Re: [Server-devel] Offline Moodle
Tony, first -- thanks for the work you've done on this so far! There is a GSoC project on the Moodle side that is looking at an initial GG implementation. It'll be interesting to see where it leads to, and I'll be hoping to co-mentor it (Dongsheng is the main mentor). Students also need a bit of room, so I don't want to crowd the candidate too much ;-) If you are keen on playing with it, I have a plan, based significantly on what I learned from your code, but with a slightly different approach. When you're free to play with it we can see where the GSoC project is at and what we can do. (My hope is that with my plan we can skip greasemonkey and the extra work to the teacher setting up a listing of what's downloadable. I am sure we can make it work like Google Reader does...) One thing that would be nice is if the Nepal team could take a quick look at my latest Moodle XS code -- I don't know if you have a test XS 5.x but if you do, and could play with the latest moodle code as seen in http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/server-devel/2009-April/003177.html If you are using ds-backup, that moodle has automagic authentication (with Browse.xo) and a nice UI to restore your files. And if you use the admin account, you can alias accounts, which is good when a laptop is repaired/replaced. cheers, m -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Offline moodle notes in moodle.org
This discussion should move to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it refers to software running on the laptop, not the server. I disagree. The Gears plugin may run on the laptop, but all the code of the application ( javscript and the php that generates it) is executed and maintained on the server: Moodle in this case. On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 10:08 PM, John Watlington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This discussion should move to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it refers to software running on the laptop, not the server. Some context for my comment: I had told them that we were working with schools that were completely offline (although with servers). The problem might have been a mismatch with their business model more than a mismatch of technologies. I'm looking for the name/address of the software architect I was speaking to. But, SJ already brought up this question on devel back in February, and cc'ed a gears developer (attached). cheers, wad From: Samuel Klein [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: February 16, 2008 1:21:36 PM EST To: edward baafi [EMAIL PROTECTED], OLPC Devel [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Ben Lisbakken [EMAIL PROTECTED], Luke Closs [EMAIL PROTECTED], Marco Pesenti Gritti [EMAIL PROTECTED], Dan Bricklin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: using the browser as an activity platform : pyxpcom / hulahop / Gears The core use here is being able to use the browser as activity platform -- letting web developers good at JS code and test on most any platform, and develop something that can be a first-class activity within Sugar. One example is Dan's javascript spreadsheet, anothe ris a dynamic library (see for instance http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Dynamic_library), another is an existing web service online that one might want to run locally. In addition to pyxpcom, let me add Google Gears as a useful piece of this platform, especially when offering local use of popular online tools. Off the top of my head, MediaWiki, MindMeister, I copy Ben Lisbakken, a gears maintainer, who reports that there is a Gears patch to make it work without extension support... Ben, I'll also introduce you to marcopg separately. -- --- Ludo ( Marc Alier) UPC - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Tel. +34-934137885 http://orangoodling.blogspot.com - http://www.dfwikilabs.org - http://ososdeviaje.dfwikilabs.org - http://mossegalapoma.cat ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Offline moodle notes in moodle.org
Hi, First, gears is a browser plugin. It provides a capability to 'go_offline' by copying web pages and resources (jpg, pdf, ...) to a local SQLite database based on a manifest. While offline, gears provides a local proxy server which responds to http requests by supplying the page (with links to resources) from the local database. It is limited in that it can only handle urls which exactly match those in the manifest. For offline moodle, we need to intercept urls which call php modules server side and respond to them from local javascript. This can be done by ajax requests. Greasemonkey is a temporary prop to convert the normal form 'actions' to invoke local javascript. Later, it should be possible to have the pages generated with the 'onclick' javascript calls and eliminate the need for greasemonkey. A way to think about this is that in offline moodle, the server side php scripts are replaced by client side javascript. Tony Ludo (Marc Alier) wrote: This discussion should move to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it refers to software running on the laptop, not the server. I disagree. The Gears plugin may run on the laptop, but all the code of the application ( javscript and the php that generates it) is executed and maintained on the server: Moodle in this case. On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 10:08 PM, John Watlington [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This discussion should move to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it refers to software running on the laptop, not the server. Some context for my comment: I had told them that we were working with schools that were completely offline (although with servers). The problem might have been a mismatch with their business model more than a mismatch of technologies. I'm looking for the name/address of the software architect I was speaking to. But, SJ already brought up this question on devel back in February, and cc'ed a gears developer (attached). cheers, wad From: Samuel Klein [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: February 16, 2008 1:21:36 PM EST To: edward baafi [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], OLPC Devel [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Ben Lisbakken [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Luke Closs [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Marco Pesenti Gritti [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Dan Bricklin [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: using the browser as an activity platform : pyxpcom / hulahop / Gears The core use here is being able to use the browser as activity platform -- letting web developers good at JS code and test on most any platform, and develop something that can be a first-class activity within Sugar. One example is Dan's javascript spreadsheet, anothe ris a dynamic library (see for instance http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Dynamic_library), another is an existing web service online that one might want to run locally. In addition to pyxpcom, let me add Google Gears as a useful piece of this platform, especially when offering local use of popular online tools. Off the top of my head, MediaWiki, MindMeister, I copy Ben Lisbakken, a gears maintainer, who reports that there is a Gears patch to make it work without extension support... Ben, I'll also introduce you to marcopg separately. -- --- Ludo ( Marc Alier) UPC - [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - Tel. +34-934137885 http://orangoodling.blogspot.com - http://www.dfwikilabs.org - http://ososdeviaje.dfwikilabs.org - http://mossegalapoma.cat ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Offline moodle notes in moodle.org
John, Would you mind forwarding me your notes regard your discussions with google. I am starting a similar discussion with google on behalf of Sugar Labs. I think that we can leverage the availability of sugar in developed nations to offset the cost of creating the services that OLPC is looking for in their markets. thanks David On 10/14/2008, 15:08, John Watlington ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:This discussion should move to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it refers to software running on the laptop, not the server. Some context for my comment: I had told them that we were working with schools that were completely offline (although with servers). The problem might have been a mismatch with their business model more than a mismatch of technologies. I'm looking for the name/address of the software architect I was speaking to. But, SJ already brought up this question on devel back in February, and cc'ed a gears developer (attached). cheers, wad From: Samuel Klein Date: February 16, 2008 1:21:36 PM EST To: edward baafi , OLPC Devel Cc: Ben Lisbakken , Luke Closs, Marco Pesenti Gritti ,Dan Bricklin Subject: Re: using the browser as an activity platform : pyxpcom /hulahop / Gears The core use here is being able to use the browser as activity platform -- letting web developers good at JS code and test on most any platform, and develop something that can be a first-class activity within Sugar. One example is Dan's javascript spreadsheet, anothe ris a dynamic library (see for instance http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Dynamic_library), another is an existing web service online that one might want to run locally. In addition to pyxpcom, let me add Google Gears as a useful piece of this platform, especially when offering local use of popular online tools. Off the top of my head, MediaWiki, MindMeister, I copy Ben Lisbakken, a gears maintainer, who reports that there is a Gears patch to make it work without extension support... Ben, I'll also introduce you to marcopg separately. ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] offline moodle
Hi, Currently I am working with a development lash-up which I hope will allow me to get the basic offline moodle capability running (or, at least quickly expose the speed bumps). I envision adding an 'offline' block to the moodle course. This block would give a menu of course chunks (e.g. topics), which could be taken offline. The student would go to this block, check the topics (chunks) needed, and Gears would cache them for offline access. When the student has access to the server again, he/she could use the block to go online. At that time, the cache would be erased and the work done offline would be posted to moodle. I think the course creator/teacher will need to be involved in defining the 'chunks' and in defining the 'manifest': list of pages and other resources needed to be cached for those chunks. This manifest (similar to the one required for building an xo package) could include external (to Moodle) resources as well since the caching includes a javascript-php script connection. In fact, I think it may be useful to be able to store some resources (e.g. wiki pages, glossaries, ...) more persistently than course specific content (lesson pages, quizzes, ...). Tony Bryan Berry wrote: On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 15:10 +1200, Martin Langhoff wrote: good to hear we're on the same page. AIUI, the user only has to get to the initial moodle page, and GG should take care of the rest. you've reached beyond my geek lingo, what on earth does AIUI mean? :) ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] offline moodle
On Tue, 2008-09-02 at 22:57 +0200, Tony Anderson wrote: Hi, My apologies - I need to do some research on how to setup the repo.or.cz. As an immediate expedient, I have attached the relevant files to this email. When I get a little time, I will set this up properly. The readme tries to describe the files and how they are used. hey Tony, this is a good start. I have a somewhat different workflow in mind. Here is a narrative that describes what I am thinking User Story 1: Intermittent School attendance and School Server Outage Monday 1. Kid goes to class 2. Teacher directs kids Moodle site 3. Kid navigates to Moodle Module for Class 2 math for the current month 4. Kid clicks 'download' link next Moodle module 5. This action downloads a the moodle module as a .xo bundle and locally installs it to the XO 5.1 Inside the module are readings, pictures, animations, etc. all available offline 6. School ends on Monday Tuesday Kid can't go to school. Mom and little brother are sick, has to take care of them. Kid opens up XO and offline Moodle activity he downloaded the day before. He does lessons that show him basic concepts, introduce him to basic animations using activities like Etoys, and reads explanations that answer some of the things he doesn't understand. Wednesday Kid still can't go to school. Has to help out in the fields. Later that day the kid spends some time w/ the Moodle module Thursday Kid goes back to school. Kid isn't behind the other because he followed the lesson plan at home. This has social importance that shouldn't be understated. Over night there was an electrical surge that fried the school server. The teacher can still instruct using the XO because she has it installed locally as an activity and so do the kids. The key here is that we need to package each offline moodle course as an .XO Activity Bundle. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_bundles Getting started, we only need the most basic features of Moodle. Basically page navigation and the ability to display flash animations and embedded pdfs for the supplementary readings. In time we can look at adding more dynamic stuff like access to the gradebook but that can wait. In Nepal's context, our kids have no libraries and maybe 4 small coursebooks. Hope this helps and sorry I haven't been able to provide you w/ more feedback earlier. Pls post our correspondence regarding Offline Moodle to the Server-Developers mailing list. http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- Bryan W. Berry Systems Engineer OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] offline moodle
On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 3:01 PM, Bryan Berry [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Then I have several questions, how many courses would offline moodle cache locally? And how could a kid dump one course they took offline but keep others? To browse to a cached course would gears have to cache all the pages on the way to cached course? Or for the kid to bookmark the cached course and use it to access it later? I don't have all the answers for that - but your questions are good - that's the kind of workflow that users would have to use. I hope that the GG code can show a basic moodle homepage with a course listing that shows the cached courses in a distinctive manner. I think a bookmark wouldn't be very intuitive. AIUI, the user only has to get to the initial moodle page, and GG should take care of the rest. I'm not saying that this is what Tony's implemented -- I'll review the code asap -- but that's the kind of workflow that GG seems to support, and it looks good to me. Sure, but my focus is making it easy for the kids to easily view multiple courses offline. I am only interested in Offline Moodle insofar as it supports that goal. What other goal could possibly offline moodle have? ;-) we're all on the same page wrt that. m -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] offline moodle
On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 15:10 +1200, Martin Langhoff wrote: good to hear we're on the same page. AIUI, the user only has to get to the initial moodle page, and GG should take care of the rest. you've reached beyond my geek lingo, what on earth does AIUI mean? :) -- Bryan W. Berry Technology Director OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
