24 June 2012, 2:29

Hello,

Mahara 1.5 has the SafeIFrame feature and Mahara 1.6 will have a handy admin interface which will make adding new iFrames that can then be used in any text box or the External media block very easy.

This also means that anything Google that can have an iFrame can be used via that feature and we won't have to worry too much about Google changing its URLs because the base URLs may actually stay the same or they can be changed easily via the admin interface.

As example: One bug that was reported to me today was that the Google Apps block ignores when a particular spreadsheet page is called. It always displays all. If you put the iFrame code into the SafeIFrame feature, it displays the requested spreadsheet only.

I am wondering if we need the Google Apps block in Mahara 1.6 or if we should try to phase it out (and convert existing Google Apps stuff into either text boxes or External media blocks. As far as I can see, every element in the Google Apps block has an embed code except Collections.

In the past, Google has changed things at will and thus the filters needed to be adopted sometimes quite frequently. With the SafeIFrame feature this should be easier.

This doesn't mean to get rid of a feature, but to change it. Gregor's block that we integrated into core was great at the time as there was nothing else available. But now I am wondering if it is needed anymore. We can also use all Windows Live links with the SafeIFrame feature and many more.

What do you think?

Cheers

Kristina

25 June 2012, 9:07

Drop it out. The support for Collections will be available in new Cloud (a.k.a. Repository) plugin. At least that's the plan...

HTH, Gregor

25 June 2012, 10:45

I was translating the user manual last day and I found explanation about Google "Collections". But I can't figure out what it is.

Seems that I never used them.

Where are they ?

Cheers,

dajan

25 June 2012, 13:23

Hi Dajan,

I think "Collections" is the previous name for "folder" (french "dossier").

this is the problem with google apps : still at unstable stage.

cheers,

Jean-Baptiste

25 June 2012, 14:55

Thanks Jean-Baptiste,

I will check that later after my Mahara training in Strasbourg tomorrow.

Cheers,

-dajan

29 June 2012, 23:42

Hello Gregor,

Thanks. Really looking forward to the repository stuff you are working on. In the developer meeting this week it was decided that Melissa is going to investigate how to deprecate the Google Apps block so that existing content doesn't get lost when dropping it.

Cheers

Kristina

25 June 2012, 19:42

My vote goes for dropping it and focussing on the safeiFrame stuff which works very well for me.