As an active, if small-time, course developer, I'm interested in a way of copying material from one course to another very quickly. Penny Leach's improvements to the backup/restore function in 1.6 are welcome and helpful, and there are a few good ideas in this discussion, but I'd like something that involved fewer clicks and more precision.
I suggest a tree index like you see in Windows Explorer and the ilk. Display everything. Select what you want to copy or move. Indicate the action you want to take (simple left click to move, ctr + left click to copy) and move the icon to the desired folder. Click and swish instead of click, click, click (abbreviated for reader's sake).
This would do the trick at all levels. Course categories. Courses. Sections. Modules/Resources. And it would save all of us a lot of time. In fact, it would work for backup and restore, too.
Pardon my ignorance. I am not a programmer, just a humble user. What we have so far is better than what we had a decade ago--or even a few months ago. I'm grateful, as I've said elsewhere.
Too late to edit this post, I remembered the conventional term for click-and-swish. It's drag-and-drop.
Frankly, I'm puzzled why this approach wasn't taken at the outset.
More of my ignorance showing, no doubt.
Frankly, I'm puzzled why this approach wasn't taken at the outset.
More of my ignorance showing, no doubt.
No doubt.
That's good news. But when you say "editing" do you mean to include copying and moving between sections, courses and categories?
Here's a short Flash animation of the new 1.7 feature using AJAX.
Thanks to the developing team. Sorry its german.
Ralf
Thanks to the developing team. Sorry its german.
Ralf
That's more like it! Cool! That'll save millions of man hours a day, that will.
I highly recommend the flick.
And let me nod to Penny Leach. If you make your source match your destination in terms of weeks or topics, you can get precise, convenient imports of what you want to where you want it. That's the goal.
I'd like to see an option. I think there are situations in which the Import method works best and others in which an inter-course drag-and-drop would work best.
At any rate, what I just saw in the animation makes me very happy. Good on ya, guys!
I highly recommend the flick.
And let me nod to Penny Leach. If you make your source match your destination in terms of weeks or topics, you can get precise, convenient imports of what you want to where you want it. That's the goal.
I'd like to see an option. I think there are situations in which the Import method works best and others in which an inter-course drag-and-drop would work best.
At any rate, what I just saw in the animation makes me very happy. Good on ya, guys!
Here's a thought. Will the course editing drag-and-drop work between windows? In other words, if I open two different courses in two different windows, will I be able to drag items across from one course to another?
And will I be able to copy in this way, supposedly by depressing Ctrl as I drag?
And will I be able to copy in this way, supposedly by depressing Ctrl as I drag?
> if I open two different courses in two different windows, will I be able to drag items across from one course to another?
Certainly not!
Joseph
Nothing like a definitive response.
Okay. If not, why not and when will this cool capability be added?
Okay. If not, why not and when will this cool capability be added?
It's literally impossible, sorry. The underlying browser/HTML/javascript model doesn't allow for drag-and-drop from one browser window to another. Have you ever seen it happening with any other website? No...
Not quite the same thing, I'll admit, but I can DaD tabs from Firefox into Internet Explorer.
I'm not sure how to test web content for that, though. I don't know many websites with DaD to begin with. Can you recommend any?
By the way, in case anyone misunderstood me, I never meant to knock Moodle. It's great stuff and only getting better. But it does have some clunky aspects that would be nice to see declunked. Moving things around is one of those aspects. DaD within courses will declunk editing within courses, and the new import options considerably declunk sharing between courses. System-wide DaD would be the cake and the cherry.
I'm not sure how to test web content for that, though. I don't know many websites with DaD to begin with. Can you recommend any?
By the way, in case anyone misunderstood me, I never meant to knock Moodle. It's great stuff and only getting better. But it does have some clunky aspects that would be nice to see declunked. Moving things around is one of those aspects. DaD within courses will declunk editing within courses, and the new import options considerably declunk sharing between courses. System-wide DaD would be the cake and the cherry.
Mark > I can DaD tabs from Firefox into Internet Explorer
No idea what you are talking about. Please remember that acronyms should always be expanded to their full value the first time they are used in a post.
Looking forward to more on this,
Joseph
DaD=Drag and Drop
And by way of more, watch this.
An image dragged and dropped from a forum in my Moodle installation. The forum was not in editing mode.
The logo from one of my blog-and-forum sites.
A link to a blog entry in the same site.
A smily from an entry in this forum, dragged from another window, like everything else in this entry.
Dan's icon. (Sorry, Dan. Couldn't resist.)
Mark > I can DaD tabs from Firefox into Internet ExplorerNo idea what you are talking about. Please remember that acronyms should always be expanded to their full value the first time they are used in a post.
Looking forward to more on this,
Joseph
The text of your entry, Joseph.
Using Moodle: Click-and-Swish vs. Click-Click-Click
What I got when I tried dragging the tab for the other window containing this forum into this entry.
The help button next to Send in my latest ratings.
None of this proves anything about 1.7, of course. I've just seen Martin's tips to tm tm about getting DaD to work. I'm going to go try it right now.
In topics format with advanced web features enabled, DaD works great--within a single course. As Joseph so emphatically asserted, it does not work between windows. It also does not work between tabs. I really hope that someday this can change.
It's a browser technology limitation, Mark, one not likely to be fixed very soon.
All your examples above are really cut and paste of HTML, handled by the browser and the richtext editor.
In Moodle we could have a form of cut and paste (like the old move-activity method) between courses, but a lot of other stuff needs to be sorted out first. It's not just pictures and text, it's data and internal references and security we need to worry about.
All your examples above are really cut and paste of HTML, handled by the browser and the richtext editor.
In Moodle we could have a form of cut and paste (like the old move-activity method) between courses, but a lot of other stuff needs to be sorted out first. It's not just pictures and text, it's data and internal references and security we need to worry about.
How do you have time to pop into all these threads, Martin?
How do I?
How does anyone?
What about some sort of index tree like we see in browsers when we move things around on our hard drives? I know somebody put together a tree, but it only displays.
As you say, with courses there's greater complexity. All kinds of connections have to be altered. But surely it's possible.
How do I?
How does anyone?
What about some sort of index tree like we see in browsers when we move things around on our hard drives? I know somebody put together a tree, but it only displays.
As you say, with courses there's greater complexity. All kinds of connections have to be altered. But surely it's possible.
I have to agree with Mark, that is way cool.
I want this now 
, but I know I have to wait
but I want it still the same.
Cheers,
Bill
I want this now , but I know I have to waitbut I want it still the same.Cheers,
Bill
hi
i have just downloaed Moodle 1.7 form CVS and installed but i cannot drag & drop any blocks.????? is this faeture still to be included?????
a) You need to be using the topics format
b) You need to have "advanced interfaces" turned on in your user profile.
b) You need to have "advanced interfaces" turned on in your user profile.
You mean this?
Not working.
Oops. Working. Cool.
Right on.
Now if it would only work between windows...
Will it eventually work in all formats?
It is one cool feature. Thanks to all who worked on it. Must have been quite a project.
| AJAX and Javascript: | No: use basic web features Yes: use advanced web features |
|---|
Not working.
Oops. Working. Cool.
Right on.
Now if it would only work between windows...
Will it eventually work in all formats?
It is one cool feature. Thanks to all who worked on it. Must have been quite a project.
Ooh. That really uglified once posted.
hi martin
i have "advanced interfaces" turned on in your my profile but this using the topics format i could not understand, still i cannot use the Ajax feature???????
If I may presume.
Open a course. Go into settings (Administration/Settings). Set the Format (under Summary) to Topics format. Save. Grab something and move it around.
Open a course. Go into settings (Administration/Settings). Set the Format (under Summary) to Topics format. Save. Grab something and move it around.
hi mark
thanks very much. its working now but only inside the courses. how can it will work on all pages specially on the index ( main ) page?????
Ralf-I just watched the Flash animation. One thing that seemed strange about it was that when you moved the activities, you moved one down first. Then when you moved the second one, it appeared as if it was being dropped below the first, but it actually wound up appearing above the first. Was that supposed to happen?