Capabilities

So far, we have given users the existing roles in different Moodle contexts. In the following few pages, we want to have a look inside a role where capabilities dictate what functionality is allowed. Remember, a role is a collection of capabilities with corresponding permissions. Once we have understood capabilities, we will modify the existing roles and create entirely new, custom ones.

Role definitions

The existing roles are accessed via Users | Permissions | Define roles. The screen that will be shown is similar to the familiar Assign roles screen, but has a very different purpose:

When you click on a role name, its composition is shown. Each role contains unique Short name (used when uploading users), Custom full name, and optional Custom description:

The Role archetype field specifies which permissions are set if the role is reset to its default value. The setting further determines what values any new permissions will have, when introduced in future versions of Moodle. These...