Open eClass 3.8

The new version of Open eClass retains backward compatibility (with previous versions). That is, you can upgrade an already installed platform from prior versions to the current one easily and quickly, following the upgrade instructions provided below.

• Please ensure that during the platform's upgrade process there is no access to Open eClass courses by the platform's users and the platform's database is not accessible by anyone
• Backup platform's database.
• Also check the platform's version that is already installed in your server, by following the link 'Platform Identity' in the home page. In order to the upgrade process (which is described below) to be possible, the already installed platform should be either version >= 3.8.

(e.g. Solaris, Redhat, CentOS, Debian, Suse, Ubuntu etc)

All operations presuppose you have the administrator's rights (root) on your computer. The following example presumes that the eClass platform is already installed on directory /var/www/html.

Due to changes introduced by the new version (3.8) you will have to delete the old and install the new one. To make sure that you old configuration remain intact you must do the following actions:

We consider that you have downloaded openeclass-3.8.tar.gz on the /tmp directory.

Go to the directory you have installed in eClass. e.g.

cd /var/www/html

Move the configuration file (eclass/config/config.php) in another temporary directory (e.g. to directory /tmp)

mv /var/www/html/eclass/config/config.php /tmp

Delete all the directories except courses and config e.g.

cd /var/www/html/eclass/
rm -rf images/ include/ info/ install/ manuals/ template/ modules/ 

Unzip and untar openeclass-3.8.tar.gz in a temporary directory (/tmp) e.g.

tar xzvf /tmp/openeclass-3.8.tar.gz

Then copy from the temporary directory /tmp/openeclass-3.8 all of its contents in the installation directory e.g.

cp -a /tmp/openeclass-3.8/*  /var/www/html/eclass/

So with the above steps you have replaced directory eclass, with the new one. Then move file config.php to directory config. e.g.

mv /tmp/config.php /var/www/html/eclass/config/

Correct (if necessary) the files and sub-directories permissions: (supposing that the apache is running as user www-data)

cd /opt/eclass
chown -R www-data *
find ./ -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
find ./ -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;

Having completed the previous steps, you will have installed the new eClass version (eClass 3.8) files successfully. Then, move on to the second step in order to upgrade the platform databases.

The following example assumes that eClass has already been installed to directory C:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs\ and that you have downloaded openeclass-3.8.zip.

Due to changes introduced by the new version (3.8) you will have to delete the old and install the new one. To make sure that you old configuration remain intact you must do the following actions:

• Move to the eClass installed folder. e.g. C:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs
• Move the configuration file (C:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs\eclass\config\config.php) into another temporary folder in your desktop (e.g. from C:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs\eclass\config\ to C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\).
• Go to the eclass folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs\eclass\) and delete all folders except courses, video and config.
• Unzip openeclass-3.8.zip to a temporary folder on the desktop. e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\eclass37. After that, rename the temporary folder eclass37 to eclass and copy it along with its contents (files and documents). Then, open the file that includes eClass installation, e.g. C:\Program Files\Apache\htdocs\ and paste it. In that way, the eclass files is replaced by the new ones.
• Delete the desktop temporary folder.

As soon as the above have been completed, you will have installed the new eClass version files (eClass 3.7) successfully. Then, follow the second step so as to upgrade the platform database.

For Unix/Linux systems only: 
The process of platform database upgrade includes changes to config.php. 
As a result, you will temporarily need to change your access rights 
on the config.php file and the /config directory to read-write (chmod 664). 

Enter the following URL on your browser:

http://(url of eclass)/upgrade/

You will be prompted for the username and password of the platform administrator. After entering them, you will be asked to change/correct contact details. The database upgrade will begin afterwards. You will see several messages concerning your working progress. Probably you will not see any false messages. Note that depending on the number and content of courses, it is possible that the process will last for a long time.

In the opposite case (namely if error messages occur), then it is possible for a course not to be operating properly. Such error messages may occur if you have altered the structure of an eclass database table. Note (if possible) the accurate error message you saw.

If you face any problems with any course after the upgrade, contact us (mailto:info@openeclass.org).

In order to make sure that the platform has been upgraded, login as administrator and click to “Admin tools”. Among other things, version 3.8 has to be indicated. You can alternatively click on the “Platform Identity” link on the homepage. Version 3.7 of the platform will be indicated.

You are ready! The upgrade process has been completed successfully.

Keep on reading for further additional configuration options!

If you want to modify any message of platform then proceed with the following actions: Create a file of type .php with name english.inc.php (or greek.inc.php) and place it in directory (eclass path)/config/. Find the varible name which contains the message you wish to change and assing it the new message. e.g. If you want to change message $langAboutText = “The platform version is”; create the file english.inc.php in the directory (eclass path)/config/ with the following contents:

<?php
$langAboutText = "Version is";

This way, you will preserve custom messages in future upgrades of the platform.

You can modify the names of the basic roles of the users of the platform by redefining in these files the message variables found in (eClass_path)/modules/lang/greek/common.inc.php.

You can add text (e.g. information, links, etc.) to the left and right sidebars of the platform homepage by assigning the variables $langExtrasLeft and $langExtrasRight respectively.

Open eClass supports mathematical symbols in the Exercises, Forums and Announcements subsystems. In Exercises you can add math symbols in the “Exercise Description” field when creating or modyfying a new exercise, and in “Comment” when adding or modifying a question, in Forums when you compose a new message or reply to an existing one, and in Announcements when a new announcement is created. Math symbols must be enclosed in [m] and [/m] tags. E.g. when you type

[m]sqrt{x-1}[/m]

the square root of x-1 will appear. Mathematical symbols syntax can be found in the PhpMathPublisher help file. Older versions used the <m> and </m> which are still supported, although using the newer tags in brackets is recommended.

You can configure several options of platform. After logging as admin user, click in “Admin Tools” and after that, click in “Configuration”. Among other, you can select another theme of creating a new one, the available languages (e.g. greek, german, italian) etc.

By default platform supports uploading of all the usual text, audio, video and image file types. If you desire to add a new file type, type its extension in 'Teacher while list' or 'Student while list' textarea correspondingly.