Scripts & Plugins

Overview

In the process of developing and maintaining a large number of courses for our consortium, sometimes a script can save a lot of developer hours and improve accuracy.   These are normally used during the summer, leading up to our annual resource release.  We store them here mainly for our own use, but if you need a tool, feel free to use at your own risk.

Overwrite Course Descriptions (Summaries):

Each year, we update all the course summaries prior to release.   This helps us determine the release date of a course should any confusion occur during support.   This plugin allows us to change the descriptions very quickly.

Script = Course Summary Overwrite (download zip)

What this script does:

  • overwrites all the course summaries in a particular category
  • the summary must be provided in HTML format
  • it does not do subcategories (each category at a time)

Instructions:

  • Download summary_overwrite.zip (above) and extract the folder
  • Upload the folder 'coursesummary' to 'admin/tool/'
  • Go to your website's home page and upgrade the database (installs the plugin)
  • Browse to Site administration->Plugins->Admin tools->Course Summary Overwrite
  • Follow plugin instructions

Search for broken and insecure links:

Maintaining courses means watching for broken links.   This tool quickly helps developers identify links that are broken.   Also, since we are now ensuring that our resources are compatible with secure Moodle sites, we need to watch for links that were incorrectly entered.

Depending on your server settings you may be required to create a local instance of your website and database.

Follow the instructions on the plugin very carefully. Backing up the database table 'mdl_book_chapters' is recommended. Once the 'Run' button is clicked, the execution time may be hours if the link limit is set high, make sure your server has sufficient memory allocated otherwise it may crash.

Script = Check Links (download zip)

What this script does:

  • Searches course content for HTTP or HTTPS links
  • Counts links or checks if links are working or broken
  • Searches all courses, or a specific course may be specified
  • Can check which HTTP links may be converted to HTTPS
  • Can update HTTP links to HTTPS
  • A search limit (#links) can also be applied to limit the number of results

Instructions:

  • Download linkchecking.zip (above) and extract the folder
  • Upload the folder 'linkchecking' to 'admin/tool/'
  • Go to your website's home page and upgrade the database (installs the plugin)
  • Browse to Site administration->Plugins->Admin tools->Check Links
  • Follow plugin instructions

Standard Assignment Settings:

After developing resources for our members, we've determined that there are particular settings which serve our teachers/students best.   In the business of developing, sometimes details are missed which confuses things for users.    This tool focuses on all the assignments in courses.  Ensure completion tracking is set-up before running this.

Script = Apply Assignment Standards (download zip)

What this script does:

  • checks every assignment in every course in a given category
  • ensures the WCLN standard settings are in place for each assignment

Instructions:

  • Download applyassignmentstandards.zip (above) and extract the folder
  • Upload the folder 'applyassignmentstandards' to 'admin/tool/'
  • Go to your website's home page and upgrade the database (installs the plugin)
  • Browse to Site administration->Plugins->Admin tools->Apply Assignment Standards
  • Adjust standard settings as needed (Caution! Default values are recommended)
  • Click 'Apply Settings'
  • A green checkmark and success message should appear
  • Thoroughly check site to ensure standards were applied successfully

Standard Quiz Settings:

After developing resources for our members, we've determined that there are particular settings which serve our teachers/students best.   In the business of developing, sometimes details are missed which confuses things for users.    This tool focuses on all the quizzes in courses. Ensure completion tracking is set-up before running this.

Script = Apply Quiz Standards (download zip)

What this script does:

  • checks every quiz in every course in a given category
  • ensures the WCLN standard settings are in place for each assignment

Instructions:

  • Download applyquizstandards.zip (above) and extract the folder
  • Upload the folder 'applyquizstandards' to 'admin/tool/'
  • Go to your website's home page and upgrade the database (installs the plugin)
  • Browse to Site administration->Plugins->Admin tools->Apply Quiz Standards
  • Adjust standard settings as needed (Caution! Default values are recommended)
  • Click 'Apply Settings'
  • A green checkmark and success message should appear
  • Thoroughly check site to ensure standards were applied successfully

WIRIS to MathML Conversion

By default WIRIS formulas are stored as what we call safeXML in Moodle and they are also exported as safeXML.   safeXML is a slight modification of MathML replacing some symbols: http://www.wiris.com/en/plugins/docs/resources/encoding-attributes.

As of June 2017, we've confirmed that the WIRIS editor doesn't convert to MathML.   They estimate that this will be working next summer.   Thus, for this year (and until we hear otherwise) we need to run the script on ALL math, physics, and some science courses to ensure that they can be used by members who don't have the WIRIS filter installed.   The original script from WIRIS (wiris_safexml_to_xml_backup.pnp) was modified to the script below to provide some error feedback.

Script = Apply Quiz Standards (/_WIRIS_Converter/)

What this script does:

Instructions:

  • for a single file conversion:  .../wr_single.php?
  • for a group of files:  ../wr_group.php?
Last modified: Monday, 27 July 2020, 8:14 AM