Capabilities and Permissions

So far, we have given users existing roles in different Moodle contexts. In the following few pages, we want to have a look at the inside of a role that is called capabilities and permissions. Once we have understood them, we will be able to modify existing roles and create entirely new custom ones.

Role Definitions

Existing roles are accessed via Users | Permissions | Define Roles in the Site Administration block. The screen that will be shown is similar to the familiar roles assignment screen, but has a very different purpose:

When you click on a role name, its composition is shown. Each role contains a unique Name, a unique Short name (used when uploading users), and an optional Description.

The Legacy role type has been introduced for backward compatibility, to allow old legacy code that has not been fully ported to work with the new system comprising new roles and capabilities. It is expected that this facility will disappear in the future (this might be for...