Top Active Courses Block - Release Notes

🚀 New Features

Mustache Templating

• Switched to modern templating system: Replaced inline HTML generation with Mustache templates for better maintainability and customization


• Template-based course tiles: Course tiles are now rendered using templates/course_tiles.mustache

Course Tags Display

• Tag display per course: Shows up to configurable number of tags under each course title


• Configurable tag limit: New setting max_tags allows administrators to control how many tags are displayed per course (default: 5)


• Modern tag design: Tags are displayed as stylish badges with hover effects

Enhanced Enrolment Method Support

• Flexible enrolment filtering: Improved from hardcoded 'self' enrolment to dynamic can_self_enrol() method checking


• Ignore enrolment methods option: New setting ignore_enrolment_methods allows showing all active courses regardless of enrolment method


• Better compatibility: Works with various Moodle enrolment plugins that implement can_self_enrol()

🎨 UI/UX Improvements

Responsive Design

• Drawer optimization: Course tiles automatically adapt to sidebar/drawer layout


• Improved CSS specificity: Fixed text decoration issues in various Moodle themes


• Modern badge styling: Course tags use consistent design language with other Moodle components

⚙️ New Settings

1. 
   

   Max Tags per Course (max_tags)

   
   
   
   
   • Controls number of tags displayed per course
   
   
   • Default: 5 tags
   
   
   • Validation: Must be numeric and > 0
   
   
   
   


2. 
   

   Ignore Enrolment Methods (ignore_enrolment_methods)

   
   
   
   
   • Checkbox to bypass enrolment method filtering
   
   
   • Shows all active courses when enabled
   
   
   • Useful for open course catalogs
   
   
   
   

🔧 Code Quality Improvements

Refactoring for Maintainability

• Reduced cyclomatic complexity: Split complex methods into smaller, focused functions


• Better separation of concerns: Course data preparation, enrolment checking, and rendering are now separate methods


• Improved testability: Smaller functions make unit testing easier

New Helper Methods

• prepare_course_data(): Prepares course data for template rendering


• can_user_access_course(): Centralized course access checking


• get_course_image(): Course image retrieval with fallback


• get_max_tags_limit(): Tag limit configuration helper


• get_course_tags(): Tag retrieval and limiting


• should_include_course(): Course inclusion logic


• can_self_enrol_in_course(): Self-enrolment possibility checking

🐛 Bug Fixes

• CSS specificity issues: Fixed text-decoration conflicts with core Moodle styles


• Parameter validation: Improved handling of invalid configuration values

📚 Documentation

• Enhanced code documentation: All new methods have comprehensive PHPDoc blocks


• Template documentation: Mustache template includes usage examples and context description

Installation/Upgrade Notes

1. Clear caches after installation/upgrade


2. Review new settings in Site Administration ' Plugins ' Blocks ' Top Active Courses


3. Check custom CSS if you have theme customizations targeting course tiles


4. Test enrolment filtering with your specific enrolment methods

Author

• Sadik Mert
  
  E-Mail: sadikmert@hotmail.de

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

Top Active Courses Block for Moodle

Version Build 2025072402

Implemented a caching mechanism to reduce the number of SQL queries and improve performance, especially on large systems.

Top Active Courses Block for Moodle

Overview

The Top Active Courses block is a Moodle plugin that displays a visually appealing list of the most active courses on your Moodle site. It is designed to help users discover popular courses they are not yet enrolled in, but where self-enrolment is possible. The block uses a modern card-based layout with course images, titles, and direct links to the course pages.

Features

• Shows the most active courses from the last 7 days, based on user interactions (log entries).


• Excludes courses in which the current user is already enrolled.


• Only displays courses where self-enrolment is enabled and available.


• Modern, responsive card layout with course images, titles, and links.


• Customizable appearance via the included styles.css.


• No personal data is stored by the block.

How It Works

• The block queries the Moodle logstore to find courses with the highest number of unique user interactions in the last 7 days.


• For each course, it checks if the current user is not enrolled and if self-enrolment is enabled.


• The block then displays up to X (Default 10) of these courses as cards, each showing the course image, title, and a link to the course page.

Installation

There are two ways to install the Top Active Courses block:

1. 
   

   Via Moodle Plugins Directory (recommended):

   
   
   
   
   • Download and install the plugin directly from the Moodle admin interface under
     Site administration > Plugins > Install plugins.
   
   
   • Upload the ZIP file or install from the Moodle plugins repository.
   
   
   • Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation.
   
   
   
   


2. 
   

   Manual Installation:

   
   
   
   
   • Copy the topactivecourses folder into your Moodle site's blocks directory.
   
   
   • Visit Site administration > Notifications to complete the installation.
   
   
   • Add the block to your dashboard or course pages as desired.
   
   
   
   

Configuration

The block provides two admin settings available under Site administration > Plugins > Blocks > Top Active Courses:

• Top X courses: Number of courses to display (default: 10).


• Time range (days): Number of days to look back for user activity (default: 7).

These settings allow site admins to customize how many and how recent the displayed courses are.

Capabilities

• block/topactivecourses:addinstance — Allows a user to add the block to a course page (default: editingteacher, manager).


• block/topactivecourses:myaddinstance — Allows a user to add the block to their dashboard (default: all users).

Course Images

• The block attempts to display the course summary image.


• If no image is set for a course, a default placeholder image from Picsum is shown.

How popularity is calculated

The block calculates course popularity by counting unique user interactions (log entries) in the Moodle logstore within the configured time range. Only courses with self-enrolment enabled and in which the user is not already enrolled are considered.

Privacy

This block does not store any personal data. See classes/privacy/provider.php for details.

Author

• Sadik Mert
  
  E-Mail: sadikmert@hotmail.de

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

Top Active Courses Block for Moodle

Overview

The Top Active Courses block is a Moodle plugin that displays a visually appealing list of the most active courses on your Moodle site. It is designed to help users discover popular courses they are not yet enrolled in, but where self-enrolment is possible. The block uses a modern card-based layout with course images, titles, and direct links to the course pages.

Features

• Shows the most active courses from the last 7 days, based on user interactions (log entries).


• Excludes courses in which the current user is already enrolled.


• Only displays courses where self-enrolment is enabled and available.


• Modern, responsive card layout with course images, titles, and links.


• Customizable appearance via the included styles.css.


• No personal data is stored by the block.

How It Works

• The block queries the Moodle logstore to find courses with the highest number of unique user interactions in the last 7 days.


• For each course, it checks if the current user is not enrolled and if self-enrolment is enabled.


• The block then displays up to X (Default 10) of these courses as cards, each showing the course image, title, and a link to the course page.

Installation

There are two ways to install the Top Active Courses block:

1. 
   

   Via Moodle Plugins Directory (recommended):

   
   
   
   
   • Download and install the plugin directly from the Moodle admin interface under
     Site administration > Plugins > Install plugins.
   
   
   • Upload the ZIP file or install from the Moodle plugins repository.
   
   
   • Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation.
   
   
   
   


2. 
   

   Manual Installation:

   
   
   
   
   • Copy the topactivecourses folder into your Moodle site's blocks directory.
   
   
   • Visit Site administration > Notifications to complete the installation.
   
   
   • Add the block to your dashboard or course pages as desired.
   
   
   
   

Configuration

The block provides two admin settings available under Site administration > Plugins > Blocks > Top Active Courses:

• Top X courses: Number of courses to display (default: 10).


• Time range (days): Number of days to look back for user activity (default: 7).

These settings allow site admins to customize how many and how recent the displayed courses are.

Capabilities

• block/topactivecourses:addinstance — Allows a user to add the block to a course page (default: editingteacher, manager).


• block/topactivecourses:myaddinstance — Allows a user to add the block to their dashboard (default: all users).

Course Images

• The block attempts to display the course summary image.


• If no image is set for a course, a default placeholder image from Picsum is shown.

How popularity is calculated

The block calculates course popularity by counting unique user interactions (log entries) in the Moodle logstore within the configured time range. Only courses with self-enrolment enabled and in which the user is not already enrolled are considered.

Privacy

This block does not store any personal data. See classes/privacy/provider.php for details.

Author

• Sadik Mert
  
  E-Mail: sadikmert@hotmail.de

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for details.