To test this:
At present it is not possible to synchronise course categories from an external database in moodle.
After applying this patch, create an external database. The following assumes that you're using postgres, and have a user 'moodle'.:
–
sudo su - postgres
createdb -O moodle -EUTF8 externaldb
cat <<EOF | psql externaldb
CREATE TABLE categories (
id integer NOT NULL,
title character varying(255) NOT NULL,
description text,
parent integer
);
ALTER TABLE public.categories OWNER TO moodle;
–
-- Name: courses; Type: TABLE; Schema: public; Owner: moodle; Tablespace:
–
CREATE TABLE courses (
id integer,
fullname character varying(100),
shortname character varying(100),
categoryid integer
);
ALTER TABLE public.courses OWNER TO moodle;
EOF
-
- Create some data in the categories
cat <<EOF | php5 | psql externaldb
<?php
echo "INSERT INTO categories (id, title, description, parent) VALUES (1, 'Top Level', 'Description for Top Level', null);\n";
\$i = 2;
while (\$i <= 6) {
echo "INSERT INTO categories (id, title, description, parent) VALUES (\$i, 'Faculty \$i', 'Description for Faculty \$i', 1);\n";
echo "INSERT INTO courses (id, fullname, shortname, categoryid) VALUES (\$i, 'Sample Course in Faculty \$i', 'course_faculty_{\$i}', {\$i});\n";
\$j = 1;
while (\$j <= 5) {
echo "INSERT INTO categories (id, title, description, parent) VALUES ({\$i}00{\$j}, 'Department {\$j}', 'Description for Department {\$i}', {\$i});\n";
echo "INSERT INTO courses (id, fullname, shortname, categoryid) VALUES ({\$i}00{\$j}, 'Sample Course in Faculty \$i Department \$j', 'course_faculty_{\$i}dept{\$j}', {\$i}00{\$j});\n";
\$j++;
}
\$i++;
}
EOF
–
Now configure the enrolment/database module as follows:
Site administration
-> Plugins
-> Enrolments
-> Manage enrol plugins
Enable "External database"
Navigate to Settings page for External database
Set database driver, host, user, password, and name as you've set them for your database
Under "Creation of new Course Categories"
Set "External course categories table" to:
categories
Set "Course Category id field" to:
id
Set "Course Category name field" to:
title
Set "Course Category parent field" to:
parent
Set "Course Category description field" to:
description
Now run a cli sync:
—
-
- Test Initial sync
Open a shell, and switch to your web server user. Under debian I do:
sudo su - www-data
bash
cd ~/git/moodle
php enrol/database/cli/sync.php
In Moodle, you should now have one new top level category ("Top Level"), five subcategories, with five subcategories
Open one of the categories in the category editor and verify that it has:
- the correct name;
- a category id number as appears in the database (e.g. Faculty 2 has idnumber 2; Faculty 2 -> Department 3 has idnumber 2003); and
—
-
- Test syncing courses
The database we created earlier has should create one course in each category except the top level category
Navigate back to the plugin's settings page
Under "Creation of new courses"
Set "Remote new courses table" to:
courses
Set "New course full name field" to:
fullname
Set "New course short name field" to:
shortname
Set "New course ID number field" to:
id
Set "New course category ID" to:
categoryid
Set "Type of course category ID" to:
external
Run the cli sync again
You should now have one course in each category
—
- Testing Deletion
echo "DELETE FROM categories;" | psql externaldb
Run the cli sync again
All categories should be deleted with the exception of the "Top Level" category. It is not possible to delete this using the standard moodle category_delete_move.
All courses should have been re-parented to the "Top Level" category.
—
-
- Check that we haven't broken anything with the default action of using the Moodle database's course category id when creating a course
This assumes that the 'Miscellaneous' course has an id of 1 (default install)
echo "UPDATE courses SET categoryid = 1;" | psql externaldb
- This is a bit dirty but should suffice for our requirements
- The courese sync only creates courses – it never updates or deletes them so we must do so manually
echo "DELETE FROM mdl_course WHERE id != 1;" | psql moodle
Navigate back to the plugin's settings page
Under "Creation of new courses"
Set "Type of course category ID" to:
moodle
Run the cli sync again
You should now have 30 courses in the 'Miscellaneous' category
Sub-task
Minor