eFront 3.6.

12 just released
Today we would like to announce a new version of eFront. This maintenance update includes
important speed optimizations, full text-search for documents for our enterprise clients, a module
to bootstrap modules production, a new sleek modern theme, dozens upon dozens of minor bug
fixes, and several tweaks to make your favorite tool even more enjoyable!

As we pick up once more on eFront development we will reuse some of the TalentLMS visuals
and functions for a next version scheduled for March. All eFront development is being done
ensuring compatibility with previous eFront versions. This is a hard requirement that slightly
limits our ability to improve everything we wanted to improve; but ensures an easy transition to
the newest eFront version for all of you.

Below you can find short description of some of the key elements in this version:

It’s faster!

This version brings considerable performance updates for installations that have a large volume
of data and users. Especially with branches and tests we have reworked substantially their
underlying engines.

A module to bootstrap modules production

One of the key characteristics of eFront is its extensibility through modules. In this version we
have bundled a bootstrap-module that lets you create an eFront extension by completing a form
with required characteristics. It certainly won’t do all the work for you but it is a major time-
saver if you plan to create an eFront module.

Full-text search for PDFs, DOCs etc

In efront 3.6.12 we undertook the project of implementing full-text search across all files
uploaded to the system. This means you can search for text inside PDF, Doc or Excel files you
upload to the system. This functionality in essence turns eFront into a simple but efficient
document management system. We are using the power of the Xapian search engine, along with
Open Office’s excellent conversion scripts, to provide for a seamless yet powerful integration
with efront’s own search engine. More details on how to setup full-text search will be provided
on a separate post (Linux only, sorry windows users!)

A new theme

This is the theme we currently use (see image below). We have tried to minimize clutter and
offer full optimization for the end-user. You can find the new theme under Admin / Themes /
eFront2013

A wealth of new functionality though modules

We’ve added new modules that many of you will find interesting:
■“Idle users” module, to see at a glance which users haven’t been online for a while
■“Course reports”, “Content reports”, “Branch reports”, to get a comprehensive list of useful
data in a handy manner (Edu/Ent editions)
■“Export unit”, to export a content unit to HTML with a single click
■“Info-kiosk module”, to provide a single point of downloadable material for your users
■“Outlook invitations”, that sends out calendar invitations for course schedules, compatible with
Microsoft Outlook’s iCal (Edu/Ent editions)

Other improvements
■“Empty spaces” questions now accept number-ranges. For example you can set as an
acceptable answer a range 1-10. If the end user enters a number between these extremes it is
considered correct.
■Custom user profile fields can now be ordered according to the administrator’s preference
■Limit access to a course based on access count (e.g, access a course 3 times)
■Several improvements on the separation between Branches.
■Download a certification directly upon course completion
■Several SCORM improvements

Module Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - version 1.3

This module offers professors the feature of defining and presenting to their lessons ‘students a list of
frequently asked questions for that lesson. These questions could relate for example with lesson rules
(number of tests, projects etc.) or to the actual content of the lesson – though this could also be done by
lesson unit comments. The FAQ module refers to professors and students:

Professor Professors can insert, edit and delete questions for the FAQ list after activating this module for
each of their lessons (from the Lesson administration Page). The FAQ list can be displayed by clicking on
the corresponding link on the lesson main page. New questions can be added from that page by clicking
on the “Add FAQ entry” link, which leads to a simple form where the question and the answer to be
displayed are defined and submitted. Questions can be edited or deleted by clicking on the corresponding
links next to each question.
Module Billboard - version 1.1

This module offers professors the feature of defining and presenting to their lessons ‘students an area
comprising of text, images, videos and generally anything that can be found on a regular HTML-page.
Hence, this provides to a professor the possibility of directly communicating any piece of information for
a lesson outside its regular means (like lesson units, tests, glossaries etc.), much like as a billboard does at
classroom. The billboard module refers to professors and students:

Professor Professors can edit and re-edit the billboard after activating this module for each of their
lessons (from the Lesson administration Page). The billboard uses the tinyMCE interface to automatically
create the HTML code for the desired result. Some of each features include table creating and editing,
images and emoticons, java applets or videos. Keep in mind that in order for tinyMCE to recognize and
use an external file it should be first uploaded in the corresponding lesson folder – the “Upload files and
images”link can be used for this purpose.
The billboard editing form

By clicking on the submit button (or the “Save” button of the tinyMCE toolbar) the last appearing billboard
will be saved. Student Students may view the billboard by selecting a lesson that has the billboard module
enabled. Whatever has been defined by the professor for this lesson’s billboard will appear on the main
lesson page.

Module Translate-version 1.0

Module translate makes use of google translation API and allows eFront users to translate words or text
between two languages. There is a simplified form in the lessons main page. User types a word and selects
the “destination” language. After submitting word, he can see the translated text below. The more
advanced form is in Tools section of the left sidebar. Here there is a big text area in order to submit text
more easy, and two select boxes for “source” and “destination “language. This helps google API to detect
more accurately the language of our text and translate it.
Fig. 1: Advanced translation form

Module Lesson Stats‐ Version 1.2

This module offers the professor and the students the feature of watching who last login to the
lesson. The Lesson Stats Module refers to professors and students:
Professor & Students This module doesn’t Require any administration from the professors except
For activating for each of their lessons (from The lesson administration page). Once activated, this
module displays the last 5 Lesson logins at the lesson’s main page and the last 20 Lesson logins at
the module’s main page.
Module Thumbnails - version 1.0

This module is used by professors to create and display a list of pictures to the attendees of a lesson.
The Thumbnails module utilizes the

High slide JS library for advanced thumbnail viewing and refers to professors and students:

Professor Professors can upload, edit and delete pictures from the gallery of the thumbnails module for
each lesson where the module is activated (from the

Lesson administration page). The current gallery of each lesson can be displayed by clicking on the
corresponding link on that lesson’s main page or from the sidebar link under that lesson menu. New
images can be uploaded from that page by clicking on the “Add thumbnail link” link. The image file to be
uploaded together with a name that will be used as the caption of that image will be defined in the
appearing form. Keep in mind that the file is uploaded inside the directory called “Module thumbnail” at
the directory for the uploaded files of each lesson. An image can have its details edited or be entirely
deleted from the list (and the front file system) from the gallery images list of each lesson

Student

Students may view the gallery defined for a lesson that has the thumbnail module enabled by selecting
the lesson and finding the corresponding inner table at the lesson’s main page (dashboard). The list of
pictures that is going to appear has small Thumbnail previews of each image. However, by clicking on each
of them the students able to view that image at full size, together with the caption that has been defined
for it by the lesson’s professor. This caption will also appear by hovering (leaving the mouse pointer idle)
over each image.