Analyse get_string calls tool

This is a developer tool that analyses all the calls to get string. This should let you detect unused strings, or strings that are in the wrong plugin, etc.

It was created by Tim Hunt at the Open University.

To install using git, type thse commands in the root of your Moodle install git clone git://github.com/timhunt/moodle-tool_analysegetstring.git admin/tool/analysegetstring echo '/admin/tool/analysegetstring/' >> .git/ignore

You must also have https://github.com/timhunt/moodle-local_codechecker/ installed.

After you have installed this local plugin , you should see a new option Site administration -> Development -> Analyse get_string calls in the settings block.

I hope you find this tool useful. Please feel free to enhance it.

Known limitations

1. Does not find strings used in JavaScript.
2. Does not always work out the right component for files from core components.
3. Does not correctly analyse which help strings are used.

What you can do with the data

The script populates the {tool_analysegetstring_string} and {tool_analysegetstring_calls} database tables, so once you have run the analysis you can do queries like:

SELECT s.component, s.identifier FROM mdl_tool_analysegetstring_string s WHERE (s.component LIKE 'quiz%' OR s.component = 'mod_quiz') AND NOT EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM mdl_tool_analysegetstring_calls c WHERE c.identifier = s.identifier AND c.stringcomponent = s.component ) AND s.identifier <> 'pluginname'

which tries to find unused strings in the quiz; or

SELECT DISTINCT stringcomponent FROM mdl_tool_analysegetstring_calls WHERE stringcomponent LIKE 'EXP: %'

which finds all the places where a call to get_string used an expression instead of a fixed $component string argument; or

SELECT DISTINCT stringcomponent, identifier FROM q_tool_analysegetstring_calls WHERE stringcomponent <> sourcecomponent

which finds all strings referred to from outside their owning plugin.

This query finds all the strings that are used in quiz access subplugins, but which are defined outside that plugin, but within the quiz. It the shows all the different components that refer to that string. This lets you determine which strings can be moved into the subplugin.

SELECT c.stringcomponent, c.identifier, c.sourcecomponent, COUNT(1)

FROM q_tool_analysegetstring_calls c JOIN ( SELECT DISTINCT stringcomponent, identifier

FROM q_tool_analysegetstring_calls

WHERE stringcomponent <> sourcecomponent
AND stringcomponent NOT LIKE ('EXP: %')
AND identifier NOT LIKE ('EXP: %')
AND (sourcecomponent LIKE 'quizaccess_%')

) problems ON problems.stringcomponent = c.stringcomponent AND problems.identifier = c.identifier

WHERE (c.stringcomponent LIKE 'quiz%' OR c.stringcomponent = 'mod_quiz')

GROUP BY c.stringcomponent, c.identifier, c.sourcecomponent

ORDER BY c.stringcomponent, c.identifier, c.sourcecomponent