Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Lawrence N -
Number of replies: 6

As a primary technical backend support for Moodle at our institution, I often ask myself why is there not better documentation for all the core moodle tables made available even at DESC table level with descriptions.

I know that it grows fast but is this something that I can help start to document using the base install tables and making a note of them and what is missing?

How can I help? I’d like to be involved with Moodle.org if possible on a volunteer basis during my spare time.

For example, doing a "DESC table" only shows descriptions for some fields but not all. I would like to see all of them filled up.

Thank you.

Lawrence



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In reply to Lawrence N

Re: Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

In your Moodle site, have you been to Site administration -> Development -> XMLDB editor and clicked the [Doc] link?

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Lawrence N -

Hello Tim.

Yes, I saw that but the description fields are missing quite a lot of information even if "obvious" what they are LOL.

How can we help to fill them all out?

Thanks


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In reply to Lawrence N

Re: Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

You may find this

http://www.examulator.com/er/

and this

http://www.examulator.com/er/xml/all_tables.html

Helpful in your quest


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In reply to Marcus Green

Re: Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Lawrence N -

Hello Marcus.

Thank you and yes, I have seen the diagram as well. I was querying more about why the description fields (or all fields) are not all fully documented.

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In reply to Lawrence N

Re: Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

I suspect it is the same reason code often lacks detailed comments, developers are more focused on developing than on documenting.  I have been working on diagramming the database since 2008 and it is a quite significant task with around 300 tables in a fresh install with no additional plugins. 

I try to  create a new database for each new release (around every six months), and each new version includes more details, mainly PK/FK relationships that show how the tables relate to each other.

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In reply to Marcus Green

Re: Assisting with documenting all moodle core table descriptions

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Since the database documentation is part of the code, any improvements would have to be submitted using the normal Moodle bug-fix procedure. (https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Process)

Any improvements that anyone could make would be greatly appreciated, I am sure.

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