sync to local drive, Dropbox/Google Drive-style

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1 Initial Problem

My school primarily uses ILIAS as a repository for PDF documents. Lecturers will upload course notes, literature, slides and other documents to ILIAS, and students need to download them one by one to do their homework. It would be fantastic if all documents that are available to me could be copied/mirrored to my laptop automatically.

2 Conceptual Summary

I think what we need is a script or program that runs on my laptop and that logs in to ILIAS as me, systematically checks if new files are available, and copies everything that's new or that changed to my laptop (ideally, straight into my Dropbox folder so I can access files from my phone as well).
A solution was developed by Janik Vonrotz and published here: https://janikvonrotz.ch/2014/10/17/ilias-synchronising-tool/ ; I am told that this approach is not easily transferred to my school because PH Bern, in contrast to Hochschule Luzern, has subfolders within our courses.
But, I'm no expert: maybe there's a far smarter way to approach this.

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

I imagine that the appearance of ILIAS in a web browser schould remain unaffected entirely. The sync function would likely be initiated by the client, i.e. my laptop; the functionality on the server's side would be entirely under the hood?

3.2 User Interface Details

{For each of these views please list all user interface elements that should be modified, added or removed. Please provide the textual appearance of the UI elements and their interactive behaviour.}

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

{If the proposal introduces any completely new user interface elements, please provide a link to separate feature wiki entries for each of them according to the kitchen sink template.}

4 Technical Information

{The maintainer has to provide necessary technical information, e.g. dependencies on other ILIAS components, necessary modifications in general services/architecture, potential security or performance issues.}

5 Contact

• Author of the Request: 
• Maintainer: {Please add your name before applying for an initial workshop or a Jour Fixe meeting.}
• Implementation of the feature is done by: {The maintainer must add the name of the implementing developer.}

6 Funding

I am just a lowly student and I have neither the technical expertise to implement this myself nor the financial possibilities to fund its development. I know that many students (and lecturers) at my school would be very happy about this feature. It might be possible to convince someone with the necessary skills and knowledge to invest a few hours, or we could possibly run a crowdfunding campaign, if that's what it takes.

7 Discussion

8 Implementation

{The maintainer has to give a description of the final implementation and add screenshots if possible.}

Test Cases

Test cases completed at {date} by {user}

• {Test case number linked to Testrail} : {test case title}

Approval

Approved at {date} by {user}.