public function readCourse($id) {
        if ($id == 0) {
            $courses = $this->store->get_records('course',array());

            //since get_records will return the ids as Key values for the array,
            //just use key to find the first id in the course table for the index page
            $id = key($courses);
        }
        $model = $this->readObject($id, 'course');
        $model->url = $this->cfg->wwwroot.($id > 0 ? '/course/view.php?id=' . $id : '');
        return $model;
    }