Moodle in English: Certificate update.

Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Friday, 3 February 2012, 11:56 AM

Hi all,

For those that do not know, I am the maintainer for this plugin (my name at the top of this forum might be a give away ).

The plugin was not originally developed by me, but was written by Chardelle Busch. For the most part I have simply been tidying up the code and fixing any bugs that are reported. However, that is soon to change. I am writing just to let you know that there will be a new largish update for the certificate (expected by the end of the month) that will involve a complete re-write of the certificate type system (as there is a lot of redundant code that can be avoided) which will take an object oriented approach (much like the mod/assignment types). I will also be introducing more options in the certificate settings, and am currently in the process of deciding as to whether to simply add new columns to the existing certificate table, or create a new table with 3 columns (id, name of the setting, setting value) which will make it more scalable as there are numerous new settings to add (position of fonts, seals, borders, font sizes for each section etc etc).

To keep track of this update I suggest visiting github.com, creating an account (very simple) and then visiting https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_certificate and click on the watch icon. This will mean you can keep track of every code update, line by line, that takes place.

I will be posting more here closer to the release date. Such as how to create new certificate types for the new system. Please note, the certificate types included in the module (A4_embedded, A4_non_embedded, letter_embedded and letter_non_embedded) will automatically be converted, so if you have not created any new certificate types the upgrade process *should* appear seamingless.

[EDIT] I have decided to create a new module instead, rather than upgrading this one as it is impossible to know what code people have placed in their custom certificate types meaning I can not upgrade them without issues. The new module is in development and is located at https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_customcert

I will still be providing support for the old module and fixing bugs, but do not plan on adding any new improvements.

Regards,

Mark

Average of ratings: Useful (8)

Re: Certificate update.

by Ronald Gardner - Friday, 3 February 2012, 8:49 PM

Mark,

I consider this to be great news! Thank you for informing us and making this process transparent.

I sincerly hope that you will reinstall the "Minimum required minutes in course " feature to the certificate module. I'm running 17 courses on the older Moodle version whose regualtory exceptance is dependent on my guarantee that the candidate is in the course, or in their seat for a minimum time.

My Moodle provider is moving all courses to the 2.++ version soon. I am an educator, not a developer, thus these opportunities I've developed will be available in the new system if your work is successful.

Wish you good luck and success.

Ron

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Sunday, 5 February 2012, 12:09 AM

Hi Ronald,

I have not forgotten your request for this in the tracker.

I will be introducing this functionality as part of the update.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Chris Collman - Friday, 3 February 2012, 9:53 PM

Thanks Mark for the notice and all the hard work. Next week I will take a look at the code and install it in one of my localhosts.

Chris

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Sunday, 5 February 2012, 12:08 AM

Hi Chris, Thanks for your offer!

However, the update is still a work in progress and has not been pushed to the repository yet, there is still a bit of code left to do meaning this update won't be available til around the end of the month.

This forum post was just to let people know that the future update was going to involve large changes, and that any current custom certificate types people may have created will need to be manually updated, as providing backwards compatibility is not going to be possible.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Chris Collman - Monday, 6 February 2012, 12:20 AM

Hi Mark, Give me a shout either here or a message. Thanks for the progress report and all your work!!!

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Re: Certificate update.

by Luis de Vasconcelos - Thursday, 9 February 2012, 6:36 PM

Good news! Thanks.

Are you maintianing this Certificate module in your personal capacity, or as a Pukunui Technologies (Moodle partner) employee? In other words, will any changes to the module have Pukunui's "stamp of approval"?

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Friday, 10 February 2012, 12:06 PM

Hey Luis,

I am maintaining the certificate plugin in my own time, but when I release the next update I will be getting co-workers to test and review the code.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Luis de Vasconcelos - Thursday, 9 February 2012, 7:41 PM

Do you also support the Site Wide Certificate Report?

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Friday, 10 February 2012, 12:08 PM

Sorry, no I do not. It may be something I address after I am happy with the certificate progress.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Friday, 10 February 2012, 12:25 PM

Ok, some more development news.

I came up with an idea that wouldn't involve any certificate types whatsoever. After much discussion it was decided that this would have to be a new certificate plugin.

The new idea revolves around only one image being uploaded (the certificate background) via the certificate settings page (no need to FTP to the moodle directory to add images). The content of the certificate will be generated via html editors, where you can add stylised text. You will be able to add unlimited htmlareas and specify the location (posx and posy) on the pdf. There will also be an undetermined list of database fields (eg. student name, grade for an activity, time spent on course, etc), that you can add to each htmleditor.

The reason this is going to have to be a new activity module is because it will be impossible to upgrade existing certificates to the new format (ie. combining the border, seal, logo images into one usable image).

However, I will finish the update to this module first before I begin development on the new activity.

Regards,

Mark

Average of ratings: Useful (3)

Re: Certificate update.

by Simon Phipps - Monday, 20 February 2012, 9:28 AM

Hi Mark,

The new certificate idea sounds exactly what we've been looking for!

It's great to know how much work is still going into this module and eventually the new one.

Thanks!

Simon

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Re: Certificate update.

by Jose Navas - Thursday, 16 February 2012, 6:25 AM

Hi Mark,

I'm glad to hear that the Certificate plugin has a maintainer and that you have future plans for it!

I'm following the certificate development since a while, since Chardelle was the maintainer, and one of the features that I was more excited about, is the re-issue of the certificate, in which a student can re-issue their certificate after he has completed a certain conditional activity (maybe passing a quiz again, or another activity).

Thanks for consider my comment and I wish you the best in this project and all other things in life.

Best Regards

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 20 February 2012, 2:47 PM

Hi Jose,

Currently there is the ability to reissue certificates, but there was an issue with this functionality in Moodle 2.0. I have just released a patch once this was brought to my attention that addresses multiple issues, one where the reissue certificate functionality was not working.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Wednesday, 22 February 2012, 12:09 PM

Hi Guys,

Here is an update, with a screenshot of the new certificate settings page. Please note, this code is not currently available as it is still in development stages.

The screenshot shows how you can position elements (all the elements with a green asterix next to them are only shown when you hit 'show advanced'). Currently they are blank when you first create a certificate, but this will change, I don't expect all teachers to remember the position of every single item on the page! The certificate type is responsible for preloading these values with defaults if there are no values set in the database. Originally there were 4 certificate types that came with this module, I have cut this down to one. The upgrade script will handle transferring the data for these certificate types into the database, however I can not do this for any certificate types that were custom created, which will need to be redone. The new certificate type system *should* make it easy for you to convert existing certificate types you may have created into the new format. The only thing you will need to do is overwrite the function that specifies the default values, so that the form can be prepopulated with those attributes.

I also plan on adding a colour picker, but this is something I have yet to look into thoroughly. Currently you can choose a colour when editing theme settings, so hopefully it won't be too difficult to replicate this when editing a module.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Wednesday, 22 February 2012, 1:12 PM

Another image attached.

Ok, so another update.

This is by no means the end result. I have already had some feedback about the position X and Y being confusing, as well as the page appearing daunting with so many settings being displayed.

I am changing my approach so that a user can add a field to the form, and set the settings for this field in a pop-up, which will then add it to a list of fields that are displayed on the certificate. This will also be the same for images, with an add image button (with the ability to upload your own image). The certificate type will be responsible for defining what fields/images are displayed when initially creating the form.

Hmm .. a lot more work to be done with so little time!

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Re: Certificate update.

by Kirk Holder - Monday, 27 February 2012, 11:55 PM

Mark,

I like where you're taking the certification module, Can I put in a request that the "code" be user definable we have a need, to be able to put in a code that would be generated for the first part of the code is fixed the second part is randomly generated. Example ( DMC-D - ######) Or (D-"the date"-#####).

looking forward to the updates.

Thanks Kirk.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 15 March 2012, 11:46 AM

Hi Kirk,

The certificate update is going to allow users to add fields to a certificate, and specify where they want them placed. When choosing a field they will be given a choice of standard fields that come with the certificate (student name, date, course name, hours, outcomes, an image etc). However, if you want to create your own you can simply create a new field type by adding another PHP file to the certificate module. The interface is still a work in progress but this is the overall idea. So, in your case you could call your field 'datethencode' and in your php file you would return the date appended with a randomly generated code.

Hope that makes sense.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update

by Diana Garza-Louis - Monday, 26 March 2012, 1:31 AM

I am reloading the certificate module but got the Plugins Check page, It tells me :

All non-standard plugins should be checked and upgraded to their most recent versions before continuing with this Moodle upgrade.

How do I upgrade? I get this message (below) which seems to be the glitch.

Thanks for your help.

Diana

certificate

Non-standard (Missing from disk)

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Re: Certificate update

by Mark Nelson - Tuesday, 27 March 2012, 4:08 PM

Hi Diana,

Sounds like the actual code is missing, this has nothing to do with the certificate module. Have you checked that the folder mod/certificate exists?

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update

by Diana Garza-Louis - Tuesday, 27 March 2012, 9:07 PM

Yes. The first line of the plug in check indicates

mod/Certificate

Certificate

Non-standard (about to be installed)

but I also get this line, and I can't move forward. Everything else looks fine. Any ideas? I'm a novice so any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Diana

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Re: Certificate update.

by Matthew Brewer - Wednesday, 28 March 2012, 8:27 AM

Loving the news about the new certificate module. Two questions:

Will it work for Moodle 1.9?
Is there going to be an option to add an expiry date?

Looking forward to seeing it!

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 3 December 2012, 11:24 AM

Hi Mathew,

Late response, sorry. I only noticed this message when I was scrolling through this discussion.

1) Unfortunately it will not be available for 1.9. Another reason to upgrade to 2.0? :D

2) You can add an expiry date through the conditional activities settings in 2.x, so yes this is already an existing option for all activities in Moodle 2.x.

Regards,

Mark

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The content of this forum post has been removed and can no longer be accessed.

Re: Certificate update.

by Jean-Michel Védrine - Thursday, 22 August 2013, 2:12 PM

Hello Harmony,

This is just my opinion but I would certainly change hosting. Any hosting company that is only able to offer a several years, out of support, version of a software is not a good hosting company.

The fact you had no answer to your query for a version of certificate for 1.9 in your other message clearly prove that it is more and more difficult for Moodle users to get help for Moodle 1.9, just because less and less of us are using that version.

Imagine you manage to find a version of certificate for 1.9 and something is not working, even if you report the problem in this forum, most probably nobody will be able to find the bug and to correct it because no developer support that version of certificate.

Average of ratings: Useful (1)

Re: Certificate update.

by Tim Beachy - Saturday, 24 September 2016, 2:17 AM

Hello Mark,

Re: the expiry date

I'm looking to dynamically produce the expiry date, based on the date of certificate issue/course completion, and print it on the certificate, which is not supported via Conditional Activities.

How would you go about doing this?

To tell you how I started, and where I'm getting hung up:

I added a validdate form the $mform in certificate/mod_form.php (along with necessary lang strings)
I added a validdate field to the certificate table in my db
I added a function in locallib.php to calculate the expiry date based of completion date + the number of years entered into validdate field

Everything looks fine, but whenever I enter a value into the validdate field and update via the form, it doesn't save.

If I directly enter a value for this field in my db, then it comes up on the edit form, but trying to make any changes to it through the form do not update.

I know i've added other custom elements to other forms in my Moodle installation, and never have had this problem. I have not been able to figure out why the value is not being added to the object to save in the record.

So, a two-part question:

Is this the best way to go about this?
And if so, what am I missing with the update?

Thanks for your help!

Tim

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Re: Certificate update.

by Claire Feirn - Wednesday, 14 March 2012, 7:45 PM

Hi Mark,

I love the work you are doing on the Certificate module - looking forward to the release.

If we have any questions or requests where is the best place to put them?

Many thanks

Claire

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 15 March 2012, 11:28 AM

Hi Everyone,

Claire, you can simply just create a thread here in the forums or create a new tracker issue at tracker.moodle.org

Sorry for the delay in this release, due to overwhelming input (which is great!) I have re-thought my approach quite a few times after some great ideas have been thrown my way. This has meant going back to the drawing board and re-writing some of the code. I will hopefully have a beta version I will release in the not too far future for those brave enough to try it out (not on a production server)!

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Steve Griffin - Thursday, 15 March 2012, 1:21 PM

If you are looking for ideas for additional features Mark. I have modified the version of certificate that we use to optionally print a 2nd page which has a background image.

We use this feature on some of our courses to add a 'Thankyou Note'. The background image is a just a jpg which contains all of the content, no additional text fields required on this page.

Steve

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Re: Certificate update.

by Jonathan Harrison - Friday, 30 November 2012, 11:47 PM

Hi Mark,

Thanks for all of your work on updating the certificate module. The changes you are making look great! We have not yet installed the new module on our Moodle installation, but we likely will soon. Is the release that's currently on github a beta or stable version?

I apologize if this has already been answered or discussed, but with the new certificate module, will it possible to make certificates correspond to specific activities or topics within a course? More specifically, will it be possible to not print the course name on the certificate, and instead print something like "has completed [name of activity]"? If this is (or will be) possible, could this be done directly through the "Update Certificate" interface without needing to do any back end coding?

I'm asking because we have some training courses that contain several SCORM activities, and instead of issuing certificates saying that the entire course has been completed, we would like to indicate that just one of the SCORM activities has been completed.

If you can let me know if this is (or will be) possible, it would be much appreciated. We look forward to trying out the new module!

Thanks,
Jonathan

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 3 December 2012, 11:30 AM

Hi Jonathon,

The release on github is currently for the old certificate module. I have been making changes to that so far but have decided to just do bug fixes and create a new certificate module with the new design. The old certificate required users to create a type to customise, it is impossible for me to know what users have put in their custom types, so any upgrade I do for the certificate module has a potential to break every certificate on a site, which is not ideal.

The new certificate module will meet the needs you specified, the github for that repository is at https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_customcert.git but has no code atm (only on my computer). It will be in beta stage until I announce on the forums it is good to go.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Jonathan Harrison - Monday, 28 January 2013, 9:30 PM

Hi Mark,

Any estimate on when the new certificate module will be ready? Looking forward to trying it out!

Thanks,
Jonathan

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Re: Certificate update.

by Bill Fitzgerald - Saturday, 31 March 2012, 7:58 AM

Hello,

I'm doing some testing of the certificate granting functionality in 2.2 Stable -

This thread has been quiet for a little bit - is the best option for getting the latest/greatest code still to pull from https://github.com/PukunuiAustralia/moodle-mod_certificate/branches/MOODLE_22_STABLE ?

Or, is there a better place to get the most stable version of this code?

I'll pull a version from github to get started, but if I should be looking elsewhere, please let me know.

Thanks,

Bill

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Friday, 13 April 2012, 9:45 AM

Hi Bill,

Yes, this is the best location to get the code.

The certificate update has been postponed as I have had to focus on some deadlines for work! I do apologise for this. Once I have finished my current development job and am not fighting to meet a deadline I can begin to focus on the future development. Currently however, I will just be working on bug fixes.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Bill Fitzgerald - Saturday, 14 April 2012, 8:23 AM

Hello, Mark,

Thanks for the update!

RE: "I have had to focus on some deadlines for work!" - no worries on my end - thank you for your work on this, and thanks again for the update.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Nano A - Sunday, 17 June 2012, 6:07 PM

Hi Mark!

Just saw this thread and these changes look very exciting... I can see that the thread is a few months old too...

Has this been cancelled? Postponed?

On a different note, I am trying to build a custom certificate but as I hae received a designed certificate to use, I have made a PNG of most of the data that is going in, and would need to use the name of the person and date.

Could you please let me know what would I have to modify to be able to have only these two fields in the page and modify the location?

What I've done so far with some instructions I have found in some threads...

Duplicated the folder "A4 embedded" and renamed to 'My_Course_Title_Certificate"
Then modified the text in certificate.php in 'lang/en'
adding:

$string['typeMy_Course_Title_Certificate'] = 'My Course Title Certificate';
In this same file, I tried deleting the text that I don't want to appear in the certificate but it doesn't seem to modify anything...

For example in the line:

$string['title'] = 'CERTIFICATE of ACHIEVEMENT';

and modified it to look like:

$string['title'] = '';

Could you please give me any pointers on how to just inlcude the 2 lines that I need and position them?

Thanks so much!

Nano

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Re: Certificate update.

by Leon Erasmus - Friday, 13 April 2012, 1:27 PM

Hallo Mark,

Will certificates from the Certificate update, be printable? My 2.2.1 installation with the certificate plugin produces a "secured" pdf file which does not allow printing.

Regards, Leon

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Re: Certificate update.

by Leon Erasmus - Monday, 16 April 2012, 5:41 PM

This solution worked for me:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=193292#p858549

Re: Printing by Mike Holzer - Friday, March 9, 2012, 03:34 AM

Instead of commenting out that line, replace 'print' with 'modify'. That way the pdf will still be protected, but it will not be modifyable.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Rick Pruitt - Sunday, 22 April 2012, 5:48 AM

Folks,

Fairly inexperienced in Moodle I would say. Running a fresh 2.2.2 version with the certificate module installed. I have it set to become visible when the student passes the test. I added viewing rights for a authenticated user, added some new signatures and everything is good EXCEPT, the course, or in my case the quiz field is blank. It says "has completed the course" and then blank underneath.
Any idea how to populate it with the quiz title?

By the way it printed just fine.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Stuart Mealor - Monday, 23 April 2012, 6:23 AM

Hi Rick

As far as I know the Certifcate module can only print the Course name (not a Quiz name). I think I've added a request to the Tracker to have a field / entry for a different Certificate name. But if I didn't feel free to add a Feature Request and people can vote for it

However, if you Course name is not even printing, then it may be because you've customised the Certificate in some way - so try with a default Certificate layout and see if it print the Course name OK

Stu

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Re: Certificate update.

by Rick Pruitt - Monday, 23 April 2012, 6:40 PM

Stu,

I thought since the certificate was tied to a quiz score, it would pick up the name of the quiz. So I guess I will have to build a quiz in another program and add it as a course instead. I did not want to do this because the reporting in Moodle on quiz results is quite good.

I have not loaded a course yet, this is a fresh build for a specific new project.

Rick

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Re: Certificate update.

by tim st.clair - Thursday, 21 June 2012, 6:45 AM

Hi Mark

This plugin is quite useful for us too. Something I'd like is to be able to pickup the certificates using a service call, curl, or something of that kin. Certificates don't get generated on disk (with the save option) until the user picks them up, which requires them to be inside Moodle at the time. I'd like to be able to trigger the creation using a service, then be able to pickup the certificate using script to transfer it to a different system (sharepoint, wordpress, etc). How active is the development? If changes to it are tapering off I might have to branch and try to implement something myself.

Cheers

Tim

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 5 July 2012, 1:57 PM

Hi Tim,

That is definitely a great idea, but something that would be an idea in the future.

I was originally told I was going to have time to work on the certificate at work which is why these initial goals seemed plausible, but unfortunately due to my workload this has not been the case, I have had no time allocated to work on it. This has meant I have only been able to work on it in my free time, which is why it is taking a lot longer than expected.

I have changed A LOT of the underlying certificate code, and have tidied it up but have not been able to redesign the whole module given my current time constraints.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Nano A - Thursday, 5 July 2012, 2:35 PM

Hi Mark,

Would you mind giving me a hand when you have a few minutes... with this?

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=205929

Do you think something like this is possible?

Appreciate your help and/or comments

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 26 July 2012, 10:48 AM

I have pushed new updates to the git repository, mainly an update that allows users to restrict a certificate by minutes spent in a course.

Also, please note the github repository has changed from https://github.com/PukunuiAustralia/moodle-mod_certificate to https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_certificate

If you try and perform a git pull and receive an error that the host can not be resolved you can simply open up the mod/certificate/.git/config file and change PukunuiAustralia to markn86.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Claire Feirn - Friday, 3 August 2012, 9:40 PM

Hi Mark,

Our developers installed the certificate module roughly a year ago, we haven't updated since. I wondered if there was a list modifications I can check before I ask them to upgrade (in case any conflict with a particular feature we currenly use)?

Many thanks

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 6 August 2012, 10:51 AM

Hi Claire,

Unfortunately I have not kept a file with all the changes. However, you can view https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_certificate/commits/master to see all the history of commits.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 16 August 2012, 11:03 AM

Hi Guys,

The latest release on github - https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_certificate - contains an update which allows site administrators to upload images.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Doug Kors - Thursday, 23 August 2012, 7:09 AM

Hi Mark,

I am currently running Moodle 2.3 and have installed the latest mod.

Should i be able to re-issue certificates or is this issue still being worked on yet? (i ran a test over the past few days and am still printing the first date as opposed to the most recent completions)

Doug

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 23 August 2012, 10:55 AM

Hi Doug,

I replied in the other thread, but will put my response here in case others stumble on this thread asking the same question.

The reissue certificate setting was introduced as a hack in the certificate module due to grades/dates not being updated as they were being stored in the the certificate_issues table - see http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/CONTRIB-1006

The student name, grade and date are no longer stored in the database and are now generated on the creation of the certificate, so this functionality was removed.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Doug Kors - Thursday, 23 August 2012, 10:59 AM

HI Mark,

Thank you for getting back to me. Does this only apply to 1.9 or can the hack be used in 2.3?

Also if you could point me where to actually download it or how to access it that would be great as i cant seem to find it in the tracker.

Doug

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Wednesday, 26 September 2012, 3:13 PM

Ok guys, I have been working on a huge update for the majority of the week. It is quite a massive change to how the certificate works so will probably release it for those who want to test it (not for production servers). Will keep you all updated.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Sami Hwang - Thursday, 27 September 2012, 2:52 AM

Thank you so much for your hard work, Mark.

I try to understand how the certificate module works in Moodle 2.1

If you don't mind, could you let me know one tip on how to set up the printed date? My current setting is

reissue certificate : Yes
print date : Course Completion

Suppose I complete a course on Sep 26. When students reissue their certificate on Sept 27, the printed date is supposed to be Sep 26.

That is my understanding of the above setting.

Am I correct? If not, Please correct me and let me know how I achieve it.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 27 September 2012, 10:39 AM

Hi Sami,

Can you please update your certificate version to the latest one?

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 1 October 2012, 7:25 PM

Hi Guys,

Here is an update of the design options for the certificate module I am currently developing. It is still a work in progress but just shows you what to expect. I have made it so that you can add whatever text type you want to the certificate, including variables such as the grade etc etc (still need to fine tune this, it's going to work like a plugin system, so you can add more variables in the future) as well as adding as many images as you want. I still need to write the upgrade path for people using the existing certificate module, which is going to be quite a task so this is till a bit in the future before this will be released. Any feedback is welcome.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Marcio Henrique Zuchini - Wednesday, 3 October 2012, 3:38 AM

Hi, Mark.

I would like to express my gratitude because I'm just about to deploy a fresh 2.3 Moodle box and the customization level you're coding is just GREAT. Thank you and I'll look forward for your release.

I would like to suggest an option that I think would be useful to many of us.

Sometimes it's necessary to print at the certificate's back page (the syllabus, for example, or even other kind of text that shouldn't put in the front page).

Of course I'm not suggesting that everything should be treated by code, but only that an simple option (“Second page certificate (back-page printer option)? Yes/No”) and just a text box (HTML) where one can put what would be printed.

Just think about it. Thanks in advance for your job!

Marcio

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Tuesday, 4 December 2012, 2:53 PM

Hi Marcio,

Just to let you know, this is going to be included in the new module I am creating. Thanks for your suggestion!

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Marcio Henrique Zuchini - Tuesday, 4 December 2012, 9:55 PM

Hi, Mark.

This is great news! Thanks again!

I've tried to cook a "fast food solution" just to learn a bit more of the code. I've put this in this forum thread https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=216482

If it would be possible, just take a look there and tell me what I've done wrong: a text box works whereas a html box don't.

Best regards,

Marcio

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Re: Certificate update.

by Ahmad Azizan Idris - Monday, 15 October 2012, 9:05 AM

Hi Mark,

Great stuff you've been working on. I've been using mod certificate for almost a year now, and I must say it doing great.

As to mention, my teaching/learning structure has changed a bit recently, thus making my certificate requirement change as well. Previously I add certificate activity on each topic (week) which show grade for quiz on that particular topic (week), (for example, Topic 1 contains Quiz 1 and Certificate 1 which show grade for Quiz 1, and so on..)

For current requirement, I will have Topic 1 that contains Quiz 1, Offline Assignment 1 (which I will give the grade myself on editing mode on), and Certificate 1 (which show sum of grade Quiz 1 and Offline Assignment 1). So basically the problem now is on how can I do summation of grade Quiz 1 and Offline Assignment 1 so that I can put it inside Certificate 1.

Hacking the code in custom certificate.php might not work, i guess, since there will be Topic 2 with Quiz 2, Offline Assignment 2, and Certificate 2.. until Topic 9.

Could you give some hint about this?

Thanks!

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 29 October 2012, 3:55 PM

Hi Ahmad,

I replied to you in your thread. Please keep this conversation there!

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Monday, 29 October 2012, 3:58 PM

Hi Guys,

After much discussion these customisations are going into a separate module I am creating. It is impossible for me to create an upgrade path for this certificate module that will not break custom certificate types people have created. The new certificate module will be located at https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_customcert - I will continue maintaining this module, such as fixing bugs etc, but any further development will stop and added to the new one which I will be starting from scratch.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by John Graham - Wednesday, 12 December 2012, 11:38 PM

Hi,

I am currently using the certificate plugin for Moodle 2.3.2+ and works great. I have my course setup into groups so teachers only see their students and vice versa. What I would like to do is have teachers being able to have access to their student certificates only. At the moment I have to block the teachers from viewing the certificates as they seem to be able to view all students’ certificates even though they are all in groups. Am I doing something wrong here? Or is this a bug currently being fixed?

Thanks

John

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 14 February 2013, 10:54 AM

HI John,

Does this still occur in the latest version? If so can you create an issue on tracker.moodle.org with step by step instructions on how to replicate.

Much appreciated.

Mark.

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Re: Certificate update.

by John Graham - Thursday, 14 February 2013, 5:39 PM

Hi Mark,

Thanks for getting back to me. I added the update prior to the once just released but added the fix from the tracker:

CONTRIB-4091 "report pagination code is buggy when using groups or groupings" which solved the problem. I'm guessing the update just released the other day will include this code? I will add this update at the weekend.

Thanks again!

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Friday, 15 February 2013, 10:29 AM

Hi John,

Yes it does!

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by epatul eptul - Wednesday, 13 February 2013, 6:23 PM

Hi Mark,

I was editing the original certificate until I saw the screenshot of your customcertificate... I'm really interested on that. But then I realise that this customcert is not a working module, its still in development i think... because this is not working at all... First all, it doesn't have a view.php file that is fundamentally for any moddle module!! When you expect finish this module you are working on?? Cheers ;)

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 14 February 2013, 10:53 AM

Hi Epatul,

Yes, it is still a work in progress. I will be working on this module all next week during work hours. I hope to have a working prototype by then.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by epatul eptul - Friday, 15 February 2013, 9:33 PM

Hi Mark,

Thanks for answer me so quickly. As I said in my last message I'm working in something aparently simply and easy with the certificate module but I have problems with database I think.

Ok... I explain you...

I have added a new image field in the administration panel of certificate module in the Design Options area.

I have added the new column in the database but It doesn't change when I add the new image in the administrator panel. This column should contain for example myimage.png, that correspond with the image I chose from the administrator panel... but this field doesn't change.

I try add this data manually, but still happen the same. The image doesn't appear in the generated pdf.

I think this is the problem, the changes doesn't save in the database and is not detected. I dont know what I need to change or where.

Your code get me attention because is exactcly what I need even better... but meanwhile you finish your great code, i can do this like a extension patch.

I suppose if you are working on this you have a lot knowledge about the code...

Thanks in advance...

PD. I hope not to bother you, if you do not have time I understand perfectly, surely get the problem sooner or later. but with your help I hope sooner hahahaha.

Greetings ;)

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Wednesday, 20 February 2013, 2:44 PM

Hi Epatul,

If I understand correctly, you have added a new column in the certificate table to store an extra image and have created a field in mod_form.php to show this. If you wish this option to be saved, you will need to ensure the name of form element you added (eg. $mform->addElement('select', 'nameofelement' ..) is the same as the column name. You will also have to make sure that the database column field type is the same as the field type of the form element, eg char, int etc (I assume you have as this would cause a database error otherwise, unless you are using $mform->setType which would filter the invalid characters).

If the above has been done then the field should be saving correctly in the database. To display this field you are then going to have to edit the mod/certificate/type/<typeyouareusing>/certificate.php file to add the code to print it, eg. $pdf->Image($pathtoimage, $x, $y, $w, $h); where $x and $y are the location to print the image, and $w and $h are the images width and height.

I know this is cubersome and requires PHP knowledge/FTP access to customise, which is why this certificate module is not great. I am rewriting it which you can view https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_customcert (but is still under development with no known release date) OR you can try out a new module (I have not tried it) written by another community member, Carlos Alexandre S. da Fonseca, located at https://github.com/bozoh/moodle-mod_simplecertificate

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Lester Cunningham - Tuesday, 20 August 2013, 5:15 PM

Hi Mark,

When will we get the certificate re-issue facility re-instated? I was the one who sponsored Chardelle Busch to develop this facility for version 1, and I have been hoping that this would be carried over to version 2. Re-issuing certificates is a vital facility for refresher courses where legal and mandatory requirements specify that courses must be re-taken at regular intervals.

Thanks.

Lester

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Re: Certificate update.

by Jean-Michel Védrine - Wednesday, 21 August 2013, 3:26 PM

Hello Lester,

I was not aware that there was a certificate re-issue feature in certificate for Moodle 1.9 (I must admit I never used certificate module on production at that time, it was so buggy !)

Could you explain me how it was working or if you can point me to a place where I can download the code ?

The reason I am asking that is that I am currently working on improving a code made for Kates Rhodes to add an expiration date to each certificate instance and mail student a few days before their certificate is about to expire (see this thread). So it would be nice when they come back to the course later after receiving this mail, that their certificate can be re-issued with a new expiration date

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Re: Certificate update.

by Mark Nelson - Thursday, 22 August 2013, 7:16 PM

Hi Lester and Jean,

The reissue certificate type setting was very basic, so would not be hard to reintroduce. There was a column in the certificate table called 'reissuecert' that would flag whether the 'Reissue certificate' setting was set when editing a certificate. If it was set to '1', then every time a user viewed a certificate they would be reissued another, which was simply another row being added to the certificate_issues table.

Regards,

Mark

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Re: Certificate update.

by Lester Cunningham - Thursday, 22 August 2013, 8:41 PM

Yes this is an accurate description. I still have many sites using this. I granted permission for Chardelle to release this code for general use when version 2 was being introduced. I have a copy of the mod if this might help with further development.

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Re: Certificate update.

by Lester Cunningham - Monday, 2 December 2013, 8:25 PM

Hi Mark,

Any news on adding the 're-issue' facility to the certificate module in Moodle2. The lack of this is still holding our clients back from upgrading from Moodle1. Let me know if there is any assistance I can give, as we are already using this option for Moodle1.

Cheers.

Lester

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Re: Certificate update.

by Janet Van Ness - Saturday, 7 December 2013, 4:05 AM

I'm coming a bit late to the certificate party, but I have one question. Will there be any way to change the conditional dependencies so that the learner can complete, say, one out of five topics and get a certificate?

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Re: Certificate update.

by Ing. Edgardo Hdz. A. SS - Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 10:13 PM

Hello we have turned to adding a status board also certified that we link to registration or enrollment native moodle to disallow registration.

Rather we want to achieve is to ensure the safety of the pdf and not unduly allow copying.

For those who want the certificate we use active resource dependent activities that you used to activate them first from the Administration area and then for each resource that occupies your course.

I told them about my continuing doubt and failed to see that the library is occupied tcpdf but can not find where to change the parameters or editing and copy of the document that is in that function or scrip can do

Atte Eddy

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Re: Certificate update.

by Janet Van Ness - Wednesday, 11 December 2013, 10:09 PM

Forgive my lack of experience with certificates. Was your post above referencing my question about being able to set a condition where a user can receive a certificate by completing one of several available topics within a course? If so, would you explain in layman's terms how I would set that condition?

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Re: Certificate update.

by Weber Ribeiro - Tuesday, 4 November 2014, 11:44 PM

Hello, is it possible to configure this certificate for restriction by quantity of calendar days and not minutes? For example look the img attachment

Attachment Screen Shot 11-04-14 at 01.42 PM.PNG

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