sugarcrm - Adding panels to editviewdefs.php via manifest file

Question

In SugarCRM installable changes in detailview the question was asked about how to add a panel, using the Module Installer's manifest file to add to the the editview/detailview of an existing module without wiping out customizations previously made in the custom directory.

The answer was provided how to add fields, but not panels.

I know you could use a post_execute function called from the manifest file to edit the editviewdefs.php and detailviewdefs.php files in the /custom/modules//metadata/ directory, but that involves making some guesses about what already exists in those files.

Does anyone know how to add panels via the manifest file (or post_execute) that incrementally adds the panel, without using php code to manually edit the editviewdefs.php and detailviewdefs.php files?

Answer 1

You're after the ParserFactory class, which can be used from a post_install or similar script executed as your module/package is installed. My understanding is that ParserFactory will call custom files if they're there, or stock files and adjust them appropriately and safely if not.

In your module's directory, create a subdirectory called 'scripts' and create 'post_install.php' which contains a single function post_install(). Your package dir will look something like this:

~$ find .
/LICENSE.txt
/manifest.php
/scripts/post_install.php

You use the ParserFactory like this:

<?php
function post_install(){

// $parser becomes an associative array for the metadata, similar to editviewdefs.php
require_once('modules/ModuleBuilder/parsers/ParserFactory.php');
$parser = ParserFactory::getParser('detailview', 'Accounts');

// finding the panels (which contain their fields), you can 
// now add fields or additional arrays to this array, creating new panels
// (you could manipulate $parser->_viewdefs directly, but I find this easier)
$panels = array_keys ( $parser->_viewdefs [ 'panels' ] );

// place your panels back into the $parser and save
$parser->_viewdefs['panels'] = $panels;
$parser->handleSave(false);

};