? - from the file repo doc - any news on when that feature might happen?.... would really make a lot of people's days I think! smile )

What about in the Legacy Course Files? (the docs seemed to indicate that it might work - have not tested it yet)

 

Oh - PS - Congratulations on the 2.0 release! Its awesome!

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In reply to Lael ...

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Rainer Schaufelberger -

Sorry that I can't contribute to finding a solution for your problem.

I have spent some time to find out about the File System Repository and came to the conclusion that it is quiet useless at this stage. I can't understand why the developers did not pay enough attention to the file handling. I still don't have a valuable solution to integrate a Mini HTML-Website that I edit with Dreamweaver.

I think the only way to get out of this dilemma is that users keep on posting in the moodle forums to get some attention.

Cheers

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In reply to Rainer Schaufelberger

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Chad Outten -

@Rainer you say: "I think the only way to get out of this dilemma is that users keep on posting in the moodle forums to get some attention."

I say, feel free to contribute suggested feature improvements over at Moodler Tracker. http://tracker.moodle.org

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In reply to Chad Outten

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Rainer Schaufelberger -

I might have expressed my dilemma not in an appropriate way. English is not my first language. What I would like to say is that you have to be active and find other people that have similar problems in the forum to get people with good knowlegde (developers) to write documentation.

I know that people contribute for free for this project. I don't want to critisize them.

Before I coud suggest feature improvements, I have to find out how (in our example) the File System should work. That's not easy! My investigation so far is as follows:

When you select a file from the File Repository with the file picker then Moodle stores that file in the Moodle data directory \filedir. It uses some hash algorithm to store the files. When a file is used in a resoucre i.g. File, than the resource finds that file in the \filedir directory.

What happens to your "File resource" if you change the content of a file (say an text document) in the File Repository? - Nothing!

Now, - I would like to know if that is intentionally made like this? Is it a bug or is that an issue that needs discussion for an improvement?

I haven't found out yet.

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In reply to Rainer Schaufelberger

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Chad Outten -

When you say:

What happens to your "File resource" if you change the content of a file (say an text document) in the File Repository? - Nothing!

I'm presuming you have edited the file locally, saved it, then re-uploaded. Correct? If you have not (re)named the file something other than the original file name, that will explain why the changes are not reflected in moodle. Moodle is still referencing the original file in its database. This is not a bug.

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In reply to Chad Outten

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Rainer Schaufelberger -

When you say that this behaviour is not a bug then I ask you to explain me the purpose of the File System Repository?

I expected the File System Repository to be a place where you can "link" files from Moodle. Or, that Moodle somehow synchronizes these files.

When I know that the File System Repository will not work how I expect then I will suggest a improvement and post the topic somewhere else, of course.

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In reply to Chad Outten

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Gerrard Shaw -

Just been reading this thread via email updates and reading the replies I'm a bitc confused as well.

Is there no way in 2.0 as it stands to have a central resource library \ repository where you can upload and update files? When adding that resource to a course it should be linking to the shared resource in the repository and as such appears to update as the centrally stored file changes?

If not then I really can't see the point of calling it a repository as that's surely a basic feature requirement?

Hopefully there's something obvious I've missed...

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In reply to Chad Outten

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Lael ... -

@ Chad - yes, exactly. I think you are technically right, its not a 'bug' - but really, I don't think that is the expected behaviour that any normal end user would expect. I suspect most people expect that they can edit the file in the File repository and see the file updated on the server.

I think generally there is a confusion about repositories - because it seems like for a lot of the 'repositories' its really - 'a place I can upload from' but there is no two way interaction (file updates when I change it, or moodle prompts me that it has updated and allows me to choose) that really is what I believe most people are after.

 

@ Gerrard - I'm wondering the same thing. I was hoping file system repository would allow this. I'm looking at Alfresco now, having heard it is good, but only just in preliminary stages of it.

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In reply to Lael ...

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Noel Chidwick -

I'm glad I found this thread. It has taken me a few days of wrestling with the new model of repositories to come to the conclusions you've reached here.

What I would have expected too was a place to store files that could be linked to from any course (with appropriate permissions). The benefit of this is obvious: that file can be viewed in a number of places, yet, if the original is modified, the changes are automatically seen in the 'aliases'.

Instead, we have a system where a copy is made of the original file, and stored 'somewhere'. So there could be many copies of that file in your moodle. If the original is changed, the copies are not changed because there is no link between the copies and the original.

This is not what I expected.

And it seems to be a feature, not a bug - am I correct?

I've tried using the Legacy Course files, but that works in the 'new' way too. If I use the same graphic in two place in  a course, two copies of the original graphic are created and stored separately. When once there was one file, now there are three. To change the graphic, I now have to re-upload the file, and then re insert the graphic twice. In Moodle 1.9 all I had to do was replace the original graphic file: no further tinkering required.

Is that correct?

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In reply to Noel Chidwick

Re: link file using file sys repo, change file, what happens?

by Matt Fedorko -

I knew this was the way this behaved, and was prepared to deal with it, but I think it's pretty funny that no one's sure if the behavior we're seeing is a bug or a feature.

I've only had real troubles with this when trying to move sections of pages around inside Lessons. Let's say I've determined a page in a Lesson is too long, or covers too many topics, so I want to break it up into 3 pages. In 1.9, I would've gone into the editor and open up the HTML and copy and paste the final 2/3 into Notepad, then make 2 additional pages, and copy and paste half of the html into one page, half in the other. Unfortunately, in 2.0 I can no longer do this without having to reinsert all of the images into the second pages.

I have found this type of manipulation happens all of the time among the teachers I deal with in Moodle.

I have ALSO found that updating a picture that's used multiple times happens all of the time among the teachers I deal with.

I'm not sure I prefer the 1.9 model over the 2.0 model, but 2.0 certainly has some quirks I do not enjoy.

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