Lucimoo EPUB import/export plugins for the Moodle book module

Lucimoo consists of two plugins for the Moodle book module:

• The "importepub" plugin provides functionality to import content from EPUB ebooks into book module books.

• The "exportepub" plugin provides functionality to export book module books as EPUB ebooks.

Requirements

The book module is included in Moodle 2.3 and later, and by default these plugins can only be installed in these versions of Moodle. If you use Moodle 2.0-2.2 and have manually installed the book module and want to use these plugins, you must remove the line "$plugin->requires = 2012062500;" from the files "importepub/version.php" and "exportepub/version.php" before they can be installed.

Installation

The import and export plugins can be installed independently of each other, so if you only want one of them you do not need to install the other.

In Moodle 2.5 and later you can install plugins from the "Site administration" view. In older versions of Moodle you need to install them manually.

Note that the "Administration" block (or "Settings" block in some versions of Moodle) must be visible in the user interface for the plugins to work properly. It is visible in default configurations, but can be configured to not be displayed, in which case users will not see the user interface controls for the plugins.

General plugin installation instructions are available at http://docs.moodle.org/31/en/Installing_plugins

Installation from the "Site administration" view in Moodle 3.0 and later

1. Login as admin and visit the Moodle "Site administration" view, and click on "Site administration" > "Plugins" > "Install plugins" on the left.

2. Select the Lucimoo ZIP package you want to install.

3. Click on the "Install plugin from the ZIP file" button.

4. Click on the "Continue" button.

5. Repeat 1-4 with the other Lucimoo ZIP package if you want to install both the import and the export plugins.

Installation from the "Site administration" view in Moodle 2.5-2.8

1. Login as admin and visit the Moodle "Site administration" view, and click on "Site administration" > "Plugins" > "Install add-ons" on the left.

2. Choose "Book / Book tool (booktool)" as the Plugin type.

3. Select the Lucimoo ZIP package you want to install.

4. Check the "Acknowledgement" box.

5. Click on the "Install add-on from the ZIP file" button.

6. Click on the "Install add-on!" button.

7. Repeat 1-6 with the other Lucimoo ZIP package if you want to install both the import and the export add-ons.

Manual installation

This is possible with Moodle 2.0 and later.

1. Unzip the Lucimoo ZIP package(s) to get the folder(s) "importepub" and/or "exportepub".

2. Upload or copy the "importepub" and/or "exportepub" folder(s) into the "mod/book/tool/" folder of your Moodle installation.

3. Login as admin and visit the Moodle "Site administration" view, and click on "Site administration" > "Notifications" on the left and follow the instructions to finish the installation.

Upgrading from an older version of Lucimoo to a newer version

The Lucimoo plugins do not store any plugin specific data in the Moodle database. This means that you do not loose any data if you uninstall them, and you can upgrade to another version of the Lucimoo plugins simply by installing the new version.

Configuration

The export plugin has a few settings that can be changed by editing the file "config.php".

Usage

Exporting a book as an EPUB ebook

1. Display the book you want to export.

2. Click on the "Download as ebook" link under "Administration" > "Book administration" on the left. (In some versions of Moodle it is instead located under "Settings" > "Book administration")

Importing chapters from an EPUB ebook into an existing book

1. Display the book you want to import chapters into.

2. Click on the "Turn editing on" link under "Administration" > "Book administration" on the left. (In some versions of Moodle it is instead located under "Settings" > "Book administration")

3. Click on the "Import chapters from ebook" link under "Administration" > "Book administration" on the left.

4. Select the EPUB file and click on "Import".

Create new books from EPUB ebooks

This functionality is only available with Moodle 2.5 and later.

1. Click on the "Turn editing on" link under "Administration" > "Book administration" on the left. (In some versions of Moodle it is instead located under "Settings" > "Book administration")

2. Create a new (temporary) book in the section where you want to import the new book(s). To do this you click on the "Add an activity or resource" link and select "Book", and then fill in a title etc.

3. Display the temporary book. (As the book is empty, an editing form will be displayed.)

4. Click on the "Import ebook as new book" link under "Administration" > "Book administration" on the left.

5. Either:

   a) Select the EPUB file(s) you want to import, and click on "Import".

   or:

   b) Enter URL:s for the EPUB file(s) you want to import, one on each line in the textbox, and click on "Import from URL:s".

6. Delete the temporary book you created in step 1.

   (Steps 2 and 6 are only necessary if the section does not already contain any books. You must display a book to see the "Import ebook as new book" link, but it can be any book. Unfortunately Moodle does not provide any better place to put such a link.)

Import options

• Create one book per chapter: This will create one book for every chapter, instead of only one book with many chapters.

• Add header: This allows you to type in a string of HTML code that is added at the start of every chapter.

• Add footer: This allows you to type in a string of HTML code that is added at the end of every chapter.

• Subchapters: This allows you to divide chapters into subchapters. You can specify which HTML tag to start a new subchapter at, and optionally one or more class names that must match.

• Enable stylesheets: This enables stylesheets.

• Prevent small text: This will try to prevent the text size from being smaller than the default text size.

• Ignore font family: This will try to make all text appear in the default font instead of any font specified in the EPUB file.

Thanks

Some features of the plugin were developed with support from the Ministry Division of the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England.

Credits

French translation by Sophie Canal.

Norwegian translation by Haakon Meland Eriksen.

Spanish translation by Lupa.

The Lucimoo EPUB import plugin includes code from the following external project:

PHP-CSS-Parser Copyright (c) 2011 Raphael Schweikert, http://sabberworm.com/ https://github.com/sabberworm/PHP-CSS-Parser

The Lucimoo EPUB export plugin includes code from the following external project:

PHPZip Copyright 2009-2012 A. Grandt https://github.com/Grandt/PHPZip

Contact information

Web site: http://lucidor.org/lucimoo/