split Plugin docs into user and developer pages
This commit is contained in:
Oliver Gorwits
187
Netdisco/lib/App/Netdisco/Manual/WritingPlugins.pm
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187
Netdisco/lib/App/Netdisco/Manual/WritingPlugins.pm
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@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
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=head1 NAME
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App::Netdisco::Manual::WritingPlugins - Documentation on Plugins for Developers
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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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See L<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin> for more general information about 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. Note that Tab plugins usually live in
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the C<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Device> or
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C<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search> namespace.
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To register a handler for display as a Search page Tab, use the following
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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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package App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search::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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register_search_tab({id => 'newfeature', label => 'My New Feature'});
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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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true;
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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 a handler 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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=head2 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 those 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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package App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search::MyNewFeature
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use File::ShareDir 'dist_dir';
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register_template_path(
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dist_dir( 'App-Netdisco-Web-Plugin-Search-MyNewFeature' ));
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The registered path will be searched before the built-in C<App::Netdisco>
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path. We recommend use of the L<File::ShareDir> module to package and ship
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templates along with your plugin, as shown.
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Each path added using C<register_template_path> is searched I<before> any
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existing paths in the template config.
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=head3 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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@@ -113,12 +113,12 @@ App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin - Plugin subsystem for App::Netdisco Web UI component
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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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L<App::Netdisco>'s plugin subsystem allows the user more control of Netdisco
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UI components displayed in the web browser. Plugins can be distributed
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independently from Netdisco and are a better alternative to source code
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patches.
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So far, the following UI compoents are implemented as plugins:
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The following UI components are implemented as plugins:
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=over 4
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@@ -130,12 +130,14 @@ Navigation Bar items (e.g. Inventory link)
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Tabs for Search and Device pages
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=item *
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Reports (pre-canned searches)
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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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This document explains how to configure which plugins are loaded. See
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L<App::Netdisco::Manual::WritingPlugins> if you want to develop new plugins.
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=head1 Application Configuration
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@@ -146,6 +148,7 @@ be loaded. For example:
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web_plugins:
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- Inventory
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- Report::DuplexMismatch
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- Search::Device
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- Search::Node
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- Search::Port
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@@ -169,9 +172,7 @@ 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. Unsurprisingly, the
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@@ -190,174 +191,5 @@ 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
|
||||
will install a L<Dancer> route handler subroutine, and link this to a web user
|
||||
interface (UI) component.
|
||||
|
||||
Explaining how to write Dancer route handlers is beyond the scope of this
|
||||
document, but by examining the source to the plugins in App::Netdisco you'll
|
||||
probably get enough of an idea to begin on your own.
|
||||
|
||||
App::Netdisco plugins should load the L<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin> module.
|
||||
This exports a set of helper subroutines to register the new UI components.
|
||||
Here's the boilerplate code for our example plugin module:
|
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|
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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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|
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These components appear in the black navigation bar at the top of each page,
|
||||
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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|
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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
|
||||
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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|
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=head2 Search and Device page Tabs
|
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|
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These components appear as tabs in the interface when the user reaches the
|
||||
Search page or Device details page. Note that Tab plugins usually live in
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the C<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Device> or
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C<App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search> namespace.
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|
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To register a handler for display as a Search page Tab, use the following
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||||
code:
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||||
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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
|
||||
an AJAX call back to the web server. This uses a predictable URL path format:
|
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|
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/ajax/content/<search or device>/<feature ID>
|
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|
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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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package App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search::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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register_search_tab({id => 'newfeature', label => 'My New Feature'});
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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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true;
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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 a handler 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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||||
|
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register_device_tab({id => 'newfeature', label => 'My New Feature'});
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=head2 Templates
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All of Netdisco's web page templates are stashed away in its distribution,
|
||||
probably installed in your system's or user's Perl directory. It's not
|
||||
recommended that you mess about with those files.
|
||||
|
||||
So in order to replace a template with your own version, or to reference a
|
||||
template file of your own in your plugin, you need a new path:
|
||||
|
||||
package App::Netdisco::Web::Plugin::Search::MyNewFeature
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use File::ShareDir 'dist_dir';
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register_template_path(
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dist_dir( 'App-Netdisco-Web-Plugin-Search-MyNewFeature' ));
|
||||
|
||||
The registered path will be searched before the built-in C<App::Netdisco>
|
||||
path. We recommend use of the L<File::ShareDir> module to package and ship
|
||||
templates along with your plugin, as shown.
|
||||
|
||||
=head3 Template Variables
|
||||
|
||||
Some useful variables are made available in your templates automatically by
|
||||
App::Netdisco:
|
||||
|
||||
=over 4
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|
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=item C<search_node>
|
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|
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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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|
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=item C<search_device>
|
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|
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A base url which links to the Device tab of the Search page, together with the
|
||||
correct default search options set.
|
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|
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=item C<device_ports>
|
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|
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A base url which links to the Ports tab of the Device page, together with
|
||||
the correct default column view options set.
|
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|
||||
=item C<uri_base>
|
||||
|
||||
Used for linking to static content within App::Netdisco safely if the base of
|
||||
the app is relocated, for example:
|
||||
|
||||
<link rel="stylesheet" href="[% uri_base %]/css/toastr.css"/>
|
||||
|
||||
=item C<uri_for>
|
||||
|
||||
Simply the Dancer C<uri_for> method. Allows you to do things like this in the
|
||||
template safely if the base of the app is relocated:
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="[% uri_for('/search') %]" ...>
|
||||
|
||||
=item C<self_options>
|
||||
|
||||
Available in the Device tabs, use this if you need to refer back to the
|
||||
current page with some additional parameters, for example:
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="[% uri_for('/device', self_options) %]&foo=bar" ...>
|
||||
|
||||
=back
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||||
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||||
=cut
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user