Totara 2.2.36, 2.4.29, 2.5.26, 2.6.19 and 2.7.2 are all security releases because they include security fixes. We strongly recommend upgrading to these versions. These versions also contain various bug fixes and improvements.
In addition the releases of 2.6.19 and 2.7.2 also contain the new OpenSesame integration plugin. OpenSesame is a publisher of online training courses for business. This new plugin allows you to sign up for OpenSesame Plus subscription and access the large catalogue directly from your Totara site. Further information will be provided in the coming days.
Russell England at Vision NV, Andrew Hancox at Synergy Leaning, and Eugene Venter at Catalyst have contributions in these releases - further details in the changelogs:
Release 2.7.2 (21st April 2015):
==================================================
Security issues:
T-13359 Improved param type handling in Reportbuilder ajax scripts
New features:
T-13624 Added new OpenSesame integration plugin
OpenSesame is a publisher of online training courses for business. This new
plugin allows you to sign up for OpenSesame Plus subscription and access
the large catalogue directly from your Totara site. To start the
registration go to "Site administration / Courses / OpenSesame / Sign up
for access". After the content packages are downloaded to your site you can
either select them when adding SCORM activities or use the Create courses
link.
Additional information will be made available in the coming days, if you have any
queries please contact your partner channel manager.
Improvements:
T-14222 Improved accessibility of messages tab in Programs
T-13925 Improved sql case sensitive string comparisons for completion import records.
When 'Force' is enabled the system keeps track of the course shortnames
being used, each new course is compared in a case sensitive way and if it
matches that but doesn't match exactly the system uses the first course
name instance. There will be no error messages on the import report about
it.
T-10482 Allowed selection of Facetoface rooms even when date is not known
Contributed by Eugene Venter at Catalyst
T-14210 Added a label when adding users to a program to improve accessibility
T-14217 Added debug param to all Reportbuilder reports
This allows administrators to retrieve additional debugging information if
they have problems with reports. Some reports already had this feature, now
all of them do.
T-14254 Added description field to the badge criteria
T-14293 Added labels to financial year start date setting in Reportbuilder for accessibility
T-13859 Added functionality to allow administrators to manage Facetoface session reservations
If a manager reserved spaces for a their team in a Facetoface session and
then they either left or changed role, there was no way to edit/remove the
reservations they made.
T-14263 Improved the display of User full names for Programs
T-14251 Added option to update cancellation reason fields in Facetoface
Before, admins were not able to update cancellation reason fields when
removing attendees from a Facetoface session. Now, it can be done in the
attendees tab.
T-13432 Added position and organisation framework columns and filters to all relevant Reportbuilder sources
T-10833 Added column 'ID number' when exporting Organisations and Positions from Hierarchies
Position and Organisation ID numbers are now available when exporting
Organisations/Positions via Hierarchy.
Also, there is a new Position report source and an Organisation report
source that include columns used when importing data via HR Import.
T-14155 Changed "No time limit" to "No minimum time" in Program course sets
There was confusion about the purpose of this setting. Some people thought
that "No time limit" meant that it would allow users to spend as long as
they wanted to complete a program, but user time allowance is controlled in
the assignments tab. Setting "No minimum time" will prevent time allowance
exceptions (except where a relative assignment completion date would be in
the past, such as "5 days after first login" being set on a user who first
logged in one month ago).
T-13491 Fixed immediate updating of Audience enrolments after changes in dynamic audience rules
T-14016 Added "Choose" option as the default value for "Menu of choices" type custom fields
T-10081 Added ability to send Scheduled reports to users, audiences, and external emails
T-14212 Restored instant completion for course completion criteria
Instant course completion was introduced in Totara 2.5 but was mistakenly
removed in 2.6.0. This fix restores instant course completion (when the
criteria completion depends on other courses) which also improves the
performance of the completion cron tasks.
T-13542 Changed language pack, timezone and help site links to use HTTPS
API Changes:
T-14151 Removed unused file totara/core/js/completion.report.js.php
File has been unused since v1.1
T-14242 Added finer grained control to Scheduler form element
Every X hours and Every X minutes were added to the scheduler form element
which is used for scheduled reports, Report Builder cache refresh and HR
Import. The frequency that these events occurs is still limited by the
frequency of the corresponding scheduled tasks - to take full advantage of
this feature, set "Import HR elements from external sources", "Generate
scheduled reports" and "Refresh report cache" to run frequently (e.g. every
minute). Any customisation using the scheduler form element will also be
affected by this enhancement.
T-14215 Enforced linear date paths when upgrading Totara
When upgrading a Totara installation you are now required to follow a
linear release date path. This means that you now MUST upgrade to a version
of the software released at the same time or after the release date of your
current version.
For example if you are currently running 2.5.25 which was released on 18th
March 2015, you can upgrade to any subsequent version of 2.5, any 2.6 from
2.6.18 onwards, or any 2.7 from 2.7.1 onwards.
This ensures that sites never end up in a situation where they are missing
critical security fixes, and are never in a state where the database
structure may not match the code base.
The Release Notes forum is a useful source for the date order of version
releases https://totara.community/mod/forum/view.php?id=7038
Bug Fixes:
T-14311 Fixed the archiving of Facetoface session signups and completion
When uploading historic certification completions future facetoface session
signups were being archived, now it will only archive signups that
completed before the window opens date.
T-12583 Fixed behaviour of expand/collapse link in the standard course catalog
T-13550 Fixed Due Date displaying as 1970 on Record of Learning: Certifications
This patch fixed a problem where an empty timedue data value was causing a
date in 1970 to show in the Due Date field in the Record of Learning:
Certifications report source. It also introduces a comprehensive phpunit
test for the certification and recertification process.
T-13853 Fixed handling of position, organisation, and manager when a validation error occurs in email based self registration
T-13879 Fixed grade filter when checking against RPL grades
T-14184 Fixed appending of message body after manager prefix in Facetoface 3rd party notifications
If Third party email addresses were specified in the Facetoface settings then any
third-party copies of emails sent by the system would not contain both of the
manager prefix and the body of the message (the content that the learner receives)
T-14394 Ensured Audience-based course visibility is considered when adding courses to a Learning Plan
This is to prevent managers from adding a course to a Learning Plan for one of
their direct reports, than the learner does not have visibility of and can
therefore never complete.
T-14235 Fixed Audience rulesets for Course completion and Program completion
T-14105 Fixed calculation of 'User Courses Started Count' in the 'User' report source
This is now calculated based on course completion records, rather than
block_totara_stats (which might be missing 'started' records for various
reasons, such as migration from Moodle or changing certain completion
settings while a course is active). This affects the 'Courses Started'
column in the 'My Team' page - courses started should now always be greater
than or equal to courses completed.
T-14344 Fixed wrong ID field in signup and cancellation custom fields when upgrading to 2.7.
Thanks to Russell England at Vision NV from contributing to this
T-14187 Fixed resetting of Hierarchy item types after every HR Import
Hierarchy item (e.g. position, organisation etc) types should only be changed
if the HR Import source contains the "type" column.
T-14284 Changed Record of Learning: Courses report source to use enrolment records
Previously, it used role assignment records, but roles can be granted
without the user being enrolled, and only indicated some level of
capability within the course rather than participation. The whole query was
also rewritten to improve performance.
Thanks to Eugene Venter from Catalyst for this contribution
T-14338 Fixed user fullname handling in Facetoface when editing attendees
T-14243 Fixed handling of special characters (e.g. &) when returning selections from dialogs
T-14366 Fixed Reportbuilder expanded sections when multiple params are used
Thanks to Andrew Hancox from Synergy Learning for this contribution
T-14192 Fixed Assignment Submissions report when it is set to use 'Scale' grade
The Submission Grade, Max Grade, Min Grade and Grade Scale values columns
were displaying incorrect information.
T-13890 Fixed date change emails being incorrectly sent when a Facetoface session capacity is changed
T-13917 Fixed error when adding Score column to Appraisal Details report
The report would fail if the Score column was added to an Appraisal
containing a Rating (Numeric scale) question.
T-13886 Fixed PHP Notice messages when adding a Rating (custom scale) question to Appraisals
T-14265 Fixed display of paragraph formatting dropdown in the Atto text editor
T-13742 Fixed uploading of Organisation and Position custom fields via HR Import
Also added options to the interface for custom fields, found on the source
configuration pages for positions and organisations just like they are for
users.
T-13353 Fixed handling of param options in Reportbuilder
T-13894 Fixed validation and handling of Facetoface notification titles
T-13993 Fixed error when uploading users with the deleted flag set
When uploading users via the upload users function, if a user in the CSV
file had the deleted flag set, and was already marked as deleted in the
system, an invalid user error was generated and this halted all processing
of the CSV file.
T-14327 Fixed undefined function call when sorting Dashboards
Thanks to Eugene Venter at Catalyst NZ for this contribution.
T-14048 Fixed incorrect Quiz question bank names after previous upgrade
Question banks containing subcategories had the subcategory names
incorrectly changed by a change in 2.5.20 and 2.6.12. If you are upgrading
from a version affected (2.5.20-25, 2.6.12-18) you may want to check if
your Quiz question bank categories are affected.
T-14186 Fixed max length validation for Question input text box
T-13009 Fixed incorrect creation of multiple custom room records when saving a Facetoface session
T-14131 Fixed handling of error when importing users via HR Import with the create action disabled
Thanks to Andrew Hancox at Synergy Leaning for contributing the solution.
T-14302 Fixed database host validation in HR Import settings
T-13846 Fixed the default role setting for the Program Enrolment plugin
T-14083 Fixed display of 'More info' Facetoface session page
When a session was fully booked, learners booked on the session would
receive a ""This session is now full" message instead of the actual details
of the session.
T-14220 Fixed page formatting for the certifications content tab
T-14237 Fixed incorrect display of Required Learning menu item when no programs currently need to be completed
T-14279 Fixed error when upgrading site to 2.7, with a custom theme that is not using the Totara menu
This affects all sites that meet the following criteria:
1. Upgrading to 2.7 from earlier versions.
1. $CFG->courseprogress has been turned on.
2. Using a theme that does not have the Totara menu.
T-13845 Fixed setting position fields on email-based self authentication
T-14075 Fixed inability to send a previously declined Learning Plan for re-approval
T-13839 Fixed the display of Facetoface enrolment plugin feedback on the enhanced catalog
T-14065 Removed non-functional "deleted user" filter from bulk user action pages
Release 2.6.19 (21st April 2015):
==================================================
Security issues:
T-13359 Improved param type handling in Reportbuilder ajax scripts
New features:
T-13624 Added new OpenSesame integration plugin
OpenSesame is a publisher of online training courses for business. This new
plugin allows you to sign up for OpenSesame Plus subscription and access
the large catalogue directly from your Totara site. To start the
registration go to "Site administration / Courses / OpenSesame / Sign up
for access". After the content packages are downloaded to your site you can
either select them when adding SCORM activities or use the Create courses
link.
Additional information will be made available in the coming days, if you have any
queries please contact your partner channel manager.
Improvements:
T-13925 Improved sql case sensitive string comparisons for completion import records.
When 'Force' is enabled the system keeps track of the course shortnames
being used, each new course is compared in a case sensitive way and if it
matches that but doesn't match exactly the system uses the first course
name instance. There will be no error messages on the import report about
it.
T-14217 Added debug param to all Reportbuilder reports
This allows administrators to retrieve additional debugging information if
they have problems with reports. Some reports already had this feature, now
all of them do.
T-13859 Added functionality to allow administrators to manage Facetoface session reservations
If a manager reserved spaces for a their team in a Facetoface session and
then they either left or changed role, there was no way to edit/remove the
reservations they made.
T-14263 Improved the display of User full names for Programs
T-14155 Changed "No time limit" to "No minimum time" in Program course sets
There was confusion about the purpose of this setting. Some people thought
that "No time limit" meant that it would allow users to spend as long as
they wanted to complete a program, but user time allowance is controlled in
the assignments tab. Setting "No minimum time" will prevent time allowance
exceptions (except where a relative assignment completion date would be in
the past, such as "5 days after first login" being set on a user who first
logged in one month ago).
T-13491 Fixed immediate updating of Audience enrolments after changes in dynamic audience rules
T-14016 Added "Choose" option as the default value for "Menu of choices" type custom fields
T-14254 Added description field to the badge criteria
T-14201 Improved display of long text strings in the Alerts block
T-14212 Restored instant completion for course completion criteria
Instant course completion was introduced in Totara 2.5 but was mistakenly
removed in 2.6.0. This fix restores instant course completion (when the
criteria completion depends on other courses) which also improves the
performance of the completion cron tasks.
T-13542 Changed language pack, timezone and help site links to use HTTPS
API Changes:
T-14242 Added finer grained control to Scheduler form element
Every X hours and Every X minutes were added to the scheduler form element
which is used for scheduled reports, Report Builder cache refresh and Totara Sync.
The frequency that these events occurs is still limited by the
frequency at which cron is run. E.g. if your cron is set to run every 10
minutes then any event scheduled for Every X minutes, where X is less than
10, will actually only occur once every 10 minutes. Any customisation using
the scheduler form element will also be affected by this enhancement.
T-14215 Enforced linear date paths when upgrading Totara
When upgrading a Totara installation you are now required to follow a
linear release date path. This means that you now MUST upgrade to a version
of the software released at the same time or after the release date of your
current version.
For example if you are currently running 2.5.25 which was released on 18th
March 2015, you can upgrade to any subsequent version of 2.5, any 2.6 from
2.6.18 onwards, or any 2.7 from 2.7.1 onwards.
This ensures that sites never end up in a situation where they are missing
critical security fixes, and are never in a state where the database
structure may not match the code base.
The Release Notes forum is a useful source for the date order of version
releases https://totara.community/mod/forum/view.php?id=7038
Bug Fixes:
T-14311 Fixed the archiving of Facetoface session signups and completion
When uploading historic certification completions future facetoface session
signups were being archived, now it will only archive signups that
completed before the window opens date.
T-14065 Removed non-functional "deleted user" filter from bulk user action pages
T-14029 Fixed cohort types when upgrading to Totara from Moodle
After upgrading from Moodle to Totara it was not possible to edit members
from previously created Moodle Cohorts, that now appeared in Totara
Audiences.
T-13809 Fixed dialog content when trying to select a visible audience for a Program
Homepage incorrectly opens in dialog box when trying to select a visible
audience for a program
T-12583 Fixed behaviour of expand/collapse link in the standard course catalog
T-13550 Fixed Due Date displaying as 1970 on Record of Learning: Certifications
This patch fixed a problem where an empty timedue data value was causing a
date in 1970 to show in the Due Date field in the Record of Learning:
Certifications report source. It also introduces a comprehensive phpunit
test for the certification and recertification process.
T-13853 Fixed handling of position, organisation, and manager when a validation error occurs in email based self registration
T-13879 Fixed grade filter when checking against RPL grades
T-14184 Fixed appending of message body after manager prefix in Facetoface 3rd party notifications
If Third party email addresses were specified in the Facetoface settings then any
third-party copies of emails sent by the system would not contain both of the
manager prefix and the body of the message (the content that the learner receives)
T-14235 Fixed Audience rulesets for Course completion and Program completion
T-14105 Fixed calculation of 'User Courses Started Count' in the 'User' report source
This is now calculated based on course completion records, rather than
block_totara_stats (which might be missing 'started' records for various
reasons, such as migration from Moodle or changing certain completion
settings while a course is active). This affects the 'Courses Started'
column in the 'My Team' page - courses started should now always be greater
than or equal to courses completed.
T-14187 Fixed resetting of Hierarchy item types after every Totara Sync run
Hierarchy item (e.g. position, organisation etc) types should only be changed
if the Sync source contains the "type" column.
T-14284 Changed Record of Learning: Courses report source to use enrolment records
Previously, it used role assignment records, but roles can be granted
without the user being enrolled, and only indicated some level of
capability within the course rather than participation. The whole query was
also rewritten to improve performance.
Thanks to Eugene Venter from Catalyst for this contribution
T-14338 Fixed user fullname handling in Facetoface when editing attendees
T-14243 Fixed handling of special characters (e.g. &) when returning selections from dialogs
T-14366 Fixed Reportbuilder expanded sections when multiple params are used
Thanks to Andrew Hancox from Synergy Learning for this contribution
T-14192 Fixed Assignment Submissions report when it is set to use 'Scale' grade
The Submission Grade, Max Grade, Min Grade and Grade Scale values columns
were displaying incorrect information.
T-14176 Fixed "Attempts re-opened - Automatically until pass" setting for Assignments
In the "Submission settings" if "Attempts reopened" was set to
"Automatically until pass" this setting had no effect and learners were not
given new attempts after an initial failed attempt
T-13890 Fixed date change emails being incorrectly sent when a Facetoface session capacity is changed
T-13917 Fixed error when adding Score column to Appraisal Details report
The report would fail if the Score column was added to an Appraisal
containing a Rating (Numeric scale) question.
T-13886 Fixed PHP Notice messages when adding a Rating (custom scale) question to Appraisals
T-14266 Fixed the display of Learning Plans date started when viewing a completed plan
T-13742 Fixed uploading of Organisation and Position custom fields via Totara Sync
T-13353 Fixed handling of param options in Reportbuilder
T-13894 Fixed validation and handling of Facetoface notification titles
T-13993 Fixed error when uploading users with the deleted flag set
When uploading users via the upload users function, if a user in the CSV
file had the deleted flag set, and was already marked as deleted in the
system, an invalid user error was generated and this halted all processing
of the CSV file.
T-14048 Fixed incorrect Quiz question bank names after previous upgrade
Question banks containing subcategories had the subcategory names
incorrectly changed by a change in 2.5.20 and 2.6.12. If you are upgrading
from a version affected (2.5.20-25, 2.6.12-18) you may want to check if
your Quiz question bank categories are affected.
T-14186 Fixed max length validation for Question input text box
T-13009 Fixed incorrect creation of multiple custom room records when saving a Facetoface session
T-14131 Fixed handling of error when importing users via Totara Sync with the create action disabled
Thanks to Andrew Hancox at Synergy Leaning for contributing the solution.
T-14302 Fixed database host validation in Totara Sync settings
T-13846 Fixed the default role setting for the Program Enrolment plugin
T-14083 Fixed display of 'More info' Facetoface session page
When a session was fully booked, learners booked on the session would
receive a ""This session is now full" message instead of the actual details
of the session.
T-13845 Fixed setting position fields on email-based self authentication
T-14075 Fixed inability to send a previously declined Learning Plan for re-approval
Release 2.5.26 (21st April 2015):
==================================================
Security issues:
T-13359 Improved param type handling in Reportbuilder ajax scripts
Improvements:
T-13925 Improved sql case sensitive string comparisons for completion import records.
When 'Force' is enabled the system keeps track of the course shortnames
being used, each new course is compared in a case sensitive way and if it
matches that but doesn't match exactly the system uses the first course
name instance. There will be no error messages on the import report about
it.
T-14217 Added debug param to all Reportbuilder reports
This allows administrators to retrieve additional debugging information if
they have problems with reports. Some reports already had this feature, now
all of them do.
T-14016 Added "Choose" option as the default value for "Menu of choices" type custom fields
T-13542 Changed language pack, timezone and help site links to use HTTPS
API Changes:
T-14215 Enforced linear date paths when upgrading Totara
When upgrading a Totara installation you are now required to follow a
linear release date path. This means that you now MUST upgrade to a version
of the software released at the same time or after the release date of your
current version.
For example if you are currently running 2.5.25 which was released on 18th
March 2015, you can upgrade to any subsequent version of 2.5, any 2.6 from
2.6.18 onwards, or any 2.7 from 2.7.1 onwards.
This ensures that sites never end up in a situation where they are missing
critical security fixes, and are never in a state where the database
structure may not match the code base.
The Release Notes forum is a useful source for the date order of version
releases https://totara.community/mod/forum/view.php?id=7038
Bug Fixes:
T-14302 Fixed database host validation in Totara Sync settings
T-13917 Fixed error when adding Score column to Appraisal Details report
The report would fail if the Score column was added to an Appraisal
containing a Rating (Numeric scale) question.
T-14311 Fixed the archiving of Facetoface session signups and completion
When uploading historic certification completions future facetoface session
signups were being archived, now it will only archive signups that
completed before the window opens date.
T-12583 Fixed behaviour of expand/collapse link in the standard course catalog
T-13550 Fixed Due Date displaying as 1970 on Record of Learning: Certifications
This patch fixed a problem where an empty timedue data value was causing a
date in 1970 to show in the Due Date field in the Record of Learning:
Certifications report source. It also introduces a comprehensive phpunit
test for the certification and recertification process.
T-14184 Fixed appending of message body after manager prefix in Facetoface 3rd party notifications
If Third party email addresses were specified in the Facetoface settings then any
third-party copies of emails sent by the system would not contain both of the
manager prefix and the body of the message (the content that the learner receives)
T-14105 Fixed calculation of 'User Courses Started Count' in the 'User' report source
This is now calculated based on course completion records, rather than
block_totara_stats (which might be missing 'started' records for various
reasons, such as migration from Moodle or changing certain completion
settings while a course is active). This affects the 'Courses Started'
column in the 'My Team' page - courses started should now always be greater
than or equal to courses completed.
T-14187 Fixed resetting of Hierarchy item types after every Totara Sync run
Hierarchy item (e.g. position, organisation etc) types should only be changed
if the Sync source contains the "type" column.
T-14243 Fixed handling of special characters (e.g. &) when returning selections from dialogs
T-14192 Fixed Assignment Submissions report when it is set to use 'Scale' grade
The Submission Grade, Max Grade, Min Grade and Grade Scale values columns
were displaying incorrect information.
T-13886 Fixed PHP Notice messages when adding a Rating (custom scale) question to Appraisals
T-14266 Fixed the display of Learning Plans date started when viewing a completed plan
T-13353 Fixed handling of param options in Reportbuilder
T-13894 Fixed validation and handling of Facetoface notification titles
T-14048 Fixed incorrect Quiz question bank names after previous upgrade
Question banks containing subcategories had the subcategory names
incorrectly changed by a change in 2.5.20 and 2.6.12. If you are upgrading
from a version affected (2.5.20-25, 2.6.12-18) you may want to check if
your Quiz question bank categories are affected.
T-14186 Fixed max length validation for Question input text box
T-14131 Fixed handling of error when importing users via Totara Sync with the create action disabled
Thanks to Andrew Hancox at Synergy Learning for contributing the solution.
T-14083 Fixed display of 'More info' Facetoface session page
When a session was fully booked, learners booked on the session would
receive a ""This session is now full" message instead of the actual details
of the session.
T-14075 Fixed inability to send a previously declined Learning Plan for re-approval
T-14065 Removed non-functional "deleted user" filter from bulk user action pages
Release 2.4.29 (21st April 2015):
==================================================
Security issues:
T-13359 Improved param type handling in Reportbuilder ajax scripts
Improvements:
T-13542 Changed language pack, timezone and help site links to use HTTPS
API Changes:
T-14215 Enforced linear date paths when upgrading Totara
When upgrading a Totara installation you are now required to follow a
linear release date path. This means that you now MUST upgrade to a version
of the software released at the same time or after the release date of your
current version.
For example if you are currently running 2.5.25 which was released on 18th
March 2015, you can upgrade to any subsequent version of 2.5, any 2.6 from
2.6.18 onwards, or any 2.7 from 2.7.1 onwards.
This ensures that sites never end up in a situation where they are missing
critical security fixes, and are never in a state where the database
structure may not match the code base.
The Release Notes forum is a useful source for the date order of version
releases https://totara.community/mod/forum/view.php?id=7038
Bug Fixes:
T-14184 Fixed appending of message body after manager prefix in Facetoface 3rd party notifications
If Third party email addresses were specified in the Facetoface settings then any
third-party copies of emails sent by the system would not contain both of the
manager prefix and the body of the message (the content that the learner receives)
T-14187 Fixed resetting of Hierarchy item types after every Totara Sync run
Hierarchy item (e.g. position, organisation etc) types should only be changed
if the Sync source contains the "type" column.
T-14243 Fixed handling of special characters (e.g. &) when returning selections from dialogs
T-14192 Fixed Assignment Submissions report when it is set to use 'Scale' grade
The Submission Grade, Max Grade, Min Grade and Grade Scale values columns
were displaying incorrect information.
T-13894 Fixed validation and handling of Facetoface notification titles
T-14083 Fixed display of 'More info' Facetoface session page
When a session was fully booked, learners booked on the session would
receive a ""This session is now full" message instead of the actual details
of the session.
T-14065 Removed non-functional "deleted user" filter from bulk user action pages
Release 2.2.36 (21st April 2015):
==================================================
Security issues:
T-13359 Improved param type handling in Reportbuilder ajax scripts