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Database fields

Draft document
This documentation is currently in-progress. You can help by contributing edits to this page.

The Database activity included with Moodle includes support for several predefined field types, including text, date, and URL. It is also possible to create new field types. For example, you might like to create:

  • Discipline-specific field types - For example "Protein PDB code": users can enter the PDB code for a protein, and then the display 3D viewer for the protein structure, or link out to molecular databases.
  • Institution-specific field types - For example "library reference number": Allow users to enter a reference number which can be automatically turned into a direct link for local library services.
  • Module-specific field types - For example "wiki page": users see a drop-down list containing the names of pages in your wiki, and can choose which page this particular entry refers to.

File structure​

Database field sub-plugins are located in the /mod/data/field directory.

Each plugin is in a separate subdirectory and consists of a number of mandatory files and any other files the developer is going to use.

View an example directory layout for the `datafield_number` subplugin.
mod/data/field/number
├── classes
│   └── privacy
│       └── provider.php
├── field.class.php
├── lang
│   └── en
│       └── datafield_number.php
├── mod.html
└── version.php

Some of the important files for the database field plugintype are described below. See the common plugin files documentation for details of other files which may be useful in your plugin.

Field class​

Definition of the field type

Required
File path: /field.class.php

The field, its behaviours, and its properties, are defined in a class named data_field_[pluginname] located in field.class.php. This class must extend the data_field_base base class.

Class locations

The field definition is currently located in the field.class.php file and is not yet autoloaded by Moodle.

The base class defines some simple behaviours which you can override in your plugin. The following functions are of particular interest:

  • display_add_field($recordid = 0) - Return some HTML for use when a user is adding/editing a record
  • display_browse_field($recordid, $template) - Return some HTML for displaying a record
  • update_content($recordid, $value, $name = '') - Store the data entered by a user for a record
  • get_sort_sql($fieldname) - Specify SQL for how this field should be sorted
  • get_content_value($value) - Useful if the info stored in the database if different from the info that ends up being presented to the user

Field configuration form​

Form definition for adding and editing the field configuration

Required
File path: /mod.html
danger

The field definition is one of the older parts of Moodle and does not use best practice.