Announcement: Now adding Moodle grade book functions
Matt Bury
I've just uploaded the latest code that I've developed for the SWF
Activity Module.
The most important parts are in moodle/mod/swf/lib.php where it
creates a grade item for any instances of the module where the "Grade
Type" is set to "value". It should also delete those grade items in
the grade book if the module instance is deleted. The grade item
parameters are set up directly from the module instance form when you
create a new instance with moodle/mod/swf/mod_form.php so that's a
pretty handy short cut. It does, however, have one caveat: if you edit
"Max Grade", "Min Grade" or "Grade Type" in Moodle's grade book
editor, the next time anyone edits or updates the SWF Activity Module
instance, the changes will be reverted or overridden. This appears to
be common among other activity modules too and I haven't yet worked
out a way round it.
The other major development is moodle/lib/amfphp/services/Grades.php.
This service script insert and updates users' grades in Moodle's grade
book and this is what Flash developers will be calling when they want
to store grades. I also have plans to include a more informative
return value, presently Moodle's default "0" in all cases, most
probably returning the user's grade that was inserted or updated in
the same way that it'll be presented in the Moodle grade book.
I'm also going to include more FlashVars that provide convenient links
that Flash apps. can navigate to, for example, to the main course page
and to the grade book.
The other services in moodle/lib/amfphp/services/ will allow Flash
apps. to retrieve group and user data for things like social
networking. I think it'd be ideal to allow students to have the option
to use their already existing communications tools from within Moodle,
if they want. There are a number of services that use open protocols
and work across different platforms such as GoogleTalk, Yahoo!
Messenger and AIM, which all support VoIP (voice over internet
protocol) as well as chat, messaging, etc.
If you have any questions about the module, what it can do or anything
else, please let me know. These questions are what will shape the
future of the SWF Activity Module!
All the best,
Matt