Timeline Widget filter

A filter to embed an MIT SIMILE Timeline Javascript interactive widget. You and your class can use it to visualize temporal/ historical data. The data source can be a static XML file, or a dynamic Moodle Database activity (currently Moodle 1.9 only).

Requirements: tested with Moodle 1.9.7 and 2.0.2 (all Moodle 1.9.x should work, Moodle 2.0.x - static XML only).

Uses: MIT SIMILE (v2.3.0 included); Javascript; also, parse_ini_string function (see compat.php).

Book

This plugin was initially developed to support the book "Moodle 2 for Teaching 4-9 Year Olds", by Nicholas Freear, published 2011 by Packt Publishing [isbn:978-1-84951-328-9] http://bit.ly/packt-moodle4-9-book

Installation

1. Download and uncompress the code files. Copy the renamed timelinewidget directory to the filter directory on the server, eg. /var/www/moodle/filter/timelinewidget/
2. Log in to Moodle as admin, visit Site Administration | Plugins | Filters | Manage Filters. Scroll down and click on the icon for Timelinewidget to enable it.
3. Try one of the Usage examples below.

Usage

Try one of the two modes:

1. XML: Upload a timeline XML file to your course (see the example directory). Then, type the following in a resource using Moodle's rich-editor (note, line-breaks, which can be represented by <br /> are required). Substitute an appropriate integer in place of COURSE_ID and adjust the other parameters as needed. Minimal syntax:

    [Timeline]
    dataUrl = COURSE_ID/simile-invent.xml
    [/Timeline]
   

• NOTE: it would appear that the path has changed, so if you are using Moodle 2.x, the path to the XML should look like:

  dataUrl = 60/mod_resource/content/1/simile-invent.xml (ie. <resource_id>/mod_resource/content/<course_id>/simile-invent.xml)

You will probably wish to replace the defaults for title, date and so on:

    [Timeline]
    ; A comment.
    title  = Important inventions
    dataUrl= COURSE_ID/simile-invent.xml
    ; The date on which to centre the timeline initially. This can
    ; be just a year, or a full date, eg. 20 January 1870.
    date   = 1870
    ; UPPER-CASE! minute,hour,day,week,month,year,decade,century,millenium.
    intervalUnit  = CENTURY
    ; How wide should the unit defined above be? In pixels.
    intervalPixels= 75
    [/Timeline]

2. mod/data: Create a Moodle Database activity, with fields named 'start' (date), 'end' (date), 'title', 'description', 'image' and 'link', and add a record. Then, type the following in a Moodle resource, substituting an appropriate integer in place of DATA_ID (mod/data/view.php?d=N):

    [Timeline]
    ;title = Important inventions
    dataSrc= mod/data
    dataId = DATA_ID
    date   = 1870
    intervalUnit  = CENTURY
    intervalPixels= 75
    [/Timeline]
   

Links

• Moodle plugin entry: http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=filter_timelinewidget
• Discussion: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=175875
• Bugs: http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/CONTRIB/component/11032
• Code, Git: https://github.com/nfreear/moodle-filter_timelinewidget
• (Code, Hg: https://bitbucket.org/nfreear/timelinewidget)
• (Old plugin page: http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?rid=4802)
• Demo: http://freear.org.uk/moodle

Notes

• Todo: fix the XML link below the timeline - see Geoffrey Rowland's suggestion.

• Todo: find a way to reject empty/incorrect XML files, eg. attached to forum - Ger Tielemans.

• Todo: downgrade the print_error for missing dataUrl - Michael de Raadt.

• Todo: deal with

  as well as
  when parsing INI syntax - Michael.

• Ger made change to Moodle 1.9.x, /files/index.php so admins can edit the XML file - ?

• Todo: ensure that the filter's mod/data mode works with Moodle 2.0.

• The filter uses an iframe to avoid Javascript loading issues in MSIE.

• mod/data: If the start and end dates for a timeline will be less than ~2000 (or > ?), then they need to be text, not date fields in the Database activity.

• mod/data: If PHP < 5.2, then dates less than ~1970 should be written as ISO 8601 dates (2010-11-06T14:11..). If PHP >= 5.2 then date_parse handles '6 November 2010...'.

• The filter currently creates a very simple timeline, with only one band!

• There is a skip-link for accessibility.

• The filter is internationalized and (mostly) Moodle 2 ready.

Credits

Filter. Copyright (c) 2010-2011 Nicholas Freear.

• License http://gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
• http://freear.org.uk/moodle

Thanks to Darcy Christ (@1000camels) for the fork and fixes.

SIMILE. Copyright (c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Contributors 2006-2009 ~ Some rights reserved.

• License: http://opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
• Project: http://simile.mit.edu