++Ce document décrit en quelques mots le design à la base de Moodle et + comment vous pouvez contribuer à son développement.
+Il est un peu mince pour l'instant. Une meilleure documentation est prévue !
+Sections de ce document :
+ +
+
++From a system administrator's perspective, Moodle has been designed according + to the following criteria:
++
+- Moodle should run on the widest variety of platforms
+
+
+ The web application platform that runs on most platforms is PHP combined + with MySQL, and this is the environment that Moodle has been developed in + (on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X). Moodle also uses the ADOdb library for + database abstraction, which means Moodle can use more + than ten different brands of database (unfortunately, though, it can + not yet set up tables in all these databases - + more on this later).
+
+- Moodle should be easy to install, learn and modify
+
+
+ Early prototypes of Moodle (1999) were built using Zope + - an advanced object-oriented web application server. Unfortunately I found + that although the technology was pretty cool, it had a very steep learning + curve and was not very flexible in terms of system administration. The PHP + scripting language, on the other hand, is very easy to get into (especially + if you've done any programming using any other scripting language). Early + on I made the decision to avoid using a class-oriented design - again, to + keep it simple to understand for novices. Code reuse is instead achieved + by libraries of clearly-named functions and consistent layout of script + files. PHP is also easy to install (binaries are available for every platform) + and is widely available to the point that most web hosting services provide + it as standard.
+
+- It should be easy to upgrade from one version to the next
+
+
+ Moodle knows what version it is (as well as the versions of all plug-in + modules) and a mechanism has been built-in so that Moodle can properly upgrade + itself to new versions (for example it can rename database tables or add + new fields). If using CVS in Unix for example, one can just do a "cvs + update -d" and then visit the site home page to complete an upgrade.
+
+- It should be modular to allow for growth
+
+
+ Moodle has a number of features that are modular, including themes, activities, + interface languages, database schemas and course formats. This allows anyone + to add features to the main codebase or to even distribute them separately. + More on this below in the next section.
+
+- It should be able to be used in conjunction with other systems
+
+
+ One thing Moodle does is keep all files for one course within a single, + normal directory on the server. This would allow a system administrator + to provide seamless forms of file-level access for each teacher, such as + Appletalk, SMB, NFS, FTP, WebDAV and so on. The authentication modules allow + Moodle to use LDAP, IMAP, POP3, NNTP and other databases as sources for + user information. Otherwise, there is work yet to do. Features planned for + Moodle in future versions include: import and export of Moodle data using + XML-based formats (including IMS and SCORM); and increased use of style + sheets for interface formatting (so that it can be integrated visually into + other web sites).
+
++As mentioned above, Moodle has a number of features that are modular. Even + if you are not a programmer there are things you can change or help with.
+Activités d'apprentissage
+++These are by far the most important modules, and reside in the 'mod' directory. + There are seven default modules: assignment, choice, forum, journal, quiz, + resource, and survey. Each module is in a separate subdirectory and consists + of the following mandatory elements (plus extra scripts unique to each module):
++
+- mod.html: a form to set up or update an instance of this module
+- version.php: defines some meta-info and provides upgrading code
+- icon.gif: a 16x16 icon for the module
+- db/: SQL dumps of all the required db tables and data (for each database + type)
+- index.php: a page to list all instances in a course
+- view.php: a page to view a particular instance
+- lib.php: any/all functions defined by the module should be in here. + If the modulename if called widget, then the required functions include: +
++
+- widget_add_instance() - code to add a new instance of widget
+- widget_update_instance() - code to update an existing instance
+- widget_delete_instance() - code to delete an instance
+- widget_user_outline() - given an instance, return a summary of a + user's contribution
+- widget_user_complete() - given an instance, print details of a user's + contribution
+
+- To avoid possible conflict, any module functions should be named + starting with widget_ and any constants you define should start with + WIDGET_
+- Lastly, each module will have some language files that contain strings + for that module. See below.
+The easiest way to start a new learning activity module is to use the template + in mod/newmodule_template.zip. + Unzip it and follow the README inside.
+You might also like to post first in the Activities + modules forum on Using Moodle.
++
Thèmes
+++Themes (or skins) define the look of a site. A number of simple themes + are provided in the main distribution, but you may want to create your own + theme with your own colours, logo, styles and graphics.
+Each theme is in a subdirectory of the "theme" directory, and + contains at least the following files:
++
+- config.php: defines the theme colours used throughout + the site
+- styles.php: the style sheet, containing CSS definitions + for standard HTML elements as well as many Moodle elements.
+- header.html: Included at the top of each page. This + is what you need to edit to add a logo at the top of pages, for example.
+- footer.html: Included at the bottom of each page.
+To create your own themes for current versions of Moodle:
++
+- Copy one of the existing theme folders to one with a new name. I recommend + starting with one of the standard themes.
+- Edit config.php and insert your own colours.
+- Edit styles.php and change your CSS styles.
+- Edit header.html and footer.html to add new logos, or change the layout. +
+Note that all these steps are optional - you can make a radically different + look to your site simply by editing the colours in config.php
+Note also that Moodle upgrades may break themes slightly, so check + the release notes carefully if you are using a custom theme.
+In particular, Moodle 2.0 will have a completely new display system, probably + based on XSL transformations of XML output from Moodle. It is likely that + the themes for this will be a completely different format, but the advantage + will be a much higher possible degree of customisation (including moving + elements around the page).
+More discussion about this in the Themes + forum on Using Moodle. If you create a nice theme that you think others + might want to use, please post your zip file on the themes forum!
+
+Langues
+++Moodle has been designed for internationalisation. Each 'string' or 'page' + of text that is displayed as part of the interface is drawn from a set of + language files. Each language is a subdirectory of the directory 'lang'. + The structure of the lang directory is as follows:
+lang/en - directory containing all files for one language + (eg English)
++
+- moodle.php - strings for main interface
+- assignment.php - strings for assignment module
+- choice.php - strings for choice module
+- forum.php - strings for forum module
+- journal.php - strings for journal module
+- quiz.php - strings for quiz module
+- resource.php - strings for resource module
+- survey.php - strings for survey module
+- .... plus other modules if any.
+
+
+ A string is called from these files using the get_string() + or print_string() functions. Each string + supports variable substitution, to support variable ordering in different + languages.
+
+ eg $strdueby = get_string("assignmentdueby", "assignment", + userdate($date));
+
+ If a string doesn't exist in a particular language, then the equivalent + in English will automatically be used instead.lang/en/help - contains whole help pages (for popup context-sensitive + help)
+++Main help pages are situated here, while help pages specific to each + module are located in subdirectories with the module's name.
+You can insert a helpbutton in a page with the helpbutton function.
+eg helpbutton("text", "Click here for help about text");
+and for modules:
+helpbutton("forumtypes", "Forum types", "forum");
+Note that you can edit languages online, using the administration web tools + under "Check this language". This makes it easy to not to only + create new languages but to refine existing ones. If you are starting a + new language, please contact me, Martin + Dougiamas.
+You might also like to post in the Languages + forum on Using Moodle.
+If you are maintaining a language an ongoing basis, I can give you CVS + write access to the Moodle source code so that you can directly maintain + the files.
+Schémas de bases de données
+++Given a working database with defined tables, the intentionally simple + SQL used in Moodle should work fine with a wide variety of database brands.
+A problem exists with automatically creating new tables + in a database, which is what Moodle tries to do upon initial installation. + Because every database is very different, there doesn't yet exist any way + to do this in a platform-independent way. To support this automation in + each database, schemas can be created that list the required SQL to create + Moodle tables in a particular database. These are files in lib/db + and inside the db subdirectory of each module.
+Currently, only MySQL and PostgreSQL are fully supported in this way (no-one + wrote the schemas for other brands).
+Moodle 1.2 will use a new method of database-independent XML schemas that + will make all this unnecessary.
++
Formats de cours
+++Moodle currently supports three different course formats: weekly, topics + and social.
+These are a little more connected to the rest of the code (and hence, less + "pluggable") but it is still quite easy to add new ones.
+If you have any ideas for different formats that you need or would like + to see, get in touch with me and I'll do my absolute best to have them available + in future releases.
++
Documentation et articles
+++If you feel like writing a tutorial, an article, an academic paper or anything + else about Moodle, please do!
+Put it on the web and make sure you include links to http://moodle.org/
++
Participer à la traque des bogues
+++Finally, I would like to invite you to register on the "bug tracker" + at http://moodle.org/bugs + so you can file any bugs that you find and perhaps participate in discussing + and fixing them.
+"Bugs" not only includes software bugs with current versions + of Moodle, but also new ideas, feature requests and even constructive criticism + of existing features. The beauty of open source is that anyone can participate + in some way and help to create a better product for all of us to enjoy. + In this project, your input is very welcome!
+
+
++++++Nous vous remercions d'utiliser Moodle !
+
+
+ Martin Dougiamas, développeur + principal
+
++ ++
Version: $Id$
+ +