Maybe I can explain graphically what my uploadmulti module does, from a student's perspective. I think there are uses of the Files functionality that may be... underappreciated?
Background: a prof creates an assignment of type uploadmulti, where he specifies the number of required files, and the names of the required files, and sets other options like whether to allow files not specified by the professor to be uploaded, the file upload max size, and the default options that go with most assignment types.
The student then clicks to see the view of that assignment. Here's a shot of what he sees:
In that shot, the student has one file uploaded. Note that the "Run Script" button isn't enabled. If he submits all the files that are non-optional, *and* the professor has created a 'bin' directory for this assignment with a script in it, then the Run Script button will be enabled, which will call the profs script passing the user's assignment directory as the sole argument.
The student can then see the output of the script, and be ensured that the code he tested on his local machine actually compiles on the server as well.
I've hacked up a bogus run script and files. The run script here just spits out the contents of the file.
Note that the student is never able to browse the Files interface or do anything with any files except for his own uploaded assignment files, which he's allowed to unsubmit.
There's the enabled run script... and...
I wanted to show this not because what I did is so cool, but to show others that there are uses of the Files interface they may not have thought of yet, which justifies its existence.
Thanks for reading.
brian.