moodle/course/format

Course formats
==============

To create a new course format, make another folder in here.

If you want a basic format, you only need to write the 'standard files' listed
below.

If you want to store information in the database for your format, or control
access to features of your format, you need some of the optional files too.

If you want to override some standard course output component (located in
coure/classes/output/{course|section|cm}_format/*) you need to create an
extend class inside your course/format/yourformat/classes/output.

All names below assume that your format is called 'yourformat'.


Standard files
--------------

* yourformat/format.php

  Code that actually displays the course view page. See existing formats for
  examples.

* yourformat/config.php

  Configuration file, mainly controlling default blocks for the format.
  See existing formats for examples.

* yourformat/lang/en/format_yourformat.php

  Language file containing basic language strings for your format. Here
  is a minimal language file:

<?php
$string['formatyourformat']='Your format'; // Name to display for format
$string['nameyourformat']='section'; // Name of a section within your format
?>

  The first string is used in the dropdown menu of course settings. The second
  is used when editing an activity within a course of your format.

  Note that existing formats store their language strings in the main
  moodle.php, which you can also do, but this separate file is recommended
  for contributed formats.

  You can also store other strings in this file if you wish. They can be
  accessed as follows, for example to get the section name:

  get_string('nameyourformat','format_yourformat');

  Of course you can have other folders as well as just English if you want
  to provide multiple languages.


Optional files (database access)
--------------------------------

If these files exist, Moodle will use them to set up database tables when you
visit the admin page.

* yourformat/db/install.xml

  Database table definitions. Use your format name at the start of the table
  names to increase the chance that they are unique.

* yourformat/db/upgrade.php

  Database upgrade instructions. Similar to other upgrade.php files, so look
  at those for modules etc. if you want to see.

  The function must look like:

  function xmldb_format_yourformat_upgrade($oldversion) {
  ...

* yourformat/version.php

  Required if you use database tables.

  <?php
  $plugin->version  = 2006120100; // Plugin version (update when tables change)
  $plugin->requires = 2006092801; // Required Moodle version
  ?>


Optional files (backup)
-----------------------

If these files exist, backup and restore run automatically when backing up
the course. You can't back up the course format data independently.

* yourformat/backuplib.php

  Similar to backup code for other plugins. Must have a function:

  function yourformat_backup_format_data($bf,$preferences) {
  ...

* yourformat/restorelib.php

  Similar to restore code for other plugins. Must have a function:

  function yourformat_restore_format_data($restore,$data) {
  ...

  ($data is the xmlized data underneath FORMATDATA in the backup XML file.
  Do print_object($data); while testing to see how it looks.)


Optional file (capabilities)
----------------------------

If this file exists, Moodle refreshes your format's capabilities
(checks that they are all included in the database) whenever you increase
the version in yourformat/version.php.

* yourformat/db/access.php

  Contains capability entries similar to other access.php files.

  The array definition must look like:

  $format_yourformat_capabilities = array(
  ...

  Format names must look like:

  format/yourformat:specialpower

  Capability definitions in your language file must look like:

  $string['yourformat:specialpower']='Revolutionise the world';



Optional file (styles)
----------------------

* yourformat/styles.php

  If this file exists it will be included in the CSS Moodle generates.


Optional files (outputs)
----------------------

By default, the format renderer will use those output classes:

* core_courseformat\output\local\content: for the general course structure
* core_courseformat\output\local\content\*: to render specific course structure parts

* core_courseformat\output\local\content\section: for the complete section output
* core_courseformat\output\local\content\section\*: to render specific section parts

* core_courseformat\output\local\content\cm: for output an activity inside a section
* core_courseformat\output\local\content\cm\*: for speficis parts of the cm output

  Your format can override any of this output classes just by creating class
  inside your format_yourformat\output\courseformat\* namespace. We recommend to extend the
  original class to ensure all element will work as expected.

  For example: if you want to change the section header, you should create
  format_yourformat\output\section\header, which will extend the original
  core_courseformat\output\courseformat\content\section\header class.

  By default, only a few format renderer methods are needed to render a course:
  - render_content to render a full course content
  - course_section_updated used by the course editor to refresh a specific section
  - course_section_updated_cm_item used by the course editor to refresh a specific cm item

  Formats can override those two methods to use different templates to render a course.