Moodle plugins directory: Grid Format | Moodle.org
Grid Format
A modular and visual course format. Hides all topics and creates a grid of icons (one for each topic) with short titles. Clicking on an icon brings up the content from the corresponding topic in a "lightbox" style display.
Support:
The format comes with NO support. Please see the 'Support' section in 'Readme.md' file that comes with the format. This is because the format is complex and I regret that I don't have the time / resources to freely assist with questions pertaining to specific enhancements / changes / knowledge improvement.
I will investigate genuine bugs and issue fixes in a timescale set by myself. When reporting issues you MUST clearly state the full version and release of both Moodle and the Grid format format as contained within their 'version.php' files - if not it takes me longer to figure out, often resulting in me asking for the details anyway and slowing the process of solving your problem down. It really helps to upload and describe in detail the issue you are having on the 'Course formats' forum.
Screen cast:
More to follow as new icons have been added....
Privacy API support starts with V3.3.0.5 for M3.3 and V3.4.0.4 for M3.4 where the API has been implemented in the minor release of Moodle.
Useful links
Screenshots
Latest? What specific version are you using please? Just in case you've done something silly.
I've never seen that happen, ever. Are there by mistakes links on the course to 'changenumsections.php' in a URL?
G
Thanks for the responses! Dave, it sounds like a very similar issue - when sections are added it seems to start at 110 and I'm pretty sure they had orphaned sections as we pretty much reuse the same courses year after year - I'll look to see if that's having an impact.
Gareth, I certainly wouldn't rule out me doing something silly! The version installed is 3.4.0.4 / 2017111803. I've never seen it before either! I've just checked on one of the affected courses and can see that section 110 is still being created regardless of course format - I believe the issue of section 110 being created is a Moodle/upgrade bug, but it happens to then make Grid Format unresponsive.
I'll keep digging into it!
Thanks,
Dan.
Just found this which may be related: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=368023
Thanks,
Dan.
I think I've worked out what is happening here. The topic 110 is the one created by default with the OU subpage plugin and seems to be causing problems since the change in stealth activities in 3.4 (https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-mod_subpage/issues/19). I've created a new course and can now recreate the issue. This doesn't affect most course formats but does affect Grid Format. I've deleted all instances of a subpage in the test course and Grid Format works again and doesn't break.
Thanks for the pointers above - it helped me track this down!
Dan.
In what way does it affect the format? Are there any errors in the php.log file that would help me write a fix?
G
Basically it seems that once the sections are non-sequential, Grid Format then becomes unresponsive - clicking on a tile doesn't do anything. Turning editing on doesn't do anything either - you need to switch out to topics format to delete the non-sequential section then switch back - the problem is if sub pages are still there, it recreates the non-sequential section. So it looks like these are incompatible plugins - though subpages has an update which I haven't applied yet which may deal with it. Essentially it seems to be due to subpages which used the orphaned section idea to do it's magic, but is now a problem for 3.4+. I can't find subpages on Moodle either, just on github.
I can send you the php logs if you let me know the best way to send (don't want to clog this up), but it looks like there are essentially 3 issues in the renderer for each topic in between the last actual section and the section created by subpages (e.g. if you have 10 sections and subpages creates section 110 you get 100 of these notices):
Notice
: Undefined offset: 33 in
/var/www/moodle/docroot/course/format/grid/renderer.php
on line
744
Notice
: Trying to get property of non-object in
/var/www/moodle/docroot/course/format/grid/renderer.php
on line
747
Notice
: Trying to get property of non-object in
/var/www/moodle/docroot/course/format/grid/renderer.php
on line
748
Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Dan.
That helps.
At some point the core core changed such the the sections were iterated upon regardless of the section number in sequence. I don't know when or why, just need to think of a solution that the logic of the format can cope with it.
G
I believe the (unadopted and unsupported) subpage plugin is the main cause of the issue here. The subpage plugin exploits a bug (pre Moodle 3.3) of orphaned sections. In Moodle 3.3 and newer, orphaned sections are not allowed, ie if 10 sections are set in the course settings page, any sections after 10 cease to exist and any resource/activity that is outside of those 10 sections will no longer reside within a subpage (orphaned section).
I don't believe you're going to be able to fix this but would absolutely love to be proved wrong. I believe subpages start in the triple-digits to avoid clashes, hence they generally cause gaps in sequentiality.
It can be fixed, just a matter of me finding the time to do so.
Kind regards,
Gareth
This patch https://github.com/gjb2048/moodle-format_grid/commit/b25a74d1eb9f2000cc65d84e2f62b873b2c2c2f1 should solve the problem.
G
Thanks for this - any chance you can apply the patch to the 3.4 version as well?
Thanks,
Dan.
Yes, but not in the near future due to work commitments.
Gareth
We currently use Adaptable and upgraded to V 1.7.3 which looks great, solving some of our issues.
We are using Moodle 3.4.3 and about to update to 3.5.3 and have seen in the core boost theme that in grid format, can have individual resource navigation.
This is a great feature of 3.4 but Adaptable 1.7.3 doesn't allow the navigation feature down to resource level, only section level.
Can the Adaptable theme allow grid format individual resource navigation buttons?
Kind regards
Nick Fenge
See: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=379405#p1529643.
G