Moodle plugins directory: UploadPDF | Moodle.org
UploadPDF
For Moodle 2.3 (and above) this plugin has been replaced by the following pair of plugins:
https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=assignsubmission_pdf
https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=assignfeedback_pdf
Newly updated to work with Moodle 2.0. Warning: there is currently no clean upgrade from Moodle 1.9 => Moodle 2.0 for this plugin, any assignments created under Moodle 1.9 will lose all coversheets and submitted files on upgrade (I will try to find a fix for this). All other features should work fully with Moodle 2.0.
Students submit their work as a PDF (which can be generated from any application by using a PDF printer, such as the free PDFCreator). An optional coversheet is automatically attached (filled in with details gathered from the student as they submit the work).
The pages of the assignment are then presented, as images, in the teacher's browser window, allowing them to add comments and line annotations to each page. Comments can be edited, moved and resized as much as you like. You can also choose from a range of tasteful background and line colours (or no background at all).
Once the teacher is satisfied with their comments and annotations, their response is saved as a PDF and automatically returned to the student (along with the usual comment, grade and outcomes which are found in all assignments).
Important: please make sure you read the instructions (in README.txt) carefully - you will need to install a copy of GhostScript to make this plugin work and (if you are using a Windows-based server) edit one file in this plugin to tell it where to find GhostScript.
Installation:
- Linux server:
- Install ghostscript from your distribution repository
- Download the UploadPDF plugin from the link below and unzip to a suitable folder
- Upload the files to your server and place them in the folder [moodleroot]/mod/assignment/type/uploadpdf (make sure the files go directly into this folder and you do NOT end up with a folder 'type/uploadpdf/uploadpdf')
- Log into your Moodle site as administrator and click on 'Notifications'
Windows server:
- Download the ghostscript installer fromhttp://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
- Install this on the server, but make sure the path does not include a space (e.g. install to 'c:\gs' NOT to 'c:\Program Files\gs') - you can also install on a local computer and then upload the 'gswin32c.exe' and 'gsdll32.dll' file from the 'bin' folder to your server
- (IIS only) Make sure that the permissions are set correctly on the ghostscript exe/dll to allow PHP to run them
- Download the UploadPDF plugin from the link below and unzip to a suitable folder
- Edit the file 'uploadpdf_config.php' to include the path to where you installed ghostscript (instructions are in this file)
- Upload the files to your server and place them in the folder [moodleroot]/mod/assignment/type/uploadpdf (make sure the files go directly into this folder and you do NOT end up with a folder 'type/uploadpdf/uploadpdf')
- Log into your Moodle site as administrator and click on 'Notifications'
Overview video:
Useful links
Screenshots
Is Ghostscript available with Siteground?
Yes, Ghostscript is available with every Siteground hosting account. Currently we offer version 8.53.
The absolute path to its binary executable is:
/usr/bin/ghostscript
How and where do I place the path?
Thanks
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Hope this helps!
1. get the students to download the annotated PDF, then revert to draft
2. (the solution I used) create a second assignment called 'resubmit X here' (you can then use the 'show another assignment' drop-down to browse the comments you made on the first submission).
If I had time (or funding!) I'd add a feature allowing multiple submissions to a single assignment, but that would take some quite careful thought about how to manage the grading and viewing of different versions.
Could someone explain how to do this part.
I read in another comment somebody asking about resubmissions. On 1.9 we used to ensure allow deleting was set to no, and then revert to draft. Students could then add a page or so of amendments and it attached to the back of the original marked submission. Sadly 2.x has no option to prevent deleting so students could now remove marked 1st versions.
Still not working in IE - the tools page is on top and the pdf appears below but no tools work. Have just tried Firefox and I now get the tools on top of an image of pdf. Comments work fine, but lines, ticks etc do not save in response and in edit mode do not stay with the page, they carry on over to the next page. - Any ideas?
The easiest way to handle resubmissions, and the method I have always used, is to have separate assignments for submissions and resubmissions - with recent versions of Moodle this is as simple as hitting the 'duplicate activity' button, then renaming the activity (and changing the deadline date).
Roger - I have tested repeatedly on a fresh Moodle install, the standard theme, with Firefox, Chrome and IE9. There are no know problems on such a system with the latest version of my plugin. Please could you use the built-in browser developer tools to see if there are any javascript errors and then add an issue to http://tracker.moodle.org with detailed instructions about how to reproduce the problem.
I have made a start on it, but I have just not had many spare evenings in the last month to make any progress (and many of those have been spent on updates to my checklist, realtime quiz and other plugins, along with minor bug fixes to the 2.3 drag and drop upload). I hope to have a bit more time over the summer. If there was anyone willing to fund the update via Synergy Learning, then I could work on it during the daytime, if not, it will have to wait.
Cheers