62f03f60142b26f01d41257e8df82e01998a7542
1 ===================
2 Customising Roundup
3 ===================
5 :Version: $Revision: 1.43 $
7 .. This document borrows from the ZopeBook section on ZPT. The original is at:
8 http://www.zope.org/Documentation/Books/ZopeBook/current/ZPT.stx
10 .. contents::
11 :depth: 1
13 What You Can Do
14 ===============
16 Customisation of Roundup can take one of five forms:
18 1. `tracker configuration`_ file changes
19 2. database, or `tracker schema`_ changes
20 3. "definition" class `database content`_ changes
21 4. behavioural changes, through detectors_
22 5. `access controls`_
24 The third case is special because it takes two distinctly different forms
25 depending upon whether the tracker has been initialised or not. The other two
26 may be done at any time, before or after tracker initialisation. Yes, this
27 includes adding or removing properties from classes.
30 Trackers in a Nutshell
31 ======================
33 Trackers have the following structure:
35 =================== ========================================================
36 Tracker File Description
37 =================== ========================================================
38 config.py Holds the basic `tracker configuration`_
39 dbinit.py Holds the `tracker schema`_
40 interfaces.py Defines the Web and E-Mail interfaces for the tracker
41 select_db.py Selects the database back-end for the tracker
42 db/ Holds the tracker's database
43 db/files/ Holds the tracker's upload files and messages
44 detectors/ Auditors and reactors for this tracker
45 html/ Web interface templates, images and style sheets
46 =================== ========================================================
48 Tracker Configuration
49 =====================
51 The config.py located in your tracker home contains the basic
52 configuration for the web and e-mail components of roundup's interfaces. This
53 file is a Python module. The configuration variables available are:
55 **TRACKER_HOME** - ``os.path.split(__file__)[0]``
56 The tracker home directory. The above default code will automatically
57 determine the tracker home for you.
59 **MAILHOST** - ``'localhost'``
60 The SMTP mail host that roundup will use to send e-mail.
62 **MAIL_DOMAIN** - ``'your.tracker.email.domain.example'``
63 The domain name used for email addresses.
65 **DATABASE** - ``os.path.join(TRACKER_HOME, 'db')``
66 This is the directory that the database is going to be stored in. By default
67 it is in the tracker home.
69 **TEMPLATES** - ``os.path.join(TRACKER_HOME, 'html')``
70 This is the directory that the HTML templates reside in. By default they are
71 in the tracker home.
73 **TRACKER_NAME** - ``'Roundup issue tracker'``
74 A descriptive name for your roundup tracker. This is sent out in e-mails and
75 appears in the heading of CGI pages.
77 **TRACKER_EMAIL** - ``'issue_tracker@%s'%MAIL_DOMAIN``
78 The email address that e-mail sent to roundup should go to. Think of it as the
79 tracker's personal e-mail address.
81 **TRACKER_WEB** - ``'http://your.tracker.url.example/'``
82 The web address that the tracker is viewable at. This will be included in
83 information sent to users of the tracker.
85 **ADMIN_EMAIL** - ``'roundup-admin@%s'%MAIL_DOMAIN``
86 The email address that roundup will complain to if it runs into trouble.
88 **MESSAGES_TO_AUTHOR** - ``'yes'`` or``'no'``
89 Send nosy messages to the author of the message.
91 **ADD_AUTHOR_TO_NOSY** - ``'new'``, ``'yes'`` or ``'no'``
92 Does the author of a message get placed on the nosy list automatically?
93 If ``'new'`` is used, then the author will only be added when a message
94 creates a new issue. If ``'yes'``, then the author will be added on followups
95 too. If ``'no'``, they're never added to the nosy.
97 **ADD_RECIPIENTS_TO_NOSY** - ``'new'``, ``'yes'`` or ``'no'``
98 Do the recipients (To:, Cc:) of a message get placed on the nosy list?
99 If ``'new'`` is used, then the recipients will only be added when a message
100 creates a new issue. If ``'yes'``, then the recipients will be added on
101 followups too. If ``'no'``, they're never added to the nosy.
103 **EMAIL_SIGNATURE_POSITION** - ``'top'``, ``'bottom'`` or ``'none'``
104 Where to place the email signature in messages that Roundup generates.
106 **EMAIL_KEEP_QUOTED_TEXT** - ``'yes'`` or ``'no'``
107 Keep email citations. Citations are the part of e-mail which the sender has
108 quoted in their reply to previous e-mail.
110 **EMAIL_LEAVE_BODY_UNCHANGED** - ``'no'``
111 Preserve the email body as is. Enabiling this will cause the entire message
112 body to be stored, including all citations and signatures. It should be
113 either ``'yes'`` or ``'no'``.
115 **MAIL_DEFAULT_CLASS** - ``'issue'`` or ``''``
116 Default class to use in the mailgw if one isn't supplied in email
117 subjects. To disable, comment out the variable below or leave it blank.
119 The default config.py is given below - as you
120 can see, the MAIL_DOMAIN must be edited before any interaction with the
121 tracker is attempted.::
123 # roundup home is this package's directory
124 TRACKER_HOME=os.path.split(__file__)[0]
126 # The SMTP mail host that roundup will use to send mail
127 MAILHOST = 'localhost'
129 # The domain name used for email addresses.
130 MAIL_DOMAIN = 'your.tracker.email.domain.example'
132 # This is the directory that the database is going to be stored in
133 DATABASE = os.path.join(TRACKER_HOME, 'db')
135 # This is the directory that the HTML templates reside in
136 TEMPLATES = os.path.join(TRACKER_HOME, 'html')
138 # A descriptive name for your roundup tracker
139 TRACKER_NAME = 'Roundup issue tracker'
141 # The email address that mail to roundup should go to
142 TRACKER_EMAIL = 'issue_tracker@%s'%MAIL_DOMAIN
144 # The web address that the tracker is viewable at
145 TRACKER_WEB = 'http://your.tracker.url.example/'
147 # The email address that roundup will complain to if it runs into trouble
148 ADMIN_EMAIL = 'roundup-admin@%s'%MAIL_DOMAIN
150 # Send nosy messages to the author of the message
151 MESSAGES_TO_AUTHOR = 'no' # either 'yes' or 'no'
153 # Does the author of a message get placed on the nosy list automatically?
154 # If 'new' is used, then the author will only be added when a message
155 # creates a new issue. If 'yes', then the author will be added on followups
156 # too. If 'no', they're never added to the nosy.
157 ADD_AUTHOR_TO_NOSY = 'new' # one of 'yes', 'no', 'new'
159 # Do the recipients (To:, Cc:) of a message get placed on the nosy list?
160 # If 'new' is used, then the recipients will only be added when a message
161 # creates a new issue. If 'yes', then the recipients will be added on followups
162 # too. If 'no', they're never added to the nosy.
163 ADD_RECIPIENTS_TO_NOSY = 'new' # either 'yes', 'no', 'new'
165 # Where to place the email signature
166 EMAIL_SIGNATURE_POSITION = 'bottom' # one of 'top', 'bottom', 'none'
168 # Keep email citations
169 EMAIL_KEEP_QUOTED_TEXT = 'no' # either 'yes' or 'no'
171 # Preserve the email body as is
172 EMAIL_LEAVE_BODY_UNCHANGED = 'no' # either 'yes' or 'no'
174 # Default class to use in the mailgw if one isn't supplied in email
175 # subjects. To disable, comment out the variable below or leave it blank.
176 # Examples:
177 MAIL_DEFAULT_CLASS = 'issue' # use "issue" class by default
178 #MAIL_DEFAULT_CLASS = '' # disable (or just comment the var out)
180 Tracker Schema
181 ==============
183 Note: if you modify the schema, you'll most likely need to edit the
184 `web interface`_ HTML template files and `detectors`_ to reflect
185 your changes.
187 A tracker schema defines what data is stored in the tracker's database.
188 The
189 schemas shipped with Roundup turn it into a typical software bug tracker or
190 help desk.
192 XXX make sure we ship the help desk
194 Schemas are defined using Python code in the ``dbinit.py`` module of your
195 tracker. The "classic" schema looks like this::
197 pri = Class(db, "priority", name=String(), order=String())
198 pri.setkey("name")
199 pri.create(name="critical", order="1")
200 pri.create(name="urgent", order="2")
201 pri.create(name="bug", order="3")
202 pri.create(name="feature", order="4")
203 pri.create(name="wish", order="5")
205 stat = Class(db, "status", name=String(), order=String())
206 stat.setkey("name")
207 stat.create(name="unread", order="1")
208 stat.create(name="deferred", order="2")
209 stat.create(name="chatting", order="3")
210 stat.create(name="need-eg", order="4")
211 stat.create(name="in-progress", order="5")
212 stat.create(name="testing", order="6")
213 stat.create(name="done-cbb", order="7")
214 stat.create(name="resolved", order="8")
216 keyword = Class(db, "keyword", name=String())
217 keyword.setkey("name")
219 user = Class(db, "user", username=String(), password=String(),
220 address=String(), realname=String(), phone=String(),
221 organisation=String())
222 user.setkey("username")
223 user.create(username="admin", password=adminpw,
224 address=config.ADMIN_EMAIL)
226 msg = FileClass(db, "msg", author=Link("user"), recipients=Multilink
227 ("user"), date=Date(), summary=String(), files=Multilink("file"))
229 file = FileClass(db, "file", name=String(), type=String())
231 issue = IssueClass(db, "issue", assignedto=Link("user"),
232 topic=Multilink("keyword"), priority=Link("priority"), status=Link
233 ("status"))
234 issue.setkey('title')
236 XXX security definitions
238 Classes and Properties - creating a new information store
239 ---------------------------------------------------------
241 In the tracker above, we've defined 7 classes of information:
243 priority
244 Defines the possible levels of urgency for issues.
246 status
247 Defines the possible states of processing the issue may be in.
249 keyword
250 Initially empty, will hold keywords useful for searching issues.
252 user
253 Initially holding the "admin" user, will eventually have an entry for all
254 users using roundup.
256 msg
257 Initially empty, will all e-mail messages sent to or generated by
258 roundup.
260 file
261 Initially empty, will all files attached to issues.
263 issue
264 Initially empty, this is where the issue information is stored.
266 We define the "priority" and "status" classes to allow two things: reduction in
267 the amount of information stored on the issue and more powerful, accurate
268 searching of issues by priority and status. By only requiring a link on the
269 issue (which is stored as a single number) we reduce the chance that someone
270 mis-types a priority or status - or simply makes a new one up.
272 Class and Items
273 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
275 A Class defines a particular class (or type) of data that will be stored in the
276 database. A class comprises one or more properties, which given the information
277 about the class items.
278 The actual data entered into the database, using class.create() are called
279 items. They have a special immutable property called id. We sometimes refer to
280 this as the itemid.
282 Properties
283 ~~~~~~~~~~
285 A Class is comprised of one or more properties of the following types:
287 * String properties are for storing arbitrary-length strings.
288 * Password properties are for storing encoded arbitrary-length strings. The
289 default encoding is defined on the roundup.password.Password class.
290 * Date properties store date-and-time stamps. Their values are Timestamp
291 objects.
292 * Number properties store numeric values.
293 * Boolean properties store on/off, yes/no, true/false values.
294 * A Link property refers to a single other item selected from a specified
295 class. The class is part of the property; the value is an integer, the id
296 of the chosen item.
297 * A Multilink property refers to possibly many items in a specified class.
298 The value is a list of integers.
300 FileClass
301 ~~~~~~~~~
303 FileClasses save their "content" attribute off in a separate file from the rest
304 of the database. This reduces the number of large entries in the database,
305 which generally makes databases more efficient, and also allows us to use
306 command-line tools to operate on the files. They are stored in the files sub-
307 directory of the db directory in your tracker.
309 IssueClass
310 ~~~~~~~~~~
312 IssueClasses automatically include the "messages", "files", "nosy", and
313 "superseder" properties.
314 The messages and files properties list the links to the messages and files
315 related to the issue. The nosy property is a list of links to users who wish to
316 be informed of changes to the issue - they get "CC'ed" e-mails when messages
317 are sent to or generated by the issue. The nosy reactor (in the detectors
318 directory) handles this action. The superceder link indicates an issue which
319 has superceded this one.
320 They also have the dynamically generated "creation", "activity" and "creator"
321 properties.
322 The value of the "creation" property is the date when an item was created, and
323 the value of the "activity" property is the date when any property on the item
324 was last edited (equivalently, these are the dates on the first and last
325 records in the item's journal). The "creator" property holds a link to the user
326 that created the issue.
328 setkey(property)
329 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
331 Select a String property of the class to be the key property. The key property
332 muse be unique, and allows references to the items in the class by the content
333 of the key property. That is, we can refer to users by their username, e.g.
334 let's say that there's an issue in roundup, issue 23. There's also a user,
335 richard who happens to be user 2. To assign an issue to him, we could do either
336 of::
338 roundup-admin set issue assignedto=2
340 or::
342 roundup-admin set issue assignedto=richard
344 Note, the same thing can be done in the web and e-mail interfaces.
346 create(information)
347 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
349 Create an item in the database. This is generally used to create items in the
350 "definitional" classes like "priority" and "status".
353 Examples of adding to your schema
354 ---------------------------------
356 TODO
359 Detectors - adding behaviour to your tracker
360 ============================================
361 .. _detectors:
363 Detectors are initialised every time you open your tracker database, so you're
364 free to add and remove them any time, even after the database is initliased
365 via the "roundup-admin initalise" command.
367 The detectors in your tracker fire before (*auditors*) and after (*reactors*)
368 changes to the contents of your database. They are Python modules that sit in
369 your tracker's ``detectors`` directory. You will have some installed by
370 default - have a look. You can write new detectors or modify the existing
371 ones. The existing detectors installed for you are:
373 **nosyreaction.py**
374 This provides the automatic nosy list maintenance and email sending. The nosy
375 reactor (``nosyreaction``) fires when new messages are added to issues.
376 The nosy auditor (``updatenosy``) fires when issues are changed and figures
377 what changes need to be made to the nosy list (like adding new authors etc)
378 **statusauditor.py**
379 This provides the ``chatty`` auditor which changes the issue status from
380 ``unread`` or ``closed`` to ``chatting`` if new messages appear. It also
381 provides the ``presetunread`` auditor which pre-sets the status to
382 ``unread`` on new items if the status isn't explicitly defined.
384 See the detectors section in the `design document`__ for details of the
385 interface for detectors.
387 __ design.html
389 Sample additional detectors that have been found useful will appear in the
390 ``detectors`` directory of the Roundup distribution:
392 **newissuecopy.py**
393 This detector sends an email to a team address whenever a new issue is
394 created. The address is hard-coded into the detector, so edit it before you
395 use it (look for the text 'team@team.host') or you'll get email errors!
397 The detector code::
399 from roundup import roundupdb
401 def newissuecopy(db, cl, nodeid, oldvalues):
402 ''' Copy a message about new issues to a team address.
403 '''
404 # so use all the messages in the create
405 change_note = cl.generateCreateNote(nodeid)
407 # send a copy to the nosy list
408 for msgid in cl.get(nodeid, 'messages'):
409 try:
410 # note: last arg must be a list
411 cl.send_message(nodeid, msgid, change_note, ['team@team.host'])
412 except roundupdb.MessageSendError, message:
413 raise roundupdb.DetectorError, message
415 def init(db):
416 db.issue.react('create', newissuecopy)
419 Database Content
420 ================
422 Note: if you modify the content of definitional classes, you'll most likely
423 need to edit the tracker `detectors`_ to reflect your changes.
425 Customisation of the special "definitional" classes (eg. status, priority,
426 resolution, ...) may be done either before or after the tracker is
427 initialised. The actual method of doing so is completely different in each
428 case though, so be careful to use the right one.
430 **Changing content before tracker initialisation**
431 Edit the dbinit module in your tracker to alter the items created in using
432 the create() methods.
434 **Changing content after tracker initialisation**
435 Use the roundup-admin interface's create, set and retire methods to add,
436 alter or remove items from the classes in question.
438 XXX example
441 Web Interface
442 =============
444 .. contents::
445 :local:
446 :depth: 1
448 The web is provided by the roundup.cgi.client module and is used by
449 roundup.cgi, roundup-server and ZRoundup.
450 In all cases, we determine which tracker is being accessed
451 (the first part of the URL path inside the scope of the CGI handler) and pass
452 control on to the tracker interfaces.Client class - which uses the Client class
453 from roundup.cgi.client - which handles the rest of
454 the access through its main() method. This means that you can do pretty much
455 anything you want as a web interface to your tracker.
457 Repurcussions of changing the tracker schema
458 ---------------------------------------------
460 If you choose to change the `tracker schema`_ you will need to ensure the web
461 interface knows about it:
463 1. Index, item and search pages for the relevant classes may need to have
464 properties added or removed,
465 2. The "page" template may require links to be changed, as might the "home"
466 page's content arguments.
468 How requests are processed
469 --------------------------
471 The basic processing of a web request proceeds as follows:
473 1. figure out who we are, defaulting to the "anonymous" user
474 2. figure out what the request is for - we call this the "context"
475 3. handle any requested action (item edit, search, ...)
476 4. render a template, resulting in HTML output
478 In some situations, exceptions occur:
480 - HTTP Redirect (generally raised by an action)
481 - SendFile (generally raised by determine_context)
482 here we serve up a FileClass "content" property
483 - SendStaticFile (generally raised by determine_context)
484 here we serve up a file from the tracker "html" directory
485 - Unauthorised (generally raised by an action)
486 here the action is cancelled, the request is rendered and an error
487 message is displayed indicating that permission was not
488 granted for the action to take place
489 - NotFound (raised wherever it needs to be)
490 this exception percolates up to the CGI interface that called the client
492 Determining web context
493 -----------------------
495 To determine the "context" of a request, we look at the URL and the special
496 request variable ``:template``. The URL path after the tracker identifier
497 is examined. Typical URL paths look like:
499 1. ``/tracker/issue``
500 2. ``/tracker/issue1``
501 3. ``/tracker/_file/style.css``
502 4. ``/cgi-bin/roundup.cgi/tracker/file1``
503 5. ``/cgi-bin/roundup.cgi/tracker/file1/kitten.png``
505 where the "tracker identifier" is "tracker" in the above cases. That means
506 we're looking at "issue", "issue1", "_file/style.css", "file1" and
507 "file1/kitten.png" in the cases above. The path is generally only one
508 entry long - longer paths are handled differently.
510 a. if there is no path, then we are in the "home" context.
511 b. if the path starts with "_file" (as in example 3,
512 "/tracker/_file/style.css"), then the additional path entry,
513 "style.css" specifies the filename of a static file we're to serve up
514 from the tracker "html" directory. Raises a SendStaticFile
515 exception.
516 c. if there is something in the path (as in example 1, "issue"), it identifies
517 the tracker class we're to display.
518 d. if the path is an item designator (as in examples 2 and 4, "issue1" and
519 "file1"), then we're to display a specific item.
520 e. if the path starts with an item designator and is longer than
521 one entry (as in example 5, "file1/kitten.png"), then we're assumed
522 to be handling an item of a
523 FileClass, and the extra path information gives the filename
524 that the client is going to label the download with (ie
525 "file1/kitten.png" is nicer to download than "file1"). This
526 raises a SendFile exception.
528 Both b. and e. stop before we bother to
529 determine the template we're going to use. That's because they
530 don't actually use templates.
532 The template used is specified by the ``:template`` CGI variable,
533 which defaults to:
535 - only classname suplied: "index"
536 - full item designator supplied: "item"
539 Performing actions in web requests
540 ----------------------------------
542 When a user requests a web page, they may optionally also request for an
543 action to take place. As described in `how requests are processed`_, the
544 action is performed before the requested page is generated. Actions are
545 triggered by using a ``:action`` CGI variable, where the value is one of:
547 **login**
548 Attempt to log a user in.
549 **logout**
550 Log the user out - make them "anonymous".
551 **register**
552 Attempt to create a new user based on the contents of the form and then log
553 them in.
554 **edit**
555 Perform an edit of an item in the database. There are some special form
556 elements you may use:
558 :link=designator:property and :multilink=designator:property
559 The value specifies an item designator and the property on that
560 item to add _this_ item to as a link or multilink.
561 :note
562 Create a message and attach it to the current item's
563 "messages" property.
564 :file
565 Create a file and attach it to the current item's
566 "files" property. Attach the file to the message created from
567 the :note if it's supplied.
568 :required=property,property,...
569 The named properties are required to be filled in the form.
571 **new**
572 Add a new item to the database. You may use the same special form elements
573 as in the "edit" action.
575 **editCSV**
576 Performs an edit of all of a class' items in one go. See also the
577 *class*.csv templating method which generates the CSV data to be edited, and
578 the "_generic.index" template which uses both of these features.
580 **search**
581 Mangle some of the form variables.
583 Set the form ":filter" variable based on the values of the
584 filter variables - if they're set to anything other than
585 "dontcare" then add them to :filter.
587 Also handle the ":queryname" variable and save off the query to
588 the user's query list.
590 Each of the actions is implemented by a corresponding *actionAction* (where
591 "action" is the name of the action) method on
592 the roundup.cgi.Client class, which also happens to be in your tracker as
593 interfaces.Client. So if you need to define new actions, you may add them
594 there (see `defining new web actions`_).
596 Each action also has a corresponding *actionPermission* (where
597 "action" is the name of the action) method which determines
598 whether the action is permissible given the current user. The base permission
599 checks are:
601 **login**
602 Determine whether the user has permission to log in.
603 Base behaviour is to check the user has "Web Access".
604 **logout**
605 No permission checks are made.
606 **register**
607 Determine whether the user has permission to register
608 Base behaviour is to check the user has "Web Registration".
609 **edit**
610 Determine whether the user has permission to edit this item.
611 Base behaviour is to check the user can edit this class. If we're
612 editing the "user" class, users are allowed to edit their own
613 details. Unless it's the "roles" property, which requires the
614 special Permission "Web Roles".
615 **new**
616 Determine whether the user has permission to create (edit) this item.
617 Base behaviour is to check the user can edit this class. No
618 additional property checks are made. Additionally, new user items
619 may be created if the user has the "Web Registration" Permission.
620 **editCSV**
621 Determine whether the user has permission to edit this class.
622 Base behaviour is to check the user can edit this class.
623 **search**
624 Determine whether the user has permission to search this class.
625 Base behaviour is to check the user can view this class.
628 Default templates
629 -----------------
631 Most customisation of the web view can be done by modifying the templates in
632 the tracker **html** directory. There are several types of files in there:
634 **page**
635 This template defines the overall look of your tracker. When you
636 view an issue, it appears inside this template. When you view an index, it
637 also appears inside this template. It will have a ``tal:content`` or
638 ``tal:replace`` command with the expression ``structure content`` which
639 will show the issue, list of issues or whatever.
640 **home**
641 the default page displayed when no other page is indicated by the user
642 **home.classlist**
643 a special version of the default page that lists the classes in the tracker
644 **classname.item**
645 displays an item of the *classname* class
646 **classname.index**
647 displays a list of *classname* items
648 **classname.search**
649 displays a search page for *classname* items
650 **_generic.index**
651 used to display a list of items where there is no *classname*.index available
652 **_generic.help**
653 used to display a "class help" page where there is no *classname*.help
654 **user.register**
655 a special page just for the user class that renders the registration page
656 **style.css**
657 a static file that is served up as-is
659 Note: Remember that you can create any template extension you want to, so
660 if you just want to play around with the templating for new issues, you can
661 copy the current "issue.item" template to "issue.test", and then access the
662 test template using the ":template" URL argument::
664 http://your.tracker.example/tracker/issue?:template=test
666 and it won't affect your users using the "issue.item" template.
669 How the templates work
670 ----------------------
672 Roundup's templates consist of special attributes on your template tags. These
673 attributes form the Template Attribute Language, or TAL. The commands are:
676 **tal:define="variable expression; variable expression; ..."**
677 Define a new variable that is local to this tag and its contents. For
678 example::
680 <html tal:define="title request/description">
681 <head><title tal:content="title"></title></head>
682 </html>
684 In the example, the variable "title" is defined as being the result of the
685 expression "request/description". The tal:content command inside the <html>
686 tag may then use the "title" variable.
688 **tal:condition="expression"**
689 Only keep this tag and its contents if the expression is true. For example::
691 <p tal:condition="python:request.user.hasPermission('View', 'issue')">
692 Display some issue information.
693 </p>
695 In the example, the <p> tag and its contents are only displayed if the
696 user has the View permission for issues. We consider the number zero, a
697 blank string, an empty list, and the built-in variable nothing to be false
698 values. Nearly every other value is true, including non-zero numbers, and
699 strings with anything in them (even spaces!).
701 **tal:repeat="variable expression"**
702 Repeat this tag and its contents for each element of the sequence that the
703 expression returns, defining a new local variable and a special "repeat"
704 variable for each element. For example::
706 <tr tal:repeat="u user/list">
707 <td tal:content="u/id"></td>
708 <td tal:content="u/username"></td>
709 <td tal:content="u/realname"></td>
710 </tr>
712 The example would iterate over the sequence of users returned by
713 "user/list" and define the local variable "u" for each entry.
715 **tal:replace="expression"**
716 Replace this tag with the result of the expression. For example::
718 <span tal:replace="request/user/realname"></span>
720 The example would replace the <span> tag and its contents with the user's
721 realname. If the user's realname was "Bruce" then the resultant output
722 would be "Bruce".
724 **tal:content="expression"**
725 Replace the contents of this tag with the result of the expression. For
726 example::
728 <span tal:content="request/user/realname">user's name appears here</span>
730 The example would replace the contents of the <span> tag with the user's
731 realname. If the user's realname was "Bruce" then the resultant output
732 would be "<span>Bruce</span>".
734 **tal:attributes="attribute expression; attribute expression; ..."**
735 Set attributes on this tag to the results of expressions. For example::
737 <a tal:attributes="href string:user${request/user/id}">My Details</a>
739 In the example, the "href" attribute of the <a> tag is set to the value of
740 the "string:user${request/user/id}" expression, which will be something
741 like "user123".
743 **tal:omit-tag="expression"**
744 Remove this tag (but not its contents) if the expression is true. For
745 example::
747 <span tal:omit-tag="python:1">Hello, world!</span>
749 would result in output of::
751 Hello, world!
753 Note that the commands on a given tag are evaulated in the order above, so
754 *define* comes before *condition*, and so on.
756 Additionally, a tag is defined, tal:block, which is removed from output. Its
757 content is not, but the tag itself is (so don't go using any tal:attributes
758 commands on it). This is useful for making arbitrary blocks of HTML
759 conditional or repeatable (very handy for repeating multiple table rows,
760 which would othewise require an illegal tag placement to effect the repeat).
762 The expressions you may use in the attibute values may be one of the following
763 three forms:
765 **Path Expressions** - eg. ``item/status/checklist``
766 These are object attribute / item accesses. Roughly speaking, the path
767 ``item/status/checklist`` is broken into parts ``item``, ``status``
768 and ``checklist``. The ``item`` part is the root of the expression.
769 We then look for a ``status`` attribute on ``item``, or failing that, a
770 ``status`` item (as in ``item['status']``). If that
771 fails, the path expression fails. When we get to the end, the object we're
772 left with is evaluated to get a string - methods are called, objects are
773 stringified. Path expressions may have an optional ``path:`` prefix, though
774 they are the default expression type, so it's not necessary.
776 XXX | components of expressions
778 XXX "nothing" and "default"
780 **String Expressions** - eg. ``string:hello ${user/name}``
781 These expressions are simple string interpolations (though they can be just
782 plain strings with no interpolation if you want. The expression in the
783 ``${ ... }`` is just a path expression as above.
785 **Python Expressions** - eg. ``python: 1+1``
786 These expressions give the full power of Python. All the "root level"
787 variables are available, so ``python:item.status.checklist()`` would be
788 equivalent to ``item/status/checklist``, assuming that ``checklist`` is
789 a method.
791 Information available to templates
792 ----------------------------------
794 Note: this is implemented by roundup.cgi.templating.RoundupPageTemplate
796 The following variables are available to templates.
798 **context**
799 The current context. This is either None, a
800 `hyperdb class wrapper`_ or a `hyperdb item wrapper`_
801 **request**
802 Includes information about the current request, including:
803 - the url
804 - the current index information (``filterspec``, ``filter`` args,
805 ``properties``, etc) parsed out of the form.
806 - methods for easy filterspec link generation
807 - *user*, the current user item as an HTMLItem instance
808 - *form*
809 The current CGI form information as a mapping of form argument
810 name to value
811 **tracker**
812 The current tracker
813 **db**
814 The current database, through which db.config may be reached.
815 **nothing**
816 This is a special variable - if an expression evaluates to this, then the
817 tag (in the case of a tal:replace), its contents (in the case of
818 tal:content) or some attributes (in the case of tal:attributes) will not
819 appear in the the output. So for example::
821 <span tal:attributes="class nothing">Hello, World!</span>
823 would result in::
825 <span>Hello, World!</span>
827 **default**
828 Also a special variable - if an expression evaluates to this, then the
829 existing HTML in the template will not be replaced or removed, it will
830 remain. So::
832 <span tal:replace="default">Hello, World!</span>
834 would result in::
836 <span>Hello, World!</span>
838 **utils**
839 This variable makes available some utility functions like batching.
841 The context variable
842 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
844 The *context* variable is one of three things based on the current context
845 (see `determining web context`_ for how we figure this out):
847 1. if we're looking at a "home" page, then it's None
848 2. if we're looking at a specific hyperdb class, it's a
849 `hyperdb class wrapper`_.
850 3. if we're looking at a specific hyperdb item, it's a
851 `hyperdb item wrapper`_.
853 If the context is not None, we can access the properties of the class or item.
854 The only real difference between cases 2 and 3 above are:
856 1. the properties may have a real value behind them, and this will appear if
857 the property is displayed through ``context/property`` or
858 ``context/property/field``.
859 2. the context's "id" property will be a false value in the second case, but
860 a real, or true value in the third. Thus we can determine whether we're
861 looking at a real item from the hyperdb by testing "context/id".
863 Hyperdb class wrapper
864 :::::::::::::::::::::
866 Note: this is implemented by the roundup.cgi.templating.HTMLClass class.
868 This wrapper object provides access to a hyperb class. It is used primarily
869 in both index view and new item views, but it's also usable anywhere else that
870 you wish to access information about a class, or the items of a class, when
871 you don't have a specific item of that class in mind.
873 We allow access to properties. There will be no "id" property. The value
874 accessed through the property will be the current value of the same name from
875 the CGI form.
877 There are several methods available on these wrapper objects:
879 =========== =============================================================
880 Method Description
881 =========== =============================================================
882 properties return a `hyperdb property wrapper`_ for all of this class'
883 properties.
884 list lists all of the active (not retired) items in the class.
885 csv return the items of this class as a chunk of CSV text.
886 propnames lists the names of the properties of this class.
887 filter lists of items from this class, filtered and sorted
888 by the current *request* filterspec/filter/sort/group args
889 classhelp display a link to a javascript popup containing this class'
890 "help" template.
891 submit generate a submit button (and action hidden element)
892 renderWith render this class with the given template.
893 history returns 'New node - no history' :)
894 is_edit_ok is the user allowed to Edit the current class?
895 is_view_ok is the user allowed to View the current class?
896 =========== =============================================================
898 Note that if you have a property of the same name as one of the above methods,
899 you'll need to access it using a python "item access" expression. For example::
901 python:context['list']
903 will access the "list" property, rather than the list method.
906 Hyperdb item wrapper
907 ::::::::::::::::::::
909 Note: this is implemented by the roundup.cgi.templating.HTMLItem class.
911 This wrapper object provides access to a hyperb item.
913 We allow access to properties. There will be no "id" property. The value
914 accessed through the property will be the current value of the same name from
915 the CGI form.
917 There are several methods available on these wrapper objects:
919 =============== =============================================================
920 Method Description
921 =============== =============================================================
922 submit generate a submit button (and action hidden element)
923 journal return the journal of the current item (**not implemented**)
924 history render the journal of the current item as HTML
925 renderQueryForm specific to the "query" class - render the search form for
926 the query
927 hasPermission specific to the "user" class - determine whether the user
928 has a Permission
929 is_edit_ok is the user allowed to Edit the current item?
930 is_view_ok is the user allowed to View the current item?
931 =============== =============================================================
934 Note that if you have a property of the same name as one of the above methods,
935 you'll need to access it using a python "item access" expression. For example::
937 python:context['journal']
939 will access the "journal" property, rather than the journal method.
942 Hyperdb property wrapper
943 ::::::::::::::::::::::::
945 Note: this is implemented by subclasses roundup.cgi.templating.HTMLProperty
946 class (HTMLStringProperty, HTMLNumberProperty, and so on).
948 This wrapper object provides access to a single property of a class. Its
949 value may be either:
951 1. if accessed through a `hyperdb item wrapper`_, then it's a value from the
952 hyperdb
953 2. if access through a `hyperdb class wrapper`_, then it's a value from the
954 CGI form
957 The property wrapper has some useful attributes:
959 =============== =============================================================
960 Attribute Description
961 =============== =============================================================
962 _name the name of the property
963 _value the value of the property if any
964 =============== =============================================================
966 There are several methods available on these wrapper objects:
968 =========== =================================================================
969 Method Description
970 =========== =================================================================
971 plain render a "plain" representation of the property
972 field render a form edit field for the property
973 stext only on String properties - render the value of the
974 property as StructuredText (requires the StructureText module
975 to be installed separately)
976 multiline only on String properties - render a multiline form edit
977 field for the property
978 email only on String properties - render the value of the
979 property as an obscured email address
980 confirm only on Password properties - render a second form edit field for
981 the property, used for confirmation that the user typed the
982 password correctly. Generates a field with name "name:confirm".
983 reldate only on Date properties - render the interval between the
984 date and now
985 pretty only on Interval properties - render the interval in a
986 pretty format (eg. "yesterday")
987 menu only on Link and Multilink properties - render a form select
988 list for this property
989 reverse only on Multilink properties - produce a list of the linked
990 items in reverse order
991 =========== =================================================================
993 The request variable
994 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
996 Note: this is implemented by the roundup.cgi.templating.HTMLRequest class.
998 The request variable is packed with information about the current request.
1000 .. taken from roundup.cgi.templating.HTMLRequest docstring
1002 =========== =================================================================
1003 Variable Holds
1004 =========== =================================================================
1005 form the CGI form as a cgi.FieldStorage
1006 env the CGI environment variables
1007 url the current URL path for this request
1008 base the base URL for this tracker
1009 user a HTMLUser instance for this user
1010 classname the current classname (possibly None)
1011 template the current template (suffix, also possibly None)
1012 form the current CGI form variables in a FieldStorage
1013 =========== =================================================================
1015 **Index page specific variables (indexing arguments)**
1017 =========== =================================================================
1018 Variable Holds
1019 =========== =================================================================
1020 columns dictionary of the columns to display in an index page
1021 show a convenience access to columns - request/show/colname will
1022 be true if the columns should be displayed, false otherwise
1023 sort index sort column (direction, column name)
1024 group index grouping property (direction, column name)
1025 filter properties to filter the index on
1026 filterspec values to filter the index on
1027 search_text text to perform a full-text search on for an index
1028 =========== =================================================================
1030 There are several methods available on the request variable:
1032 =============== =============================================================
1033 Method Description
1034 =============== =============================================================
1035 description render a description of the request - handle for the page
1036 title
1037 indexargs_form render the current index args as form elements
1038 indexargs_url render the current index args as a URL
1039 base_javascript render some javascript that is used by other components of
1040 the templating
1041 batch run the current index args through a filter and return a
1042 list of items (see `hyperdb item wrapper`_, and
1043 `batching`_)
1044 =============== =============================================================
1046 The form variable
1047 :::::::::::::::::
1049 The form variable is a little special because it's actually a python
1050 FieldStorage object. That means that you have two ways to access its
1051 contents. For example, to look up the CGI form value for the variable
1052 "name", use the path expression::
1054 request/form/name/value
1056 or the python expression::
1058 python:request.form['name'].value
1060 Note the "item" access used in the python case, and also note the explicit
1061 "value" attribute we have to access. That's because the form variables are
1062 stored as MiniFieldStorages. If there's more than one "name" value in
1063 the form, then the above will break since ``request/form/name`` is actually a
1064 *list* of MiniFieldStorages. So it's best to know beforehand what you're
1065 dealing with.
1068 The db variable
1069 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1071 Note: this is implemented by the roundup.cgi.templating.HTMLDatabase class.
1073 Allows access to all hyperdb classes as attributes of this variable. If you
1074 want access to the "user" class, for example, you would use::
1076 db/user
1077 python:db.user
1079 The access results in a `hyperdb class wrapper`_.
1082 The util variable
1083 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1085 Note: this is implemented by the roundup.cgi.templating.TemplatingUtils class.
1087 =============== =============================================================
1088 Method Description
1089 =============== =============================================================
1090 Batch return a batch object using the supplied list
1091 =============== =============================================================
1093 Batching
1094 ::::::::
1096 Use Batch to turn a list of items, or item ids of a given class, into a series
1097 of batches. Its usage is::
1099 python:util.Batch(sequence, size, start, end=0, orphan=0, overlap=0)
1101 or, to get the current index batch::
1103 request/batch
1105 The parameters are:
1107 ========= ==================================================================
1108 Parameter Usage
1109 ========= ==================================================================
1110 sequence a list of HTMLItems
1111 size how big to make the sequence.
1112 start where to start (0-indexed) in the sequence.
1113 end where to end (0-indexed) in the sequence.
1114 orphan if the next batch would contain less items than this
1115 value, then it is combined with this batch
1116 overlap the number of items shared between adjacent batches
1117 ========= ==================================================================
1119 All of the parameters are assigned as attributes on the batch object. In
1120 addition, it has several more attributes:
1122 =============== ============================================================
1123 Attribute Description
1124 =============== ============================================================
1125 start indicates the start index of the batch. *Note: unlike the
1126 argument, is a 1-based index (I know, lame)*
1127 first indicates the start index of the batch *as a 0-based
1128 index*
1129 length the actual number of elements in the batch
1130 sequence_length the length of the original, unbatched, sequence.
1131 =============== ============================================================
1133 And several methods:
1135 =============== ============================================================
1136 Method Description
1137 =============== ============================================================
1138 previous returns a new Batch with the previous batch settings
1139 next returns a new Batch with the next batch settings
1140 propchanged detect if the named property changed on the current item
1141 when compared to the last item
1142 =============== ============================================================
1144 An example of batching::
1146 <table class="otherinfo">
1147 <tr><th colspan="4" class="header">Existing Keywords</th></tr>
1148 <tr tal:define="keywords db/keyword/list"
1149 tal:repeat="start python:range(0, len(keywords), 4)">
1150 <td tal:define="batch python:utils.Batch(keywords, 4, start)"
1151 tal:repeat="keyword batch" tal:content="keyword/name">keyword here</td>
1152 </tr>
1153 </table>
1155 ... which will produce a table with four columns containing the items of the
1156 "keyword" class (well, their "name" anyway).
1158 Displaying Properties
1159 ---------------------
1161 Properties appear in the user interface in three contexts: in indices, in
1162 editors, and as search arguments.
1163 For each type of property, there are several display possibilities.
1164 For example, in an index view, a string property may just be
1165 printed as a plain string, but in an editor view, that property may be
1166 displayed in an editable field.
1169 Index Views
1170 -----------
1172 This is one of the class context views. It is also the default view for
1173 classes. The template used is "*classname*.index".
1175 Index View Specifiers
1176 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1178 An index view specifier (URL fragment) looks like this (whitespace has been
1179 added for clarity)::
1181 /issue?status=unread,in-progress,resolved&
1182 topic=security,ui&
1183 :group=+priority&
1184 :sort==activity&
1185 :filters=status,topic&
1186 :columns=title,status,fixer
1188 The index view is determined by two parts of the specifier: the layout part and
1189 the filter part. The layout part consists of the query parameters that begin
1190 with colons, and it determines the way that the properties of selected items
1191 are displayed. The filter part consists of all the other query parameters, and
1192 it determines the criteria by which items are selected for display.
1193 The filter part is interactively manipulated with the form widgets displayed in
1194 the filter section. The layout part is interactively manipulated by clicking on
1195 the column headings in the table.
1197 The filter part selects the union of the sets of items with values matching any
1198 specified Link properties and the intersection of the sets of items with values
1199 matching any specified Multilink properties.
1201 The example specifies an index of "issue" items. Only items with a "status" of
1202 either "unread" or "in-progres" or "resolved" are displayed, and only items
1203 with "topic" values including both "security" and "ui" are displayed. The items
1204 are grouped by priority, arranged in ascending order; and within groups, sorted
1205 by activity, arranged in descending order. The filter section shows filters for
1206 the "status" and "topic" properties, and the table includes columns for the
1207 "title", "status", and "fixer" properties.
1209 Filtering of indexes
1210 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1212 TODO
1214 Searching Views
1215 ---------------
1217 This is one of the class context views. The template used is typically
1218 "*classname*.search".
1220 TODO
1222 Item Views
1223 ----------
1225 The basic view of a hyperdb item is provided by the "*classname*.item"
1226 template. It generally has three sections; an "editor", a "spool" and a
1227 "history" section.
1231 Editor Section
1232 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1234 The editor section is used to manipulate the item - it may be a
1235 static display if the user doesn't have permission to edit the item.
1237 Here's an example of a basic editor template (this is the default "classic"
1238 template issue item edit form - from the "issue.item" template)::
1240 <table class="form">
1241 <tr>
1242 <th nowrap>Title</th>
1243 <td colspan=3 tal:content="structure python:context.title.field(size=60)">title</td>
1244 </tr>
1246 <tr>
1247 <th nowrap>Priority</th>
1248 <td tal:content="structure context/priority/menu">priority</td>
1249 <th nowrap>Status</th>
1250 <td tal:content="structure context/status/menu">status</td>
1251 </tr>
1253 <tr>
1254 <th nowrap>Superseder</th>
1255 <td>
1256 <span tal:replace="structure python:context.superseder.field(showid=1, size=20)" />
1257 <span tal:replace="structure python:db.issue.classhelp('id,title')" />
1258 <span tal:condition="context/superseder">
1259 <br>View: <span tal:replace="structure python:context.superseder.link(showid=1)" />
1260 </span>
1261 </td>
1262 <th nowrap>Nosy List</th>
1263 <td>
1264 <span tal:replace="structure context/nosy/field" />
1265 <span tal:replace="structure python:db.user.classhelp('username,realname,address,phone')" />
1266 </td>
1267 </tr>
1269 <tr>
1270 <th nowrap>Assigned To</th>
1271 <td tal:content="structure context/assignedto/menu">
1272 assignedto menu
1273 </td>
1274 <td> </td>
1275 <td> </td>
1276 </tr>
1278 <tr>
1279 <th nowrap>Change Note</th>
1280 <td colspan=3>
1281 <textarea name=":note" wrap="hard" rows="5" cols="60"></textarea>
1282 </td>
1283 </tr>
1285 <tr>
1286 <th nowrap>File</th>
1287 <td colspan=3><input type="file" name=":file" size="40"></td>
1288 </tr>
1290 <tr>
1291 <td> </td>
1292 <td colspan=3 tal:content="structure context/submit">
1293 submit button will go here
1294 </td>
1295 </tr>
1296 </table>
1299 When a change is submitted, the system automatically generates a message
1300 describing the changed properties. As shown in the example, the editor
1301 template can use the ":note" and ":file" fields, which are added to the
1302 standard change note message generated by Roundup.
1304 Spool Section
1305 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1307 The spool section lists related information like the messages and files of
1308 an issue.
1310 TODO
1313 History Section
1314 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1316 The final section displayed is the history of the item - its database journal.
1317 This is generally generated with the template::
1319 <tal:block tal:replace="structure context/history" />
1321 *To be done:*
1323 *The actual history entries of the item may be accessed for manual templating
1324 through the "journal" method of the item*::
1326 <tal:block tal:repeat="entry context/journal">
1327 a journal entry
1328 </tal:block>
1330 *where each journal entry is an HTMLJournalEntry.*
1332 Defining new web actions
1333 ------------------------
1335 XXX
1338 Access Controls
1339 ===============
1341 A set of Permissions are built in to the security module by default:
1343 - Edit (everything)
1344 - View (everything)
1346 The default interfaces define:
1348 - Web Registration
1349 - Web Access
1350 - Web Roles
1351 - Email Registration
1352 - Email Access
1354 These are hooked into the default Roles:
1356 - Admin (Edit everything, View everything, Web Roles)
1357 - User (Web Access, Email Access)
1358 - Anonymous (Web Registration, Email Registration)
1360 And finally, the "admin" user gets the "Admin" Role, and the "anonymous" user
1361 gets the "Anonymous" assigned when the database is initialised on installation.
1362 The two default schemas then define:
1364 - Edit issue, View issue (both)
1365 - Edit file, View file (both)
1366 - Edit msg, View msg (both)
1367 - Edit support, View support (extended only)
1369 and assign those Permissions to the "User" Role. New users are assigned the
1370 Roles defined in the config file as:
1372 - NEW_WEB_USER_ROLES
1373 - NEW_EMAIL_USER_ROLES
1375 You may alter the configuration variables to change the Role that new web or
1376 email users get, for example to not give them access to the web interface if
1377 they register through email.
1379 You may use the ``roundup-admin`` "``security``" command to display the
1380 current Role and Permission configuration in your tracker.
1382 Adding a new Permission
1383 -----------------------
1385 When adding a new Permission, you will need to:
1387 1. add it to your tracker's dbinit so it is created
1388 2. enable it for the Roles that should have it (verify with
1389 "``roundup-admin security``")
1390 3. add it to the relevant HTML interface templates
1391 4. add it to the appropriate xxxPermission methods on in your tracker
1392 interfaces module
1396 Examples
1397 ========
1399 Adding a new field to a roundup schema
1400 --------------------------------------
1402 This example shows how to add a new constrained property (ie. a selection of
1403 distinct values) to your tracker.
1405 Introduction
1406 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
1408 To make the classic schema of roundup useful as a todo tracking system
1409 for a group of systems administrators, it needed an extra data field
1410 per issue: a category.
1412 This would let sysads quickly list all todos in their particular
1413 area of interest without having to do complex queries, and without
1414 relying on the spelling capabilities of other sysads (a losing
1415 proposition at best).
1417 Adding a field to the database
1418 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1420 This is the easiest part of the change. The category would just be a plain
1421 string, nothing fancy. To change what is in the database you need to add
1422 some lines to the ``open()`` function in ``dbinit.py``::
1424 category = Class(db, "category", name=String())
1425 category.setkey("name")
1427 Here we are setting up a chunk of the database which we are calling
1428 "category". It contains a string, which we are refering to as "name" for
1429 lack of a more imaginative title. Then we are setting the key of this chunk
1430 of the database to be that "name". This is equivalent to an index for
1431 database types. This also means that there can only be one category with a
1432 given name.
1434 Adding the above lines allows us to create categories, but they're not tied
1435 to the issues that we are going to be creating. It's just a list of categories
1436 off on its own, which isn't much use. We need to link it in with the issues.
1437 To do that, find the lines in the ``open()`` function in ``dbinit.py`` which
1438 set up the "issue" class, and then add a link to the category::
1440 issue = IssueClass(db, "issue", ... , category=Multilink("category"), ... )
1442 The Multilink() means that each issue can have many categories. If you were
1443 adding something with a more one to one relationship use Link() instead.
1445 That is all you need to do to change the schema. The rest of the effort is
1446 fiddling around so you can actually use the new category.
1448 Setting up security on the new objects
1449 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1451 By default only the admin user can look at and change objects. This doesn't
1452 suit us, as we want any user to be able to create new categories as
1453 required, and obviously everyone needs to be able to view the categories of
1454 issues for it to be useful.
1456 We therefore need to change the security of the category objects. This is
1457 also done in the ``open()`` function of ``dbinit.py``.
1459 There are currently two loops which set up permissions and then assign them
1460 to various roles. Simply add the new "category" to both lists::
1462 # new permissions for this schema
1463 for cl in 'issue', 'file', 'msg', 'user', 'category':
1464 db.security.addPermission(name="Edit", klass=cl,
1465 description="User is allowed to edit "+cl)
1466 db.security.addPermission(name="View", klass=cl,
1467 description="User is allowed to access "+cl)
1469 # Assign the access and edit permissions for issue, file and message
1470 # to regular users now
1471 for cl in 'issue', 'file', 'msg', 'category':
1472 p = db.security.getPermission('View', cl)
1473 db.security.addPermissionToRole('User', p)
1474 p = db.security.getPermission('Edit', cl)
1475 db.security.addPermissionToRole('User', p)
1477 So you are in effect doing the following::
1479 db.security.addPermission(name="Edit", klass='category',
1480 description="User is allowed to edit "+'category')
1481 db.security.addPermission(name="View", klass='category',
1482 description="User is allowed to access "+'category')
1484 which is creating two permission types; that of editing and viewing
1485 "category" objects respectively. Then the following lines assign those new
1486 permissions to the "User" role, so that normal users can view and edit
1487 "category" objects::
1489 p = db.security.getPermission('View', 'category')
1490 db.security.addPermissionToRole('User', p)
1492 p = db.security.getPermission('Edit', 'category')
1493 db.security.addPermissionToRole('User', p)
1495 This is all the work that needs to be done for the database. It will store
1496 categories, and let users view and edit them. Now on to the interface
1497 stuff.
1499 Changing the web left hand frame
1500 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1502 We need to give the users the ability to create new categories, and the
1503 place to put the link to this functionality is in the left hand function
1504 bar, under the "Issues" area. The file that defines how this area looks is
1505 ``html/page``, which is what we are going to be editing next.
1507 If you look at this file you can see that it contains a lot of "classblock"
1508 sections which are chunks of HTML that will be included or excluded in the
1509 output depending on whether the condition in the classblock is met. Under
1510 the end of the classblock for issue is where we are going to add the
1511 category code::
1513 <p class="classblock"
1514 tal:condition="python:request.user.hasPermission('View', 'category')">
1515 <b>Categories</b><br>
1516 <a tal:condition="python:request.user.hasPermission('Edit', 'category')"
1517 href="category?:template=item">New Category<br></a>
1518 </p>
1520 The first two lines is the classblock definition, which sets up a condition
1521 that only users who have "View" permission to the "category" object will
1522 have this section included in their output. Next comes a plain "Categories"
1523 header in bold. Everyone who can view categories will get that.
1525 Next comes the link to the editing area of categories. This link will only
1526 appear if the condition is matched: that condition being that the user has
1527 "Edit" permissions for the "category" objects. If they do have permission
1528 then they will get a link to another page which will let the user add new
1529 categories.
1531 Note that if you have permission to view but not edit categories then all
1532 you will see is a "Categories" header with nothing underneath it. This is
1533 obviously not very good interface design, but will do for now. I just claim
1534 that it is so I can add more links in this section later on. However to fix
1535 the problem you could change the condition in the classblock statement, so
1536 that only users with "Edit" permission would see the "Categories" stuff.
1538 Setting up a page to edit categories
1539 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1541 We defined code in the previous section which let users with the
1542 appropriate permissions see a link to a page which would let them edit
1543 conditions. Now we have to write that page.
1545 The link was for the item template for the category object. This translates
1546 into the system looking for a file called ``category.item`` in the ``html``
1547 tracker directory. This is the file that we are going to write now.
1549 First we add an id tag in a comment which doesn't affect the outcome
1550 of the code at all but is essential for managing the changes to this
1551 file. It is useful for debugging however, if you load a page in a
1552 browser and look at the page source, you can see which sections come
1553 from which files by looking for these comments::
1555 <!-- dollarId: category.item,v 1.3 2002/05/22 00:32:34 me Exp dollar-->
1557 Next we need to setup up a standard HTML form, which is the whole
1558 purpose of this file. We link to some handy javascript which sends the form
1559 through only once. This is to stop users hitting the send button
1560 multiple times when they are impatient and thus having the form sent
1561 multiple times::
1563 <form method="POST" onSubmit="return submit_once()"
1564 enctype="multipart/form-data">
1566 Next we define some code which sets up the minimum list of fields that we
1567 require the user to enter. There will be only one field, that of "name", so
1568 they user better put something in it otherwise the whole form is pointless::
1570 <input type="hidden" name=":required" value="name">
1572 To get everything to line up properly we will put everything in a table,
1573 and put a nice big header on it so the user has an idea what is happening::
1575 <table class="form">
1576 <tr><th class="header" colspan=2>Category</th></tr>
1578 Next we need the actual field that the user is going to enter the new
1579 category. The "context.name.field(size=60)" bit tells roundup to generate a
1580 normal HTML field of size 60, and the contents of that field will be the
1581 "name" variable of the current context (which is "category"). The upshot of
1582 this is that when the user types something in to the form, a new category
1583 will be created with that name::
1585 <tr>
1586 <th nowrap>Name</th>
1587 <td tal:content="structure python:context.name.field(size=60)">name</td>
1588 </tr>
1590 Finally a submit button so that the user can submit the new category::
1592 <tr>
1593 <td> </td>
1594 <td colspan=3 tal:content="structure context/submit">
1595 submit button will go here
1596 </td>
1597 </tr>
1599 So putting it all together, and closing the table and form we get::
1601 <!-- dollarId: category.item,v 1.3 2002/05/22 00:32:34 richard Exp dollar-->
1603 <form method="POST" onSubmit="return submit_once()"
1604 enctype="multipart/form-data">
1606 <input type="hidden" name=":required" value="name">
1608 <table class="form">
1609 <tr><th class="header" colspan=2>Category</th></tr>
1611 <tr>
1612 <th nowrap>Name</th>
1613 <td tal:content="structure python:context.name.field(size=60)">name</td>
1614 </tr>
1616 <tr>
1617 <td> </td>
1618 <td colspan=3 tal:content="structure context/submit">
1619 submit button will go here
1620 </td>
1621 </tr>
1622 </table>
1623 </form>
1625 This is quite a lot to just ask the user one simple question, but
1626 there is a lot of setup for basically one line (the form line) to do
1627 its work. To add another field to "category" would involve one more line
1628 (well maybe a few extra to get the formatting correct).
1630 Adding the category to the issue
1631 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1633 We now have the ability to create issues to our hearts content, but
1634 that is pointless unless we can assign categories to issues. Just like
1635 the ``html/category.item`` file was used to define how to add a new
1636 category, the ``html/issue.item`` is used to define how a new issue is
1637 created.
1639 Just like ``category.issue`` this file defines a form which has a table to lay
1640 things out. It doesn't matter where in the table we add new stuff,
1641 it is entirely up to your sense of aesthetics::
1643 <th nowrap>Category</th>
1644 <td><span tal:replace="structure context/category/field" />
1645 <span tal:replace="structure db/category/classhelp" />
1646 </td>
1648 First we define a nice header so that the user knows what the next section
1649 is, then the middle line does what we are most interested in. This
1650 ``context/category/field`` gets replaced with a field which contains the
1651 category in the current context (the current context being the new issue).
1653 The classhelp lines generate a link (labelled "list") to a popup window
1654 which contains the list of currently known categories.
1656 Searching on categories
1657 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1659 We can add categories, and create issues with categories. The next obvious
1660 thing that we would like to be would be to search issues based on their
1661 category, so that any one working on the web server could look at all
1662 issues in the category "Web" for example.
1664 If you look in the html/page file and look for the "Search Issues" you will
1665 see that it looks something like ``<a href="issue?:template=search">Search
1666 Issues</a>`` which shows us that when you click on "Search Issues" it will
1667 be looking for a ``issue.search`` file to display. So that is indeed the file
1668 that we are going to change.
1670 If you look at this file it should be starting to seem familiar. It is a
1671 simple HTML form using a table to define structure. You can add the new
1672 category search code anywhere you like within that form::
1674 <tr>
1675 <th>Category:</th>
1676 <td>
1677 <select name="category">
1678 <option value="">don't care</option>
1679 <option value="">------------</option>
1680 <option tal:repeat="s db/category/list" tal:attributes="value s/name"
1681 tal:content="s/name">category to filter on</option>
1682 </select>
1683 </td>
1684 <td><input type="checkbox" name=":columns" value="category" checked></td>
1685 <td><input type="radio" name=":sort" value="category"></td>
1686 <td><input type="radio" name=":group" value="category"></td>
1687 </tr>
1689 Most of this is straightforward to anyone who knows HTML. It is just
1690 setting up a select list followed by a checkbox and a couple of radio
1691 buttons.
1693 The ``tal:repeat`` part repeats the tag for every item in the "category"
1694 table and setting "s" to be each category in turn.
1696 The ``tal:attributes`` part is setting up the ``value=`` part of the option tag
1697 to be the name part of "s" which is the current category in the loop.
1699 The ``tal:content`` part is setting the contents of the option tag to be the
1700 name part of "s" again. For objects more complex than category, obviously
1701 you would put an id in the value, and the descriptive part in the content;
1702 but for category they are the same.
1704 Adding category to the default view
1705 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1707 We can now add categories, add issues with categories, and search issues
1708 based on categories. This is everything that we need to do, however there
1709 is some more icing that we would like. I think the category of an issue is
1710 important enough that it should be displayed by default when listing all
1711 the issues.
1713 Unfortunately, this is a bit less obvious than the previous steps. The code
1714 defining how the issues look is in ``html/issue.index``. This is a large table
1715 with a form down the bottom for redisplaying and so forth.
1717 Firstly we need to add an appropriate header to the start of the table::
1719 <th tal:condition="request/show/category">Category</th>
1721 The condition part of this statement is so that if the user has selected
1722 not to see the Category column then they won't.
1724 The rest of the table is a loop which will go through every issue that
1725 matches the display criteria. The loop variable is "i" - which means that
1726 every issue gets assigned to "i" in turn.
1728 The new part of code to display the category will look like this::
1730 <td tal:condition="request/show/category" tal:content="i/category"></td>
1732 The condition is the same as above: only display the condition when the
1733 user hasn't asked for it to be hidden. The next part is to set the content
1734 of the cell to be the category part of "i" - the current issue.
1736 Finally we have to edit ``html/page`` again. This time to tell it that when the
1737 user clicks on "Unnasigned Issues" or "All Issues" that the category should
1738 be displayed. If you scroll down the page file, you can see the links with
1739 lots of options. The option that we are interested in is the ``:columns=`` one
1740 which tells roundup which fields of the issue to display. Simply add
1741 "category" to that list and it all should work.
1744 Adding in state transition control
1745 ----------------------------------
1747 Sometimes tracker admins want to control the states that users may move issues
1748 to.
1750 1. add a Multilink property to the status class::
1752 stat = Class(db, "status", ... , transitions=Multilink('status'), ...)
1754 and then edit the statuses already created through the web using the
1755 generic class list / CSV editor.
1757 2. add an auditor module ``checktransition.py`` in your tracker's
1758 ``detectors`` directory::
1760 def checktransition(db, cl, nodeid, newvalues):
1761 ''' Check that the desired transition is valid for the "status"
1762 property.
1763 '''
1764 if not newvalues.has_key('status'):
1765 return
1766 current = cl.get(nodeid, 'status')
1767 new = newvalues['status']
1768 if new == current:
1769 return
1770 ok = db.status.get(current, 'transitions')
1771 if new not in ok:
1772 raise ValueError, 'Status not allowed to move from "%s" to "%s"'%(
1773 db.status.get(current, 'name'), db.status.get(new, 'name'))
1775 def init(db):
1776 db.issue.audit('set', checktransition)
1778 3. in the ``issue.item`` template, change the status editing bit from::
1780 <th nowrap>Status</th>
1781 <td tal:content="structure context/status/menu">status</td>
1783 to::
1785 <th nowrap>Status</th>
1786 <td>
1787 <select tal:condition="context/id" name="status">
1788 <tal:block tal:define="ok context/status/transitions"
1789 tal:repeat="state db/status/list">
1790 <option tal:condition="python:state.id in ok"
1791 tal:attributes="value state/id;
1792 selected python:state.id == context.status.id"
1793 tal:content="state/name"></option>
1794 </tal:block>
1795 </select>
1796 <tal:block tal:condition="not:context/id"
1797 tal:replace="structure context/status/menu" />
1798 </td>
1800 which displays only the allowed status to transition to.
1803 Displaying entire message contents in the issue display
1804 -------------------------------------------------------
1806 Alter the issue.item template section for messages to::
1808 <table class="messages" tal:condition="context/messages">
1809 <tr><th colspan=3 class="header">Messages</th></tr>
1810 <tal:block tal:repeat="msg context/messages/reverse">
1811 <tr>
1812 <th><a tal:attributes="href string:msg${msg/id}"
1813 tal:content="string:msg${msg/id}"></a></th>
1814 <th tal:content="string:Author: ${msg/author}">author</th>
1815 <th tal:content="string:Date: ${msg/date}">date</th>
1816 </tr>
1817 <tr>
1818 <td colspan="3" class="content">
1819 <pre tal:content="msg/content">content</pre>
1820 </td>
1821 </tr>
1822 </tal:block>
1823 </table>
1825 Restricting the list of users that are assignable to a task
1826 -----------------------------------------------------------
1828 1. In your tracker's "dbinit.py", create a new Role, say "Developer"::
1830 db.security.addRole(name='Developer', description='A developer')
1832 2. Just after that, create a new Permission, say "Fixer", specific to "issue"::
1834 p = db.security.addPermission(name='Fixer', klass='issue',
1835 description='User is allowed to be assigned to fix issues')
1837 3. Then assign the new Permission to your "Developer" Role::
1839 db.security.addPermissionToRole('Developer', p)
1841 4. In the issue item edit page ("html/issue.item" in your tracker dir), use
1842 the new Permission in restricting the "assignedto" list::
1844 <select name="assignedto">
1845 <option value="-1">- no selection -</option>
1846 <tal:block tal:repeat="user db/user/list">
1847 <option tal:condition="python:user.hasPermission('Fixer', context.classname)"
1848 tal:attributes="value user/id;
1849 selected python:user.id == context.assignedto"
1850 tal:content="user/realname"></option>
1851 </tal:block>
1852 </select>
1854 For extra security, you may wish to set up an auditor to enforce the
1855 Permission requirement (install this as "assignedtoFixer.py" in your tracker
1856 "detectors" directory)::
1858 def assignedtoMustBeFixer(db, cl, nodeid, newvalues):
1859 ''' Ensure the assignedto value in newvalues is a used with the Fixer
1860 Permission
1861 '''
1862 if not newvalues.has_key('assignedto'):
1863 # don't care
1864 return
1866 # get the userid
1867 userid = newvalues['assignedto']
1868 if not db.security.hasPermission('Fixer', userid, cl.classname):
1869 raise ValueError, 'You do not have permission to edit %s'%cl.classname
1871 def init(db):
1872 db.issue.audit('set', assignedtoMustBeFixer)
1873 db.issue.audit('create', assignedtoMustBeFixer)
1875 So now, if the edit attempts to set the assignedto to a user that doesn't have
1876 the "Fixer" Permission, the error will be raised.
1879 Setting up a "wizard" (or "druid") for controlled adding of issues
1880 ------------------------------------------------------------------
1882 1. Set up the page templates you wish to use for data input. My wizard
1883 is going to be a two-step process, first figuring out what category of
1884 issue the user is submitting, and then getting details specific to that
1885 category. The first page includes a table of help, explaining what the
1886 category names mean, and then the core of the form::
1888 <form method="POST" onSubmit="return submit_once()"
1889 enctype="multipart/form-data">
1890 <input type="hidden" name=":template" value="add_page1">
1891 <input type="hidden" name=":action" value="page1submit">
1893 <strong>Category:</strong>
1894 <tal:block tal:replace="structure context/category/menu" />
1895 <input type="submit" value="Continue">
1896 </form>
1898 The next page has the usual issue entry information, with the addition of
1899 the following form fragments::
1902 <form method="POST" onSubmit="return submit_once()"
1903 enctype="multipart/form-data" tal:condition="context/is_edit_ok"
1904 tal:define="cat request/form/category/value">
1906 <input type="hidden" name=":template" value="add_page2">
1907 <input type="hidden" name=":required" value="title">
1908 <input type="hidden" name="category" tal:attributes="value cat">
1910 .
1911 .
1912 .
1913 </form>
1915 Note that later in the form, I test the value of "cat" include form
1916 elements that are appropriate. For example::
1918 <tal:block tal:condition="python:cat in '6 10 13 14 15 16 17'.split()">
1919 <tr>
1920 <th nowrap>Operating System</th>
1921 <td tal:content="structure context/os/field"></td>
1922 </tr>
1923 <tr>
1924 <th nowrap>Web Browser</th>
1925 <td tal:content="structure context/browser/field"></td>
1926 </tr>
1927 </tal:block>
1929 ... the above section will only be displayed if the category is one of 6,
1930 10, 13, 14, 15, 16 or 17.
1932 3. Determine what actions need to be taken between the pages - these are
1933 usually to validate user choices and determine what page is next. Now
1934 encode those actions in methods on the interfaces Client class and insert
1935 hooks to those actions in the "actions" attribute on that class, like so::
1937 actions = client.Class.actions + (
1938 ('page1_submit', page1SubmitAction),
1939 )
1941 def page1SubmitAction(self):
1942 ''' Verify that the user has selected a category, and then move on
1943 to page 2.
1944 '''
1945 category = self.form['category'].value
1946 if category == '-1':
1947 self.error_message.append('You must select a category of report')
1948 return
1949 # everything's ok, move on to the next page
1950 self.template = 'add_page2'
1952 4. Use the usual "new" action as the :action on the final page, and you're
1953 done (the standard context/submit method can do this for you).
1955 -------------------
1957 Back to `Table of Contents`_
1959 .. _`Table of Contents`: index.html