arthur-apanovics / mod-practical-observation

Practical observation module for Moodle/Totara, enables external users to "observe" learners and later assessed by their teachers.

Observation activity

Class structure

• all persistent objects inherit from db_model_base, this is a small ORM layer that adds methods like create, update, etc.
• all persistent objects have a base class and a 'instance' class. Base classes contain database info (e.g. column names, table name, etc.), allow creation of new records and contain helper methods. Instance classes are populated with related data, e.g. learner_task_submission instance class will be populated with learner_attempt class instances and so on.

Main workflow for rendering a page:

1. root page (e.g. view.php) sets up the page, performs permission checks and initializes any required variables
2. appropriate renderer method is called from the root page (e.g. view.php calls view_activity)
3. renderer method performs more granular permission check and will contain most of the logic (not ideal, but it works)
4. renderer method populates template data, usually starting with export_template_data method on the templateable interface, any additional data not exported by the templateable interface is appended to the 'extra' array to make it easier to find the data source when working with mustache templates
5. finally, render_from_template is passed template data and result is returned and rendered

external.php

Contains methods called by AJAX. These are a major pain in the ass to work with, refer to the almighty moodle documentation

Events

Act as both log entries and event emitters. Careerforce' Marker block depends on these to populate its data.

Backup / Restore

Avoid altering, creating or deleting columns in this project. If altered, you must update the backup/restore logic too, which is much harder than it seems at first glance. Pay special attention to how files are handled, some corners had to be cut there...

JS / CSS

Do not rely on jQuery plugins, they are notoriously difficult to initialize in Moodle. Always write your JS as AMD modules and don't forget to minify using the built-in grunt task. Similar rules apply to CSS, write your CSS in ./less/styles.less and compile using grunt to ./styles.css for Moodle to pick up the styles.

locallib.php

Contains helper methods.

cli/

Contains scripts that help to get around Moodle's annoying logic, e.g. upgrading the plugin, reinstalling database, etc.