Block queries

Block queries

by M O'S -
Number of replies: 9
Hi,

I'm just wondering if the following are possible to do within a block, and how to go about doing them..

When a block is first installed, I want to generate a random string and insert it into a database table. Is it possible to detect when a block is first installed within a course and where would the code go for this?

Is it possible to output the time/date of when cron last ran on the main interface of a block? Ideally this would go in the get_content() function?

Thanks smile
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In reply to M O'S

Re: Block queries

by M O'S -
Update:
I solved the first query of generating a random string to insert into a table.

I am still trying to figure out the following:
Is it possible to output the time/date of when cron last ran on the main interface of a block?

How to determine when a course starts/ends? In the context of a course beginning every academic year (same taught course but different students/maybe different resources), how to determine this and to clean out database from previous year?

Hope this make sense.
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In reply to M O'S

Re: Block queries

by Alejandro Michavila Pallarés -
Hi Megan, yeah it's possible to output the time/date. Check the data base table where the plugin's cron is store, then select the last run timestamp column. There are PHP functions to convert timestamp to a readable time/date. HTH
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In reply to Alejandro Michavila Pallarés

Re: Block queries

by M O'S -
Hi Alejandro,

I found the mdl_block data base table which stores plugins and the last cron timestamp column, but my block is not listed in the table. How do I add it to the table? When I run my cron function at the moment, I am usually running it manually from cron.php for testing.

Thanks,

Megan
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In reply to M O'S

Re: Block queries

by Howard Miller -
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Megan,

What version of Moodle are we talking about? In Moodle 2.0 you can have a script called db/install.php in any plugin that runs after installation. I don't think there's such a thing in 1.9 unfortunately
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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Block queries

by M O'S -
I am using 1.9 and so are the party I'm developing for. Thanks anyway smile

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Block queries

by Hubert Chathi -
In Moodle 1.9, blocks have an after_install method that is called when the block is installed, and an instance_create method that is called when a block instance is created.
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In reply to Hubert Chathi

Re: Block queries

by Alejandro Michavila Pallarés -

Megan, remember to upgrade your block version (in version.php) when you modify the cron time. That will update the mdl_block table with your new cron time value.

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In reply to Alejandro Michavila Pallarés

Re: Block queries

by M O'S -
Alejandro, I just have the following in my block.php

function init() {
$this->title = get_string('blockname', 'block_myblock');
$this->version = 2011013000;
$this->cron = 300;
}

I am using Moodle 1.9 so I am not sure I require a version.php
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