add Plugin POD and knock back version to beta release
This commit is contained in:
Oliver Gorwits
@@ -57,3 +57,237 @@ register 'register_device_tab' => sub {
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register_plugin;
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true;
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=head1 NAME
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App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin - Plugin subsystem for App::Netdisco Web UI components
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=head1 Introduction
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L<App::Netdisco>'s plugin subsystem allows developers to write and test web
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user interface (UI) components without needing to patch the main Netdisco
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application. It also allows the end-user more control over the UI components
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displayed in their browser.
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So far, the following UI compoents are implemented as plugins:
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=over 4
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=item *
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Navigation Bar items (e.g. Inventory link)
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=item *
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Tabs for Search and Device pages
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=back
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In the future there will be other components supported, such as Reports.
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This document explains first how to configure which plugins are loaded (useful
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for the end-user) and then also how to write and install your own plugins.
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=head1 Application Configuration
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In the main C<config.yml> file for App::Netdisco (located in C<share/...>)
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you'll find the C<web_plugins> configuration directive. This lists, in YAML
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format, a set of Perl module names (or partial names) which are the plugins to
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be loaded. For example:
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web_plugins:
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- Inventory
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- Search::Device
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- Search::Node
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- Search::Port
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- Device::Details
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- Device::Ports
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When the name is specified as above, App::Netdisco automatically prepends
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"C<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::>" to the name. This makes, for example,
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L<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Inventory>. This is the module which is loaded
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to add a user interface component.
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Such plugin modules can either ship with the App::Netdisco distribution
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itself, or be installed separately. Perl uses the standard C<@INC> path
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searching mechanism to load the plugin modules.
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If an entry in the C<web_plugins> list starts with a "C<+>" (plus) sign then
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App::Netdisco attemps to load the module as-is, without prepending anything to
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the name. This allows you to have App::Netdiso web UI plugins in other
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namespaces:
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web_plugins:
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- Inventory
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- Search::Device
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- Search::Node
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- Device::Details
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- Device::Ports
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- +My::Other::Netdisco::Web::Component
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The order of the entries in C<web_plugins> is significant. Surprisingly
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enough, the modules are loaded in order. Therefore Navigation Bar items appear
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in the order listed, and Tabs appear on the Search and Device pages in the
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order listed.
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The consequence of this is that if you want to change the order (or add or
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remove entries) then simply edit the C<web_plugins> setting. In fact, we
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recommend adding this setting to your C<< <environment>.yml >> file and
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leaving the C<config.yml> file alone. Your Environment's version will take
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prescedence.
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Finally, if you want to add components without completely overriding the
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C<web_plugins> setting, use the C<extra_web_plugins> setting instead in your
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Environment configuration. Any Navigation Bar items or Page Tabs are added
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after those in C<web_plugins>.
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=head1 Developing Plugins
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A plugin is simply a Perl module which is loaded. Therefore it can do anything
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you like, but most usefully for the App::Netdisco web application, the module
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will install a L<Dancer> route handler subroutine, and link this to a web user
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interface (UI) component.
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Explaining how to write Dancer route handlers is beyond the scope of this
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document, but by examining the source to the plugins in App::Netdisco you'll
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probably get enough of an idea to begin on your own.
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App::Netdisco plugins should load the L<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin> module.
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This exports a set of helper subroutines to register the new UI components.
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Here's the boilerplate code for our example plugin module:
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package App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::MyNewFeature
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use Dancer ':syntax';
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use Dancer::Plugin::Ajax;
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use Dancer::Plugin::DBIC;
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use App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin;
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# plugin registration code goes here, ** see below **
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# your Dancer route handler, for example:
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get '/mynewfeature' => sub {
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# ...lorem ipsum...
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};
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true;
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=head2 Navigation Bar items
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These components appear in the black navigation bar at the top of each page,
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as individual items (i.e. not in a menu). The canonical example of this is the
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Inventory link.
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To register an item for display in the navigation bar, use the following code:
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register_navbar_item({
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id => 'newfeature',
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path => '/mynewfeature',
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label => 'My New Feature',
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});
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This causes an item to appear in the Navigation Bar with a visible text of "My
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New Feature" which when clicked sends the user to the C</mynewfeature> page.
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Note that this won't work for any target link - the path must be an
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App::Netdisco Dancer route handler. Please bug the App::Netdisco devs if you
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want arbitrary links supported.
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=head2 Search and Device page Tabs
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These components appear as tabs in the interface when the user reaches the
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Search page or Device details page. If you add a new tab, remember that the
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C<package> name in the file should be C<...Plugin::Device::MyNewFeature> (i.e.
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within the Device namespace).
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To register an item for display as a Search page Tab, use the following code:
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register_search_tab({id => 'newfeature', label => 'My New Feature'});
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This causes a tab to appear with the label "My New Feature". So how does
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App::Netdisco know what the link should be? Well, as the
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L<App::Netdisco::Developing> documentation says, tab content is retrieved by
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an AJAX call back to the web server. This uses a predictable URL path format:
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/ajax/content/<search or device>/<feature ID>
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For example:
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/ajax/content/search/newfeature
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Therefore your plugin module should look like the following:
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ajax '/ajax/content/search/newfeature' => sub {
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# ...lorem ipsum...
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content_type('text/html');
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# return some HTML content here, probably using a template
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};
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If this all sounds a bit daunting, take a look at the
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L<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search::Port> module which is fairly
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straightforward.
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To register an item for display as a Device page Tab, the only difference is
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the name of the registration helper sub:
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register_device_tab({id => 'newfeature', label => 'My New Feature'});
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=head1 Templates
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All of Netdisco's web page templates are stashed away in its distribution,
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probably installed in your system's or user's Perl directory. It's not
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recommended that you mess about with these files.
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So in order to replace a template with your own version, or to reference a
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template file of your own in your plugin, you need a new path.
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TODO: this bit!
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=head2 Template Variables
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Some useful variables are made available in your templates automatically by
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App::Netdisco:
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=over 4
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=item C<search_node>
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A base url which links to the Node tab of the Search page, together with the
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correct default search options set.
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=item C<search_device>
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A base url which links to the Device tab of the Search page, together with the
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correct default search options set.
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=item C<device_ports>
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A base url which links to the Ports tab of the Device page, together with
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the correct default column view options set.
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=item C<uri_base>
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Used for linking to static content within App::Netdisco safely if the base of
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the app is relocated, for example:
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="[% uri_base %]/css/toastr.css"/>
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=item C<uri_for>
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Simply the Dancer C<uri_for> method. Allows you to do things like this in the
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template safely if the base of the app is relocated:
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<a href="[% uri_for('/search') %]" ...>
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=item C<self_options>
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Available in the Device tabs, use this if you need to refer back to the
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current page with some additional parameters, for example:
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<a href="[% uri_for('/device', self_options) %]&foo=bar" ...>
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=back
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=cut
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