General plugins

Hi Thomas,
Going through the readme file, I read:
1) * Darwin streaming server.
There are two ways to utilize the Darwin Streaming Server(DSS). Both are very insecure at this time because the entire moodledata folder is exposes through DSS. If security is an issue don't use it at this point.

The first is to install DSS on the moodle server. After you have a working DSS set the DSS media directory to the moodledata directory.

Question: How does one install the DSS on the moodle server? Is this a process which is additional to installing Ipodcast in the moodle/mod directory?

2) In the podcast module settings set the Darwin base URL to the root of your DSS "rtsp://192.168.1.240/" iPodcast will add the remaining path to the root.
Each iPodcast course settings can override the Darwin URL so make sure it is also set properly. Enable Darwin support in the iPodcast course settings.

Question: Is the rstp IP address mandatory or can one use any IP address in the LAN, e.g 192.168.1.125?

3) The second is to manually copy the media files to another server. The same directory structure of the moodledata must be maintained inorder for it to function.

Questions: (i) Which media files are to be copied manually to another server. (ii) which "other" server are you talking about, and (iii) what is meant by maintaining the directory structure of moodledata. My moodledata directory contains these folders: 1 (which contains an empty ipodcast folder as I have not created a podcast yet), 2, 3, 4, cache, session, temp, upgradelogs, users, .htaccess.

4) Make sure your Darwin base URL's are set properly and Darwin support is enabled. iPodcast darwin link will stream from the other DSS.

Question: Isn't the Darwin base URL the one set above, i.e rtsp://192.168.1.240/

5) At this point any files that are uploaded
This sentence is incomplete...

*********************************************************************************************************************************
* File Hinting
If you want to be able to hint files for Darwin Streaming server purposes download the mpeg4ip package for your particular platform.
Binaries are available around the net. Install in a php executable directory. I installed mine in c:/php/ on windows and the standard /usr/local/bin in linux.
Go to the module settings and set the paths including the executable name. Example "C:/php/mp4creator.exe" for windows.
At that point if you upload an mp4 in the attachment tab a hint button will appear. Pushing this button will add streaming hint tracks.

Question: Is installing mpeg4ip a must for the system to work? Or, is it necessary only for hinting files for Darwin server? Why do I ask? Because I visited the mpeg4IP and the number of requirements one must go through to install it is kind of a pain (at least for windows). By the time one is through with installing all these prerequisites, he has forgotten what he set out to do with the podcast.

6) In the Ipdcast level default settings, which info is supposed to go in the File path to mpeg4ip mp4info executable. The read me explains clearly what the path to mp4creator will be as you give your own example for windows.

Thanks for everything. Podcasting is a very useful module in education.
Juvenal.

3. automatic installation of language file

Why is this necessary? I have setup the file permisisons such that changes can't be made to the base moodle directory. The installation of the lanage file causes errors because of this.

Modules lang files should automatically picked up from the module directory - and indeed it works with this ipodcast module without the need for copying into the base lang directory.

Thanks for the great work

Tom,

Couple of bugs:

1. Course setup page generates the following error:

Notice: Undefined property: stdClass::$userid in C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\mod\ipodcast\setupcourse.php on line 235

2. When I go to view the audio file (MP3) using the download link I just get a quicktime logo with a questionmark. It seems the file cannot be found.

3. The Embedded multimedia player cannot play the audio file either

4. When I click the add to itunes podcasts link I get the following:
(Attaching document source)

<br />
<b>Notice</b>: Trying to get property of non-object in <b>C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\accesslib.php</b> on line <b>1062</b><br />
<br />
<b>Notice</b>: Trying to get property of non-object in <b>C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\accesslib.php</b> on line <b>1062</b><br />
<br />

<b>Warning</b>: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\accesslib.php:1062) in <b>C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\filelib.php</b> on line <b>259</b><br />
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE pcast PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PCAST 1.0//EN" "http://www.itunes.com/DTDs/pcast-1.0.dtd">
 <pcast version="1.0">

 <channel>
 <link rel="feed" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://10.0.64.20/moodle/moodle17/mod/ipodcast/getfeed.php/2/2/ipodcast/1/rss.xml" />
 <title>Course Fullname 101</title>

 <subtitle>Write a concise and interesting paragraph here that explains what this course
is about</subtitle>
 </channel>
 </pcast>

5. When I try to view the RSS feed I get the following error:
(Attaching document source)

<br />
<b>Notice</b>: Trying to get property of non-object in <b>C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\accesslib.php</b> on line <b>1062</b><br />
<br />
<b>Notice</b>: Trying to get property of non-object in <b>C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\accesslib.php</b> on line <b>1062</b><br />
<br />

<b>Warning</b>: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\accesslib.php:1062) in <b>C:\WebSites\Moodle\Moodle17\lib\filelib.php</b> on line <b>259</b><br />
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
 <channel>
 <title>test</title>
 <link>http://10.0.64.20/moodle/moodle17</link>

 <description>test</description>
 <generator>Moodle</generator>
 <copyright>&amp;#169; 2007 test</copyright>
 <image>
 <url>http://10.0.64.20/moodle/moodle17/pix/i/rsssitelogo.gif</url>
 <title>moodle</title>

 <link>http://10.0.64.20/moodle/moodle17</link>
 <width>140</width>
 <height>35</height>
 </image>
 <item>
 <title>RSS Error</title>
 <link>http://10.0.64.20/moodle/moodle17</link>

 <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:26:17 EST</pubDate>
 <description>Error reading RSS data</description>
 <guid isPermaLink="true">http://10.0.64.20/moodle/moodle17</guid>
 </item>
 </channel>
</rss>

Environment Information:
Moodle 1.7+ from CVS Checkout
PHP 5.1.4
MySQL 4.1.21
Apache 2.0.59 on Windows Server 2003
Moodle 17 Debug set to: normal
Clean Install of Podcast .37b3

I am running 1.7.1 on a Fedora 5 system have installed v.37b3 and done all the copying of files etc. and editing of the httpd.conf but still I do not seem to see any sign of the Activity. Any suggestions on what I might look at?

ps. Our school is going to be running a summer school program that gives iPods to kids to augment lectures and I would love to have it integrate smoothly with our Moodle installation. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Ben Nasse

Since I think my post in "the long thread" might be missed and I see you have an update out. Is there a "proper" way to install the new module?? Do I just delete the current module (v.35) and install this one?? Please excuse me as I am new in working with the "guts" of moodle.

Thanks!

Vern

Hey there,

I have just upgraded from 1.6

I am running 1.7.1+ with ipodcast v.37b3

When i create a podcast and then attach a file i get the questionmark quicktime logo.  If i click on the link to view the file i get a message that states:

"You are not a student or teacher of this course!"

I am of course logged in as an administrator.

I assume there is some voodoo with the new roles in 1.7 that is causing this problem - am I missing something obvious?

-jon

Installed the Module on a Mac OSX Server running OSX 10.4.x and have been able to successfully create an activity and podcast. When, however I uploaded a file (.m4a) to the server it appeared to upload ok but was not visible.

I then did some more reading of this thread and the instructions (readme.txt) and added the 4 mime types to /library/webserver/documents/moodle/lib/filelib.php

Now I can see the files and choose them as attachments to the podcast.

My problem is that when clicking on the file link I appear to have a malformed URL.



I have changed the servername but the rest was as parsed by moodle when the link was clicked on.

Thanks

John

I am new to podcasting and have just installed this module on our server.
We are running Moodle 1.6.3 (2006050530) and ipodcast v.37b3.
I can add new podcasts to some courses but a few are stating that "Could not add a new instance"
My question how to I fix that?

Thanks Mike

I have installed ipodcast v.37b3 and everything went well. I have also modified the filelib.php adding the 4 mime types. However, when I want to run an mp3 audio file I only a QuickTime question mark and it hangs in there.

Any ideas on what I can do to fix that?

Thanks,

Dante

The iPodcast v.37b3 works well on Moodle 1.8. The debugging messages no longer appear, but I've encountered a few new issues:

1. The Navigation bar appears but the only working link is back to the site page, all of the course links are not links.

This can be fixed by replacing a few lines of code in setupcourse.php and view.php

In the file view.php:

Replace the code on line 77:

print_header("$course->shortname: " . stripslashes_safe($ipodcast->name), "$course->fullname", "$navigation <A HREF=index.php?id=$course->id>$stripodcast</A> -> " . stripslashes_safe($ipodcast->name), "", "", true, "", navmenu($course, $cm));

with:

print_header_simple(format_string($ipodcast->name), "","<a href=\"index.php?id=$course->id\">$stripodcast</a> ->" . format_string($ipodcast->name), "", "", true, navmenu($course, $cm));

In the file setupcourse.php

replace the code on line 130:

print_header("$course->shortname: " . stripslashes_safe($ipodcast_course->name), "$course->fullname",
"$navigation <A HREF=index.php?id=$course->id>$stripodcast</A> -> " . stripslashes_safe($ipodcast_course->name), "", "", true, "");

with:

print_header_simple("$course->shortname: " . stripslashes_safe($ipodcast_course->name), "","$stripodcast", "", "", true, "", navmenu($course));

2. Backup and Restore are broken

As seen in issue MDL-8189, modules that do not have a xxx_backup_one_mod() function are not backed up. I've modified the existing backup and restore code for the iPodcast module to support this function. This has not been heavily tested, but it seems to work on my Windows / Apache install here.

3. Missing Help Files

I've added some of the help files that were missing in the event they are of use to anyone. The only help files that are still missing are attachwithcomment.html, coursecomment.html, and studentscanpost.html

Hi Thomas,

Great module. Thanks. Just wanted to pick up on a comment in the README.txt

"* Darwin streaming server.
There are two ways to utilize the Darwin Streaming Server(DSS). Both are very insecure at this time because the entire moodledata folder is exposes through DSS. If security is an issue don't use it at this point."

Security obviously is a big issue. I assume it means that if a teacher has solutions to problems as uploaded files inside moodle then these are potentially streamable if someone guesses the right URL? (or have I misunderstood the problem?).

So do you have any possible ideas about how the security issues could be solved (or anyone else for that)? Is it even solvable?

Look forward to hearing your opinions.

Thanks,

--Stuart.

Hi Thomas

I don't think the apostrophe errors are all fixed, when I try and create a course who's name or description contains one and then add a podcast the sql falls over, eg

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'to break course Podcast', 'Write a concise and interesting paragraph here that e' at line 1

INSERT INTO mdl_ipodcast_courses ( COURSE, USERID, ENABLETSSERIES, ENABLEDARWIN, AUTHKEY, NAME, SUMMARY, COMMENT, IMAGE, IMAGEHEIGHT, IMAGEWIDTH, DARWINURL, RSSARTICLES, RSSSORTING, ENABLERSSFEED, ENABLERSSITUNES, EXPLICIT, SUBTITLE, KEYWORDS, TOPCATEGORY, NESTEDCATEGORY, TIMECREATED, TIMEMODIFIED ) VALUES ( 8, 2, 0, 0, '12345678', 'Quote ' to break course Podcast', 'Write a concise and interesting paragraph here that explains what this course is about '
', '', '', 144, 144, '', 5, 0, 1, 1, 0, 'Write a concise and interesting paragraph here that explains what this course is about '', '', 4, 14, 1184336346, 1184336346 )

Thanks

Richard

Greetings all,

When setting up this module I've come across a an issue that I haven't been able to figure out.

When attempting to use the "Add to iTunes Podcasts" link. Moodle produces the following error.
This happens if to students,teachers & admins.



Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /var/dat/www/moodle/lib/weblib.php:5220) in /var/dat/www/moodle/lib/filelib.php on line 297

Does anyone have any ideas how to go about fixing this?

Regards,
Dave.

The postgres database stuff seems out of date

I have a clean Moodle 1.8 installation and have added iPodcast.  I keep getting "Could not add a new instance" when selecting Podcast from the blocks list.  Please help

Hi, I have just installed the Activity module, clicked on Notifications, fine until then. Later when I tried to add a podcast to a course, I tried to upload a file, that seemed that worked but the pop-up browsing windows shows no file.

I go to the course FIles and there it is, inside the ipodcast folder. but I cannot see it at all through the ipodcast browser pop-up window.

Any clue?

thanks.

I just install ipodcast v.37b3 on our Moodle 1.8.4+ install. I really like it so far, the install went through without a hitch. Its about time I get an install like that.

I do have one minor silly issue. There is no podcast icon next to the podcast links. I've included a picture to show what I mean. Any suggestions?

Something else I just noticed is that I do not have the RSS iPodcast button containing the link to subscribe to a podcast.

Does ipodcast v.37b3 work with moodle 1.9?

I tried to install it and it came up with 3 table errors.

thanks
larry

I'm running moodle 1.9 and everytime I click on the add activity and select Podcast, I get the following error: Could not add a new instance. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or how to fix this?

Hi,

I am in the process of installing this module, but when i open up my lib folder there is nothing in there. I looked in the filelib.php file in the ipodcast folder but am unable to find the correct lines to replace. Any help would be appreciated.

Greetings!

We have used ipodcast with great success for quite a while. Recently, we upgraded to 1.9, and upgraded ipodcast to v37b3.

Recently, we've started having some problems mentioned elsewhere on this thread. Specifically, when you back up a course that contains a podcast, and restore that course to a new course, not only is the podcast not backed up, but it is no longer possible to add a new podcast to the course.

Attempting to do so, it appears everything is working. However, after the podcast is "created," it does not show up on the course page. Attempting to add one again gives "Could not add a new instance of ipodcast."

I have tried the two posted code modifications with no success. One of them *almost* worked, but not quite.

My question is, what locations in the database store the information about modules and where they live? I have tried inserting and/or deleting records from ipodcast, ipodcast_courses, and course_modules with no success. At this point, we only wish to get the courses affected by this bug back to the point where we can add a new podcast.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

We use this module in two district Moodle installs. Both are running 1.9.3. It works great, we love it!

I have just now run into a snag with this module in a specific course. In this course I can build a podcast. I can add items. They play back online. What I can not do is subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or other software. When I choose "iTunes", iTunes loads, but the podcast shows with an exclamation mark beside it and the URL in the name instead of the name. Also, no episodes come in.

It is only a problem in this one specific course, but I dont' know where to begin in trouble shooting it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,

First of all, say sorry for my shor experience, next looking for help to complete my ipodcast v.33 installation process.

Once I install, no error messages appear, so everything seems to be ok.

When I show the Activities on my course, the 'ipodcas' doesn't appear as it, instead is showed as 'modulename', when I click on it, I get the error : Course Id is incorrect.

Did I miss something ?

Thank you for help.

Is this module being maintained anymore? I am using Moodle 1.9.6 running on PHP5 and Apache and getting syntax errors that html2text() is not found. Have been trying to fix each error but looks like a long process. Am i mistaken ? Has anybody seen this ?

I'd like to know the status of this module as well; I'd hate to see it die when it looks really promising. I'm running Moodle 1.8 on an Apache server and am experiencing the same problems as Juan above:

I was able to get the latest version installed and it appears on our Moodle site under activities, but when I go to add a podcast, I get the message "Updating podcast in [topic name]" and then am redirected to a blank screen.

Using Stephen's updated files (thank you for those) I was able to finally see the "Add a podcast page" but attempting to view the podcast after adding it results in a blank page.

Has anyone had this problem or know of a solution?

After tinkering on and on between iPodcast and the Podcast module, I finally got iPodcast to almost work. I can adjust the settings, create an activity/add new instance, etc...however, students can only view one file unless I change the attachment. In other words, there's no listing of media and I can't find an RSS button anywhere so I can't even begin to understand how it will work with iTunes (and RSS is enabled in the settings). So far, it just works as an over-glorified way to post a media file. It simply won't create a list of updates to the cast.