Totara Release Notes

Totara TXP 17.10, 16.16, 15.22, 14.27, 13.35 and Totara Learn 12.56 are now available

 
David Curry (Core Developer)
Totara TXP 17.10, 16.16, 15.22, 14.27, 13.35 and Totara Learn 12.56 are now available
by David Curry (Core Developer) - Tuesday, 22 August 2023, 9:08 PM
Group Totara

Hello everyone,

The following versions of Totara Learn have now been released:

Each of these releases includes various bug fixes and improvements.

Kind regards Release Team

Release 17.10 (23rd August 2023):

Performance improvements
------------------------

  TL-36829 Improved the performance of the catalogue

    A logic bug was fixed in how course category caches were primed before being
    needed by the catalogue, the improved priming will increase cache use and
    decrease interaction with the database.

Improvements
------------

  TL-36700 Added a setting to disable enforced visibility checks in certain report sources

    The following reports automatically apply visibility checks for courses:

    * Course completion
    * Course completion Including History
    * Course Membership
    * Seminar Events
    * Seminar Sign-ups
    * Seminar Sign-in Sheet
    * Seminar Sessions

    Previously it was not possible to deactivate those visibility checks and make
    full use of the existing Content restrictions. We have now introduced a new
    setting in the "General" tab of these reports which allows admins to disable the
    checks if required.

    Default behaviour for these report sources is unchanged.

    In addition we added the ability to use the "Enforce sitewide visibility
    restrictions" content restriction for the following report sources:

    * Record of Learning: Certifications
    * Seminar Asset Assignments
    * Seminar Facilitators Assignments
    * Seminar Room Assignments
    * Seminar Interest

Bug fixes
---------

  TL-35427 Fixed user menu items not being sanitised before displaying them

    This patch also introduces a new administration configuration called 'Allow
    unsafe markup to user menu', which if enabled will allow all users with
    permissions to add/update menu items to add potentially unsafe markup. This is
    disabled by default, and for security reasons it is recommended to leave it
    disabled.

  TL-35866 Fixed visibility of courses within programs being marked as non-viewable in the mobile API

    To be able to enter and enrol into courses in programs from the mobile app the
    APIs have been modified to allow for enrolment via the mobile API. The Mobile
    App will also be updated to send the correct data.

  TL-36014 Mitigated risk of visibility map generation tasks causing performance issues

    * Changed the default schedule for the task that regenerates all visibility maps
      from hourly to once daily.
    * Fixed an issue that could lead to duplicated queuing of the visibility map
      regeneration ad-hoc tasks for courses, programs and certifications.

  TL-36108 Addressed an issue where closed performance activities were still showing as overdue
  TL-36545 Added an upgrade step to fix calendar entries for seminar events restored from old backups

    Backup and restore of seminars in Totara versions before 12.11 may have created
    seminar calendar entries with information that does not match the associated
    seminar event.

    This patch includes an upgrade step which detects and fixes those calendar
    events. The upgrade step queues an adhoc task which fixes the affected events on
    the next cron run.

  TL-36571 Fixed handling of unknown course types in report builder's course type display function
  TL-36874 Fixed an error in the catalogue when course completion status is set to 0

    By default, course completion status values start with 10. However, there are
    scenarios where the status might be set to the default 0 (as defined in the
    table definition), for example when migrating to Totara from a Moodle instance.
    The 0 value can also lead to errors in other areas of the system.

    This patch sets the default of the status column in the course completions table
    to 10 and updates all existing records with the invalid value on upgrade.

  TL-37151 Fixed missing recipients records for perform legacy notifications

    In TL-36528 we have added missing relationships without adding the relationships
    to existing perform notification records. This patch includes an adhoc task that
    is run when upgrading from earlier affected versions to maintain upgrade
    integrity

  TL-37172 Fixed an unused variable that caused an "attempted to modify null" error on quiz activity page with PHP 8
  TL-37213 Fixed a case where temporary files could be left behind after resetting a course that used PDFs for assignment feedback

    When a course was reset, some orphaned files could be left behind relating to
    the Annotate PDF feature of assignments. With this patch in place these files
    will be cleaned up with the course reset.

    Additionally during upgrade an adhoc task will be scheduled to clean up any
    leftover files on the next cron run.

  TL-37336 Fixed accessibility compliance issue by changing locked text and textarea profile fields to display as text
  TL-37506 Fixed special characters in appraisal answers showing as HTML encoded version in Appraisal detail report
  TL-37610 Fixed a case where database queries were being loaded on the catalogue multiple times for each tenant

    Prior to this fix to lookup whether a course category was a hidden system
    container, a deep dive had to occur which could cause dozens or hundreds of
    database reads, depending on how many tenants a site had. With this fix in place
    the way course categories are looked up no longer results in a large number of
    database queries.

  TL-37672 Fixed file cache store not accepting paths containing valid characters

    The file cache store path does now accept additional characters, e.g. dots.

  TL-37675 Added iCal attachments to event cancellation messages for people with event roles
  TL-37732 Fixed multi-language filter support for multi-select custom fields
  TL-37785 Fixed LTI 1.3 external tool not showing landing page when configured to open in a new window
  TL-37802 Fixed a case where Totara would not complete a login to the mobile app when using an unrecognised mobile device

    Previously when the mobile type of login was set to Web browser, Totara would
    show the banner allowing a user to return to the mobile app if it recognised a
    tablet or mobile phone. If the device wasn't recognised, users would be unable
    to return to the mobile app.

    With this fix if a login session was initiated by the mobile app Totara will
    always send the user back to the app regardless of device type.

    A mobile app upgrade is also required.

  TL-37863 Fixed an issue with review elements in performance activities

    Removed goals support from the linked review element in performance activities

  TL-37942 Fixed exception being thrown on the "Appraisal Details (legacy)" report if "Multiple choice (one answer)" answer contains invalid value

    Instead of the exception a debugging message is now thrown and the report is
    rendered normally. An empty value is shown for each invalid response.

Release 16.16 (23rd August 2023):

Performance improvements
------------------------

  TL-36829 Improved the performance of the catalogue

    A logic bug was fixed in how course category caches were primed before being
    needed by the catalogue, the improved priming will increase cache use and
    decrease interaction with the database.

Improvements
------------

  TL-36700 Added a setting to disable enforced visibility checks in certain report sources

    The following reports automatically apply visibility checks for courses:

    * Course completion
    * Course completion Including History
    * Course Membership
    * Seminar Events
    * Seminar Sign-ups
    * Seminar Sign-in Sheet
    * Seminar Sessions

    Previously it was not possible to deactivate those visibility checks and make
    full use of the existing Content restrictions. We have now introduced a new
    setting in the "General" tab of these reports which allows admins to disable the
    checks if required.

    Default behaviour for these report sources is unchanged.

    In addition we added the ability to use the "Enforce sitewide visibility
    restrictions" content restriction for the following report sources:

    * Record of Learning: Certifications
    * Seminar Asset Assignments
    * Seminar Facilitators Assignments
    * Seminar Room Assignments
    * Seminar Interest

Bug fixes
---------

  TL-35427 Fixed user menu items not being sanitised before displaying them

    This patch also introduces a new administration configuration called 'Allow
    unsafe markup to user menu', which if enabled will allow all users with
    permissions to add/update menu items to add potentially unsafe markup. This is
    disabled by default, and for security reasons it is recommended to leave it
    disabled.

  TL-35866 Fixed visibility of courses within programs being marked as non-viewable in the mobile API

    To be able to enter and enrol into courses in programs from the mobile app the
    APIs have been modified to allow for enrolment via the mobile API. The Mobile
    App will also be updated to send the correct data.

  TL-36014 Mitigated risk of visibility map generation tasks causing performance issues

    * Changed the default schedule for the task that regenerates all visibility maps
      from hourly to once daily.
    * Fixed an issue that could lead to duplicated queuing of the visibility map
      regeneration ad-hoc tasks for courses, programs and certifications.

  TL-36545 Added an upgrade step to fix calendar entries for seminar events restored from old backups

    Backup and restore of seminars in Totara versions before 12.11 may have created
    seminar calendar entries with information that does not match the associated
    seminar event.

    This patch includes an upgrade step which detects and fixes those calendar
    events. The upgrade step queues an adhoc task which fixes the affected events on
    the next cron run.

  TL-36874 Fixed an error in the catalogue when course completion status is set to 0

    By default, course completion status values start with 10. However, there are
    scenarios where the status might be set to the default 0 (as defined in the
    table definition), for example when migrating to Totara from a Moodle instance.
    The 0 value can also lead to errors in other areas of the system.

    This patch sets the default of the status column in the course completions table
    to 10 and updates all existing records with the invalid value on upgrade.

  TL-37151 Fixed missing recipients records for perform legacy notifications

    In TL-36528 we have added missing relationships without adding the relationships
    to existing perform notification records. This resulted in errors being
    triggered when loading the notification tab in the performance activity admin
    interface.

    This patch queues an adhoc task during upgrade. On the first cron run after the
    upgrade this task will add the missing recipient records.

  TL-37172 Fixed an unused variable that caused an "attempted to modify null" error on quiz activity page with PHP 8
  TL-37213 Fixed a case where temporary files could be left behind after resetting a course that used PDFs for assignment feedback

    When a course was reset, some orphaned files could be left behind relating to
    the Annotate PDF feature of assignments. With this patch in place these files
    will be cleaned up with the course reset.

    Additionally during upgrade an adhoc task will be scheduled to clean up any
    leftover files on the next cron run.

  TL-37610 Fixed a case where database queries were being loaded on the catalogue multiple times for each tenant

    Prior to this fix to lookup whether a course category was a hidden system
    container, a deep dive had to occur which could cause dozens or hundreds of
    database reads, depending on how many tenants a site had. With this fix in place
    the way course categories are looked up no longer results in a large number of
    database queries.

  TL-37672 Fixed file cache store not accepting paths containing valid characters

    The file cache store path does now accept additional characters, e.g. dots.

  TL-37675 Added iCal attachments to event cancellation messages for people with event roles
  TL-37732 Fixed multi-language filter support for multi-select custom fields
  TL-37785 Fixed LTI 1.3 external tool not showing landing page when configured to open in a new window
  TL-37802 Fixed a case where Totara would not complete a login to the mobile app when using an unrecognised mobile device

    Previously when the mobile type of login was set to Web browser, Totara would
    show the banner allowing a user to return to the mobile app if it recognised a
    tablet or mobile phone. If the device wasn't recognised, users would be unable
    to return to the mobile app.

    With this fix if a login session was initiated by the mobile app Totara will
    always send the user back to the app regardless of device type.

    A mobile app upgrade is also required.

  TL-37863 Fixed an issue with review elements in performance activities

    Removed goals support from the linked review element in performance activities

  TL-37942 Fixed exception being thrown on the "Appraisal Details (legacy)" report if "Multiple choice (one answer)" answer contains invalid value

    Instead of the exception a debugging message is now thrown and the report is
    rendered normally. An empty value is shown for each invalid response.

Release 15.22 (23rd August 2023):

Improvements
------------

  TL-36700 Added a setting to disable enforced visibility checks in certain report sources

    The following reports automatically apply visibility checks for courses:

    * Course completion
    * Course completion Including History
    * Course Membership
    * Seminar Events
    * Seminar Sign-ups
    * Seminar Sign-in Sheet
    * Seminar Sessions

    Previously it was not possible to deactivate those visibility checks and make
    full use of the existing Content restrictions. We have now introduced a new
    setting in the "General" tab of these reports which allows admins to disable the
    checks if required.

    Default behaviour for these report sources is unchanged.

    In addition we added the ability to use the "Enforce sitewide visibility
    restrictions" content restriction for the following report sources:

    * Record of Learning: Certifications
    * Seminar Asset Assignments
    * Seminar Facilitators Assignments
    * Seminar Room Assignments
    * Seminar Interest

Bug fixes
---------

  TL-35427 Fixed user menu items not being sanitised before displaying them

    This patch also introduces a new administration configuration called 'Allow
    unsafe markup to user menu', which if enabled will allow all users with
    permissions to add/update menu items to add potentially unsafe markup. This is
    disabled by default, and for security reasons it is recommended to leave it
    disabled.

  TL-36014 Mitigated risk of visibility map generation tasks causing performance issues

    * Changed the default schedule for the task that regenerates all visibility maps
      from hourly to once daily.
    * Fixed an issue that could lead to duplicated queuing of the visibility map
      regeneration ad-hoc tasks for courses, programs and certifications.

  TL-36874 Fixed an error in the catalogue when course completion status is set to 0

    By default, course completion status values start with 10. However, there are
    scenarios where the status might be set to the default 0 (as defined in the
    table definition), for example when migrating to Totara from a Moodle instance.
    The 0 value can also lead to errors in other areas of the system.

    This patch sets the default of the status column in the course completions table
    to 10 and updates all existing records with the invalid value on upgrade.

  TL-37151 Fixed missing recipients records for perform legacy notifications

    In TL-36528 we have added missing relationships without adding the relationships
    to existing perform notification records. This resulted in errors being
    triggered when loading the notification tab in the performance activity admin
    interface.

    This patch queues an adhoc task during upgrade. On the first cron run after the
    upgrade this task will add the missing recipient records.

  TL-37172 Fixed an unused variable that caused an "attempted to modify null" error on quiz activity page with PHP 8
  TL-37213 Fixed a case where temporary files could be left behind after resetting a course that used PDFs for assignment feedback

    When a course was reset, some orphaned files could be left behind relating to
    the Annotate PDF feature of assignments. With this patch in place these files
    will be cleaned up with the course reset.

    Additionally during upgrade an adhoc task will be scheduled to clean up any
    leftover files on the next cron run.

  TL-37802 Fixed a case where Totara would not complete a login to the mobile app when using an unrecognised mobile device

    Previously when the mobile type of login was set to Web browser, Totara would
    show the banner allowing a user to return to the mobile app if it recognised a
    tablet or mobile phone. If the device wasn't recognised, users would be unable
    to return to the mobile app.

    With this fix if a login session was initiated by the mobile app Totara will
    always send the user back to the app regardless of device type.

    A mobile app upgrade is also required.

  TL-37863 Fixed an issue with review elements in performance activities

    Removed goals support from the linked review element in performance activities

Release 14.27 (23rd August 2023):

Bug fixes:

    TL-35427       Fixed user menu items not being sanitised before displaying them

                   This patch also introduces a new administration configuration called 'Allow
                   unsafe markup to user menu', which if enabled will allow all users with
                   permissions to add/update menu items to add potentially unsafe markup. This is
                   disabled by default, and for security reasons it is recommended to leave it
                   disabled.

    TL-36014       Mitigated risk of visibility map generation tasks causing performance issues

                   * Changed the default schedule for the task that regenerates all visibility maps
                   from hourly to once daily.
                   * Fixed an issue that could lead to duplicated queuing of the visibility map
                   regeneration ad-hoc tasks for courses, programs and certifications.

    TL-36874       Fixed an error in the catalogue when course completion status is set to 0

                   By default, course completion status values start with 10. However, there are
                   scenarios where the status might be set to the default 0 (as defined in the
                   table definition), for example when migrating to Totara from a Moodle instance.
                   The 0 value can also lead to errors in other areas of the system. 

                   This patch sets the default of the status column in the course completions table
                   to 10 and updates all existing records with the invalid value on upgrade.

    TL-37151       Fixed missing recipients records for perform legacy notifications

                   In TL-36528 we have added missing relationships without adding the relationships
                   to existing perform notification records. This resulted in errors being
                   triggered when loading the notification tab in the performance activity admin
                   interface.

                   This patch queues an adhoc task during upgrade. On the first cron run after the
                   upgrade this task will add the missing recipient records.

    TL-37172       Fixed an unused variable that caused an "attempted to modify null" error on quiz activity page with PHP 8
    TL-37213       Fixed a case where temporary files could be left behind after resetting a course that used PDFs for assignment feedback

                   When a course was reset, some orphaned files could be left behind relating to
                   the Annotate PDF feature of assignments. With this patch in place these files
                   will be cleaned up with the course reset. 

                   Additionally during upgrade an adhoc task will be scheduled to clean up any
                   leftover files on the next cron run.

Release 13.35 (23rd August 2023):

Bug fixes:

    TL-35427       Fixed user menu items not being sanitised before displaying them

                   This patch also introduces a new administration configuration called 'Allow
                   unsafe markup to user menu', which if enabled will allow all users with
                   permissions to add/update menu items to add potentially unsafe markup. This is
                   disabled by default, and for security reasons it is recommended to leave it
                   disabled.

    TL-36014       Mitigated risk of visibility map generation tasks causing performance issues

                   * Changed the default schedule for the task that regenerates all visibility maps
                   from hourly to once daily.
                   * Fixed an issue that could lead to duplicated queuing of the visibility map
                   regeneration ad-hoc tasks for courses, programs and certifications.

    TL-36874       Fixed an error in the catalogue when course completion status is set to 0

                   By default, course completion status values start with 10. However, there are
                   scenarios where the status might be set to the default 0 (as defined in the
                   table definition), for example when migrating to Totara from a Moodle instance.
                   The 0 value can also lead to errors in other areas of the system. 

                   This patch sets the default of the status column in the course completions table
                   to 10 and updates all existing records with the invalid value on upgrade.

    TL-37151       Fixed missing recipients records for perform legacy notifications

                   In TL-36528 we have added missing relationships without adding the relationships
                   to existing perform notification records. This resulted in errors being
                   triggered when loading the notification tab in the performance activity admin
                   interface.

                   This patch queues an adhoc task during upgrade. On the first cron run after the
                   upgrade this task will add the missing recipient records.

    TL-37213       Fixed a case where temporary files could be left behind after resetting a course that used PDFs for assignment feedback

                   When a course was reset, some orphaned files could be left behind relating to
                   the Annotate PDF feature of assignments. With this patch in place these files
                   will be cleaned up with the course reset. 

                   Additionally during upgrade an adhoc task will be scheduled to clean up any
                   leftover files on the next cron run.

Release 12.56 (23rd August 2023):

Bug fixes:
    TL-37213       Fixed a case where temporary files could be left behind after resetting a course that used PDFs for assignment feedback

                   When a course was reset, some orphaned files could be left behind relating to
                   the Annotate PDF feature of assignments. With this patch in place these files
                   will be cleaned up with the course reset. 

                   Additionally during upgrade an adhoc task will be scheduled to clean up any
                   leftover files on the next cron run.

(Edited by Rachel Griffith-Boyes - original submission Wednesday, 23 August 2023, 5:08 AM)