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Moodle JavaScript Cookbook
Moodle JavaScript Cookbook

Moodle JavaScript Cookbook: Make Moodle e-learning even more dynamic by learning to customize using JavaScript. With over 50 recipes, this Cookbook allows you to add effects, modify forms, include animations, and much more for an enhanced user experience.

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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Moodle JavaScript Cookbook

Chapter 1. Combining Moodle and JavaScript

In this chapter, we will cover:

  • Creating a new Moodle PHP page

  • Loading a JavaScript file

  • Loading a JavaScript file in <head>

  • Generating a JavaScript function call from PHP

  • Passing variables from PHP to JavaScript

  • Ensuring compliance with XHTML Strict

  • Retrieving language strings from Moodle

Introduction


Web pages and websites have come a long way since their inception in the early 1990s (with the creation of HTML). Modern web applications such as Moodle now have far more in common with desktop applications than with the simple word processing documents they originally modeled.

One key weapon in the modern web application's armory is the subject of this book — JavaScript.

In essence, JavaScript is a programming language that runs in a user's web browser rather than on the web server. It allows programmers to manipulate the web page via what is called the Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM is a representation of the underlying HTML page, structured in a way to provide access to each and every element within the HTML page. Modern browsers now implement a standard version of the DOM, so it can be considered a cross-platform technology.

In recent years, there has been a significant uptake of the use of JavaScript frameworks. A JavaScript framework is a library of JavaScript code that makes a JavaScript programmer's life easier. Generally, they provide more efficient methods for performing the most common tasks in JavaScript, such as locating DOM elements or wiring up events to those elements. (An event is a function of an element. For example, an HTML input button element has a "click" event that is fired when the mouse is clicked while the pointer is over the button.) Additionally, they provide an abstraction of browser-specific quirks, making it very easy to write cross-platform code that works in the widest range of browsers.

One such JavaScript framework is the Yahoo! User Interface library (YUI). YUI is the framework of choice for Moodle 2.0, and is included with the standard Moodle 2.0 package. For this reason, a substantial number of techniques covered in the later chapters will be based on the YUI. In the final chapter, we will briefly explore some other popular JavaScript frameworks and libraries.

Perhaps more important than "how" to use JavaScript is the question of "when" to use it. It is vital to consider the target audience of your web applications and infer from this exactly how you will use JavaScript.

If you are building a web application that is to be widely used in a public setting, then you should aim to make it as accessible as possible to all types of users. With respect to JavaScript specifically, this means that the core functionality of your site should be available to those who, for whatever reason, cannot or will not use a browser that fully supports JavaScript (typical examples include a mobile device which has limited functionality, or a browser using automated text-to-speech or screen-reading software). These techniques form a part of what is known as "progressive enhancement".

In this first chapter, we will learn the basic techniques for integrating our JavaScript code with Moodle 2.0. We will learn several methods of including our JavaScript code in a Moodle page via .js files, and how to get the code to run. Lastly, we will look at some best practices and also how to make Moodle data and language strings available to our JavaScript code.

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Key benefits

  • Learn why, where, and how to add to add JavaScript to your Moodle site
  • Get the most out of Moodle's built-in extra‚Äîthe Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI)
  • Explore a wide range of modern interactive features, from AJAX to Animation
  • Integrate external libraries like jQuery framework with Moodle

Description

Moodle is the best e-learning solution on the block and is revolutionizing courses on the Web. Using JavaScript in Moodle is very useful to administrators and dynamic developers as it uses built-in libraries to provide the modern and dynamic experience that is expected by web users today.The Moodle JavaScript Cookbook will take you through the basics of combining Moodle with JavaScript and its various libraries and explain how JavaScript can be used along with Moodle. It will explain how to integrate Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) with Moodle. YUI will be the main focus of the book, and is the key to implementing modern, dynamic feature-rich interfaces to help your users get a more satisfying and productive Moodle experience. It will enable you to add effects, make forms more responsive, use AJAX and animation, all to create a richer user experience. You will be able to work through a range of YUI features, such as pulling in and displaying information from other websites, enhancing existing UI elements to make users' lives easier, and even how to add animation to your pages for a nice finishing touch.

Who is this book for?

This book is aimed at developers and administrators comfortable with customizing Moodle with the use of plugin modules, themes, and patches who want to make their site more dynamic. If you have prior knowledge of HTML, PHP, and CSS and a good working knowledge of the underlying structure of Moodle, then this book is for you. No prior experience with JavaScript is needed.

What you will learn

  • Get started with the Yahoo! User Interface Library
  • Add validation features to your Moodle forms
  • Retrieve and process data from external sites in a range of formats using AJAX
  • Add feature rich spreadsheet-style data tables‚Äîsorting, paging, and inline editing
  • Add auto-complete functionality to text boxes and combo boxes
  • Make use of advanced navigation controls‚Äîdrop-down menus, tabbed panels, and modal windows
  • Use animation techniques‚Äîfading, scrolling, and resizing
  • Integrate external libraries such as JQuery framework, MooTools framework, and Dojo framework
  • Initialize a YUI DataSource

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Apr 26, 2011
Length: 180 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849511902
Languages :
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Product Details

Publication date : Apr 26, 2011
Length: 180 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849511902
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Tools :

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Moodle 2 Administration
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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
Combining Moodle and JavaScript Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Moodle and Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Moodle Forms Validation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Manipulating Data with YUI 3 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Data Tables Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Enhancing Page Elements Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Advanced Layout Techniques Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Animating Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Integrating External Libraries Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.7
(3 Ratings)
5 star 66.7%
4 star 33.3%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Chris Swan Jul 26, 2011
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The Moodle JavaScript Cookbook by Alastair Hole is an ideal resource for the developer wishing to customise a standard installation. Basic JavaScript knowledge is needed to gain the most benefit from this book however there is a Pandora's box of code waiting for you to experiment with. In his book, Alastair explores different tools that are available to make Moodle work harder for you. There is excellent coverage of the use of JavaScript libraries to improve the Moodle UI as well as importing and using currently available external libraries. Different methods of achieving the outcome are demonstrated leading to flexible solution development. The Moodle JavaScript Cookbook makes a useful reference and tutorial but also is also a great book to flick through during your developers' coffee break in search of a serendipity moment.Chris Swan
Amazon Verified review Amazon
W. Baars Aug 04, 2011
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
One of the mayor 'complaints' about open source lms systems such as Moodle is the fact that the 'looks' can be a bit dissapointing. Now with the surge of HTML 5 (javascript) for those who can, it is possible to make moodle look great or make it even more interactive.In the moodle community there is a lot to find about not-so-technical stuff, but for those who want to get deeper into it, you may be on your own a bit. This book will help those technical guys and girls. You may need to know some php, html but you do not need to know any javascript for this book.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
luisdev Mar 27, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
This book was written in May 2011 - almost three years ago as I write this. A lot has changed in Moodle in those three years. So, how relevant is this book to the current version of Moodle (2.6)? Does the content of this book still apply to the current version of Moodle and can we still use what this teaches to develop JavaScript in the current versions Moodle? A lot has changed in Moodle since 2011!Are there any plans to publish a new updated version?
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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