SmartSection Control for Moodle

SmartSection Control (block_smartsection_control) is a Moodle 5.2 block plugin for automated course-section release scheduling, content drip, and learner pacing.

Instructors and course managers can release sections using fixed dates, relative schedules, or learner completion and grade triggers. The plugin supports Hard Lock and Soft Lock modes, learner-specific pacing, Moodle Calendar synchronization, instructor notifications, audit history, backup and restore, course reset integration, and an Upcoming Releases countdown widget for learners.

SmartSection Control is designed exclusively for individual Moodle course pages.

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Key Features

1. Flexible Section Release Methods

• Fixed Date & Time (absolute)
  Release sections on an exact calendar date and time.

• Relative Timing (relative)
  Schedule sections dynamically based on:

  • Days after the course start date.
  • Days after the previous section's release date.

• Completion & Grade Triggers (event)
  Automatically unlock sections when learners meet configured criteria:

  • Activity completion, such as submitting an assignment, completing a SCORM package, or finishing a quiz.
  • Minimum grade thresholds on an activity.
  • Optional learner-specific pacing delays after the trigger activity is completed.

2. Hard Lock and Soft Lock Modes

• Hard Lock
  Completely conceals a section from the course outline until its release condition is satisfied.

• Soft Lock (Teaser Mode)
  Keeps the section visible in the course outline while restricting access through Moodle's native availability system and server-side request handling.

Note: Soft Lock is supported for fixed-date and relative schedules. Completion-triggered schedules use Hard Lock.

3. Role-Based Course Block Experience

Learners

The Upcoming Releases widget:

• Shows the next 3 scheduled future sections in chronological order.
• Displays live countdown timers such as 2d 10h 29m, 10h 29m 14s, or 14s.
• Progressively rotates cards as sections become available.
• Highlights the next scheduled release.
• Uses accessible countdown behavior that avoids repetitive screen-reader announcements.

Instructors and Managers

The course block provides:

• Section status counters.
• Quick access to:
  • Manage schedules
  • Timeline
  • Audit History

4. Schedule Management

The centralized management interface supports:

• Per-section release configuration.
• Release method selection.
• Lock mode selection.
• Completion and grade conditions.
• Relative scheduling.
• Learner pacing options.

Bulk actions include:

• Schedule All — Apply a shared release date and lock mode across sections.
• Shift Dates — Move existing schedules forward or backward by a specified number of days.
• Apply Interval — Generate evenly spaced release dates across sections.
• Release All — Clear schedules and release sections currently controlled by Hard Lock.
• Clear Schedules — Remove release rules while preserving current section visibility.
• Release Now — Immediately release a scheduled section using a CSRF-protected confirmation flow.

The management interface also provides pacing warnings when prerequisite completion is low before an upcoming release.

5. Moodle Calendar Integration

SmartSection Control integrates with Moodle Calendar to:

• Create course-level section release events.
• Keep release events synchronized with schedule changes.
• Display events in a readable {Section name} · Release format.
• Use a dedicated release icon.
• Preserve Moodle's native calendar event interactions.

6. Instructor Notifications and Delay Actions

A scheduled task checks for sections due to unlock within the next 24 hours and sends instructors a summary of upcoming releases.

Notifications can include:

• Upcoming section information.
• Learner pacing statistics.
• Signed delay actions allowing instructors to defer a scheduled release by 1, 2, or 3 days with explicit confirmation.

7. Backup and Restore

SmartSection Control integrates with Moodle's Backup and Restore APIs.

During restore, the plugin:

• Remaps section IDs to the restored course.
• Remaps completion and grade trigger course-module IDs (cmid).
• Flags rules that reference missing activities with a Requires Review state.
• Keeps course scheduling configuration separate from learner pacing records and audit history.

8. Course Reset Integration

The plugin integrates with Moodle's Course Reset workflow and allows instructors to selectively purge:

• Audit history.
• Learner pacing timestamps.

Schedule rules remain available unless intentionally changed.

9. Moodle Privacy API

SmartSection Control implements Moodle's Privacy Subsystem API for plugin-managed personal data.

Supported privacy operations include:

• User data discovery.
• Data export.
• User-specific deletion.
• Context-based deletion.
• Learner pacing data handling.
• Audit-history data handling.

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Requirements

Component	Requirement
Moodle	Moodle 5.2
Component	block_smartsection_control
Placement	Course pages only
PHP	A PHP version supported by Moodle 5.2
Additional PHP Extensions	None beyond Moodle 5.2 and the standard PHP runtime
PHP Setting	max_input_vars >= 5000 recommended for large courses
Database	A database platform supported by Moodle 5.2
Cron	Standard Moodle scheduled cron execution

Release metadata:

$plugin->component = 'block_smartsection_control';
$plugin->version = 2026082301;
$plugin->requires = 2026042000;
$plugin->supported = [502, 502];
$plugin->maturity = MATURITY_STABLE;
$plugin->release = '1.0.0';

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Installation

Option 1 — Manual Installation

1. Download or clone the plugin.

2. Place the plugin directory at:

   blocks/smartsection_control
   

3. Log in to Moodle as an administrator.

4. Navigate to:

   Site administration → Notifications

5. Complete the installation or upgrade process.

Option 2 — Install from ZIP

If installing from a Moodle plugin ZIP package:

1. Navigate to:

   Site administration → Plugins → Install plugins

2. Upload the SmartSection Control ZIP package.

3. Follow Moodle's installation prompts.

4. Complete the database upgrade.

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Add SmartSection Control to a Course

SmartSection Control is a course-level block and is not designed for the Moodle Dashboard, My page, or Site Home.

To add it:

1. Open the target course.
2. Enable Edit mode.
3. Select Add a block.
4. Choose SmartSection Control.
5. Open Manage schedules to configure section release rules.

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Scheduled Tasks

SmartSection Control registers two scheduled tasks in db/tasks.php.

Task	Schedule	Purpose
\block_smartsection_control\task\check_section_visibility	Every 5 minutes	Evaluates scheduled releases, relative rules, section visibility, and lock expiration.
\block_smartsection_control\task\send_notifications	Daily at 08:00	Sends instructor notifications for sections scheduled to unlock within the next 24 hours.

To execute the tasks manually from Moodle CLI:

php admin/cli/scheduled_task.php --execute="\\block_smartsection_control\\task\\check_section_visibility"
php admin/cli/scheduled_task.php --execute="\\block_smartsection_control\\task\\send_notifications"

A properly configured Moodle cron is required for scheduled releases and instructor notifications.

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Capabilities and Permissions

SmartSection Control defines the following capabilities:

Capability	Default Roles	Purpose
block/smartsection_control:manage	Manager, Course Creator, Editing Teacher	Manage release schedules, bulk actions, and manual releases.
block/smartsection_control:addinstance	Manager, Editing Teacher	Add the block to a course page.
block/smartsection_control:myaddinstance	Prevented	Prevents use on standard My / Dashboard pages.

The plugin validates course context and permissions before allowing schedule-management operations.

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Database Tables

The plugin creates three tables. Names below are shown without the site-specific Moodle database prefix.

1. block_smartsection_control
   Stores section release rules, unlock times, lock modes, relative scheduling settings, and trigger conditions.

2. block_smartsection_control_h
   Stores audit history for scheduling actions, manual releases, and automated state changes.

3. block_smartsection_control_u
   Stores learner-specific pacing unlock timestamps for completion-based release workflows.

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Architecture

blocks/smartsection_control/
├── amd/
│   ├── build/
│   │   ├── manage.min.js
│   │   ├── softlock.min.js
│   │   └── student_widget.min.js
│   └── src/
│       ├── manage.js
│       ├── softlock.js
│       └── student_widget.js
├── backup/
│   └── moodle2/
│       ├── backup_smartsection_control_block_task.class.php
│       ├── backup_smartsection_control_stepslib.php
│       ├── restore_smartsection_control_block_task.class.php
│       └── restore_smartsection_control_stepslib.php
├── classes/
│   ├── output/
│   │   ├── dashboard_widget.php
│   │   └── renderer.php
│   ├── privacy/
│   │   └── provider.php
│   ├── task/
│   │   ├── check_section_visibility.php
│   │   └── send_notifications.php
│   ├── calendar.php
│   ├── helper.php
│   ├── hook_listener.php
│   └── observer.php
├── db/
│   ├── access.php
│   ├── events.php
│   ├── hooks.php
│   ├── install.xml
│   ├── messages.php
│   ├── tasks.php
│   ├── uninstall.php
│   └── upgrade.php
├── lang/
│   └── en/
│       └── block_smartsection_control.php
├── pix/
│   ├── icon.png
│   └── sectionrelease.svg
├── scripts/
│   └── build_marketplace_zip.ps1
├── templates/
│   ├── student_timeline.mustache
│   └── teacher_block.mustache
├── block_smartsection_control.php
├── history.php
├── lib.php
├── manage.php
├── MARKETPLACE_LISTING.md
├── settings.php
├── styles.css
├── timeline.php
└── version.php

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Testing

The repository includes PHPUnit and Behat tests for key plugin behavior.

PHPUnit

From a configured Moodle development environment:

vendor/bin/phpunit --testsuite=block_smartsection_control_testsuite

Test coverage includes:

• Soft Lock availability-tree merging.
• Backup and restore remapping.
• HMAC delay-token generation and verification.
• Bulk operation validation.
• Manual unlock transitions.
• Section ID normalization.
• Audit-history queries.

Behat

From a configured Moodle Behat environment:

vendor/bin/behat --config /path/to/behat.yml --tags @block_smartsection_control

The Behat feature covers schedule-management workflows.

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Uninstallation

When SmartSection Control is uninstalled through Moodle:

• Plugin-owned Soft Lock availability markers are removed.
• Hard-Locked sections controlled by the plugin are restored appropriately.
• Plugin-created calendar events are removed.
• Plugin database tables are removed by Moodle.
• Unrelated availability restrictions are preserved.

As with any production Moodle plugin, create a database backup before uninstalling.

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Security and Data Handling

SmartSection Control uses Moodle-native APIs for:

• Authentication.
• Course-context authorization.
• Capability checks.
• CSRF protection.
• Parameter validation.
• Database access.
• Availability restrictions.
• Scheduled tasks.
• Calendar events.
• Notifications.
• Privacy operations.
• Backup and restore.

Signed instructor delay links use HMAC-based verification and require explicit confirmation before state-changing actions are applied.

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Support

For bug reports, feature requests, or technical questions, use the GitHub issue tracker:

https://github.com/Redcryp7o/moodle-block_smartsection_control/issues

• Maintainer: M. AFZAL RIAZ
• Organization: EncryptEdge Labs
• Repository: https://github.com/Redcryp7o/moodle-block_smartsection_control
• Component: block_smartsection_control
• Target Moodle Version: 5.2

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License

SmartSection Control is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

See the included LICENSE file for details.