Introducing: managed posted forums. Optional ability to 'throttle' forums by adding

three new settings: warnafter, blockafter and blockperiod.
Useful for tutors with big courses with some dominant students.

lang/en/error.php

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ $string['errorcreatingfile'] = 'Error creating file \"$a\"';
 $string['errorreadingfile'] = 'Error reading file \"$a\"';
 $string['erroronline'] = 'Error on line $a';
 $string['errorunzippingfiles'] = 'Error unzipping files';
+$string['forumblockingtoomanyposts'] = 'You have exceeded the posting threshold set for this forum.';
 $string['fieldrequired'] = '\"$a\" is a required field';
 $string['filenotfound'] = 'Sorry, the requested file could not be found';
 $string['groupalready'] = 'User already belongs to group $a';

lang/en/forum.php

@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ $string['allsubscribe'] = 'Subscribe to all forums';
 $string['allunsubscribe'] = 'Unsubscribe from all forums';
 $string['anyfile'] = 'Any file';
 $string['attachment'] = 'Attachment';
+$string['blockafter'] = 'Post threshold for blocking';
+$string['blockperiod'] = 'Time period for blocking';
+$string['blockperioddisabled'] = 'Don\'t block';
 $string['bynameondate'] = 'by $a->name - $a->date';
 $string['configcleanreadtime'] = 'The hour of the day to clean old posts from the \'read\' table.';
 $string['configdisplaymode'] = 'The default display mode for discussions if one isn\'t set.';
@@ -69,6 +72,7 @@ $string['forumintro'] = 'Forum introduction';
 $string['forumname'] = 'Forum name';
 $string['forumposts'] = 'Forum posts';
 $string['forums'] = 'Forums';
+$string['forumblockingalmosttoomanyposts'] = 'You are approaching the posting threshold. You have posted $a->numposts times in the last $a->blockperiod and the limit is $a->blockafter posts.';
 $string['forumbodyhidden'] = 'This post cannot be viewed by you, probably because you have not posted in the discussion yet.';
 $string['forumauthorhidden'] = 'Author (hidden)';
 $string['forumsubjecthidden'] = 'Subject (hidden)';
@@ -204,6 +208,7 @@ $string['subscribestart'] = 'Send me email copies of posts to this forum';
 $string['subscribestop'] = 'I don\'t want email copies of posts to this forum';
 $string['subscription'] = 'Subscription';
 $string['subscriptions'] = 'Subscriptions';
+$string['thisforumisthrottled'] = 'This forum has a limit to the number of forum postings you can make in a given time period - this is currently set at $a->blockafter posting(s) in $a->blockperiod';
 $string['timestartenderror'] = 'Display end date cannot be earlier than the start date';
 $string['trackforum'] = 'Track unread messages';
 $string['tracking'] = 'Track';
@@ -218,6 +223,7 @@ $string['unreadpostsone'] = '1 unread post';
 $string['unsubscribe'] = 'Unsubscribe from this forum';
 $string['unsubscribed'] = 'Unsubscribed';
 $string['unsubscribeshort'] = 'Unsubscribe';
+$string['warnafter'] = 'Post threshold for warning';
 $string['yesforever'] = 'Yes, forever';
 $string['yesinitially'] = 'Yes, initially';
 $string['youratedthis'] = 'You rated this';

lang/en/help/forum/manageposts.html

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<p align="center"><b>Managed Postings Forums</b></p>
+
+<p>The concept of managed postings is very simple.  Users 
+will be blocked from posting after a given number
+of posts in a given period, and as they approach
+ that number, they'll be warned that they are 
+approaching the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>Setting either the warn threshold to 0 will disable warnings, 
+and setting the block threshhold to 0 will disable blocking.  
+If blocking is disabled, warnings will automatically be disabled.</p>
+
+<p>None of these settings affect teachers posting</p>

lang/en/moodle.php

@@ -1072,6 +1072,13 @@ $string['searchhelp'] = 'You can search for multiple words at once.<br /><br />w
 $string['searchresults'] = 'Search results';
 $string['sec'] = 'sec';
 $string['secs'] = 'secs';
+$string['secondstotime86400']  = '1 day';
+$string['secondstotime172800'] = '2 days';
+$string['secondstotime259200'] = '3 days';
+$string['secondstotime345600'] = '4 days';
+$string['secondstotime432000'] = '5 days';
+$string['secondstotime518400'] = '6 days';
+$string['secondstotime604800'] = '1 Week';
 $string['section'] = 'Section';
 $string['sections'] = 'Sections';
 $string['seealsostats'] = 'See also: stats';

mod/forum/backuplib.php

@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@
         fwrite ($bf,full_tag("RSSTYPE",4,false,$forum->rsstype));
         fwrite ($bf,full_tag("RSSARTICLES",4,false,$forum->rssarticles));
         fwrite ($bf,full_tag("TIMEMODIFIED",4,false,$forum->timemodified));
+        fwrite ($bf,full_tag("WARNAFTER",4,false,$forum->warnafter));
+        fwrite ($bf,full_tag("BLOCKAFTER",4,false,$forum->blockafter));
+        fwrite ($bf,full_tag("BLOCKPERIOD",4,false,$forum->blockperiod));
         
         //if we've selected to backup users info, then execute backup_forum_suscriptions and
         //backup_forum_discussions

mod/forum/db/mysql.php

@@ -214,6 +214,12 @@ function forum_upgrade($oldversion) {
       execute_sql("alter table ".$CFG->prefix."forum change column type type enum('single','news','general','social','eachuser','teacher','qanda') not null default 'general'");
   }
 
+  if ($oldversion < 2006011601) {
+      table_column('forum','','warnafter');
+      table_column('forum','','blockafter');
+      table_column('forum','','blockperiod');
+  }
+
   return true;
   
 }

mod/forum/db/mysql.sql

@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ CREATE TABLE prefix_forum (
   rsstype tinyint(2) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   rssarticles tinyint(2) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   timemodified int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
+  warnafter int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
+  blockafter int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
+  blockperiod int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   PRIMARY KEY  (id),
   UNIQUE KEY id (id),
   KEY course (course)

mod/forum/db/postgres7.php

@@ -160,6 +160,12 @@ function forum_upgrade($oldversion) {
       execute_sql("ALTER TABLE {$CFG->prefix}forum ADD CONSTRAINT {$CFG->prefix}forum_type CHECK (type IN ('single','news','general','social','eachuser','teacher','qanda')) ");
   }
 
+  if ($oldversion < 2006011601) {
+      table_column('forum','','warnafter');
+      table_column('forum','','blockafter');
+      table_column('forum','','blockperiod');
+  }
+
   return true;
 
 }

mod/forum/db/postgres7.sql

@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@ CREATE TABLE prefix_forum (
   trackingtype integer NOT NULL default '1',
   rsstype integer NOT NULL default '0',
   rssarticles integer NOT NULL default '0',
-  timemodified integer NOT NULL default '0'
+  timemodified integer NOT NULL default '0',
+  warnafter integer NOT NULL default '0',
+  blockafter integer NOT NULL default '0',
+  blockperiod integer NOT NULL default '0'
 );
 
 CREATE INDEX prefix_forum_course_idx ON prefix_forum (course);

mod/forum/discuss.php

@@ -218,6 +218,12 @@
     }
     echo "</td></tr></table>";
 
+    if (!empty($forum->blockafter) && !empty($forum->blockperiod)) {
+        $a->blockafter = $forum->blockafter;
+        $a->blockperiod = get_string('secondstotime'.$forum->blockperiod);
+        notify(get_string('thisforumisthrottled','forum',$a));
+    }
+
     if ($forum->type == 'qanda' && !isteacher($forum->course) && !forum_user_has_posted($forum->id,$discussion->id,$USER->id)) {
         notify(get_string('qandanotify','forum'));
     }

mod/forum/lib.php

@@ -3884,4 +3884,49 @@ function forum_get_separate_modules($courseid) {
 
 }
 
+function forum_check_throttling($forum) {
+    global $USER,$CFG;
+
+    if (is_numeric($forum)) {
+        $forum = get_record('forum','id',$forum);
+    }
+    if (!is_object($forum)) {
+        return false;  // this is broken.
+    }
+    
+    if (empty($forum->blockafter)) {
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    if (empty($forum->blockperiod)) {
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    if (isteacher($forum->course)) {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    // get the number of posts in the last period we care about
+    $timenow = time();
+    $timeafter = $timenow - $forum->blockperiod;
+    
+    $numposts = count_records_sql('SELECT COUNT(p.id) FROM '.$CFG->prefix.'forum_posts p'
+                                  .' JOIN '.$CFG->prefix.'forum_discussions d'
+                                  .' ON p.discussion = d.id WHERE d.forum = '.$forum->id
+                                  .' AND p.userid = '.$USER->id.' AND p.created > '.$timeafter);
+
+    $a->blockafter = $forum->blockafter;
+    $a->numposts = $numposts;
+    $a->blockperiod = get_string('secondstotime'.$forum->blockperiod);
+    
+    if ($forum->blockafter <= $numposts) {
+        error(get_string('forumblockingtoomanyposts','error',$a),$CFG->wwwroot.'/mod/forum/view.php?f='.$forum->id);
+    }
+    if ($forum->warnafter <= $numposts) {
+        notify(get_string('forumblockingalmosttoomanyposts','forum',$a));
+    }
+
+    
+}
+
 ?>

mod/forum/mod.html

@@ -43,6 +43,16 @@
     if (!isset($form->trackingtype)) {
         $form->trackingtype = FORUM_TRACKING_OPTIONAL;
     }
+    if (!isset($form->warnafter)) {
+        $form->warnafter = 0;
+    }
+    if (!isset($form->blockafter)) {
+        $form->blockafter = 0;
+    }
+    if (!isset($form->blockperiod)) {
+        $form->blockperiod = 0;
+    }
+
 ?>
 <form name="form" method="post" action="mod.php">
 <table cellpadding="5">
@@ -287,6 +297,34 @@
         ?>
     </td>
 </tr>
+<tr>
+    <td align="right" valign="top"><b><?php print_string("warnafter", "forum") ?>:</b></td>
+    <td><input type="text" name="warnafter" value="<?php p($form->warnafter); ?>" /><?php
+        helpbutton('manageposts', get_string('warnafter', 'forum'),'forum'); ?>
+    </td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+    <td align="right" valign="top"><b><?php print_string("blockafter", "forum") ?>:</b></td>
+    <td><input type="text" name="blockafter" value="<?php p($form->blockafter); ?>" /><?php
+        helpbutton('manageposts', get_string('blockafter', 'forum'),'forum'); ?>
+    </td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+    <td align="right" valign="top"><b><?php print_string("blockperiod", "forum") ?>:</b></td>
+    <td><?php
+         unset($options);
+         $options[0] = get_string('blockperioddisabled','forum');
+         $options[60*60*24]   = '1 '.get_string('day');
+         $options[60*60*24*2] = '2 '.get_string('days');
+         $options[60*60*24*3] = '3 '.get_string('days');
+         $options[60*60*24*4] = '4 '.get_string('days');
+         $options[60*60*24*5] = '5 '.get_string('days');
+         $options[60*60*24*6] = '6 '.get_string('days');
+         $options[60*60*24*7] = '1 '.get_string('week');
+         choose_from_menu($options,'blockperiod',$form->blockperiod,'');
+         helpbutton('manageposts', get_string('blockperiod', 'forum'),'forum'); ?>
+    </td>
+</tr>
 <?php print_standard_coursemodule_settings($form); ?>
 </table>
 <center>

mod/forum/post.php

@@ -636,6 +636,8 @@
         notify(get_string('qandanotify','forum'));
     }
 
+    forum_check_throttling($forum);
+
     if (!empty($parent)) {
         forum_print_post($parent, $course->id, $ownpost=false, $reply=false, $link=false);
         if (empty($post->edit)) {

mod/forum/version.php

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 //  This fragment is called by /admin/index.php
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-$module->version  = 2006011600;
+$module->version  = 2006011601;
 $module->requires = 2005031000;  // Requires this Moodle version
 $module->cron     = 60;
 

mod/forum/view.php

@@ -219,6 +219,12 @@
 
     echo '</tr></table>';
 
+    if (!empty($forum->blockafter) && !empty($forum->blockperiod)) {
+        $a->blockafter = $forum->blockafter;
+        $a->blockperiod = get_string('secondstotime'.$forum->blockperiod);
+        notify(get_string('thisforumisthrottled','forum',$a));
+    }
+
     if ($forum->type == 'qanda' && !isteacher($forum->course)) {
         notify(get_string('qandanotify','forum'));
     }