The generator.yml Configuration File
The admin generator of symfony allows the creation of a backend interface for your model classes. It works whether you use Propel or Doctrine as your ORM.
Creation
Admin generator modules are created by the propel:generate-admin
or
doctrine:generate-admin
tasks:
$ php symfony propel:generate-admin backend Article $ php symfony doctrine:generate-admin backend Article
The above command creates an article
admin generator module for the
Article
model class.
note
The generator.yml
configuration file is cached as a PHP file; the
process is automatically managed by the sfGeneratorConfigHandler
class.
Configuration File
The configuration of such a module can be done in the
apps/backend/modules/job/article/generator.yml
file:
generator: class: sfPropelGenerator param: # An array of parameters
The file contains two main entries: class
and param
. The class is
sfPropelGenerator
for Propel and sfDoctrineGenerator
for Doctrine.
The param
entry contains the configuration options for the generated module.
The model_class
defines the model class bound to this module, and the
theme
option defines the default theme to use.
But the main configuration is done under the config
entry. It is organized
into seven sections:
actions
: Default configuration for the actions found on the list and on the formsfields
: Default configuration for the fieldslist
: Configuration for the listfilter
: Configuration for the filtersform
: Configuration for the new/edit formedit
: Specific configuration for the edit pagenew
: Specific configuration for the new page
When first generated, all sections are defined as empty, as the admin generator defines sensible defaults for all possible options:
generator: param: config: actions: ~ fields: ~ list: ~ filter: ~ form: ~ edit: ~ new: ~
This document describes all possible options you can use to customize the
admin generator through the config
entry.
note
All options are available for both Propel and Doctrine and works the same if not stated otherwise.
Fields
A lot of options take a list of fields as an argument. A field can be a real
column name, or a virtual one. In both cases, a getter must be defined in the
model class (get
suffixed by the camel-cased field name).
Based on the context, the admin generator is smart enough to know how to
render fields. To customize the rendering, you can create a partial or a
component. By convention, partials are prefixed with an underscore (_
), and
components by a tilde (~
):
display: [_title, ~content]
In the above example, the title
field will be rendered by the title
partial, and the content
field by the content
component.
The admin generator passes some parameters to partials and components:
For the
new
andedit
page:form
: The form associated with the current model objectattributes
: An array of HTML attributes to be applied to the widget
For the
list
page:type
:list
MODEL_NAME
: The current object instance, whereMODEL_NAME
is the model class name lowercased.
In an edit
or new
page, if you want to keep the two column layout (field
label and widget), the partial or component template should follow this
template:
<div class="sf_admin_form_row"> <label> <!-- Field label or content to be displayed in the first column --> </label> <!-- Field widget or content to be displayed in the second column --> </div>
Object Placeholders
Some options can take model object placeholders. A placeholder is a string
which follows the pattern: %%NAME%%
. The NAME
string can be anything that
can be converted to a valid object getter method (get
suffixed by the
camel-cased version of the NAME
string). For instance, %%title%%
will be
replaced by the value of $article->getTitle()
. Placeholder values are
dynamically replaced at runtime according to the object associated with the
current context.
tip
When a model has a foreign key to another model, Propel and Doctrine
define a getter for the related object. As for any other getter, it
can be used as a placeholder if you define a meaningful __toString()
method that converts the object to a string.
Configuration Inheritance
The admin generator configuration is based on a configuration cascade principle. The inheritance rules are the following:
new
andedit
inherit fromform
which inherits fromfields
list
inherits fromfields
filter
inherits fromfields
Credentials
Actions in the admin generator (on the list and on the forms) can be hidden,
based on the user credentials using the credential
option (see below).
However, even if the link or button does not appear, the actions must
still be properly secured from illicit access. The credential management in
the admin generator only takes care of the display.
The credential
option can also be used to hide columns on the list page.
Actions Customization
When configuration is not sufficient, you can override the generated methods:
Method | Description |
---|---|
executeIndex() |
list view action |
executeFilter() |
Updates the filters |
executeNew() |
new view action |
executeCreate() |
Creates a new Job |
executeEdit() |
edit view action |
executeUpdate() |
Updates a Job |
executeDelete() |
Deletes a Job |
executeBatch() |
Executes a batch action |
executeBatchDelete() |
Executes the _delete batch action |
processForm() |
Processes the Job form |
getFilters() |
Returns the current filters |
setFilters() |
Sets the filters |
getPager() |
Returns the list pager |
getPage() |
Gets the pager page |
setPage() |
Sets the pager page |
buildCriteria() |
Builds the Criteria for the list |
addSortCriteria() |
Adds the sort Criteria for the list |
getSort() |
Returns the current sort column |
setSort() |
Sets the current sort column |
Templates Customization
Each generated template can be overridden:
Template | Description |
---|---|
_assets.php |
Renders the CSS and JS to use for templates |
_filters.php |
Renders the filters box |
_filters_field.php |
Renders a single filter field |
_flashes.php |
Renders the flash messages |
_form.php |
Displays the form |
_form_actions.php |
Displays the form actions |
_form_field.php |
Displays a singe form field |
_form_fieldset.php |
Displays a form fieldset |
_form_footer.php |
Displays the form footer |
_form_header.php |
Displays the form header |
_list.php |
Displays the list |
_list_actions.php |
Displays the list actions |
_list_batch_actions.php |
Displays the list batch actions |
_list_field_boolean.php |
Displays a single boolean field in the list |
_list_footer.php |
Displays the list footer |
_list_header.php |
Displays the list header |
_list_td_actions.php |
Displays the object actions for a row |
_list_td_batch_actions.php |
Displays the checkbox for a row |
_list_td_stacked.php |
Displays the stacked layout for a row |
_list_td_tabular.php |
Displays a single field for the list |
_list_th_stacked.php |
Displays a single column name for the header |
_list_th_tabular.php |
Displays a single column name for the header |
_pagination.php |
Displays the list pagination |
editSuccess.php |
Displays the edit view |
indexSuccess.php |
Displays the list view |
newSuccess.php |
Displays the new view |
Look and Feel Customization
The look of the admin generator can be tweaked very easily as the generated
templates define a lot of class
and id
HTML attributes.
In the edit
or new
page, each field HTML container has the following
classes:
sf_admin_form_row
- a class depending on the field type:
sf_admin_text
,sf_admin_boolean
,sf_admin_date
,sf_admin_time
, orsf_admin_foreignkey
. sf_admin_form_field_COLUMN
whereCOLUMN
is the column name
In the list
page, each field HTML container has the following classes:
- a class depending on the field type:
sf_admin_text
,sf_admin_boolean
,sf_admin_date
,sf_admin_time
, orsf_admin_foreignkey
. sf_admin_form_field_COLUMN
whereCOLUMN
is the column name
Available Configuration Options
fields
The fields
section defines the default configuration for each field. This
configuration is defined for all pages and can be overridden on a page per
page basis (list
, filter
, form
, edit
, and new
).
label
Default: The humanized column name
The label
option defines the label to use for the field:
config: fields: slug: { label: "URL shortcut" }
help
Default: none
The help
option defines the help text to display for the field.
attributes
Default: array()
The attributes
option defines the HTML attributes to pass to the widget:
config: fields: slug: { attributes: { class: foo } }
credentials
Default: none
The credentials
option defines credentials the user must have for the field
to be displayed. The credentials are only enforced for the object list.
config: fields: slug: { credentials: [admin] } is_online: { credentials: [[admin, moderator]] }
note
The credential are to be defined with the same rules as in the
security.yml
configuration file.
renderer
Default: none
The renderer
option defines a PHP callback to call to render the field. If
defined, it overrides any other flag like the partial or component ones.
The callback is called with the value of the field and the arguments defined
by the renderer_arguments
option.
renderer_arguments
Default: array()
The renderer_arguments
option defines the arguments to pass to the
renderer
PHP callback when rendering the field. It is only used if the
renderer
option is defined.
type
Default: Text
for virtual columns
The type
option defines the type of the column. By default, symfony uses the
type defined in your model definition, but if you create a virtual column, you
can override the default Text
type by one of the valid types:
ForeignKey
Boolean
Date
Time
Text
Enum
(only available for Doctrine)
date_format
Default: f
The date_format
option defines the format to use when displaying dates. It
can be any format recognized by the sfDateFormat
class. This option is not
used when the field type is Date
.
The following tokens can be used for the format:
G
: Eray
: yearM
: mond
: mdayh
: Hour12H
: hoursm
: minutess
: secondsE
: wdayD
: ydayF
: DayInMonthw
: WeekInYearW
: WeekInMontha
: AMPMk
: HourInDayK
: HourInAMPMz
: TimeZone
actions
The framework defines several built-in actions. They are all prefixed by an
underscore (_
). Each action can be customized with the options described in
this section. The same options can be used when defining an action in the
list
, edit
, or new
entries.
name
Default: The action key
The name
option defines the label to use for the action.
action
Default: Defined based on the action name
The action
option defines the action name to execute without the execute
prefix.
credentials
Default: none
The credentials
option defines credentials the user must have for the action
to be displayed.
note
The credentials are to be defined with the same rules as in the
security.yml
configuration file.
list
title
Default: The humanized model class name suffixed with "List"
The title
option defines the title of the list page.
display
Default: All model columns, in the order of their definition in the schema file
The display
option defines an array of ordered columns to display in the
list.
An equal sign (=
) before a column is a convention to convert the string to a
link that goes to the edit
page of the current object.
config: list: display: [=name, slug]
note
Also see the hide
option to hide some columns.
hide
Default: none
The hide
option defines the columns to hide from the list. Instead of
specifying the columns to be displayed with the display
option, it is
sometimes faster to hide some columns:
config: list: hide: [created_at, updated_at]
note
If both the display
and the hide
options are provided, the hide
option is ignored.
layout
Default: tabular
Possible values: tabular
or stacked
The layout
option defines what layout to use to display the list.
With the tabular
layout, each column value is in its own table column.
With the stacked
layout, each object is represented by a single string,
which is defined by the params
option (see below).
note
The display
option is still needed when using the stacked
layout as
it defines the columns that will be sortable by the user.
params
Default value: none
The params
option is used to define the HTML string pattern to use when
using a stacked
layout. This string can contain model object placeholders:
config: list: params: | %%title%% written by %%author%% and published on %%published_at%%.
An equal sign (=
) before a column is a convention to convert the string to a
link that goes to the edit
page of the current object.
sort
Default value: none
The sort
option defines the default sort column. It is an array composed of
two components: the column name and the sort order: asc
or desc
:
config: list: sort: [published_at, desc]
max_per_page
Default value: 20
The max_per_page
option defines the maximum number of objects to display on
one page.
pager_class
Default value: sfPropelPager
for Propel and sfDoctrinePager
for Doctrine
The pager_class
option defines the pager class to use when displaying the
list.
batch_actions
Default value: { _delete: ~ }
The batch_actions
option defines the list of actions that can be executed
for a selection of objects in the list.
If you don't define an action
, the admin generator will look for a method
named after the camel-cased name prefixed by executeBatch
.
The executed method received the primary keys of the selected objects via the
ids
request parameter.
tip
The batch actions feature can be disabled by setting the option to an
empty array: {}
object_actions
Default value: { _edit: ~, _delete: ~ }
The object_actions
option defines the list of actions that can be executed
on each object of the list.
If you don't define an action
, the admin generator will look for a method
named after the camel-cased name prefixed by executeList
.
tip
The object actions feature can be disabled by setting the option to an
empty array: {}
actions
Default value: { _new: ~ }
The actions
option defines actions that take no object, like the creation of
a new object.
If you don't define an action
, the admin generator will look for a method
named after the camel-cased name prefixed by executeList
.
tip
The object actions feature can be disabled by setting the option to an
empty array: {}
peer_method
Default value: doSelect
The peer_method
option defines the method to call to retrieve the objects to
display in the list.
caution
This option only exists for Propel. For Doctrine, use the table_method
option.
table_method
Default value: doSelect
The table_method
option defines the method to call to retrieve the objects
to display in the list.
caution
This option only exists for Doctrine. For Propel, use the peer_method
option.
peer_count_method
Default value: doCount
The peer_count_method
option defines the method to call to compute the
number of objects for the current filter.
caution
This option only exists for Propel. For Doctrine, use the
table_count_method
option.
table_count_method
Default value: doCount
The table_count_method
option defines the method to call to compute the
number of objects for the current filter.
caution
This option only exists for Doctrine. For Propel, use the
peer_count_method
option.
filter
The filter
section defines the configuration for the filtering form
displayed on the list page.
display
Default value: All fields defined in the filter form class, in the order of their definition
The display
option defines the ordered list of fields to display.
tip
As filter fields are always optional, there is no need to override the filter form class to configure the fields to be displayed.
class
Default value: The model class name suffixed by FormFilter
The class
option defines the form class to use for the filter
form.
tip
To completely remove the filtering feature, set the class
to false
.
form
The form
section only exists as a fallback for the edit
and new
sections
(see the inheritance rules in the introduction).
note
For form sections (form
, edit
, and new
), the label
and help
options
override the ones defined in the form classes.
display
Default value: All fields defined in the form class, in the order of their definition
The display
option defines the ordered list of fields to display.
This option can also be used to arrange fields into groups:
# apps/backend/modules/job/config/generator.yml config: form: display: Content: [title, body, author] Admin: [is_published, expires_at]
The above configuration defines two groups (Content
and Admin
), each
containing a subset of the form fields.
caution
All the fields defined in the model form must be present in the display
option. If not, it could lead to unexpected validation errors.
class
Default value: The model class name suffixed by Form
The class
option defines the form class to use for the edit
and new
pages.
tip
Even though you can define a class
option in both the new
and edit
sections, it is better to use one class and take care of the differences
using conditional logic.
edit
The edit
section takes the same options as the form
section.
title
Default: "Edit " suffixed by the humanized model class name
The title
option defines the title heading of the edit page. It can contain
model object placeholders.
actions
Default value: { _delete: ~, _list: ~, _save: ~ }
The actions
option defines actions available when submitting the form.
new
The new
section takes the same options as the form
section.
title
Default: "New " suffixed by the humanized model class name
The title
option defines the title of the new page. It can contain model
object placeholders.
tip
Even if the object is new, it can have default values you want to output as part of the title.
actions
Default value: { _delete: ~, _list: ~, _save: ~, _save_and_add: ~ }
The actions
option defines actions available when submitting the form.
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