Sloodle Controller Module
From SLIS Second Life Wiki
Sloodle Versions: 0.3 (?)
In version 0.3, Sloodle was updated to support instances, meaning that you can now add Sloodle to each course, just like you would add any other Moodle activity module. There is more than one type of Sloodle module which you can install, but the important one is the Sloodle Controller.
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[edit] What does it do?
The Sloodle Controller will control all Sloodle access to your course. This means that if you want to use a WebIntercom tool in Second Life to connect to your chatroom in Moodle, all chat messages etc. will go through a Sloodle Controller on the same course. Think of it as a kind of 'firewall' for your Moodle site, which provides security for your Sloodle tools.
You must have at least one Controller in your course to use Sloodle.
Internally, the Sloodle system uses various passwords and session keys to help ensure that nobody tries to gain illegitimate access to your resources. If an object is authorised to access a particular Controller, then it cannot access any other Controller or any other course on the Moodle site. You can disable/delete individual objects and passwords, and you can even disable entire Controllers.
You will normally only require a single Controller on a course. However, you can optionally create more, if you want to increase security.
[edit] Add a Controller to your course
If you are viewing your course (or your site's frontpage), then activate Moodle's editing mode. This can usually be done by clicking a button at the top-right which say "Turn editing on". Decide where you want to place your Controller, and find a drop-down box which says "Add an activity...", and click it. Look down the list for "Sloodle Modules", and beneath that, click on "Sloodle Controller".
You will then be shown a form to setup a new Controller. Enter a name and a description, as you would for any Moodle module. Below that you can see two options:
- Enabled (checkbox) -- leave this checked if you want this Controller to be usable. You can uncheck if you want to disable access to it
- Prim Password (text box) -- a random Prim Password will be generated for you, but you can specify it manually. You can also leave it blank to disable it. (Prim Passwords are not necessary for Sloodle 0.3. You only need them if you want to configure your items using a sloodle_config notecard).
Towards the bottom of the page, make sure visibility is enabled (e.g. set to "show"). If a Sloodle Controller is invisible, then it cannot be used from within Second Life.
Click the "Save and display" button, and you will be taken to the main Controller page.
[edit] Edit a Controller
If you want to edit the Sloodle Controller, then you will be given the same form as for adding a new one. There are two ways to start editing one:
[edit] From the Course Page
If you are viewing your course page, then enable editing by clicking the "Turn editing on" button at the top right, and click the edit button beside the Controller you wish to edit. (The icon usually looks like a hand holding a pencil, possibly depending on which Moodle theme you are using).
[edit] From the Controller Page
If you are viewing the Controller itself (see the Controller Page section below), then you can switch to the editing form by clicking the button at the top right which says "Update this Sloodle Module".
[edit] Controller Page
If you click on the Controller in your course (or have clicked "Save and display" on the editing form), you will be taken to the main Controller page. Students will not see very much on this page, except a little status information, and a few quick links at the top right.
[edit] Quick Links
To aid navigation, a few links to essential Sloodle features are visible at the top right. A link to the current user's avatar details (if available) and to more general user management tools are shown at the top. Below that, the current status of auto registration and auto enrolment on the site/course are shown. And finally, there is a link to the Sloodle Course Settings page for the current course.
[edit] Configuration Notecards
Only visible to teachers/admins, and only available if the Prim Password is not disabled.'
In the main body of the page, the top item will be called "Sloodle Object Configuration", and provides the means to create sloodle_config notecards, which can be used to configure Sloodle objects in Second Life. This method of security and configuration is less secure than Object Authorisation and web configuration, but it is also more stable for objects which will be used on a long-term basis, as they will automatically re-initialise if they are reset.
If the Prim Password has been disabled, then you will see an error message here. Otherwise, you will see a list of all the types of Sloodle tools which your installation supports. Where there is more than one version available, you will see the later versions displayed in brackets -- if in doubt, use the latest version.
Click on the name of the tool you would like to configure, and you will be given a configuration form which will let you select any available options (note: some objects do not need additional configuration options, in which case simply click the "Generate Notecard" button). The following page will show various instructions, along with a box containing the configuration text. Copy this text onto your clipboard (highlight it all, and press Ctrl+C), and then go into Second Life. Use the following steps:
- Right click somewhere in your inventory
- Click "New Note"
- Paste the configuration text into the notecard
- Save the notecard
- Rename it to "sloodle_config"
- Rez the object you want to configure
- If there is already a "sloodle_config" notecard in it, then delete it
- Copy your new notecard into the object
The object should automatically configure itself. If not, find the script inside it which starts with "sloodle_mod_", and reset it. Then simply touch the object, and configuration should occur.
[edit] Authorized Objects
If you have used Object Authorisation to setup your Sloodle objects (as opposed to the configuration notecards above), then details of all of the authorised objects will be shown in a table. This is for reference only, although you can delete individual objects if you no longer need them, or if they are causing a security risk. (To delete an object, tick the checkbox to the right, and then click the "Delete Selected" box at the bottom).
[edit] See Also
[edit] Developer Information
[edit] API Classes
The Sloodle PHP API contains a class (called SloodleController) to encapsulate much of the Controller functionality. If you are using a SloodleSession, then you can access it in the following way:
$sloodle = new SloodleSession(); $sloodle->course->controller->...;
[edit] Moodle Interface
- The form for adding/editing a Controller is found in the "mod_form.php" file in the root of the Sloodle module folder.
- The functionality for the main Controller page is in "view/view_controller.php", which is included by the "view.php" script.
- The list of sub-types for the Sloodle module (in the "Add an activity..." menus) is defined by the "sloodle_get_types()" function in "lib.php"
[edit] Database
The Controller module is a sub-type of the Sloodle activity module, so each one will have an entry in the "sloodle" table, with additional information stored in the "sloodle_controller" table.
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