JourFixe-2014-09-15

Date and place:

• Thursday, September 15, 2014, from 12h30 - 18h00 at ILIAS open source eLearning e.V. in Cologne.

• Max Becker, Michael Jansen, Alexander Killing, Matthias Kunkel (Minutes), Jörg Lützenkirchen, Stefan Meyer, Dirk Schäfer, Fabian Schmid, Stefan Schneider, Stanislav Wischniak, Fabian Wolf

1 Appointments

2014-09-22: 4.5.0_beta 1
2014-09-29: ILIAS Development Conference in Bozen
2014-09-30 - 10-01: 13th International ILIAS Conference in Bozen
2014-10-13: Jour Fixe

2 Bugfixing for maintained versions 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4

Last releases:

• ILIAS 4.4.5 published at September 08, 2014
• ILIAS 4.3.9 published at August 26, 2014
• ILIAS 4.2.10 published at July 31, 2014 (last release of this version)

• 4.5.0_beta1 is scheduled for September 22, 2014
• 4.4.6 is scheduled for October, 2014
• 4.3.10 is scheduled for October, 2014

We went through Mantis and had a overlook about all open issues reported or modified since the last Jour Fixe. All issues were screened and assigned to the responsible developers. We discussed in detail:

1. #13834: Password expiration affects 'cron' user: As Michael pointed out, this is currently the intended behaviour. The introduction of a policy resilience flag is supported by the JF but would be a feature request. We will add a Feature Wiki entry.
2. #13842: Inverted colors in breadcrumb: Jean-Luc Braun (CSS maintainer) should work out a solution.
3. #13844: Fatal when moving threads to another forum: This issue may be solved by using table locking. We agree that we should collect best practices to handle these cases. We will start a dev guide page for this topic and open the discussion in the core developer group.
4. #13848: full name in email addresses: An option (deactivated by default) for ilEmailInputGUI to allow the extended format would be ok as a bug fix for us.
5. #13905: Wording for 'Administration » Statistics and Learning Progress » Anonymized' (trac#:#trac_anonymized): The wording should be fixed in a way that it reflects the behaviour. Matthias and Jörg will work out a solution. If the LP is deactivated no synching with the pass status should be done (but if activated and "anonymized").
6. #13926: Permission inconsistencies in course copy process: Neither "offline" nor "Edit" nor "Delete" affect the possibility to "Copy" (real copy not linking) something, only the "Copy" permission should affect this. The "Link" options rely on the "Delete" permission. Stefan will check the details and report on this.
7. #12382: Auftrag: Unerwünschte Darstellung von Teilen der Fragenmaske im Prüfenbildschirm:
   • Since ILIAS 4.3 after clicking on "check" we get the following structure:
     • ----------------
     • Page Editor Content (Part i)
     • Question
     • Given Answer
     • Page Editor Content (Part ii)
     • Best Solution
     • ----------------
   • We would prefer a structure like
     • ----------------
     • - Page Editor Content (Part i)
     • - Question
     • - Given Answer
     • - Best Solution
     • - Page Editor Content (Part ii)
     • ----------------
   • Since this is a major change in the behaviour, the change could only be done with a major release (4.5 would be ok) and should be documented in the feature wiki.
8. #13661: Continuous Testing Mode: Falschbeantwortung ohne Testeingabe u. Fragenauswahl ändern: Currently all submit buttons save the answer, this has been the behaviour in the past, so currently this is the "intended" behaviour. No change is required. We discussed the general issue in the past and created the Separating Submission and Navigation page for this purpose. Up to now this idea is still unfunded.
9. #13662: Continuous Testing Mode: Fragenübersicht fehlt: The sequence of the questions is determined dynamically each time after a question has been answered. We could show this sequence, but there is no concept of selecting one of the upcoming questions (except the current one). Presenting a list without the possibility to "jump" to this question does not make much sense in our view. Thus not showing a question list is ok for us. The option should be disabled in the settings. It would be also ok for us to make the "previous answer" list an optional feature, but the option should be named accordingly in the settings.
10. #13890: Continuous Testing Mode: Fragen fixieren + Wiedervorlagefunktion unvereinbar: In CTM, fixation should only affect the presentation of the current questions display not if the same question is presented again. (Likewise in subsequent test runs). We would prefer to have this solved as a bug fix for 4.5.
11. #13705: Continuous Testing Mode: letzte Fragenbearbeitung nach Prüfen u. Testunterbrechung geht verloren: The "Check" feature is just an optional feature and cannot determine the behaviour of the Suspend button in general. We decided that all buttons will consistently save the answer. To solve the whole issue in general the concept envisaged on Separating Submission and Navigation needs to be fully worked out and funded.

3 Feature Requests for ILIAS 4.5

3.1 ILIAS 4.5 Statistics and Release Dates

According to the presentation at the last Development Conference we want to improve the documentation of the development process. The data of the following overview of development activities for the next upcoming major release is taken from the page Release 5.0. All developers are requested to update the status of their features.

Beta1 Release Date

• We schedule a first beta release ILIAS 4.5.0_beta1 [1] for September 22, 2014. We need this additional week for the implementation of the Bootstrap UI and the new ILIAS skin.

3.2 ILIAS 4.5 Development Issues

1. REST Service for xAPI and for other issues: We support the idea to move forward with a general REST service for ILIAS 4.6. We will continue to discuss the technical details. Since xAPI will not be ready for 4.5, xAPI may be based on a general REST solution, too.
2. xAPI Activity Repository Object and xAPI: Integrated LRS are postponed for 4.6 because there is not enough time before the beta deadline to implement the feature incl. a REST interface. 
   • Concerning the REST service of the xAPI there are two general options
     • a "local" REST service of the xAPI component
     • using a general REST service implementation. (Prefered)
   • The xAPI must not depend on any REST plugin.
3. User Name Presentation: We schedule the guideline for 4.5. From now on all new implementations should respect the guideline. We have to get funding for streamlining existing features.
4. Memory Caching Service: Funding is currently not settled yet, so focus will be on APC. All parts that can be tested during the beta phase may be added before stable.
5. Bug #013604: export of course with bibliographic list fails: The export is accepted as "bugfix" for 4.5 before beta.
6. HTML-LM Improvements: If globally deactivated, the feature(s) should not appear in HTML learning modules. If globally activated the features should still be deactivated per default on the object level. But it should be possible to activate them (on the object level).
7. Design Revision: We would like to integrate the new design of the BS branch development into the trunk as soon as possible (may be tomorrow).
8. Export of Date Format - Guideline : We would try to use a language independent format. Our suggestion would be something like "22.03.2014 19:15". However we are not sure if this works in US-Excel versions or other OpenOffice, .... We may need a admin setting to configure the format. We support the idea to introduce a guideline with 4.6.

3.3 Feature Requests for 4.5

The following list contains features that have been added to the Feature Wiki before feature freeze and are supported by the responsible component maintainer, see also Feature Requests 5.0. Please do not add new features on this list.

• no feature that is recommended by its maintainer is still to be approved

3.4 Candidates for Postponed Features

The following requests have already been discussed by the Jour Fixe and scheduled for 4.5. But due to missing funding and an upcoming beta release, there is no chance anymore to implement them for 4.5. Therefore, we postpone these features. If funding is available, they can easily be re-scheduled for an upcoming major release.

1. Calendar: Better Performance for Recurring Calendar Appointments
2. Calendar: Date and Time Picker: Streamlining
3. Calendar: Drag and Drop of Calendar Events
4. Calendar: Instantly showing/hiding events of selected calendars
5. Calendar: Improve Navigation in Side Block
6. Certificate: Context-Sensitive Date Formats in Certificate
7. Course Management / Groups / Mail / RBAC: Check permissions when sending mails to course or group members
8. Course Management / Groups: Improving Process Request Membership
9. Data Collection - Clear Distinction Between Table And Field Managing
10. Data Colleciton: Copy Datacollection with all Data Records
11. Data Collection: Set Link Title in URL-optioned textfields
12. Data Collection - Grid editing
13. Data Collection - Tiny editor in textfields
14. Development Support: Object Terminator
15. Discussion Forums: Moderators contributions highlighted by anonymized forum
16. Discussion Forums: Notification for edited Postings
17. Discussion Forums: Preview of forum postings
18. Exercise: Individual Deadlines for different users
19. File Object: Personalized Watermarks for PDFs
20. General Revision of User Standard Fields
21. Glossary: Notes and comments in Glossaries
22. Guidelines: Data Directory Guideline
23. Guidelines: Explorer Tree Guideline
24. ILIAS Page Editor: Change default video aspect ratio into more popular one
25. ILIAS Page Editor: Copy and Paste elements in ILIAS Page Editor
26. ILIAS Page Editor: Export Content of ILIAS page editor
27. ILIAS Page Editor: Full Screen mode for images as a greybox
28. ILIAS Page Editor: Page Editor » Data Table Editing
29. Learning Module ILIAS: Complete LaTex Support in LM Questions
30. Learning Module ILIAS: Learning Progress on visited pages
31. Learning Module SCORM: Default values for newly added SCORM modules
32. Learning Module SCORM: SCORM 1.2: Ability to adjust cmi.student_data.mastery_score by settings (not only manifest)
33. Learning Module SCORM: SCORM 2004: Ability to adjust cmi.completion_threshold and cmi.scaled_passing_score by settings (not only manifest)
34. Learning Module SCORM: SCORM without iframe/frames / Support for HTML5-Learning Modules
35. Learning Progress: Additional Options and Usability
36. Logging: Error handling and logging
37. Mail: Mails with Skin
38. Mail / RBAC: Mail via role assignment over the personal dektop
39. Online Help: Online Help: Search
40. Payment and Shop: Allow multiple payment methods per sellable object
41. Payment and Shop: Plugin Interface for Payment
42. Portfolio: Search Portfolios used as Personal Profiles
43. Precondition Handling: Edit Timings without an ending time
44. Repository: Precondition Triggers Learning Module and Plugin
45. SOAP / Webservices: Get mail content over webservice with method
46. Survey: Export E-Mail in Personalized surveys
47. Survey: Show label in Print-View
48. Support commenting of questions in question pool
49. Test: Excel-Export: disable setting shuffle questions
50. Test: Item export: Include hints and media objects
51. Test: Learning Progress Trigger after Finish
52. Test: Manual scoring: save and jump to next student
53. Test: Ordering questions: order pictures is not available in horizontal mode
54. Test: Question title output: add new option "show only available points"
55. Test: Preset points input fields with 0 when createing new multiple choice questions
56. Test: Retake Test
57. Test: Scoring: permit half points for all question types
58. Test: Streamlining Javascript Usage in Tests
59. User Administration: Profile : Gender
60. User Handling: Configurable Name Presentation
61. User Interface: Basic Rich Text Editing
62. User Interface: Table2GUI - Sorting
63. WebDAV: Show references as folders

4 Feature Requests for ILIAS 4.6

1. Survey: Introduce Learning Progress: We appreciate the feature and schedule it for 4.6.

Decision postponed

The following features requests have been postponed to an upcoming Jour Fixe due to missing time.

1. Forums: function to report a post to the moderator
2. Forums: Option to deactivate the file upload possibility
3. Notes and Comments: Notification to the author or administrator if a new comment was posted
4. Personal Profile: Option to disable/hide the Export Profile-Button
5. User Handling: Enforce Public Profiles + Option to force the global publishing of the personal profile (duplicate)
6. ILIAS Page Editor: configurable Autostart for Videos
7. Registration-Login-Authentication: Letter Avatars
8. Security: Password Recovery by using secret question
9. Database: MS SQL Support
10. Mail: SMTP-Settings-Page
11. Security: WAC: Enable Web-Access-Checker by default
12. ILIAS Page Editor: Time-based activation of sections
13. Test: Update questions from pools to tests
14. Search Engine: Search in blog
15. Blog: Editing a blog post by a non-author
16. Learning Module SCORM: Password protection for SCORM Modules
17. Performance: Lightweight profiling of requests
18. Test: Style for Tests
19. Course Management: course assignment: add all users of a role
20. Course Management: option to skip Enter the course-page if direct join is possible
21. Booking Tool: First Come First Serve Solution
22. Booking Tool: Reminders and Notifications in Booking Pool
23. User Interface: Error and No Permission Screen
24. Forum: Add New Posting
25. Learning Module SCORM: generic import / export of learning progress for scorm modules
26. Learning Progress determined by Collection of Objects, yet alterable by Tutor
27. Main Administration: Searchable Labels in Administration
28. Booking-Tool: Booking also possible when a Timeslot has started
29. Learning Communities Who is online? tool for awareness
30. Learning Communities On-Screen Chat
31. Learning Communities User Connections / Approved Contacts
32. Groups - Import Members or Batch Selection

5 Miscellaneous

Development Infrastructure

• Migration to Git: All developers support the move to git. We also agree that the beginning of the 4.6 development would be a good date to start.
  1. The trunk should be read only from this time on.
  2. We need to keep the SVN system in general, service providers should be able to keep their branches on SVN.
  3. Commits to all official branches (4.3, 4.4, 4.5, trunk/4.6) should be done under git. A nightly cron job should commit the changes to the corresponding SVN branches.
  4. We need a responsible person/funding for the git migration and maintenance

Development Conference

The next ILIAS Development Conference takes place at Monday, September 29, 2014, in Bolzano/Bozen, see DevConf website for registration.
 
Suggested Topics:

• Testing process and testcase management with Testrail (Matthias Kunkel)
• Report SIG Performance (Timon Amstutz)
• Online Help (Alexandra Tödt)
• User Interface & Responsive Design (Alex Killing, Matthias Kunkel)

Next Jour Fixe

Monday, October 13, 2014, from 12h30 until 17h30 at the office of ILIAS-Verein in Cologne, 2nd floor