1. The document discusses the development of a Google search block for the Moodle e-learning platform. 2. The author researched how to develop blocks for Moodle and created a block that allows users to search Google and displays the results. 3. Through this project, the author gained experience developing for Moodle and learned how to integrate help functions, configurations, and comments to document the code for future developers.

1. Develop a block for Moodle

2. Project Context Speakers Michael de Raadt Yajuvendrasinh V Mahida (Masters student) Moodle Trial Project Moodle as new StudyDesk Independent Studies ‘Mini-project’ Develop a block for Moodle

3. Project Context Semester 1 March 2008 - CSC8480 Computing Complementary Studies Supervisor Mr. Michael de Raadt I was asked to develop block for Moodle I went with proposal of E-Commerce Portal In initial findings about Moodle I found it interesting and decided to develop block for Moodle

4. Moodle I found that Moodle is really revolutionary e-learning platform Moodle is modular. It is having potential for keeping up with the time and new technologies Development of Moodle is on going process by diffused network of commercial and non-commercial users which are streamlined by the Moodle company based in Perth, Western Australia The following Moodle Statistics are success story of Moodle http://moodle.org/stats/

5. Moodle Statistics

6. Intentions The project was divided in two phases 1.Research work on Moodle and Block To find out what is Moodle, how it works, what is the file structure etc Finding a way for creating a block, what is block, how it works and understanding what you find 2.Creating a block Carving the research work to develop block

7. Discoveries The first difficulty was to find exact information regarding to the development The http://docs.moodle.org have very useful documentation for Developer under MoodleDocs. I used this documents as secondary source for the information I feel that there is a need of more detailed and practical documentation work for Developer as the current documentation is inadequate

8. Discoveries For my development work I downloaded the blocks developed by developer from the Moodle website’s Modules and plugins section I studied them and tried the Trial and Error method and also used the MoodleDocs for block development Many times my Moodle Software was crashed and I learned lot of things through this I found that already developed blocks are the best source for developer as starting point

9. Discoveries After all these findings I developed the simple Ajax Google Search block It was just simple block which was showing the Google Web Search results I showed to supervisor Mr. Michael de Raadt and he advised me for adding more customization through the Instance Configuration and Global Configuration I downloaded and studied the block that have configurations. And I used that finding to add customization feature to my block

10. Tools 1. Eclipse with PHP plugin It is really good IDE with powerful features You can connect to the CVS repository http://cvs.moodle.org I found that it is very complex and not easy to start with The setting up Eclipse for Moodle development is good guide to start with http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Setting_up_Eclipse

11. Tools 2. fabFORCE DBDesigner 4 DBDesigner 4 is a open source visual database design system that integrates database design, modeling, creation and maintenance into a single, seamless environment I used this tool to explore the Moodle database system This is really good tool for playing around the MySQL database of Moodle http://www.fabforce.net/dbdesigner4/downloads.php

12. Tools 3. NuSphere PHP IDE It is really good IDE with powerful features like friendly user interface, debugger, code navigator etc I used this IDE is as a real time editor for my block http://www.nusphere.com/ The other features can be useful but I have never needed to use it

13. Outcomes Finally I developed the fully customizable Google Search Services block I submitted this block on the Moodle’s Modules and Plugins section which was accepted as valid block and can be found at http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1608 Till today’s date I have received some general queries regarding to the block from the Moodle community and some few users across the community have given me positive feedback about the working of the block

14. Outcomes Through this course and project I had chance for the experience with the real world development I learnt lot of things in terms of academic and professional skills My supervisor Michael de Raadt kept me on the right track during the project work. This was really important as sometime one can easily lost during the track in absence of proper guidance

15. Outcomes I have learnt the theoretical aspects of the PHP, HTML, CSS, AJAX through my academic learning With this project I put all these theoretical skills into the professional and real world development This course has proved worthwhile for me….

16. Moodle Google Block

17. Moodle Google Block File Structure Instance Configuration HTML File Global Configuration HTML File Main Block File Lang directory Cascade Style Sheet Directory Images necessary for Block

18. Block’s Language File Structure Language File HTML Help files to use with Block’s help buttons

19. Main Block File block_moodle_google.php

20. Language File block_moodle_google.php

21. Global Configuration Source-Code config_global.html

22. Block’s Global Configuration Global Configuration can be accessed by Site Administration Block This parameters are loaded from the config_global.html file

23. Instance Configuration Source-Code config_instance.html

24. Block’s Instance Configuration Press the edit button for Instance Configuration This parameters are loaded from the config_instance.html file

25. Integrated Help Function The help functionality is implemented using the Moodle function helpbutton. This function is defined in weblib.php library. helpbutton($page, $title, $module='moodle', $image=true, $linktext=false, $text='', $return=false,$imagetext='') Help button using helpbutton function

26. Integrated Help Function When you press this button help page (html) is called from the directory \moodle\lang\en_utf8\help\moodle_google_help Help Page is displayed as pop up

27. Integrated Help Function I found all these functions very late during work These functions are described with all arguments and required parameters. This can be said the Moodle APIs This is really very smart APIs and with few lines of code one can achieve big functionalities within the Moodle Use of these functions makes the development work very easy

28. Integrated Help Function The Moodle Community have defined all these various Moodle functions under various library on http://xref.moodle.org/nav.html?index.html

29. Potential for Future Students Undergraduates Advanced/later-year programming undergrads JavaScript in Block Simple blocks modifications Simple DB access Postgrads Some groundwork but still steep learning curve Block development Modifications to existing Moodle code Project Clients Pseudo-client University (lower priority feature requests) Moodle Student Projects

30. Useful Links Moodle Docs - Developer Documents for Moodle Developer http://docs.moodle.org/en/Developer_documentation PHP Cross Reference of Moodle 1.9 - Moodle Functions References and other Stuff http://xref.moodle.org The CVS archive - This archive contains all the source code for Moodle http://cvs.moodle.org/

31. Useful Links Moodle Documentation Development:Block Step by step guide to Creating Blocks http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Blocks Moodle Google Block This block’s source codes have the comments for each piece of the code. I have tried to explain each piece of code and what it does This makes easy for any newbie to start developing block http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=1608

32. Thank you very much…..