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Frontend CRUD

IXP Manager, like many applications, has a lot of tables that need basic CRUD access: Ceate, Read, Update and Delete (plus list and view). In IXP Manager we have created a scaffolding framework in Laravel to allow us to repidly deploy CRUD interfaces.

Configuration

In any controller using extending the Doctrine2Frontend class, a _feInit() method is required which configures the controller and, for example, allows you to set what is displayed for different levels of user privileges.

The primary purpose of this function is to define the anonymous object _feParams (using an object ensures that the view gets a reference to the object and not a copy of a static array at a point in time):

<?php
protected function _feInit()
{
    $this->view->feParams = $this->_feParams = (object)[

        // the ORM entity object that CRUD operations will affect:
        'entity'            => InfrastructureEntity::class,

        'pagetitle'         => 'Infrastructures',

        // default is false. If true, add / edit / delete will be disabled
        'readonly'          => false,

        'titleSingular'     => 'Infrastructure',
        'nameSingular'      => 'an infrastructure',

        'viewFolderName'    => 'infrastructure',

        'readonly'          => self::$read_only,

        'listColumns' => [
            // what columns to display in the list view
            'id'         => [ 'title' => 'DB ID', 'display' => true ],
            'name'       => 'Name',
            'shortname'  => 'Shortname'
        ],

        'listOrderBy'    => 'name',    // how to order columns
        'listOrderByDir' => 'ASC',     // direction of order columns
    ];

    // you can then override some of the above for different user privileges (for example)
    switch( Auth::user() ? Auth::user()->getPrivs() : UserEntity::AUTH_PUBLIC ) {

        case UserEntity::AUTH_SUPERUSER:
            $this->_feParams->pagetitle = 'Infrastructures (Superuser View)';

            $this->_feParams->listColumns = array_merge(
                $this->_feParams->listColumns, [
                    // ...
                ];
            );
            break;

        default:
            if( php_sapi_name() !== "cli" ) {
                abort( 'error/insufficient-permissions' );
            }
    }

    // display the same information in the single object view as the list of objects
    $this->_feParams->viewColumns = $this->_feParams->listColumns;
}

Access Privileges

By default, all Doctrine2Frontend controllers can only be accessed by an authenticated super user (Entities\User::AUTH_SUPERUSER). You can change this by setting the following property on your implementation:

<?php
/**
 * The minimum privileges required to access this controller.
 *
 * If you set this to less than the superuser, you need to manage privileges and access
 * within your own implementation yourself.
 *
 * @var int
 */
public static $minimum_privilege = UserEntity::AUTH_SUPERUSER;

If you set this to less than the superuser, you need to manage privileges and access within your own implementation yourself.

This is normally handled in a number of ways:

  1. dedicated Request object utilising the authorize() method;
  2. additional middleware;
  3. per action basis;
  4. in feInit()

The feInit() method would normally look something like the following:

<?php
// phpunit / artisan trips up here without the cli test:
if( php_sapi_name() !== 'cli' ) {

    // custom access controls:
    switch( Auth::check() ? Auth::user()->getPrivs() : UserEntity::AUTH_PUBLIC ) {
        case UserEntity::AUTH_SUPERUSER:
            break;

        case UserEntity::AUTH_CUSTUSER:
            switch( Route::current()->getName() ) {
                case 'Layer2AddressController@forVlanInterface':
                    break;

                default:
                    $this->unauthorized();
            }
            break;

        default:
            $this->unauthorized();
    }
}

The $this->unauthorized( $url = '', $code = 302 ) calls abort() with the given redirect code and URL. The default parameters will do the right thing.

Routing

Routes are explicitly defined in Laravel. The Doctrine2Frontend class sets up the standard routes automatically once you add the following to your routes/web.php (or as appropriate) file on a per implementation basis. E.g. for the Infrastructure implementation, we add to routes/web-doctrine2frontend.php:

<?php
IXP\Http\Controllers\InfrastructureController::routes();

Note that by placing the above in routes/web-doctrine2frontend.php, you ensure the appropriate middleware is attached.

This routes() function determines the route prefix using kebab case of the controller name. That is to say: if the controller is CustKitController, the determined prefix is cust-kit. You can override this by setting a $route_prefix class constant in your implementation.

The standard routes added (using infrastructure as an example) are:

  • GET infrastructure/add
  • GET infrastructure/edit/{id}
  • GET infrastructure/list
  • GET infrastructure/view/{id}
  • POST infrastructure/delete/{id}
  • POST infrastructure/store

If you want to create your own additional routes, create a function as follows in your implementation:

<?php
public static function additionalRoutes( $route_prefix ) {}

And add routes (using the normal Route::get() / ::post() / etc Laravel methods).

If you want to completely change the routes, just override the public static function routes() {} function.

View Templates

All the common view templates for thss functionality can be found in resources/views/frontend directory. You can override any of these with your own by creating a template of the same name and placing it under resources/views/xxx (or resources/skins/skinname/xxx) where xxx is the feParams['viewFolderName'].

Read Only

If your controller should be read only (list and view actions, no add, edit or delete) then set the following static member:

<?php
/**
 * Is this a read only controller?
 *
 * @var boolean
 */
public static $read_only = true;

Actions

Each of the typical CRUD actions will be described here.

NB: the best documentation is sometimes the code. Check out the above routes file (routes/web-doctrine2frontend.php) and examine some of the implemented controllers directly.

List

The list action is for listing the contents of a database table in a HTML / DataTables view.

The only requirement of the list action is that the following abstract function is implemented:

<?php
/**
 * Provide array of table rows for the list action (and view action)
 *
 * @param int $id The `id` of the row to load for `view` action. `null` if `list` action.
 * @return array
 */
abstract protected function listGetData( $id = null );

A sample implementation for the infrastructure controller just calls a Doctrine2 repository function:

<?php
protected function listGetData( $id = null ) {
    return D2EM::getRepository( InfrastructureEntity::class )->getAllForFeList( $this->feParams, $id );
}

The table rows returned in the above array must be associatative arrays with keys matching the feParams['listColumns'] definition.

The list view template optionally includes other templates you can define (where xxx below is the feParams['viewFolderName']):

  1. the list view includes a JavaScript template resources/views/frontend/js/list which activates the DataTables, sets up sorting, etc. You can override this (and include the original if appropriate) if you want to add additional JS functionality.
  2. if the resources/views/xxx/list-preamble template exists, it is included just before the table.
  3. if the resources/views/xxx/list-postamble template exists, it is included just after the table.
  4. if the resources/views/xxx/list-head-override template exists, it will replace the <thead> element of the list table (example).
  5. if the resources/views/xxx/list-head-override template exists, it will replace the <tr> elements of the list table (example).
  6. if the resources/views/xxx/list-empty-message template exists, it will replace the the standard information box when a table is empty (example).

The following hooks are available:

  • protected function preList():void {} - called before the list is displayed allowing you to add elements to the template, etc.

View

The view action is for showing a single database row identified by the id passed in the URL.

The only requirement of the view action is that the abstract function listGetData( $id = null ) as used by the list action has been correctly implemented to take an optional ID and return an array with a single element matching that ID.

The table rows returned in the above array must be associatative arrays with keys matching the feParams['viewColumns'] definition.

The list view template optionally includes other templates you can define (where xxx below is the feParams['viewFolderName']):

  1. an optional JavaScript template resources/views/frontend/js/view.
  2. if the resources/views/xxx/view-preamble template exists, it is included just before the view panel.
  3. if the resources/views/xxx/view-postamble template exists, it is included just after the view panel.
  4. if the resources/views/xxx/view-row-override template exists, it will replace the <tr> element of the view (example).

Create / Update Form

The presentation of the create / update (also known as add / edit) page is discussed here. Form processing and storage will be dealt with in the next section.

The first required element of this functionality is the implementation of the following abstract function:

<?php
abstract protected function addEditPrepareForm( $id = null ): array;

The use of this function is best explained with reference to an implementation from the infrastructure controller:

<?php
/**
 * Display the form to add/edit an object
 * @param   int $id ID of the row to edit
 * @return array
 */
protected function addEditPrepareForm( $id = null ): array {
    if( $id !== null ) {

        if( !( $this->object = D2EM::getRepository( InfrastructureEntity::class )->find( $id) ) ) {
            abort(404);
        }

        $old = request()->old();

        // we use array_key_exists() here as the array can contain the
        // key with a null value.

        Former::populate([
            'name'             => array_key_exists( 'name',      $old ) ? $old['name']      : $this->object->getName(),
            'shortname'        => array_key_exists( 'shortname', $old ) ? $old['shortname'] : $this->object->getShortname(),
            'isPrimary'        => array_key_exists( 'isPrimary', $old ) ? $old['isPrimary'] : ( $this->object->getIsPrimary() ?? false ),
        ]);
    }

    return [
        'object'          => $this->object,
    ];
}

Note from the above:

  • this function operates for add and edit. In the case of edit, it tries to load the appropriate object from the database.
  • if it's an edit operation, the Former object is built up containing the existing objects details.
  • you can pass back any data you wish in the returned array and it will be available via $t->params in the template. Note that $t->params['data'] is added later and contains the feParams object.

The next required element is building the actual Former object for display. For this, you must create a custom resources/views/xxx/edit-form template. See, as an example, the infrastructure one under resources/views/infrastructure/edit-form.js.

The add/edit view template optionally includes other templates you can define (where xxx below is the feParams['viewFolderName']):

  1. an optional JavaScript template resources/views/xxx/js/edit.
  2. if the resources/views/xxx/edit-preamble template exists, it is included just before the view panel.
  3. if the resources/views/xxx/edit-postamble template exists, it is included just after the view panel.

You can query the boolean $t->params['isAdd'] in your templates to distinguish between add and edit operations.

Create / Update Store

Storing the edited / new object requires implementing a single abstract method which manages validation and storage. This is best explained with a practical implementation:

<?php
/**
 * Function to do the actual validation and storing of the submitted object.
 * @param Request $request
 * @return bool|RedirectResponse
 */
public function doStore( Request $request )
{
    $validator = Validator::make( $request->all(), [
        'name'                  => 'required|string|max:255',
        'shortname'             => 'required|string|max:255',
    ]);

    if( $validator->fails() ) {
        return Redirect::back()->withErrors($validator)->withInput();
    }

    if( $request->input( 'id', false ) ) {
        if( !( $this->object = D2EM::getRepository( InfrastructureEntity::class )->find( $request->input( 'id' ) ) ) ) {
            abort(404);
        }
    } else {
        $this->object = new InfrastructureEntity;
        D2EM::persist( $this->object );
    }

    $this->object->setName(              $request->input( 'name'         ) );
    $this->object->setShortname(         $request->input( 'shortname'    ) );
    $this->object->setIxfIxId(           $request->input( 'ixf_ix_id'    ) ? $request->input( 'ixf_ix_id'    ) : null );
    $this->object->setPeeringdbIxId(     $request->input( 'pdb_ixp'      ) ? $request->input( 'pdb_ixp'      ) : null );
    $this->object->setIsPrimary(         $request->input( 'primary'      ) ?? false );
    $this->object->setIXP(               D2EM::getRepository( IXPEntity::class )->getDefault() );

    D2EM::flush($this->object);

    if( $this->object->getIsPrimary() ) {
        // reset the rest:
        /** @var InfrastructureEntity $i */
        foreach( D2EM::getRepository( InfrastructureEntity::class )->findAll() as $i ) {
            if( $i->getId() == $this->object->getId() || !$i->getIsPrimary() ) {
                continue;
            }
            $i->setIsPrimary( false );
        }
        D2EM::flush();
    }

    return true;
}

Note from this:

  • validation is the standard Laravel validation which works well with Former.
  • it's important to remember to assign the object as: $this->object = $inf; as it is used to create log messages, etc.

The following hooks are available:

  • protected function postStoreRedirect() {} - the Doctrine2Frontend class returns null. Override it to return a valid route name to have the post store redirect go somewhere besides /list.
  • you can override the default Object added/edited success block by setting $this->store_alert_success_message (string) in doStore().

Delete

Deletes are handled via posts and so have Laravel's built in CSRF protection. The logic is quiet simple:

<?php
public function delete( Request $request ) {

    if( !( $this->object = D2EM::getRepository( $this->feParams->entity )->find( $request->input( 'id' ) ) ) ) {
        return abort( '404' );
    }

    if( $this->preDelete() ) {
        D2EM::remove( $this->object );
        D2EM::flush();
        $this->postFlush( 'delete' );
        AlertContainer::push( $this->feParams->titleSingular . " deleted.", Alert::SUCCESS );
    }

    return redirect()->action( $this->feParams->defaultController.'@'.$this->feParams->defaultAction );
}

As you can see, it calls a protected function preDelete(): bool {} hook which, if it returns false, the delete operation is abandoned.

The following hooks are available:

* `protected function postDeleteRedirect() {}` - the *Doctrine2Frontend* class returns null. Override it to return
    a valid route name to have the post store redirect go somewhere besides `/list`.

Other Hooks

Post Flush

There is a postFlush() hook:

<?php
/**
 * Optional method to be overridden if a D2F controllers needs to perform post-database flush actions
 *
 * @param string $action Either 'add', 'edit', 'delete'
 * @return bool
 */
protected function postFlush( string $action ): bool
{
    return true;
}

which is called during some actions with the action name as a parameter: add, edit, delete. This function is called just after the database flush operation.