Hey,
I'm very new to Moodle.
I need extend Moodle to cover the following functionality:
- there is a english teacher,
- this english teacher creates the course,
- he declares in the course that he has for example the following times available for one to one session: Tuesday 10:00-11:00, Thursday 17:00-18:00
- any student can book teachers available time slot,
- only one student can book a slot, once a slot is booked it becomes unavailable for any other student.
And my questions are:
- I believe to achieve functionality like this I need to develop activity plugin, right?
- Is there any up to date complete documentation how to develop activity plugin (I've read this one: https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Activity_modules , but it seems there is many things which are not covered),
Thanks in advance
P
Thanks for a suggestion.
I had a quick look at "Choice" activity. It is not really designed for my use case.
I'm not even sure how my case can be addressed by "Choice" activity (for example limiting to one user, via Restrict access? ). To be honest my company will not accept such a 'way around' solution.
Another thing, my use case which I've described in the previous post, is just a beginning. I did not write all next stages requirements. I don't really have a choice other than developing activity plugin. btw I've played with 'Attendance' plugin - it seems it is much closer to what I need than 'Choice'.
So far I successfully created very basic activity plugin - it does not do anything, just a boilerplate. Installs successfully, create db tables etc.
Is there any documentation which you would recommend for further activity plugin development - or reverse engineering is the really the way to go forward?
Thanks for your help!
P
Hi Przemek,
Over the years, I have mostly used reverse engineering. Just pick plugins for which part of the plugin does what I want, or close to it, then use that as a guide to develop what I need.
For further guidance, click the DEVELOPMENT link at the top right on moodle.org, then on the moodledev page, search for tutorial and/or simplehtml.
Here is a direct link to the first one: https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Tutorial
For the second, you want to work your way through two parts. Blocks and Blocks Advanced.
https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Blocks
https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Blocks_Advanced
There is one thing not covered very well at all and that is how to create code for use of the Atto tool buttons, Record Audio and Record Video, in a textarea. Whoever wrote the wiki copped out by just telling you to look at the Glossary code as an example, and no one has ever gone back to add an actual example with detailed directions on how and why you need to do things a certain way. This, even after mentioning that this type of file handling is one of the most difficult things to do in Moodle.
Thanks for your feedback.
I must say I've already read all docs you mentioned (except Blocks_Advanced). Actually going through "Blocks" doc was helpful. I've already progress on activity plugin. Surprisingly it is going better than I expected
On a side note, I really like your previous profession, although I do not trust anything which does not have wings fixed ;p (I'm a glider pilot).
Thanks much Al, stay safe
P
By the way, where are you keeping your development code? Is it on github? I would love to see it. I think you will wind up with a plugin that a lot of users will be interested in.
Side note. I got an introductory glider ride once. As soon as the IP found out I was a helicopter IP, he didn't want to take off. When I asked why, he said that in his experience, helicopter pilots did not move the controls enough. It was true! I had to keep that in mind and make myself move the stick so far that it made me uncomfortable. ;)
By the way, every helicopter I ever flew, had "wings" that were firmly "fixed" to the blade grips. ;)