Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

by Francis Vendrell -
Number of replies: 5

Hello,

Apparently I have successfully installed  Moodle 3.1.1

However, when I try to install a plugin, for example the course format "topcoll" or the theme "essential", I run into problems.

For example, with the "topcoll" course format, I get the following error message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$checkboxname' (T_VARIABLE) in ....  /course/format/topcoll/lib.php on line 797

and with the theme "essential", I get this error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '$string' (T_VARIABLE) in ... /theme/essential/lang/en/theme_essential.php on line 585

So the problem doesn't seem to be related to a particular plugin...

Does somebody has an idea why it doesn't work ?

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In reply to Francis Vendrell

Re: Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

The error in this case is a little misleading in that T_VARIABLE error normally indicates code is for older versions of PHP ... or something like that.   In this case, think it's due to plugin not being tested/compatible with the version (3.1.1) you are running.

See:

https://moodle.org/plugins/theme_essential

and

https://moodle.org/plugins/format_topcoll

Set the compat to version you are running.

You could have installed manually a version of the plugin that is not known to be compatible with version of core Moodle you are running.  Might uninstall then re-install making sure you have the version of the plugin compat with your core version.

'spirit of sharing', Ken

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In reply to Ken Task

Re: Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

by Francis Vendrell -

Hello Ken,

Thank you very much for your comment. I tried to reinstall the two mentioned plugins with Moodle 3.1.1 (instead of 3.1.1+) but it didn't work either.

However, I succeeded in installing another theme (Roshnilite) which comforted me that your are right and that the problem is plugin related.

Thank you for your kind help !

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In reply to Francis Vendrell

Re: Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

by Gareth J Barnard -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

Hi Francis,

That does not make sense as both plugins have been available for M3.1 for ages and you're the first to report that issue.  Therefore it must be site specific.  What versions of the plugins are you installing and how are you going about this (including where you got them from).

I'm running Moodle 3.1.1+ (Build: 20160721) so know they both work.

G

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In reply to Gareth J Barnard

Re: Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

by Gareth J Barnard -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

If manually installing, make sure no BOM (Byte Order Mark) issues happen or corruption (i.e. during FTP).

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In reply to Gareth J Barnard

Re: Problem installing plugins - Moodle 3.1.1

by Francis Vendrell -

Dear Gareth,

It was indeed due to some kind of FTP transfer problem.

I finally used the Moodle plugin installer and it resolved the problem.

Thank you for your kind help !

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