Course Search Module for Moodle

A comprehensive Moodle activity module that enables teachers to add a search bar to courses, allowing students to search through course content with automatic highlighting of search terms.

Features

Core Search Functionality

• Comprehensive Search: Searches through all course content types
• Search Filter: Filter between "All content" or "Forums only" on the search page
• Embedded Mode: Option to embed search bar directly in course page

Search Term Highlighting

• Automatic Scrolling: Automatically scrolls to matched content when clicking search results
• Visual Highlighting: Highlights search terms with a yellow background for 3 seconds
• Smart Fallback: If direct text highlighting fails (e.g., text inside links), highlights the parent element
• Works on Course Pages: Highlighting works for labels, pages, sections, and other content displayed on the course page
• Accordion Support: Automatically expands Bootstrap accordions/collapsible sections to reveal and highlight text inside

Admin Settings

• Enable/Disable Highlighting: Global setting to turn scrolling and highlighting on or off (Site Administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Course Search)

Supported Content Types

The search covers the following content types:

Course Structure

• Course Sections (names and summaries)
• Activity and resource titles
• Descriptions and introductions

Activities & Resources

• Pages (mod_page) - title and content
• Books (mod_book) - chapter titles and content
• Labels (mod_label) - content
• Forums (mod_forum) - discussions and posts
• Wiki (mod_wiki) - page titles and content
• Lessons (mod_lesson) - page titles and content
• Glossary (mod_glossary) - terms and definitions
• Database (mod_data) - field content
• H5P Interactive Content (mod_hvp) - text content from all H5P types (Accordion, Course Presentation, Quiz, etc.)
• Folders (mod_folder) - file names

Requirements

• Moodle: 4.4 or higher
• PHP: 7.4 or higher
• Browser: Modern browser with JavaScript enabled

Installation

Method 1: Via Moodle Admin Interface (Recommended)

1. Download mod_coursesearch.zip
2. Log in to Moodle as administrator
3. Navigate to: Site administration -> Plugins -> Install plugins
4. Click "Choose a file" and upload mod_coursesearch.zip
5. Click "Install plugin from the ZIP file"
6. Review the validation report and click "Continue"
7. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete installation

Method 2: Manual Installation

1. Extract the mod_coursesearch.zip file
2. Upload the coursesearch folder to /path/to/moodle/mod/
3. Set proper permissions: chown -R www-data:www-data coursesearch
4. Visit Site administration -> Notifications
5. Follow the upgrade prompts

Usage

Adding to a Course

1. Navigate to your course
2. Turn editing on
3. Click "Add an activity or resource"
4. Select "Course Search"
5. Configure settings:
   • Name: Display name for the search activity
   • Description: Optional introduction text
   • Embedded mode: Enable to show search form inline on course page
6. Save and display

Supported Languages

• English
• German
• Ukrainian

Searching

1. Open the Course Search activity (or use the embedded search bar)
2. Enter search terms
3. Select filter: "All" or "Forums only"
4. Click "Search"
5. Click on any result to navigate to the content

Highlighting (Course Page Content)

When clicking on search results that link to course page content (labels, pages, sections): - The page automatically scrolls to the matched text - The text is highlighted with a yellow background for 3 seconds - Bootstrap accordions/collapsible sections are automatically expanded if the text is inside

Note: Highlighting only works on course pages. Results linking to external pages (Book chapters, Wiki pages, Glossary entries, Database records, H5P activities) will navigate directly to the content without highlighting.

Performance

• JavaScript only loads when needed (when highlight parameter is present)
• AMD modules are lazy-loaded by Moodle
• Client-side highlighting only
• Minimal impact on page load

Troubleshooting

Highlighting doesn't work

• Clear browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+Delete)
• Purge Moodle caches: Site administration -> Development -> Purge all caches
• Ensure JavaScript is enabled
• Note: Highlighting only works on course pages, not on Book/Wiki/Glossary/etc. pages

No search results

• Verify content is visible to the user
• Try different search terms
• Check if the content type is supported

Version

Current version: 1.0.0 (Stable)

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 or later.

Credits

Original plugin: Yurii Lysak (2025) Enhancements: HNEE (Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde) - December 2025

Support

For issues, feature requests, or contributions, please contact your Moodle administrator.