Really Rapid Admin Application Development

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REALLY RAPID ADMIN APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

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~WHOAMI • Jose Diaz-Gonzalez • Resident IRC Troll (savant) • Rants at http://josediazgonzalez.com • Harasses as @savant • Codes as josegonzalez on github • Works at @seatgeek ➘ me ➘ not me

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WHO IS THIS TALK FOR? • Anyone building CMS’ for a living • Those needing quick, extensible CRUD applications • Anyone looking for a boring challenge

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WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? • var $scaffold = true; • ../cake/console/cake bake • cake bake skeletons • admin generation

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SCAFFOLD

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SCAFFOLDING • Generic application auto-generation • In CakePHP, introspects the Model::schema() and relationships to pull in data • Dumb, never recommended for production, not easy to manipulate

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EXTENDING THIS? • Introspects model; add callbacks/validation rules/behaviors • _*Scaffold() Callbacks • Custom app/controller/scaffold.php class • Customize app/views/scaffolds/* views • 2.0 gets cooler scaffold

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FIN

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SCAFFOLD DRAWBACKS • Little to no usage documentation • Hard to customize • Easier to add generic methods in AppController

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GENERIC METHODS

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GENERIC METHODS • Create index()/view()/add()/edit()/delete() methods in your AppController • Have callbacks to disable in speciﬁc Controllers • Able to override in child Controllers

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/** * Handles index requests. * * @return void * @access public */ public function index() { // Only do this work if our concrete controller has not. if (!isset($this-‐>viewVars[Inflector::pluralize($this-‐>modelClass)])) { $this-‐>set(array( Inflector::pluralize($this-‐>modelClass) => $this-‐>paginate( $this-‐>modelClass, /** * Here we toss in any conditions that were found as named * parameters and which match up to a column in the model * schema. */ array_intersect_key( $this-‐>params['named'], $this-‐>{$this-‐>modelClass}-‐>schema() ) ) )); } } From https://github.com/joebeeson/crumbs/blob/develop/app_controller.php

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class PostsController extends AppController { protected $disabledActions = array('index', 'add', 'edit', 'changelog'); public function beforeFilter() { if (in_array($this-‐>params['action'], $this-‐>disabledActions)) { $this-‐>cakeError('404'); } } } disabling mocked methods

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CAVEATS • Has to be generic enough to use across controllers • Only portable if built as a plugin library (ie. LazyModel) • Must remember to build disabling code

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BAKE

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CAKE BAKE • You can now view the generated code and modify at will • Have to re-bake constantly • Everyone uses it; No one customizes it • Same issues as Scaffold • NOT === var $scaffold

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BAD CAKE BAKE • Lets use Model::scaffold = -‐1 please • Generated view() can result in an empty page • Generated delete() lets crawlers potentially auto-delete site • Model::read() usage is evil • Asks too many questions; Can’t I just answer once and rebake?

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No content

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EXTENDING THIS? • Templates: app/vendors/shells/templates • Models are simple to access in templates • Do you follow “conventions” or allow conﬁguration? • May need custom shell for extra conﬁguration

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CAKE SKELETONS • ../cake/console/cake bake project • Multiple skeletons available • Application Bootstrap • More or less portable

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CAKE SKELETONS • Can’t use in existing applications • Assume you’ll always follow the same conventions • Hard to upgrade bootstrapped apps in automated fashion • Good for “chop-shops” and freelancers on new apps

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EXTENDING THIS? • Copy cake/console/templates/skel to app/ vendors/templates/skeletor • Add plugins, create migrations/schema ﬁles • Generate generic models/controllers/views • Customize the HTML/CSS • GITHUB

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EXISTING CAKE BAKE SKELETONS • Andy Dawson’s Skel • Jon Bradley’s cake-skel • Dean Soffer’s BakingPlate • Jose Gonzalez’s AppSkellington

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IS THAT ALL?

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RAILS GENERATORS

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ESSENTIALLY CAKE BAKE+SKELETONS • Generators generate generators • Scaffolding similar to bake • Heavy community use • http://railswizard.org/ ^ Someone make this for CakePHP ^

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RAILS ADMIN

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• Port of MerbAdmin • Ruby DSL Conﬁguration • Similar to var $scaffold • Works with existing applications • Actively Developed, Unofﬁcial https://github.com/sferik/rails_admin

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SYMFONY ADMIN

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http://chetzit.com/uploads/images/00/00/04/2010/09/10/4ef9840c2e.png • var $scaffold on crack • supports custom ﬁelds • weird templating language • Symfony win? PROGRESSIVE ENHANCEMENT

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YAML YAML YAML

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NO GENERATION STEP save and go

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DJANGO ADMIN

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DJANGO PONY • Very customizable • Lots of available plugins • Lots of “themes” • Ofﬁcial Support

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CAKE ADMIN

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WHY • Need custom admin interface on top of phpmyadmin • Can’t use Croogo/Inﬁnitas/etc. • Need to replicate similar admin interfaces across projects • Let less technical developers create their own interfaces

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THE GOOD

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CLASS BASED // Access via /admin/posts class PostCakeAdmin extends CakeAdmin { }

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PHP-BASED CONFIGURATION class CategoryCakeAdmin extends CakeAdmin { /** * Where do I “scaffold” this? * * @var string */ public $plugin = 'dashboard'; }

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LOOKS EFFIN AMAZING

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BETTER BASE METHODS public function delete($id = null) { if (!empty($this-‐>data['Category']['id'])) { if ($this-‐>Category-‐>delete($this-‐>data['Category']['id'])) { $this-‐>Session-‐>setFlash(__d('admin', 'Category deleted', true), 'flash/success'); $this-‐>redirect(array('action' => 'index')); } $this-‐>Session-‐>setFlash(__d('admin', 'Category was not deleted', true), 'flash/error'); $id = $this-‐>data['Category']['id']; } $this-‐>data = $this-‐>Category-‐>find('delete', compact('id')); if (!$this-‐>data) { $this-‐>Session-‐>setFlash(__d('admin', 'Category unspecified', true), 'flash/error'); $this-‐>redirect(array('action' => 'index')); } }

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THE BAD

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NO TESTS

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HIGH LEARNING CURVE

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AND THE REST

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CREATING NEW ACTIONS • Needs an *ActionConﬁg class • Templates for Controller/View - Model optional • Similar to Cake Bake Templates • Access to a model and the Admin class conﬁg

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WHATS IN AN ACTION

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CAKE ADMIN GENERATE

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TODO • More actions (galleries, TreeBehavior) • Ajax and other UI enhancements • Web interface for customization • Scaffold-like interface in 2.0

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LINKS • CakeAdmin: http://github.com/josegonzalez/cake_admin • Baking Master Class: http://www.neilcrookes.com/2009/07/11/baking-master-class-cakefest-jul-09/ • AppSkellington: http://github.com/josegonzalez/app_skellington • Skel: http://github.com/ad7six/skel • Cake-Skel: https://github.com/jonbradley/cake-skel • BakingPlate: http://github.com/proloser/bakingplate • RailsAdmin: http://github.com/sferik/rails_admin • DjangoAdmin: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.3/ref/contrib/admin/