Give a student more time

A program for a teacher that gives one student more time: an extension on an assignment, a week after the date they had, and a quiz override with a later closing date, a longer time limit and one more attempt.

Uses: grading, quizzes, participants.

The program

import { createMoodle, FormError, NotAnAssignmentError, QuizError } from "@falkenslab/moodle-driver";

// The ids, from the course's pages or the driver:
const COURSE_ID = 3; // course/view.php?id=3, or listCourses()
const ASSIGNMENT_ID = 45; // mod/assign/view.php?id=45, or courseStructure(COURSE_ID)
const QUIZ_ID = 27; // mod/quiz/view.php?id=27
const STUDENT_ID = 7; // user/view.php?id=7, or participants(COURSE_ID)
const WEEK = 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;

await using moodle = createMoodle({ site: "https://campus.example.org/", profileDir: "/home/teacher/.moodle-profile", headless: true, downloadBrowser: true });
await moodle.logIn();

// Make sure the id is the right person before changing their dates.
const student = (await moodle.participants(COURSE_ID)).find((p) => p.userId === STUDENT_ID);
if (!student) throw new Error(`User ${STUDENT_ID} isn't a participant of course ${COURSE_ID}.`);
console.log(`More time for ${student.fullName}`);

// The student's due date as it stands: an earlier extension or override already counts in it.
// Without content it's one request per participant, no grading panels.
const submission = (await moodle.assignmentSubmissions(ASSIGNMENT_ID, { includeContent: false })).find((s) => s.userId === STUDENT_ID);
if (!submission?.dueDate) throw new Error(`Assignment ${ASSIGNMENT_ID} has no due date for user ${STUDENT_ID}.`);
// A week after the date they have; Moodle's date selector keeps minutes, not seconds.
const until = new Date(Date.parse(submission.extensionDueDate ?? submission.dueDate) + WEEK);

try {
  console.log((await moodle.grantExtension(ASSIGNMENT_ID, [STUDENT_ID], until)).changed);
} catch (error) {
  // Moodle refuses a date before the assignment's due date, with its message by field.
  if (error instanceof FormError) console.error(error.fields.map((f) => `${f.field}: ${f.message}`).join("\n"));
  else if (error instanceof NotAnAssignmentError) console.error(error.message);
  else throw error;
}

try {
  // Only what's given changes; the opening date stays the quiz's.
  const override = await moodle.setQuizOverride(QUIZ_ID, STUDENT_ID, {
    close: new Date("2026-11-20T22:00:00Z"),
    timeLimitMinutes: 60,
    attempts: 2,
  });
  console.log(override.changed);
} catch (error) {
  // Also when the student has an override in this quiz already: that one is changed in Moodle.
  if (error instanceof QuizError || error instanceof FormError) console.error(error.message);
  else throw error;
}

Step by step

1. The ids at the top come from the course's pages (each is the id in the URL) or from the driver: listCourses() for the course, courseStructure(COURSE_ID) for the activities (their id is the course module id the functions take), participants(COURSE_ID) for the student.
2. logIn() returns at once with a saved session, or opens a window for the teacher to log in the first time.
3. participants confirms the user id is a participant and gives their name for the log: changing someone's dates by a wrong id is easy to miss.
4. assignmentSubmissions with includeContent: false reads every participant's dates, with their overrides and extensions applied. The program takes the student's current date (an extension's, if they already had one) and adds a week.
5. grantExtension fills the assignment's extension form, as "Grant extension" in the submissions page does. The date is written in the teacher's time zone in Moodle, so until is the exact moment. Granting again replaces an earlier extension. The student sees the new date on the assignment's page.
6. setQuizOverride adds a user override through the quiz's "Overrides" page: a closing date, a time limit of 60 minutes and 2 attempts in all, for this student only. The quiz's other settings stay as they are.
7. Each write answers with its changed sentence, which the program prints. await using closes the browser at the end.

What it prints

An example run:

More time for Ada Lovelace
Extension until 2026-11-13T22:59:00.000Z granted to user 7 in assignment 45.
Override for user 7 in quiz 27: closes 2026-11-20T22:00:00.000Z, 60 minutes, 2 attempts.

Variations

• Several students at once: grantExtension(ASSIGNMENT_ID, [7, 9, 12], until) grants the same date to all of them, as the bulk action does; quiz overrides are one call per student.
• Check the extension took: read the submissions again and print extensionDueDate for the student.
• Unlimited attempts: attempts: 0. Only a later opening date: { open: new Date("2026-11-16T08:00:00Z") }.
• A whole group: participants(COURSE_ID, { group: groupId }) gives the user ids for grantExtension, with the group id from groups(COURSE_ID).

When something goes wrong

• FormError from grantExtension: Moodle refused the form, for example a date before the assignment's due date, with its message in error.fields. Also when the teacher's time zone in Moodle isn't one the driver knows.
• NotAnAssignmentError: the extension form can't be opened: the id isn't an assignment, or the person isn't allowed to grant extensions.
• QuizError from setQuizOverride: the id isn't a quiz the person can add overrides to, or the student can't get one: not a participant, or already overridden in this quiz. Moodle's form only adds overrides; change an existing one in Moodle's "Overrides" page.
• FormError from setQuizOverride: Moodle refused the values, such as a closing date before the opening date.
• NotLoggedInError: the session expired; run again to log in. See Errors.

Data it touches

participants and assignmentSubmissions read others' data (others-personal); grantExtension and setQuizOverride are others-write: the program changes what a student may do. See Data categories.