Understanding capabilities
So far, we have assigned existing roles to users in different Moodle contexts. In the following few pages, we will look inside a role where capabilities dictate what functionality is allowed and what isn’t. Remember, a role is a collection of capabilities with corresponding permissions. Once we have understood capabilities, we can modify existing roles and create entirely new ones.
Role definitions
The existing roles can be accessed via Site administration | Users | Permissions | Define roles. The screen shown is the one from earlier when we explored Moodle’s predefined roles. When you click on a role name, its composition is shown. You might recall the role element shown in Figure 6.1. Let’s zoom in on the role to see what its elements are:
Figure 6.11 – Role structure
Each role contains a unique Short name (utilized in batch operations), a Custom full name, and an optional Custom description. The...