Moodle plugins directory: Group Management
Group Management
This activity is heavily based on the " Group choice" activity module, and behaves roughly like it. Making a choice enrols you in a group, changing your choice unenrols you from the precedent group and enrols you in the new one, and so on.
This activity allows students to enrol themselves in a group within a course. The teacher can choose from which groups the students can chose, and the maximum nummber of students allowed in each group. The students can view the members of each group before making a choice, and (if the teacher allows it) change their selected group until the deadline. They can alswo create their own public or private group protected with a key. Other student can contact the group creator for asking the registration Key.
Each group creator can add informations about his group a description, a video or an image. A map with the group's members location will also be display in a group Detail page.
Parameters :
With the new version of Google Maps you have to generate an API Key from this page :
https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/get-api-key?hl=fr
Then add it in the plugin parameters unless, the map won't work.
When I was trying the Group Management plugin I got a 'Google Maps error'. The error message instructed me to find the technical details about the problem in the JavaScript console. How do I open the JavaScript console ? ... Googled it:
"The JavaScript console is opened in Firefox with Ctrl Shift K"
JavaScript console output:
moodle-core-dock-loader: Dock loader watching block with instance id: 17 yui_combo.php:5828:21
moodle-core-event: Global event published: FORM_ERROR yui_combo.php:5828:21
moodle-core-event: Global event published: BLOCK_CONTENT_UPDATED yui_combo.php:5828:21
Warning: A single_select element was renderered, but the output is not displayed on the page. yui_combo.php:5828:21
moodle-core-actionmenu: Initialising the action menu manager yui_combo.php:5828:21
"Google Maps API error: MissingKeyMapError https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/error-messages#missing-key-map-error" js:38:315
Bootstrap initialised first.js:27:143
"Google Maps API warning: NoApiKeys https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/error-messages#no-api-keys" util.js:211:33
Please help...
Call to undefined method theme_essential\output\core_renderer::image_url()
Debug info:
Error code: generalexceptionmessage
Stack trace:
line 277 of /mod/moodecgrpmanagement/renderer.php: Error thrown
line 298 of /mod/moodecgrpmanagement/view.php: call to mod_moodecgrpmanagement_renderer->display_options()
Can you help me solve this problem?
I'm currently working on the Moodle 3.4 version that will fix this issue and will correct it for Moodle 3.2 aswell.
Thanks for bringing that up.
Thanks!
Thanks for your feedback. For the API Key, I went to this page : https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/get-api-key#key
Then I generate a standard key and first I have to create a project in Google Console. By the way you must be on a real server to make it work. It won't work on localhost.
Finally we haven't planned to deploy this plugin without the maps, but we'll look into it. In the minetime, I can guide you to disable this function inside the code.
Thanks again for your feedback
After trying all variables, I am quite confident that I created the project in Google Console, got the API Key that is needed, verified the site (property), and followed all instructions from the page you mention as well as the console developers page. I inserted the key in the space for it in the Group Management settings, removing any spaces before or after the key. It is still not working.
Is there anything else that needs to be setup for this plugin to work? For example, in Location Settings, there is a space for a Google Maps API V3 key. For now, I am leaving this blank. Does this need to be filled with the same key as the one used for the Settings in Group Management? Or a different key. The link below the Google Maps API V3 space goes to a lengthy documentation page that doesn't add any more clarity of installation.
Also, the directions on the page you site say that the second step is to insert not only the key but text surrounding the key. Moodle will not accept this as a valid entry, only the key itself. But as stated above, the key itself doesn't work either.
Also, regarding being on a real server, not local host, does this mean that I can't do this from my desktop internet access? The installation is on a VPS hosted server which I do have root access to but I am not familiar with this operation. No other keys that I have used have required anything other than input via an internet connection on a desktop computer.
Finally, thanks very much for considering an option to not have this feature. I know that when making a beautiful project such as this, one wants to have everything that can make it optimal. I could quite understand if you felt this feature needed to stay. Let me say however, that this plugin is a game changer for my site. I have long searched for a way to have students create their own groups and password protect them, giving them maximum control over their education. And this site does this very well. So given the extreme and unique value that the basic operations have, and the, by comparison, much more minimal and ordinary value that the maps feature has, and the exponential degree of difficulty added to the plugin installation, I would still see it as a good thing to do to offer this plugin without the maps feature.
Thanks very much for putting this together, we all benefit from it,
Stephen
Hope it's gonna help.
Martin