Hi All,
This is my fisrt use of Fair Allocation.
I have this server environment :
Moodle 3.3.2 (Build: 20170911)
PhP : 7.1;8
MariaDb : 5.5.52

The allocation are already published but when I chosse to creat groups from Allocation I have this error message :

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Error writing to database
More information about this error
Debug info: Field 'description' doesn't have a default value
INSERT INTO mdl_groups (courseid,name,idnumber,timecreated,timemodified) VALUES(?,?,?,?,?)
[array (
0 => '5980',
1 => '01. Des œufs au pesticide (Ph Bou et JM Fra)',
2 => 'ratingallocate_c_6',
3 => 1505741865,
4 => 1505741865,
)]
Error code: dmlwriteexception
Stack trace:
line 489 of /lib/dml/moodle_database.php: dml_write_exception thrown
line 1274 of /lib/dml/mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to moodle_database->query_end()
line 1320 of /lib/dml/mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->insert_record_raw()
line 251 of /group/lib.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->insert_record()
line 627 of /mod/ratingallocate/locallib.php: call to groups_create_group()
line 756 of /mod/ratingallocate/locallib.php: call to ratingallocate->process_action_allocation_to_grouping()
line 61 of /mod/ratingallocate/view.php: call to ratingallocate->handle_view()
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Could you help me to fix this problem?
Thank you!
Gabriel

Hi Gabriel,
it seems that for some reason your database does not allow to create entries within mdl_groups table without a description value defined. The install.xml of moodle within lib/db/install.xml states that the description field is allowed to be null. Additionally, there are multiple other locations in moodle code, where a group without a description is created.

If you want a hotfix for your problem, you can add this line to your code:

diff --git a/locallib.php b/locallib.php
index 0323c21..cdbbf94 100644
--- a/locallib.php
+++ b/locallib.php
@@ -624,6 +624,7 @@ class ratingallocate {
$data->courseid = $this->course->id;
$data->name = $choices[$choice['key']]->title;
$data->idnumber = $groupid;
+ $data->description = '';
$createdid = groups_create_group($data);
groups_assign_grouping($groupingid, $createdid);
$choiceids[$groupid]['groupid'] = $createdid;

However, I do not consider this as a problem of this plugin.
Grettings
Tobias

Thank you very much. The proposed code works perfectly.

Did someone try this with a lot of (280) Students?
I think about using this to allocate Students in a project week.
280 Students
about 20 courses
Students could give first, second and third priority course.
Is this plugin working for such a huge ammount of data?
Grettings
Patrick

Hello Patrick,
our biggest usage scenario in a course is currently 30 choices and 868 users. With these amounts of data, the algorithm of the plugin is working fine. In newer versions of the plugin, the manual allocation form is also usable for huge usage scenarios and gives a good overview of the ratings and the allocations. In older version, this was not recommendable, so make sure to use at least v3.3-r1.
Greetings
Tobias

This module sounds really great and we would love to use it for seat allocations. However, while doing the assignment we need to give higher priority to students from higher semesters not just the preferences provided by students. As far as I can see, this module does not support it. It would have to be an additional optional rating scale, I imagine.

Hey Robert,
you are welcome to file ideas for future development in the issues of the github repository. However, your suggestion is not that easily implementable. Thus, I think we will not be able to develop it in near future.
Kind regards,
Tobias

This is one of the most well thought-out and developed Moodle plugins I've ever seen. Great work!

AG-Wahlen mit z.B. 20 - 30 Angebotenen AGs und einer Verteilung auf 1000 Schülern die 1. Wahl, 2. Wahl und 3. Wahl angeben. Wäre das mit dem Plugin umsetzbar?

Hallo Andreas,
grundsätzlich ist das möglich. 20-30 Angebote mit 1000 Schülern lastet das Plugin auf jeden Fall gut aus. Wir haben das Plugin aber in Münster mit 850 Studierenden und 30 Wahlmöglichkeiten auch schon erfolgreich getestet. Die Ansichten zum Verteilungsüberblick und zur manuellen Änderung von einzelnen Zuordnungen sind inzwischen auch soweit, dass sie kein Problem in der Handhabung mit so vielen Schülern darstellen.
Ich empfehle dir vor der entgültigen Zuteilung einen Blick in das Moodle Wiki: https://docs.moodle.org/31/en/Ratingallocate#Alter_Allocation (Momentan ist warum auch immer nur das Wiki zu Version 3.1 auf dem aktuellsten Stand, ich pflege das gleich in den anderen Versionen nach).
Ich hoffe das Plugin unterstützt dich gut bei der Verteilung!
VG
Tobias

Hallo Community
Kann ich dieses Plugin verwenden, um eine Faire Aus-Wahl zu treffen? Meine Gruppe soll aus 12 Themen-Vorschlägen eine Wahl von 3 Themen treffen. Diese 3 Themen sollen für alle akzeptabel sein.
Worauf muss ich bei der Ersterstellung achten? Gibt es für meinen Bedarf bessere Plugins/Services?
Besten Dank für eure Hilfe.
LG
Michael

Great plugin ! It's very useful, thank you !

Thanks for this great plugin

Hi
I' m searching a Plugin for fair voting. But not like here to send users to groups, but tto find one fair choice for all.
Also known as ranked Choice. More infos about this system:
Www.rankedvote.co

Is there a plugin for moodle to do this?

Good afternoon,
My colleagues and I are trying to use the Fair Allocation module at Toulouse University but when we install the module we receive the following message:

Exception : syntax error, unexpected '=>' (T_DOUBLE_ARROW), expecting ')'
line 682 of /mod/ratingallocate/locallib.php: ParseError thrown
line 144 of /course/modedit.php: call to require_once()

We currently have the 3.11 version of Moodle but will transition to version 4 next year.
Do you know how we could move around this problem and use Fair Allocation in our university?
Thank you very much in advance.