From 4225ccc66e45074e2daceb5fa5f25bfd55ec0c88 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "gerv%gerv.net" <>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:25:16 +0000
Subject: Bug 230742 - document new 'hooks' mechanism. This is my take on Myk's
text - probably still needs further polish.
---
docs/xml/customization.xml | 191 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 191 insertions(+)
(limited to 'docs/xml')
diff --git a/docs/xml/customization.xml b/docs/xml/customization.xml
index 2e3306f88..a9005665e 100644
--- a/docs/xml/customization.xml
+++ b/docs/xml/customization.xml
@@ -305,6 +305,197 @@
+
+ Template Hooks
+
+
+ Template hooks are a way for customisers or Bugzilla extensions to insert
+ code into the standard Bugzilla templates without modifying them.
+ The hooks mechanism defines an API for extending the
+ standard templates with a clean separation of code.
+ This makes the changes less tied to specific versions of
+ Bugzilla, and reduces merge conflicts, making
+ upgrading a modified Bugzilla installation easier.
+
+
+
+ A template hook is just an named place in a standard template file.
+ When Bugzilla reaches this position, it checks whether there are any
+ extension template files for that hook. If so, it processes them. Each
+ hook has a directory of its own in the Bugzilla template directory tree.
+ Hooking a template file on to a specific hook is as
+ simple as putting the file into that hook's directory.
+
+
+
+ To use hooks to extend a Bugzilla template, first make sure there is a
+ hook at the appropriate place within the template you want to extend.
+ Hooks appear in the default Bugzilla templates as a single template
+ directive in the format
+ [% Hook.process("<name>") %], where
+ <name>
+ is the unique (within that template) name of the hook.
+
+
+
+ If you aren't sure which template you want to extend or just want to
+ browse the available hooks, either use your favorite multi-file search
+ tool (e.g. grep) to search the standard templates for occurrences of
+ "Hook.process" or browse the directory tree in
+ $BUGZILLA_HOME/template/en/extension/hook/,
+ which contains a directory for each hook. Each hook's directory
+ is located as follows:
+
+
+
+ $BUGZILLA_HOME/template/en/extension/hook/<path-to-standard-template>/<standard-template-name>/<hook-name>/
+
+
+
+ If there is no hook in the appropriate place within the Bugzilla
+ template you want to extend,
+ file
+ a bug requesting one, specifying:
+
+
+
+ the template for which you are requesting a hook;
+
+
+ where in the template you would like the hook to be placed (line
+ number/position for latest version of template in CVS or description of
+ location);
+
+ the purpose of the hook;
+ a link to information about your extension, if any.
+
+
+
+ The Bugzilla reviewers will promptly review each hook request,
+ name the hook,
+ add it to the template and check the new version into CVS, and add the
+ corresponding directory to
+ $BUGZILLA_HOME/template/en/extension/hook/.
+
+
+
+ You may optionally attach a patch to the bug which implements the hook
+ and check it in yourself after receiving approval from a Bugzilla
+ reviewer. The developers may suggest changes to the location of the
+ hook based on their analysis of your needs or so the hook can satisfy
+ the needs of multiple extensions, but the process of getting hooks
+ approved and checked in is not as stringent as the process for general
+ changes to Bugzilla, and any extension, whether released or still in
+ development, can have hooks added to meet their needs.
+
+
+
+ After making sure the hook you need exists (or getting it added if not),
+ add your extension template to the directory within the Bugzilla
+ directory tree corresponding to the hook.
+
+
+
+ That's it! Now, when the standard template containing the hook is
+ processed, your extension template will be processed at the point
+ where the hook appears.
+
+
+
+ For example, let's say you have an extension named Projman that adds
+ project management capabilities to Bugzilla. Projman has an
+ administration interface edit-projects.cgi,
+ and you want to
+ add a link to it into the navigation bar at the bottom of every Bugzilla
+ page for those users who are authorized to administer projects.
+
+
+
+ The navigation bar is generated by the template file
+ useful-links.html.tmpl, which is located in the
+ global/ subdirectory on the standard Bugzilla
+ template path
+ $BUGZILLA_HOME/template/en/default/.
+ Looking in useful-links.html.tmpl, you find the
+ following
+ hook at the end of the list of standard Bugzilla administration links:
+
+
+ ...
+ [% ', <a href="editkeywords.cgi">keywords</a>'
+ IF user.groups.editkeywords %]
+ [% Hook.process("edit") %]
+...
+
+
+ The corresponding directory for this hook is
+ $BUGZILLA_HOME/template/en/extension/hook/global/useful-links.html.tmpl/edit/.
+
+
+
+ You put a template named
+ projman-edit-projects.html.tmpl
+ into that directory with the following content:
+
+
+ [% ', <a href="edit-projects.cgi">projects</a>' IF user.groups.projman_admins %]
+
+
+ Voila! The link now appears after the other administration links in the
+ navigation bar for users in the projman_admins group.
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+
+
+
+ You may want to prefix your extension templates names with
+ the name of your extension, e.g.
+ projman-foo.html.tmpl,
+ so there is no chance of a conflict with the names of
+ templates installed by other extensions.
+
+
+
+
+
+ If your extension includes entirely new templates in addition to
+ extensions of standard templates, it should install those new templates
+ into an extension-specific subdirectory of the
+ $BUGZILLA_HOME/template/en/extension/
+ directory.
+ The extension/ directory, like the
+ default/
+ and custom/ directories, is part of the template
+ search path, so putting templates there enables them to be found by
+ the template processor.
+
+
+
+ The template processor looks for templates first in the
+ custom/ directory (i.e. templates added by the
+ specific installation), then in the extension/
+ directory (i.e. templates added by extensions), and finally in the
+ default/ directory, for the standard Bugzilla
+ templates.
+ Thus extension templates can override standard templates, but
+ installation-specific templates override both.
+
+
+
+ Note that overriding standard templates gives you great power but
+ also makes
+ upgrading an installation harder. As with custom templates, we
+ recommend using this functionality sparingly and only when absolutely
+ necessary.
+
+
+
+
+
Customizing Who Can Change What
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