Non-core contributed modules

My Courses block contribution

Details

  • Type: New Feature New Feature
  • Status: Open Open
  • Priority: Minor Minor
  • Resolution: Unresolved
  • Affects Version/s: 1.9.8
  • Fix Version/s: None
  • Component/s: Block: My courses
  • Labels:
    None
  • Database:
    MySQL
  • Affected Branches:
    MOODLE_19_STABLE

Description

This is a copy of the My Courses block that has been around for several years. It works quite well and for some reason has disappeared from the Modules and Plugins page. The other two alternatives (FN My Menu & My Courses 2) either do not have the same functionality or in the case of My Courses 2 does not work on the my recent version of 1.9. I am not the developer of this block and am probably not capable of maintaining it beyond very basic work but would like for it to be available to others as I am recommending it.

Issue Links

This issue has a non-specific relationship to:
CONTRIB-1442 Resolve myCourses and siteNavigation block history Minor Open

Activity

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Mark Johnson added a comment -

I'm not sure who this should be assigned to, but this doesn't seem to have anything to do with my Accessibility block, so I don't think it should be me.

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Mark Johnson added a comment - I'm not sure who this should be assigned to, but this doesn't seem to have anything to do with my Accessibility block, so I don't think it should be me.
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Jason Hollowell added a comment -

Just wanted to add it that I think this version was originally made to work by Julian Ridden back in 2007 from an old FN_Moodle project contribution. Here is the link to the long forum thread...still active to present.

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67494

Jason

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Jason Hollowell added a comment - Just wanted to add it that I think this version was originally made to work by Julian Ridden back in 2007 from an old FN_Moodle project contribution. Here is the link to the long forum thread...still active to present. http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67494 Jason
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Jason Hollowell added a comment -

Mark,

Sorry, I must have made an incorrect selection as I was posting this. I remember selecting "accessibility" because I thought that was the category this type of contribution would fall under. I must have accidentally selected a specific block.

Jason

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Jason Hollowell added a comment - Mark, Sorry, I must have made an incorrect selection as I was posting this. I remember selecting "accessibility" because I thought that was the category this type of contribution would fall under. I must have accidentally selected a specific block. Jason
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Jason Hollowell added a comment -

The following is an attempt to provide some history on the evolution of MyCourses type blocks in which users can see and access courses that they are enrolled in.

Prior to March of 2007 there apparently was a block that performed this function that was created and used by the FN Moodle project ( I think it was called FN my_courses). At least this is what Julian Ridden stated in a post in which he had modified the block to work with the current, at that time, version of Moodle. (Reference - http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67494)

The post that Julian Ridden made in March of 2007 has remained fairly active since its inception. There are posts as frequent as February of this year (2010). During that time much of the support and development of this block was undertaken by Rosario Carco (http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=77708&course=5). As such, Rosario may be the individual who should be given most credit for the block...?

The version that I have attached here is one from somewhere mid way through the thread referenced and does not include many of the features that apparently are included in the most recent version. I will do some testing and see if I can determine which version includes the most possibilities and compatibility as that version is certainly the one that I believe should be maintained in the Modules and Plugins database.

As for the other two similar blocks that are currently available in the Modules and Plugins database, MyMenu is different in that it only displays courses in which the user (even admin) is enrolled and displays them as one long list rather than in their respective categories.

The My Courses 2 block may be a fork off of the block I am requesting to have added (or returned) to the Modules and Plugins page but I am not sure. Unfortunately I cannot get it to work in 1.9.8+ and am thus not certain of its design.

I cannot figure out why the original MyCourses block disappeared from the Modules and Plugins database. Possibly it was taken over by the MyCourses 2 block....?

At any rate, I believe there is a need for the original MyCourses block, or one similar to it that is functional, to be included in the Modules and Plugins database.

I will do some more research of the evolution of the "original" block from the thread I have mentioned here and post back.

Jason

Show
Jason Hollowell added a comment - The following is an attempt to provide some history on the evolution of MyCourses type blocks in which users can see and access courses that they are enrolled in. Prior to March of 2007 there apparently was a block that performed this function that was created and used by the FN Moodle project ( I think it was called FN my_courses). At least this is what Julian Ridden stated in a post in which he had modified the block to work with the current, at that time, version of Moodle. (Reference - http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67494) The post that Julian Ridden made in March of 2007 has remained fairly active since its inception. There are posts as frequent as February of this year (2010). During that time much of the support and development of this block was undertaken by Rosario Carco (http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=77708&course=5). As such, Rosario may be the individual who should be given most credit for the block...? The version that I have attached here is one from somewhere mid way through the thread referenced and does not include many of the features that apparently are included in the most recent version. I will do some testing and see if I can determine which version includes the most possibilities and compatibility as that version is certainly the one that I believe should be maintained in the Modules and Plugins database. As for the other two similar blocks that are currently available in the Modules and Plugins database, MyMenu is different in that it only displays courses in which the user (even admin) is enrolled and displays them as one long list rather than in their respective categories. The My Courses 2 block may be a fork off of the block I am requesting to have added (or returned) to the Modules and Plugins page but I am not sure. Unfortunately I cannot get it to work in 1.9.8+ and am thus not certain of its design. I cannot figure out why the original MyCourses block disappeared from the Modules and Plugins database. Possibly it was taken over by the MyCourses 2 block....? At any rate, I believe there is a need for the original MyCourses block, or one similar to it that is functional, to be included in the Modules and Plugins database. I will do some more research of the evolution of the "original" block from the thread I have mentioned here and post back. Jason
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Jason Hollowell added a comment -

Following up on my previous post here. All of the following information is from testing on 1.9.8+

I tried all of the versions of the MyCourses block found in this forum thread (http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67494) and had the following results:

Version posted on 5-27-08 : This functions in the sense that there is no error message in the block admin error "...is not compatible..." but it does not function in the sense that the only thing that appears in the block is a link to the front page even when courses and categories exist.

Version posted on 8-15-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area.

Version posted on 8-18-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area.

Version posted on 8-19-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area.

Version posted on 9-9-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area.

Version posted on 1-31-09 : Functions in the sense that no error is generated but it does not work in the sense that the block title string call is broken and the only link that appears in the block is a front page link even when categories and courses exist.

Version posted on 5-23-09 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area.

Version posted on 5-26-09 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area.

The version that I have posted here works on 1.9.8+ as well as on earlier versions of 1.9. I'm not sure however, where it came from. I suspect it must have been downloaded from Modules and Plugins area after Julian Ridden originally made it available in March of 2007.

If someone could quickly check the version I have posted here and confirm that it is functional under 1.9.8+ and then allow it to be added to the Modules and Plugins database, I would be most appreciative. I am willing to maintain it as best I can but I am not a programmer so my ability to do so will be limited. I can, at least, monitor the database and see if comments, questions, etc. arise and help to solve issues that may arise.

Jason

P.S. I do notice that this does take some time to load on sites that have many courses. We have 906 courses on our site now and it takes a couple seconds (1 to 2) to load when the admin logs in using Firefox. It is much slower on older versions of IE. I have not checked but suspect it may be generating many database queries as Rosario has mentioned at the bottom of the thread posted above. It doesn't seem to be causing us any troubles at the moment on our 906 course 4915 user site. We only have one admin that logs into the site and approximately 300 users logging in daily with roughly no more than 100 to 125 concurrent users at any given time.

Show
Jason Hollowell added a comment - Following up on my previous post here. All of the following information is from testing on 1.9.8+ I tried all of the versions of the MyCourses block found in this forum thread (http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67494) and had the following results: Version posted on 5-27-08 : This functions in the sense that there is no error message in the block admin error "...is not compatible..." but it does not function in the sense that the only thing that appears in the block is a link to the front page even when courses and categories exist. Version posted on 8-15-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area. Version posted on 8-18-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area. Version posted on 8-19-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area. Version posted on 9-9-08 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area. Version posted on 1-31-09 : Functions in the sense that no error is generated but it does not work in the sense that the block title string call is broken and the only link that appears in the block is a front page link even when categories and courses exist. Version posted on 5-23-09 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area. Version posted on 5-26-09 : Does not function - Generates "Block myCourses is not compatible with the current version of Moodle and needs to be updated by a programmer." error message in block admin area. The version that I have posted here works on 1.9.8+ as well as on earlier versions of 1.9. I'm not sure however, where it came from. I suspect it must have been downloaded from Modules and Plugins area after Julian Ridden originally made it available in March of 2007. If someone could quickly check the version I have posted here and confirm that it is functional under 1.9.8+ and then allow it to be added to the Modules and Plugins database, I would be most appreciative. I am willing to maintain it as best I can but I am not a programmer so my ability to do so will be limited. I can, at least, monitor the database and see if comments, questions, etc. arise and help to solve issues that may arise. Jason P.S. I do notice that this does take some time to load on sites that have many courses. We have 906 courses on our site now and it takes a couple seconds (1 to 2) to load when the admin logs in using Firefox. It is much slower on older versions of IE. I have not checked but suspect it may be generating many database queries as Rosario has mentioned at the bottom of the thread posted above. It doesn't seem to be causing us any troubles at the moment on our 906 course 4915 user site. We only have one admin that logs into the site and approximately 300 users logging in daily with roughly no more than 100 to 125 concurrent users at any given time.
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Anthony Borrow added a comment -

linking to CONTRIB-1442

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Anthony Borrow added a comment - linking to CONTRIB-1442
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Rosario Carcò added a comment -

Thanks Anthony, every question risen here is answered in 1442 and the mentioned threads of Julian Ridden and myself. I just upgraded my testsites to 1.9.9+ and MY versions of the blocks, myCourses and siteNavigation still work fine. Julian removed the myCourses Block from the Plugins Database because I had reengineered the block from its FN-Original to work on 1.9.x and I MYSELF was not ready to put it there again and to continue maintenance, mostly because of two major issues: first, I began to ponder whether to merge myCourses and siteNavigation back in to one block with according user-switchs instead of the actual Admin-Config-Options. This would allow the users and teachers to display courses, categories at their will either of the whole site, as siteNavigation does and/or their own courses only, as myCourse originally did and still does. Second, on large sites the nested recursive sql-queries AND the HTML-Tree library take too long to render and too many queries, tipycally 1000 to show only categories on our site. See what I say in 1442 and in the two threads where I comment my versions of myCourses and siteNavigation.

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Rosario Carcò added a comment - Thanks Anthony, every question risen here is answered in 1442 and the mentioned threads of Julian Ridden and myself. I just upgraded my testsites to 1.9.9+ and MY versions of the blocks, myCourses and siteNavigation still work fine. Julian removed the myCourses Block from the Plugins Database because I had reengineered the block from its FN-Original to work on 1.9.x and I MYSELF was not ready to put it there again and to continue maintenance, mostly because of two major issues: first, I began to ponder whether to merge myCourses and siteNavigation back in to one block with according user-switchs instead of the actual Admin-Config-Options. This would allow the users and teachers to display courses, categories at their will either of the whole site, as siteNavigation does and/or their own courses only, as myCourse originally did and still does. Second, on large sites the nested recursive sql-queries AND the HTML-Tree library take too long to render and too many queries, tipycally 1000 to show only categories on our site. See what I say in 1442 and in the two threads where I comment my versions of myCourses and siteNavigation.
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Anthony Borrow added a comment -

Rosario - Similar to what I said in CONTRIB-1442, since you seem to be familiar with the various version of the code, would you mind working to pull things together as you see fit. As best we can tell, do you believe it would be fair/accurate to say that the folks who originally contributed the blocks are not around to actively maintain them? If so, it seems like you have taken the initiative and are working to make something happen for which I am extremely grateful. Do not hesitate to let me know if there are Docs pages that need to be updated in some way, Modules and Plugins database (http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009) entries that need updated, removed, etc. I would be happy to assign those M&P entires to you as if you added them if we were to provide a note about who the original contributors were. Because you have been more active and focused on this code, you likely know better than I the direction things should take. Do not hesitate to let me know how I can be helpful or if you need anything from me. Peace - Anthony

Show
Anthony Borrow added a comment - Rosario - Similar to what I said in CONTRIB-1442, since you seem to be familiar with the various version of the code, would you mind working to pull things together as you see fit. As best we can tell, do you believe it would be fair/accurate to say that the folks who originally contributed the blocks are not around to actively maintain them? If so, it seems like you have taken the initiative and are working to make something happen for which I am extremely grateful. Do not hesitate to let me know if there are Docs pages that need to be updated in some way, Modules and Plugins database (http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009) entries that need updated, removed, etc. I would be happy to assign those M&P entires to you as if you added them if we were to provide a note about who the original contributors were. Because you have been more active and focused on this code, you likely know better than I the direction things should take. Do not hesitate to let me know how I can be helpful or if you need anything from me. Peace - Anthony
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Anthony Borrow added a comment -

p.s. - Feel free to re-assign these issues back to me if you do not wish to have them assigned to you.

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Anthony Borrow added a comment - p.s. - Feel free to re-assign these issues back to me if you do not wish to have them assigned to you.

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