Would it be possible to have it run scheduled vs adhoc? What changes would be necessary?

Shaun T, it could be done, but it would be a fundamentally different plugin. What are you trying to accomplish?

Sorry Charles, I mssed your comment. We use a custom middle ware application to move courses to a deleted category and then delete them once a day. However sometime there are so many courses to delete the connection between our middleware and moodle times out. I'm looking for something that will delete all the courses in a specific category daily.

Shaun T: Gotcha, that's an interesting use case. Effectively you want Moodle categories to have a concept of a retention policy, with it being something other than indefinite in one use case. I could see accomplishing that within this plugin. I've logged your suggestion here: https://github.com/LafColITS/moodle-tool_deletecourses/issues/11.

How to find your tool?

Can you add a cli feature for this module so it can be ran from the command line?

Hi Barry, that's a good idea and I've logged it here: https://github.com/LafColITS/moodle-tool_deletecourses/issues/13.

Afternoon Charles

I also doubled up on this deletion issue and charged this with Moodle HQ https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-69139
i do think however this module would be a better solution rather than waiting for Moodle HQ to implement something.

Please see the README for instructions on using the tool with Boost: https://github.com/LafColITS/moodle-tool_deletecourses/blob/master/README.md.

Hi, Charles

When will your cli version be available? Is it also possible to select courses that aren't used anymore befory a given date? And is your plugin working in Moodle 3.9?

Hi Alain,

The current version was tested with Moodle 3.9 and works. There's no date for the cli version; I still think it's a good idea but I've no time to work on it. Regarding selecting courses based on date, there's no such functionality and no current plans to include it.

Best,

Charles

Hi Charles,

Thanks for you message. I tried to install the plugin, but I can't see a button in the course administration to delete the courses.
Do you have an example where I can find it?

Hi Charles,
Thank you for the plugin.
I ve installed it in Moodle 3.5.2+, correctly found the link Delete all courses in my category, run manually the cron.php and see only one adhoc task "Execute adhoc task: core_course\task\course_delete_modules" , but courses are not deleted, they still appear in the list. What can be the problem? I've denyed the access to the link to manager rol too, so it is only visible to main managers.

The plugin is not an option on the courses and categories page. You would need to navigate to the category via this link: https://[YOUR SITE]/course/index.php?categoryid. Click on the category to delete and then click the gear icon to manage the category. Select the option for Delete all courses.
After you click on 'Delete all courses' you will then have the option to include subcategories and bypass the recycle bin. Bypassing the recycle bin will also help speed up the deletions.

Thanks for this plugin - it saved me a heap of time!

Interestingly, I fell into the same issue as others, expecting to see this in the System Administration area..
But per your directions, it's in the student-view, but with admin access, you navigate to the category, then click on the cog to find the Delete All courses option.