XBlocks Install Manager

Motivation

• As an XBlock developer it is too difficult to install and play with an XBlock today
  • See deployment documentation
• It is impossible for a course developer to install and use a new XBlock
• There is no registry of available XBlocks to choose from
• It would be great to have a list of edX approved XBlocks
• Can we encourage a community of XBlock developers?

Ideas for improving ways of installing and managing XBlocks.

• Platform developer support
  • Easily add an external XBlock to a course
  • Easily add a new XBlock repository to Studio
• Course developer support
  • Add a pre-installed XBlock to a course (is "Advanced Modules" the right way to do this?)
  • Get documentation for an XBlock
  • Browse a list of known XBlocks
  • Search for an XBlock that provides a desired capability
• Studio administrator
  • Register one or more known XBlocks
  • See a list of all XBlocks installed into Studio
  • Determine if newer versions are available and install them
  • Uninstall an XBlock
  • Hide an XBlock
  • Configuration option to allow or disallow course developers from adding new XBlocks
  • Block XBlocks that are known to be problematic
• XBlock developer
  • Define XBlock dependencies that will be automatically installed with your XBlock
  • Provide a repository of XBlocks that can be consumed
  • Provide a thumbnail for an XBlock
  • Provide online help for an XBlock
  • Contribute XBlock to a public repository

UX ideas

• Implement a 'list of XBlocks' UI
  • Could base this upon the pageable assets UI in Studio
  • Each XBlock could optionally provide a thumbnail for itself
  • Could show a grid of thumbnails instead of one XBlock per row
    • This would be better when choosing a pre-installed XBlock to add to a course
  • Spreadsheet-style UX can show useful metadata (author, version number, install date etc)

Technical challenges

• Need all functionality to be available without code changes
• How can XBlock installation be supported in production?
  • Is Studio authorized to execute 'pip install' or equivalent programmatically?
• Can a course developed in Studio automatically install its required XBlocks into LMS?
  • Is there a way to know precisely which version is required of each XBlock?

Tools to look at (both for UX and for functionality)

• Chrome extensions
  • 
• Firefox add-ons
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• Apple App Stores
  • 

Future directions

• Provide a plugin framework for all aspects of edX tooling (not everything can be an XBlock)
  • Custom reports
  • Custom import/export tools
  • Custom administrative scripts