upgrade.txt

This files describes API changes in /mod/* - activity modules,
information provided here is intended especially for developers.

=== 4.0 ===
* A new API function introduced to handle custom completion logic. Refer to completion/upgrade.txt for additional information.

=== 3.9 ===

* The callback get_shortcuts() is now deprecated. Please use get_course_content_items and get_all_content_items instead.
  See source code examples in get_course_content_items() and get_all_content_items() in mod/lti/lib.php for details.
* When creating the calendar events and setting the event description to match the module intro description, the filters
  must not be applied on the passed description text. Doing so leads to loosing some expected text filters features and
  causes unnecessarily early theme and output initialisation in unit tests. If your activity creates calendar events,
  you probably have code like:
    ```
    $event->description = format_module_intro('quiz', $quiz, $cmid);
    ```
  You need to change it to:
    ```
    $event->description = format_module_intro('quiz', $quiz, $cmid, false);
    $event->format = FORMAT_HTML;
    ```
  Even this is still technically wrong. Content should normally only be formatted just before it is output. Ideally, we
  should pass the raw description text, format and have a way to copy the embedded files; or provide another way for the
  calendar to call the right format_text() later. The calendar API does not allow us to do these things easily at the
  moment. Therefore, this compromise approach is used. The false parameter added ensures that text filters are not run
  at this time which is important. And the format must be set to HTML, because otherwise it would use the current user's
  preferred editor default format.
* Related to the above and to help with detecting the problematic places in contributed 3rd party modules, the
  testing_module_generator::create_instance() now throws coding_exception if creating a module instance initialised the
  theme and output as a side effect.

=== 3.8 ===

* The final deprecation of xxx_print_overview() callback means that this function will no longer be called.
* Activities which define multiple grade items must now describe the mapping of the gradeitem's itemnumber to a
  meaningful name in a class implementing \core_grades\local\gradeitem\itemnumber_mapping located in
  \mod_name\grades\gradeitems (located in mod/[mod_name]/classes/grades/gradeitems.php).

=== 3.6 ===

* The final deprecation of xxx_get_types() callback means that this function will no longer be called.
  Please use get_shortcuts() instead.
* lti_get_shortcuts has been deprecated. Please use get_shortcuts() instead to add items to the activity chooser.
* Now, when mod_<modname>_core_calendar_is_event_visible or mod_<modname>_core_calendar_provide_event_action callback functions
  are called, the userid of the requesting user is also passed to them.
* The following functions have been finally deprecated and can not be used anymore:
    - update_module_button()
* The final deprecation of xxx_delete_course callback means that this function will no longer be called.
  Please use the observer for event \core\event\course_content_deleted instead.

=== 3.5 ===

* There is a new privacy API that every subsystem and plugin has to implement so that the site can become GDPR
  compliant. Activity modules use this API to report what information they store or process regarding users, and provide
  ability to export and delete personal data. See https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Privacy_API for guidelines on how to
  implement the privacy API in your activity module.
* Backup directory now can be outside of temp directory. Use make_backup_temp_directory($name) instead of
  make_temp_directory('/backup/'.$name)
* Modules that provide their own interactive content and call cm_info::set_content() from [MODULENAME]_cm_info_view()
  callback should format all user input and call set_content() with parameter $isformatted=true . Otherwise
  scripts will be cleaned on the course page in case of $CFG->forceclean=1. See example in mod_folder.

=== 3.4 ===

* Navigation between activities via a previous and next link was added to Boost, Clean and Bootstrapbase. This
  was made possible by a new function core_renderer->activity_navigation(). However, there was an issue when linking
  to the mod_resource and mod_url view.php pages where it would automatically download the file, or redirect to
  the URL. It was noticed that this was not the case when editing the module and clicking 'Save and display' which would
  take you to the pages without downloading the file or redirecting to a link. The reason this worked was because of the
  hard-coded check 'if (strpos(get_local_referer(false), 'modedit.php') === false) {' in the view.php files. This check
  has been removed in favour of an optional_param('forceview'). If you are using the above hard-coded check in your
  plugin it is recommended to remove it and use the optional param as it will prevent the navigation from working as
  expected.

=== 3.3 ===

* External functions that were returning file information now return the following additional file fields:
  - mimetype (the file mime type)
  - isexternalfile (if is a file reference to a external repository)
  - repositorytype (the repository name in case is a external file)
  Those fields are VALUE_OPTIONAL for backwards compatibility.
* The block_course_overview has been removed and the related core module
*_print_overview functions have been deprecated.
* The block_myoverview has replaced block_course_overview to provide better information to students. To support this,
  actions can now be attached to calendar events. Documentation for the following new API callbacks introduced in
  MDL-55611 can be found at https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Calendar_API. The 3 new callbacks are:
  - mod_<modname>_core_calendar_is_event_visible
  - mod_<modname>_core_calendar_provide_event_action
  - mod_<modname>_core_calendar_event_action_shows_item_count
* Changes to the moodleform_mod class and its usage (MDL-58138):
  - the get_data() method has been overriden. The implementation calls parent::get_data() and a new data_postprocessing() method
  - new data_postprocessing() method added. Mods can override this in their mod_form subclass to modify the submit data. Previously
    mods could only modify submitted data by overriding get_data() in the mod_form subclass. data_postprocessing() is now the way to
    do this correctly.
  - completion: \core_completion\manager calls the overriden mod_x_mod_form->data_postprocessing() to allow mods to modify their
    completion data before saving the bulk completion form. If you've overriden get_data() to modify submit data for completion in
    the past, you should now override the data_postprocessing() method in your mod_form and move your code there, so bulk completion
    editing will be properly supported for your plugin.
=== 3.2 ===

* Callback delete_course is deprecated and should be replaced with observer for event \core\event\course_content_deleted
* update_module_button() and core_renderer::update_module_button() have been deprecated and should not be used anymore.
  Activity modules should not add the edit module button, the link is already available in the Administration block.
  Themes can choose to display the link in the buttons row consistently for all module types.
* New callback check_updates_since available. Check if the module has any update that affects the current user since the given time.
  Please refer to mod/assign/lib.php, mod/forum/lib.php or mod/quiz/lib.php for sample code.

=== 3.1 ===

* Old /mod/MODULENAME/pix/icon.gif and enrol/paypal/pix/icon.gif GIF icons have been removed. Please use pix_icon
  renderable instead.
* Callback get_types() is deprecated, instead activity modules can define callback get_shortcuts().
  See source code for get_module_metadata().

=== 3.0 ===

* Dropped support for the $module in mod/xxx/version.php files (deprecated
  since 2.7). All activity modules must use the $plugin syntax now. See
  https://docs.moodle.org/dev/version.php for details (MDL-43896).
* Modules using rating component must implement a callback mod_x_rating_can_see_item_ratings(). Refer
  to mod_forum_rating_can_see_item_ratings() for example.

=== 2.9 ===

* Added Grade to pass field to mod_form for activities that support grading.
* The method moodleform_mod::add_intro_editor() used in mod_form.php form
  definitions has been deprecated. Replace it with the new
  moodleform_mod::standard_intro_elements() method that takes the new site
  configuration requiremodintro into account (MDL-49101).

=== 2.8 ===

* Constant FEATURE_GROUPMEMBERSONLY is deprecated. Modules should remove this
  constant from their module_supports() API function.
* $CFG->enablegroupmembersonly no longer exists.

=== 2.7 ===

* modgrade form element has been redesigned and allows setting the maximum grade point higher than 100.
* The usage of $module in mod/xxx/version.php files is now deprecated. Please use
  $plugin instead. The support for the legacy notation will be dropped in Moodle 2.10.
* xxx_get_view_actions() and xxx_get_post_actions() will be ignored by new logging system for
  participation report. view_action and post_action will be detected by event's crud and edulevel.
* The functions xxx_user_outline() and xxx_user_complete() have been removed from the majority of core modules (see MDL-41286),
  except for those that require unique functionality. These functions are used by the outline report, but now if they no longer
  exist, the default behaviour is chosen, which supports the legacy and standard log storages introduced in 2.7 (see MDL-41266).
  It is highly recommended you remove these functions from your module if they are simply performing the default behaviour.

=== 2.6 ===

* Modules using the question bank MUST now declare their use of it with the xxx_supports()
  flag FEATURE_USES_QUESTIONS.
* xxx_get_types() module callback can now return subtypes that have
  a custom help text set. Also instead of array it can now return
  MOD_SUBTYPE_NO_CHILDREN. This is optional and still defaults to prior
  behavior. See get_module_metadata() in course/lib.php for details.
* shift_course_mod_dates() has been modified to accept optional mod instance id. If mod instance id is passed then
  dates changed will happen only on specific module instance and not on all instances of that module in course.

=== 2.5 ===

* support for 'mod/*' filters was removed

=== 2.4 ===

new features:

* mod/xxx/adminlib.php may now include 'plugininfo_yoursubplugintype' class definition
  used by plugin_manager; it is recommended to store extra admin settings classes in this file

optional - no changes needed:

* mod_lesson_renderer::header() now accepts an additional parameter $extrapagetitle

* mod/data/lib.php data_get_all_recordids() now has two new optional variables:  $selectdata and $params.

=== 2.3 ===

required changes in code:

* define the capability mod/xxx:addinstance (and the corresponding lang string)
  (unless your mod is a MOD_ARCHETYPE_SYSTEM).
* xxx_pluginfile() is now given the 7th parameter (hopefully the last one) that
  contains additional options for the file serving. The array should be re-passed
  to send_stored_file().

* most resourcelib_embed_* functions are replaced with core_media_renderer;
  for an example, see mod/resource/locallib.php, resource_display_embed()

optional - no changes needed:

* add support for handling course drag and drop types - functions
  xxx_dndupload_register() and xxx_dndupload_handle($uploadinfo) see:
  http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Implementing_Course_drag_and_drop_upload_support_in_a_module

=== 2.2 ===

required changes in code:
* fix missing parameter types in optional_param() and required_param()
* use new optional_param_array(), required_param_array() or clean_param_array() when dealing with array parameters
* core_text::asort() replaced by specialized core_collator::asort()
* use new make_temp_directory() and make_cache_directory()


=== 2.1 ===

required changes in code:
* add new support for basic restore from 1.9


=== 2.0 ===

required changes in code:
* use new DML syntax everywhere
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/DML_functions)
* use new DDL syntax in db/upgrade.php
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/DDL_functions)
* replace defaults.php by settings.php and db/install.php
* replace STATEMENTS section in db/install.xml with PHP code db/install.php or db/log.php
* move post installation code from lib.php into db/install.php
* move uninstallation code from lib.php to db/uninstall.php
* new mandatory naming of intro and introformat table fields in module tables,
  the presence of these fields is indicated in xxx_plugin_supports()
* completely rewrite file handling
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/File_API)
* rewrite backup/restore
  (not finished yet)
* rewrite trusttext support - new db table columns needed
* migrate all module features from mod_edit.php form to lib.php/modulename_supports() function
* implement new gradebook support (legacy 1.8.x grading not supported anymore)
* migrate custom resource module subtypes into separate modules,
  necessary only for custom plugins in mod/resource/
* use new $PAGE and $OUTPUT instead of old weblib functions
* theme changes: move plugin styles into mod/xxx/styles.css and use new css markers for images,
                 move all images into new mod/xxx/pix/ directory and use new outputlib api
                 move module icon to mod/xxx/pix/icon.gif
                 old global $THEME is fully replaced by $OUTPUT
                 create plugin renderers
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Theme_changes_in_2.0)
* migrate all javascript new coding style using YUI3+YUI2
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/JavaScript_usage_guide)
* remove '_utf8' from lang pack names, use new {a} syntax
* replace helps with new 'xxx_hlp' strings
* please note the $plugin->requires in version.php has to be bigger than 2010000000,
  otherwise the plugin is marked as outdated and upgrade is interrupted

optional - no changes needed in older code:
* settingstree.php replaced by settings.php - just unset the $settings if you want to make custom part of settings admin tree
* support for new mforms editor element and embedded files
  (not finished yet)
* portfolio support
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Portfolio_API)
* course completion tracking support
* new navigation features
* new comments API
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Comments_2.0)
* new ratings API
  (http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Ratings_2.0)