dirname() is a slow function compared with __DIR__ and using
'/../'. Moodle has a large number of legacy files that are included
each time a page loads and is not able to use an autoloader as it is
functional code. This allows those required includes to perform as
best as possible in this situation.
This way we can use the function gradingform_controller::render_preview() to display a preview for students in different modules
without worrying on gradingform-specific options on whether to display description for students or not
The patch introduces a new field 'timecopied' that holds the timestamp
of when the given form was cloned last time. Using this field, we can
decide whether the form can be actually re-shared or not.
Note that the logic just hides the icon. It is meant as a usability
feature, not any real protection from sharing.
Every grading form can be basically in either DRAFT state (currently
being edited) or READY state (available for usage). For shared
templates, the status is not relevant at the moment and they are
automatically in the READY state.
The patch introduces a new script templates.php that allows to search
for a previously shared form (template) and re-use it.
The patch also modifies the preview rendering of grading forms. Now
plugins are responsible for rendering the form itselft, without any
headers, descriptions etc (we need to embed the form preview into
various places so the caller looks after the frame).
There is a new API method get_definition_copy() that is expected to
return the definition structure as if the form was written from scratch
via the editor. Such a prepared structure is passed to
a controller's update_definition() method in the new target area.
The same mechanism will be used for copying definitions from a shared
area to a normal gradable area.
The user is sent to the new grade/grading/manage.php screen when an
advanced grading method is set in the activity mod form or via the
settings block.
The screen is supposed to (1) let the user change the currently active
grading method, (2) open the editor for the selected method, (3) create
new form from a template (4) display a preview of the form.
