Ef4m is a set of guidelines to help us create
enhancement extensions to Moodle using JavaScript.
It is a framework created to allow us to use existing Moodle infrastructure, and staff's familiarity with Moodle as an advantage and a bedrock to enhance students' learning experience, instead of rebuilding everything from the ground up. The framework is built to allow all Moodle users with editing rights to create extensions to Moodle, effectively opening open-source contributions to Moodle from thousands more users that can write simple JavaScript scripts but cannot build or install Moodle plugins.
Let's go through the guidelines to create enhancements using the framework.
Ef4m scripts should be globally available to all VLE users. This is common in web development, where all scripts are within a shared folder on the server. However, course editors do not have access to folders on the Moodle server. They do however have access to Moodle courses. And guided by our fundamental rule to use Moodle existing infrastructure to our advantage when building ef4m, we have adapted Moodle courses so that they are accessible to all VLE users without needing to be enrolled in them, effectively converting them to repositories.
We do this by simply changing the moodle/course:view permission and adding a phantom Folder resource where we will house all scripts and relevant files for our enhancements.
This is the beauty of ef4m scripts. They work with surgical precision to enhance one area of interest. If more enhancements are needed for the same course, create one script for every enhancement.
You can include scripts either in sidebar text blocks, or in Text and media areas within a section. You can restrict where the enhancement will be loaded using relevant display settings for the text block or activity restrictions, but you should restrict further within the script if needed.
We recommend that you distribute enhancements using existing Moodle core infrastructure such as backups. Another way of distributing enhancements would be to have clear documentation that contains the HTML snippet that users need to copy/paste in place, as well as how the component containing the snippet needs to be configured.
Alternatively, if you have the "Sharing cart" plugin installed on your Moodle installation, you could use its fine-tuned backup/restore functionality to allow editors to use your enhancements.
This is fundamental for us. Ef4m was primarily built to enhance existing Moodle functionality. Ef4m can be used to create completely new functionality as well, so in this case you will have to provide a simple version that should work with your minimum browser requirements and enhance it further to meet the learning experience needed.
If for whatever reason the script cannot work on the user's browser, graceful degradation should be implemented correctly so that Moodle shows the default/out of the box experience in this case, instead of a broken page.
If possible, use existing Moodle infrastructure that editors are familiar with, instead of rewriting new editing functionality. Enhance for learners but strive to keep as much of Moodle's default functionality in editing as possible to capitalise on academics' familiarity.
Ef4m scripts can and should be tested, both using unit testing and integration testing via Behat/Selenium, fully integrating with automated Moodle testing.
To keep things clean and tidy, we recommend that you group enhancements in relevant repositories. We also recommend that you place all documentation for the enhancements within the same repository as the scripts themselves.
You should always write documentation both for developers and for editors/users.