Moodle Plugins directory: Stash: Comments

Tuesday, 11 November 2025, 12:28 AM - Joe Liaw

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:28:07 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Hi Adrian,

I'm sorry I never got back to you yet with the reset functionality you implemented and wanted to give it a spin to give you feedback.

However, I am still running Stash 1.3.4 (2022042100) since I have an older Moodle instance due to compatibility issues with various plugins. Is there any way you can merge your latest changes with the older version so I can test out the reset functionality and then I will report back to you on how it works?

Thanks again for sharing your GREAT work with the Moodle community, and I am having lots of fun with my students hiding rare items throughout my courses to encourage participation and gamification!

Thursday, 6 November 2025, 1:07 PM - Adrian Greeve

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 05:07:45 GMT

by Adrian Greeve.

Hello Jean,
There is no specific rule, and it simply follows the database query order, which may possibly differ depending on the database that you are using.

Sunday, 2 November 2025, 7:57 PM - Jean Lucio Santos Evangelista

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 11:57:55 GMT

by Jean Lucio Santos Evangelista.

Hello,
I’m using the Stash plugin to create a ranking of students based on the number of items they have collected.
However, I couldn’t find in the documentation how the plugin handles ties — that is, when two or more students have collected the same number of items.

Could you please clarify what the tie-breaker criterion is in this case?
For example:

Does Stash sort by the time the last item was collected?

Or by the user ID, username, or some other field?

If there’s no specific rule, does the order simply follow the database query order?

Thank you for your help and for maintaining such a great gamification tool!

Best regards,
Jean Lúcio

Thursday, 9 October 2025, 9:19 AM - Adrian Greeve

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 01:19:54 GMT

by Adrian Greeve.

Hi Anna,
I'm sorry to hear that you're having troubles with the trading. I have tried to replicate the problem here on my machine, but it seems to be working fine. I have block_stash and filter_shortcodes installed. Do you have the same set up? How are you verifying that the student never receives the trade request? You could perhaps look at the logs for the course. It should show a request being created, and also accepted.

Wednesday, 8 October 2025, 7:52 PM - Anna Haas

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:52:48 GMT

by Anna Haas.

Hi there, we really enjoy the Stash block plugin! Unfortunately, one feature doesn’t seem to work for us: trading between students.

We’re running Moodle 4.5.5, (also tested on 4.5.6) with Stash block version 2.1.1.
In the Stash configuration, the option “Allow students to trade items with each other” is turned on.

After creating some items we’ve equipped the students with items using Setup > Report, so each of them definitely has items available in their stash. When a student goes to the Trade center, selects another student who has the desired item, chooses which items to trade, and clicks “Send trade request”, everything appears fine on their end.
But the other student never receives any trade request and nothing shows in their Trade center.
Any suggestions on what we could try or where to look next would?

Thanks!

Wednesday, 8 October 2025, 9:30 AM - Adrian Greeve

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 01:30:56 GMT

by Adrian Greeve.

New version is up with this setting. Let me know if you have any problems.

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 9:19 PM - Joe Liaw

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 13:19:12 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Great questions!

I believe what would be most useful to most instructors would be a full "reset", where all students are removed when the course is reset, and all Stash items cleared out and "returned", that is if they are scarce / rare items they are put back in their original locations.

This would be like one of those "escape room" situations, where after a group solves the escape room and puzzles, the owners usually have to "reset" it before the next group arrives so that the next set of customers can have fun trying to escape Alcatraz, a mummy's tomb, etc.

So for the teachers of a course, they could just "reset" the Stash items and students so they have a "clean slate", ready for another group of intrepid students and explorers to go for it!

Hopefully that makes sense! Thanks Adrian!

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 9:19 PM - Joe Liaw

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 13:19:10 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 11:17 AM - Adrian Greeve

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 03:17:34 GMT

by Adrian Greeve.

Okay,
I had a closer look at the code that generates the report and it seems that a decision was made a long time ago to show unenrolled students and students with revoked permissions. I can see that if an unenrolled student had a scarce item then you'd want to be able to see that. If use this new reset then it will remove all user items and these old students won't show up in the report any more.
Maybe we also need a filter or visual clue that a user has items but is unenrolled. What do you think?

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 10:08 AM - Joe Liaw

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 02:08:51 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Ahhh...yes, you can not magically read my mind or network your brain into my Moodle server!

I had some courses that I did a full course reset so that I could use them "fresh" for my new school year and start of the semester, but I noticed that in the Stash block report my "old" students from last year were showing up with my current "new" students.

You are correct that Moodle does not distinguish currently enrolled students from unenrolled students. So it appears that the Course Reset teachers normally use does not reset students in the Stash Block....

...and I completely respect that "simple" feature requests are not always that simple to implement depending on the architecture and data storage structures plugins need to "talk" to!!!

Thanks Adrian again for all your help, and already what you have shared with the Moodle community is an awesome plugin with a ton of potential, especially for some really creative users out there!!!

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 10:08 AM - Joe Liaw

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 02:08:49 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 9:58 AM - Adrian Greeve

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 01:58:00 GMT

by Adrian Greeve.

Hi Joe,
Some requests are easy to implement and others are not. So something that might sound simple may actually be complex to implement.
I'd like to learn more about old students. At the moment block stash lists everyone that is enrolled in the course. How do you determine who is old and who isn't?

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 9:40 AM - Joe Liaw

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 01:40:39 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Wow--that was FAST turn around--THANK YOU Adrian!

Being able to reset all items will help teachers "reset" the game for each semester, and again, "THANK YOU!' for sharing such a great tool for gamification between hiding items, setting up trades, and offering scarce / rare items--the sky's the limit for people to get really creative!!!

Follow up question for the future (no hurry): is there a simple way to clear out old students from the Stash report? Your new feature of resetting Stash items will help for setting up the gamification for a new semester, but it looks like old students are not cleared out from the Stash Report. Is this a limitation of Stash being in a Block vs. Activities? Either way, Stash is still one of the BEST tools for gamification and some of my colleagues have gotten really creative with it--one class even made custom T-shirts for the class to wear based on the crazy treasure items and trades one of my colleagues made for a Modern Physics unit (think trading Geiger counters for donuts, x-ray machines, and other chaotic fun!!!)

Thursday, 18 September 2025, 9:24 AM - Adrian Greeve

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 01:24:58 GMT

by Adrian Greeve.

I threw something together yesterday. I added another tab for settings and there will be a button there you can press that will reset all items for all users in the course. I couldn't add it to the course reset page, as only activities can hook in there.
I'll release it at the same time as the next release (October 6th).

Wednesday, 17 September 2025, 9:57 PM - Joe Liaw

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 13:57:59 GMT

by Joe Liaw.

Hi Adrian,

Ah yes--a teacher could reset the stash manually for each student, but as you pointed out not practical at all!!

Follow up question: I was actually trying to see if there was a way when a Course Reset is done at the end of the semester when a teacher is clearing out a course to be a "fresh" instance for the start of a new semester in which Moodle unenrolls students, clears out the gradebook, course completion logs, etc. if Stash could also reset and clear out old students.

This would be important especially for "scarce / rare" items, since that is a cool gamification feature you implemented that actually motivates some students!!! For example, I hid some scarce / rare "unicorn cheetahs" throughout my first unit that only the first few students to get over 90% on certain core assignments and earning a "golden certificate" could also snatch one of the rare cheetahs! One of my students was annoyed that his friend got one during his lunch, and was motivated to beat his friend for the next unit!!

Thanks again for sharing your great work with the Moodle community and supporting student learning around the world!!