local_moodlecourseloader

Moodle local plugin that exposes web service functions missing from the Moodle 5.0 standard API. Built to support the moodle-course-loader CLI.

Why

Moodle 5.0 does not provide standard web services for:

• Updating course section names and summary HTML (core_course_edit_section is deprecated and only supports hide/show/stealth)
• Creating mod_page resources programmatically
• Uploading a course overview image via a single API call

Web Service Functions

Function	Description
local_moodlecourseloader_update_section	Update section name and/or summary HTML. Creates the section if it does not exist.
local_moodlecourseloader_create_page	Create a mod_page resource in a section. Creates the section if it does not exist.
local_moodlecourseloader_set_course_image	Upload a course overview image (base64) directly to course/overviewfiles.

All functions require loginrequired = true and work with external tokens (not AJAX-only).

Installation

Option A — Via Moodle web interface

1. Download moodlecourseloader.zip from the latest release.
2. Go to Site administration → Plugins → Install plugins and upload the ZIP.
3. Follow the installation wizard.

Option B — Manual (recommended for servers with direct filesystem access)

cp -r local/moodlecourseloader/ <moodle_root>/local/

Then go to Site administration → Notifications to run the database upgrade.

Configuration

After installation, enable the web service token:

1. Site administration → Advanced features → Enable web services ✓
2. Site administration → Plugins → Web services → Manage protocols → Enable REST ✓
3. Site administration → Plugins → Web services → Manage tokens → Create a token for the Moodle Course Loader Service

Or via CLI:

php admin/cli/cfg.php --name=enablewebservices --set=1
php admin/cli/cfg.php --name=webserviceprotocols --set=rest

Requirements

• Moodle 4.5+
• PHP 8.2+
• mod_page plugin enabled

Function Reference

local_moodlecourseloader_update_section

courseid   (int)     Course ID
sectionnum (int)     Section number (0-based)
name       (string)  Section name — optional
summary    (string)  Section summary HTML — optional

Returns { "success": true }.

local_moodlecourseloader_create_page

courseid   (int)     Course ID
sectionnum (int)     Target section number (0-based)
name       (string)  Page title
content    (string)  Page body HTML
visible    (int)     1 = visible, 0 = hidden (default: 1)

Returns { "cmid": <int> }.

local_moodlecourseloader_set_course_image

courseid   (int)     Course ID
filename   (string)  Image filename (e.g. cover.jpg)
imagedata  (string)  Base64-encoded image content
mimetype   (string)  MIME type (e.g. image/jpeg)

Returns { "success": true }. Replaces any existing course overview image.

License

GNU GPL v3 — see LICENSE.