Grouper Developers Forum

["Black, Carey M." <>]

RE: " If you customize a file, and you try to apply a patch, it will fail and 
let you know. "
        Oh. Good to know. I had not found that in the docs that I have read 
so far.
        So far my customizations have been limited to config files. Before I 
went farther I wanted to understand the designed approach for UI 
customization.


        Refs that I have reviewed:
        
https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/Grouper/Customising+the+Grouper+UI  ( 
dated to prior to v 2.2 )
        https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/Grouper/Grouper+new+UI ( looks 
more relevant, but does not really address customizing.. more of an overview.)
        https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/Grouper/Grouper+UI+Properties ( 
Ok.. promising, but I am not sure this is still the "right way" for v2.3.)



RE: " Then you can merge it in or whatever.  Does that address it?"
        It is something. But I don't think it is ideal.
        Where does the "new/changed" files land on disk? When there is a 
conflict detected?

        I was hoping more for a process like the config overlay only for the 
UI elements.

        Generally something like:
        /** or a config file to point to the local files instead of searched 
directories all the time. */
        /** Or at runtime by default use .../local/<file> instead of 
../standard/<file> */
        If (.../local/some.jsp ) { 
                /** use the file out of .../local/  */
                .../local/some.jsp
        } else {
                /** use the default file */
                 ../standard/some.jsp 
        }

                
        I think such a model might allow for replacement/extension and allow 
the "uprgrade" to more simply blindly replace the delivered UI without 
concern of stomping on customizations.
                The installer/upgrade could still issue "warnings" about 
customizations that exist and should be validated.
        It still requires the customizations to be validated after the 
upgrade and "corrected/merged" as system level changes might have 
added/changed/broken things too. 
        However, in that case the Users could choose to "suppress the 
customizations" ( rename to different name) then fix and restore to original 
name.
        And it provides an "obvious" diff of what they created in 
".../local/" vs ".../standard/".

-- 
Carey Matthew 


-----Original Message-----
From: Hyzer, Chris 
[mailto:]
 
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 11:32 AM
To: Black, Carey M. 
<>;
 

Subject: RE: UI customizations ( best practice / current design? )

If you customize a file, and you try to apply a patch, it will fail and let 
you know.  Then you can merge it in or whatever.  Does that address it?

Thanks
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: 

 
[mailto:]
 On Behalf Of Black, Carey M.
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2017 5:18 PM
To: 

Subject: [grouper-dev] UI customizations ( best practice / current design? )

I am looking for a general overview for "How to best customize the Grouper UI 
(new)" so that you don't paint yourself into a corner for the next 
upgrade/patch.
        I know that the "upgrade" condition is a bit of a crystal ball type 
question, but is there a plan for how someone can at least survive an "patch" 
process without losing customizations?

Is there any guidelines or advice on the general topic?


Specifically , I am ok with using some of the localization tools to "adjust 
text". But there are some more structural things that I would love to move 
around too.
        Example: I want to move at least some (if not all) of the "Loader" 
functions from the "grouperLoaderViewMoreActionsButton" up to the 
"groupViewMoreActionsButton".
                   I think I would ideally want to see a "sub section" on the 
"groupViewMoreActionsButton" that would be the full list of items on the 
"grouperLoaderViewMoreActionsButton". ( Plus the "Run Loader Diagnostics" 
button function too.)
                        And the "sub section" would be guarded by the same 
permissions as the "Loader jobs". ( So not every user would see the 
sub-section.)
                  I find the separation of these functions into different 
buttons almost as "jarring" as switching between the New UI and the Lite 
UI/Admin UI.


-- 
Carey Matthew