Create RSS Feed block for database activity

I really liked how the Glossary activity had a menu block on moodle, but the database activity did not. By using the RSS feeds block, you actually can achieve the same effect.

Enable RSS on your moodle site
1)  Enable RSS settings within the administration. Go to:  Site Administration -> Advanced Features
2)  Scroll down and enable the option called "Enable RSS feeds"
3)  Now we need to enable RSS for the database activity itself. Go to:  Site Administration -> Plugins -> Activity Modules-> Database.

4)  Enable RSS Feeds and click the "Save" button

Generate the RSS file for your database activity

1)  Open up your database activity so you can see the database settings. Choose "Edit Settings"

2)  Now you see a new option called "RSS Articles" --here you can choose the amount of entries that should be stored in the RSS feed. I think 5 is a pretty good number for myself. 

Make sure you save the new setting.

3)  We need a link to the newly generated RSS file. Look at the database settings again:

At the bottom of the list, a new option appears called "RSS feed for this activity." 

 -- Right-click on the link and say "Copy link address."

 -- You can also click the link and it will open in a new window. Highlight and copy the url inside the browser window.

Create the RSS Feed Block

Now we simply need to create a new RSS block and put it on whichever page we like. For myself, I'm going to put the RSS Feed block on the database activity page.

1)  Go to your desired page and turn editing on.

2)  If block editing is enabled on your site, you should see a new block appear called "Add a Block." From the drop-down list, choose "RSS Feed Block"

3)  Once the new rss block appears, click on it's pencil icon to edit the settings. 

Here is where you will paste the url of the database activity rss feed.

4)  If the url was correct, then your RSS block should now be configured. You can choose additional settings to change the name of the block, etc.

NOTE: It is possible that you'll need to add an entry to your database activity and run your cron job before the RSS block will display entries properly.