"Book is simply a multi-page resource module, which is what I thought you
wanted. Chapters an subchapters can be edited and rearranged as you
wish at any time. You can also insert links to files within the course.
Each book page (chapter or subchapter) you could be a lesson. It sounds, however, that you want more, although it is not quite clear what."
Before I responded, I had finally discovered how to create new chapters and sub chapters but found no method to re arrange them. I find it frustrating that there are no real pathfinders in how to use these resources. Being new to Books, I guess I am, once again, in a position to write one. I one on Groups and another on Generico Filters already, It looks as if I am going to have to get back to work.
"I just looked again at your original post. You talk about 30 entries,
which I take as teaching units in your course, each having a title,
text, and a set of files."
That is 30 entries for each of two courses.
"I gather there is a reason that you do not
want to just have 30 topical sections
in your Moodle course, although topics stay in the order you set and
you can show all or a subset of them, and students can switch between
seeing them all or just one of them."
This is strictly a set of lesson plans for my use and my use only. As forum entries, the recent class time was automatically at the top of the list and when it was used, it automatically ended up at the bottom of the list. The entire list is at the top of my course page as one Moodle entry. Aside from the atrocious sorting problem, the forum is an excellent resource. It also contains the location to upload a program file (VB or HTML) that will be the demonstration of the day.
"You could try one of the
alternative course formats. If you want more compact display with more
control and mixing different things, you can use the database
module, as suggested by someone. The dataform module offers even more
functionality."
One problem is the strong learning curve to find out if another resource is a good fit. Easy for the experienced, not so easy for the beginner. This is why I am figuring that an SQL action might be the real answer because the order is the only problem. All other forum features fit the need.
From my 15 years of SQL, 30 years ago, I envision a relatively simple command set.
PROJECT temp FROM selectedForum using * SORTED BY title.
Then replace the original selectedForum with temp. Unfortunately I don't know the Moodle database table and column names. Having my own home Moodle for testing, I could refine it enough to convince the SiteAdmin to adopt it.
I am not sure what is least intolerable:
> staying with the forum using manual sorting,
> building the SQL and getting the SiteAdmin to trust my code,
> picking up now one of two resources to learn to see if they work.
When I considered using the book resource, I found the custom, as opposed to numbers or letters, but it did not seem to take. At least not the way I thought it would. I will look to see how to do this sorting you speak of. I guess it down not have the option to drag a file to the page. Maybe missed it.
I will have to overcome my aversion to databases though. I spent one term at the university and then 10 years married to one I developed for my brother's business. Then I was required to teach a few years of Access to students that did not want to learn it and I knew they would never use it even though I had good examples on how useful they are.
I ramble,......
