diff --git a/pages/06.contribute/10.packaging_apps/60.advanced/20.config_panels/config_panels.md b/pages/06.contribute/10.packaging_apps/60.advanced/20.config_panels/config_panels.md
index f9e4cac3..9d02b98a 100644
--- a/pages/06.contribute/10.packaging_apps/60.advanced/20.config_panels/config_panels.md
+++ b/pages/06.contribute/10.packaging_apps/60.advanced/20.config_panels/config_panels.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
---
-title: Config panels
+title: Configuration panel for apps
template: docs
taxonomy:
category: docs
@@ -7,125 +7,144 @@ routes:
default: '/packaging_config_panels'
---
-# Configuration panel for apps
-Configuration panels for apps allows to let instances adminitrators manage some parameters or runs some actions for which the upstream doesn't provide any configuration panels itself. It's a good way to reduce manual change on config files and avoid conflicts on it.
+Configuration panels allow to let admins manage parameters or runs actions for which the upstream's app doesn't provide any appropriate UI itself. It's a good way to reduce manual change on config files and avoid conflicts on it.
-Those panels could aslo be used as interface generator to extend quickly capabilities of YunoHost (e.g. VPN Client, Hotspost, Borg, etc.).
+Those panels can also be used to quickly create interfaces that extend the capabilities of YunoHost (e.g. VPN Client, Hotspost, Borg, etc.).
-! Please: Keep in mind the YunoHost spirit, and try to build your panels in such a way as to expose only really useful parameters, and if there are many of them, to relegate those corresponding to rarer use cases to "Advanced" sub-sections.
+! Please: Keep in mind the YunoHost spirit, and try to build your panels in such a way as to expose only really useful, "high-level" parameters, and if there are many of them, to relegate those corresponding to rarer use cases to "Advanced" sub-sections. Keep it simple, focus on common needs, don't expect the admins to have 3 PhDs in computer science.
-## How does `config_panel.toml` work
+## `config_panel.toml`'s principle and general format
-Basically, configuration panels for apps uses at least a `config_panel.toml` at the root of your package. For advanced usecases, this TOML file could also be paired with a `config` script inside the scripts directory of your package.
+To create configuration panels for apps, you should at least create a `config_panel.toml` at the root of the package. For more complex cases, this TOML file can be paired with a `config` script inside the scripts directory of your package, which will handle specific controller logic.
-The `config_panel.toml` file describes one or several panels, containing some sections, containing some questions generally binded to a params in a configuration file.
+The `config_panel.toml` describes one or several panels, containing sections, each containing questions generally binded to a params in the app's actual configuration files.
-We supposed we have an upstream app with this simple config.yml file:
+Let's imagine that the upstream app is configured using this simple `config.yml` file stored in the app's install directory (typically `/var/www/$app/config.yml`):
```yaml
-title: 'My dummy apps'
+title: 'My dummy app'
theme: 'white'
max_rate: 10
max_age: 365
```
-We could for example create a simple configuration panel for it like this one, by following the syntax `\[PANEL.SECTION.QUESTION\]`:
+We could for example create a simple configuration panel for it like this one, by following the syntax `[PANEL.SECTION.QUESTION]`:
```toml
version = "1.0"
[main]
-[main.main]
-[main.main.title]
-ask.en = "Title"
-type = "string"
-bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
+ [main.main]
+ [main.main.title]
+ ask.en = "Title"
+ type = "string"
+ bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
-[main.main.theme]
-ask.en = "Theme"
-type = "select"
-choices = ["white", "dark"]
-bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
+ [main.main.theme]
+ ask.en = "Theme"
+ type = "select"
+ choices = ["white", "dark"]
+ bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
-[main.limits]
-[main.limits.max_rate]
-ask.en = "Maximum display rate"
-type = "number"
-bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
+ [main.limits]
+ [main.limits.max_rate]
+ ask.en = "Maximum display rate"
+ type = "number"
+ bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
-[main.limits.max_age]
-ask.en = "Duration of a dummy"
-type = "number"
-bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
+ [main.limits.max_age]
+ ask.en = "Duration of a dummy"
+ type = "number"
+ bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
```
Here we have created one `main` panel, containing the `main` and `limits` sections, containing questions according to params name of our `config.yml` file. Thanks to the `bind` properties, all those questions are bind to their values in the `config.yml` file.
### Questions short keys have to be unique
-For performance reasons, questions short keys should be unique in all the `config_panel.toml` file, not just inside its panel or its section.
-So you can't have
+For performance reasons, questions short keys have to be unique in all the `config_panel.toml` file, not just inside its panel or its section. Hence it's not possible to have:
```toml
[manual.vpn.server_ip]
[advanced.dns.server_ip]
```
-Indeed the real variable name is server_ip and here you have a conflict.
+In which two questions have "real variable name" `is server_ip` and therefore conflict with each other.
+
+### Supported questions types and properties
-## Panels, sections and questions properties
See [the full list of questions types and properties](/dev/forms)
-## Read and write values
+### Reading and writing values
+
You can read and write values with 2 mechanisms: the `bind` property in the `config_panel.toml` and for complex use cases the getter/setter in a `config` script.
### `bind` property
+
The `bind` property allows to define where read and write the value bind to the question.
#### Default behaviour
-If you have not defined a specific getter/setter (see bellow), and without `bind` argument it will read and save the value in app settings yaml file.
+If you did not define a specific getter/setter (see below), and no `bind` argument was defined, YunoHost will read/write the value from/to the app's `/etc/yunohost/$app/settings.yml` file.
-#### Read / write into a var of a configuration file
+#### Read / write into a var of an actual configuration file
-If you want to read and save the value into a variable (called like the option name) of a file (json, yaml, ini, php, py ...) you can do:
+If you want to read/write the value from/to the app's actual configural file (be it `.env`-like, JSON, YAML, INI, PHP, `.py`, ...):
```toml
+[main.main.theme]
+# (other properties ommited)
bind = ":__INSTALL_DIR__/config.yml"
```
-If you want to read and save the value into an other variable than the `config_panel.toml` question short key (email in the example) of a file (json, yaml, ini, php, py ...) you can do:
+In which case, YunoHost will look for something like a key/value, with the key being `theme`.
+
+If the question id in the config panel (here, `theme`) differs from the key in the actual conf file (let's say it's not `theme` but `css_theme`), then you can write:
```toml
-bind = "email:__FINALPATH__/config.yml"
+[main.main.theme]
+# (other properties ommited)
+bind = "css_theme:__FINALPATH__/config.yml"
```
-!!!! Note: This mechanism is quasi language agnostic, however it's monoline: you can't save multiline text or file in a variable with this method. If you need to save multiline content in a configuration variable, you should do it via a specific getter/setter.
+!!!! Note: This mechanism is quasi language agnostic and will use regexes to find something that looks like a key=value or common variants. However, it does assume that the key and value are stored on the same line. It doesn't support multiline text or file in a variable with this method. If you need to save multiline content in a configuration variable, you should create a custom getter/setter (see below).
-Sometimes, you want to read and save a value in a variable name that appears several time in the configuration file (for example variables called `max`). The `bind` property allows you to change the value on the variable following a regex in a the file:
+Nested syntax is also supported, which may be useful for example to remove ambiguities about stuff looking like:
+```json
+{
+ "foo": {
+ "max": 123
+ },
+ "bar": {
+ "max": 456
+ }
+}
+```
+
+which we can `bind` to using:
```toml
-bind = "importExportRateLimiting>max:__INSTALL_DIR__/conf.json"
+bind = "foo>max:__INSTALL_DIR__/conf.json"
```
#### Read / write an entire file
-If you have a question of type file or text you could want to save the content into a specific path on the system.
+Useful when using a question `file` or `text` for which you want to save the raw content directly as a file on the system.
```toml
+[main.main.logo]
+# (other properties ommited)
bind = "__INSTALL_DIR__/img/logo.png"
```
-### Specific getter / setter
+### Custom getter / setter
+
Sometimes the `bind` mechanism is not enough:
* the config file format is not supported (e.g. xml, csv)
* the data is not contained in a config file (e.g. database, directory, web resources...)
- * the data should be writen but not read (e.g. password)
- * the data should be read but not writen (e.g. status information)
+ * the data should be written but not read (e.g. password)
+ * the data should be read but not written (e.g. fetching status information)
* we want to change other things than the value (e.g. the choices list of a select)
* the question answer contains several values to dispatch in several places
* and so on
-For all of those use cases, there are the specific getter or setter mechanism for a question !
+You can create specific getter/setters functions inside the `scripts/config` of your app to customize how the information is read/written.
-To create specific getter / setter, you first need to create a `config` script inside the `scripts` directory
-
-scripts/config
```bash
#!/bin/bash
source /usr/share/yunohost/helpers
@@ -140,52 +159,65 @@ ynh_app_config_run $1
#### Getter
-A getter is a bash function called `getter_QUESTION_SHORT_KEY()` which returns data through stdout.
+A question's getter is the function used to read the current value/state. Custom getters are defined using bash functions called `getter__QUESTION_SHORT_KEY()` which returns data through stdout.
-Returns could have 2 formats:
- * a raw format, in this case the return is binded directly to the value of the question
- * a yaml format, in this case you can rewrite several properties of your question (like the `style` of an `alert`, the list of `choices` of a `select`, etc.)
+Stdout can generated using one of those formats:
+ 1) either a raw format, in which case the return is binded directly to the value of the question
+ 2) or a yaml format, in this case you dynamically provide properties for your question (for example the `style` of an `alert`, the list of available `choices` of a `select`, etc.)
-[details summary="Basic example : Get the login inside the first line of a file " class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
-scripts/config
-```bash
-get__login_user() {
- if [ -s /etc/openvpn/keys/credentials ]
- then
- echo "$(sed -n 1p /etc/openvpn/keys/credentials)"
- else
- echo ""
- fi
-}
+[details summary="Basic example with raw stdout: get the timezone on the system" class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
+
+`config_panel.toml`
+
+```toml
+[main.main.timezone]
+ask = "Timezone"
+type = "string"
```
-config_panel.toml
-```toml
-[main.auth.login_user]
-ask = "Username"
-type = "string"
+`scripts/config`
+
+```bash
+get__timezone() {
+ echo "$(cat /etc/timezone)"
+}
```
[/details]
-[details summary="Advanced example 1 : Display a list of available plugins" class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
-scripts/config
-```bash
-get__plugins() {
- echo "choices: [$(ls $install_dir/plugins/ | tr '\n' ',')]"
-}
-```
+[details summary="Basic example with yaml-formated stdout : Display a list of available plugins" class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
-config_panel.toml
+`config_panel.toml`
```toml
[main.plugins.plugins]
ask = "Plugin to activate"
type = "tags"
choices = []
```
+
+`scripts/config`
+
+```bash
+get__plugins() {
+ echo "choices: [$(ls $install_dir/plugins/ | tr '\n' ',')]"
+}
+```
+
[/details]
-[details summary="Example 2 : Display the status of a VPN" class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
-scripts/config
+[details summary="Advanced example with yaml-formated stdout : Display the status of a VPN" class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
+
+`config_panel.toml`
+
+```toml
+ [main.cube.status]
+ ask = "Custom getter alert"
+ type = "alert"
+ style = "info"
+ bind = "null" # no behaviour on
+```
+
+`scripts/config`
+
```bash
get__status() {
if [ -f "/sys/class/net/tun0/operstate" ] && [ "$(cat /sys/class/net/tun0/operstate)" == "up" ]
@@ -204,44 +236,36 @@ EOF
fi
}
```
-
-config_panel.toml
-```toml
- [main.cube.status]
- ask = "Custom getter alert"
- type = "alert"
- style = "info"
- bind = "null" # no behaviour on
-```
[/details]
#### Setter
-A setter is a bash function called `setter_QUESTION()`. This function could access new values defined by the users by using bash variable with the same name as the short key of a question.
+A question's setter is the function used to set new value/state. Custom setters are defined using bash functions called `setter__QUESTION_SHORT_KEY()`. In the context of the setter function, variables named with the various quetion's short keys are avaible ... for example the user-specified date for question `[main.main.theme]` is available as `$theme`.
-You probably should use `ynh_print_info` in order to display info for user about change that has been made to help them to understand a bit what's going.
+When doing non-trivial operations to set a value, you may want to use `ynh_print_info` to inform the admin about what's going on.
-[details summary="Basic example : Set the login into the first line of a file " class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
-scripts/config
-```bash
-set__login_user() {
- if [ -z "${login_user}" ]
- then
- echo "${login_user}" > /etc/openvpn/keys/credentials
- ynh_print_info "The user login has been registered in /etc/openvpn/keys/credentials"
- fi
-}
+[details summary="Basic example : Set the system timezone" class="helper-card-subtitle text-muted"]
+
+`config_panel.toml`
+
+```toml
+[main.main.timezone]
+ask = "Timezone"
+type = "string"
```
-config_panel.toml
-```toml
-[main.auth.login_user]
-ask = "Username"
-type = "string"
+`scripts/config`
+
+```bash
+set__timezone() {
+ echo "$timezone" > /etc/timezone
+ ynh_print_info "The timezone has been changed to $timezone"
+}
```
[/details]
## Validation
+
You will often need to validate data answered by the user before to save it somewhere.
Validation can be made with regex through `pattern` argument
@@ -252,9 +276,9 @@ Validation can be made with regex through `pattern` argument
You can also restrict several types with a choices list.
```toml
- choices.option1 = "Plop1"
- choices.option2 = "Plop2"
- choices.option3 = "Plop3"
+ choices.foo = "Foo (some explanation)"
+ choices.bar = "Bar (moar explanation)"
+ choices.loremipsum = "Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet"
```
Some other type specific argument exist like
@@ -267,7 +291,7 @@ Some other type specific argument exist like
Finally, if you need specific or multi variable validation, you can use custom validators function:
```bash
validate__login_user() {
- if [[ "${#login_user}" -lt 4 ]]; then echo 'Too short user login'; fi
+ if [[ "${#login_user}" -lt 4 ]]; then echo 'User login is too short, should be at least 4 chars'; fi
}
```
@@ -275,13 +299,13 @@ validate__login_user() {
### Restart a service at the end
-You can use the services key to specify which service need to be reloaded or restarted
+You can use the services key to specify which service need to be reloaded or restarted.
```toml
services = [ 'nginx', '__APP__' ]
```
-This argument could be on panel, section, or question.
+This argument can be set on a single question, to a section, or to an entire panel.
### Overwrite config panel mechanism
@@ -304,10 +328,10 @@ ynh_app_config_apply() {
```
List of main configuration helpers
- * ynh_app_config_get
- * ynh_app_config_show
- * ynh_app_config_validate
- * ynh_app_config_apply
- * ynh_app_config_run
+ * `ynh_app_config_get`
+ * `ynh_app_config_show`
+ * `ynh_app_config_validate`
+ * `ynh_app_config_apply`
+ * `ynh_app_config_run`
-More info on this could be found by reading [vpnclient_ynh config script](https://github.com/YunoHost-Apps/vpnclient_ynh/blob/master/scripts/config)
+More info on this can be found by reading [vpnclient_ynh config script](https://github.com/YunoHost-Apps/vpnclient_ynh/blob/master/scripts/config)