Module HowTo - Account pages

1. Loading the LDAP attributes

Every time the user selects an existing account to modify LAM will load the complete LDAP entry of it. Your module then should select the attributes which are useful for it.
There are two variables in baseModule which should be used to store the attributes. The $attributes variable stores the current attributes including changes the user made. The $orig variable stores the attributes as they were originally when the account was loaded. This allows you to see what changes were made.

The load_attributes() function in your module gets the complete attribute list from LDAP.
In most cases you will not need to implement this function because the parent class baseModule loads attributes based on your meta data.

Example:

The ieee802Device uses an object class and the 'macAddress' attribute. Therefore we will save these two values.

    /**
    * This function loads all needed attributes into the object.
    *
    * @param array $attr an array as it is retured from ldap_get_attributes
    */
    function load_attributes($attr) {
        $this->attributes['objectClass'] = array();
        $this->attributes['macAddress'] = array();
        $this->orig['objectClass'] = array();
        $this->orig['macAddress'] = array();
        if (isset($attr['objectClass'])) {
            $this->attributes['objectClass'] = $attr['objectClass'];
            $this->orig['objectClass'] = $attr['objectClass'];
        }
        if (isset($attr['macAddress'])) {
            $this->attributes['macAddress'] = $attr['macAddress'];
            $this->orig['macAddress'] = $attr['macAddress'];
        }
        return 0;
    }

2. Page display

Now that you have defined your subpages you will need one function for each page to display it. The function must return meta HTML code as defined in the modules specification.
This function is called display_html_<page name>() where <page name> is the name of your subpage.

See also baseModule::addSimpleInputTextField() and baseModule::addMultiValueInputTextField()/processMultiValueInputTextField() if you only want to add some simple text fields.

Example:

The ieee802Device module has only one subpage called 'attributes'.

The first half of the code displays the existing MAC addresses and the second an input field for new values.
The variable $this->attributes contains the LDAP attributes which are useful for this module.

/**
 * This function will create the meta HTML code to show a page with all attributes.
 *
 * @return htmlElement HTML meta data
 */
 function display_html_attributes() {
 $return = new htmlTable();
 $macCount = 0;
 // list current MACs
 if (isset($this->attributes['macAddress'])) {
 $macCount = sizeof($this->attributes['macAddress']);
 for ($i = 0; $i < sizeof($this->attributes['macAddress']); $i++) {
 $return->addElement(new htmlOutputText(_('MAC address')));
 $macInput = new htmlInputField('macAddress' . $i, $this->attributes['macAddress'][$i]);
 $macInput->setFieldSize(17);
 $macInput->setFieldMaxLength(17);
 $return->addElement($macInput);
 $return->addElement(new htmlButton('delMAC' . $i, 'del.png', true));
 $return->addElement(new htmlHelpLink('mac'), true);
 }
 }
 // input box for new MAC
 $return->addElement(new htmlOutputText(_('New MAC address')));
 $newMacInput = new htmlInputField('macAddress', '');
 $newMacInput->setFieldSize(17);
 $newMacInput->setFieldMaxLength(17);
 $return->addElement($newMacInput);
 $return->addElement(new htmlButton('addMAC', 'add.png', true));
 $return->addElement(new htmlHelpLink('mac'));
 $return->addElement(new htmlHiddenInput('mac_number', $macCount));
 return $return;
 }

3. Processing input data

Every time the user clicks on a submit button while your page is displayed LAM will call a function in your module.
This function is called process_<page name>() where <page name> is the name of your subpage.

If all input data is ok then return an empty array. If you return one or more error messages then the user will be redirected to your page.

Example:

The ieee802Device module has only one subpage called 'attributes' and therefore only process_attributes().

The function checks the input fields and fills the LDAP attributes. If all is ok it will enable the user to move to another module page.

/**
 * Write variables into object and do some regex checks
 *
 * @param array $post HTTP-POST values
 */
 function process_attributes($post) {
 $errors = array();
 $this->attributes['macAddress'] = array();
 // check old MACs
 if (isset($post['mac_number'])) {
 for ($i = 0; $i < $post['mac_number']; $i++) {
 if (isset($post['delMAC' . $i])) continue;
 if (isset($post['macAddress' . $i]) && ($post['macAddress' . $i] != "")) {
 // check if address has correct format
 if (!get_preg($post['macAddress' . $i], 'macAddress')) {
 $message = $this->messages['mac'][0];
 $message[] = $post['macAddress' . $i];
 $errors[] = $message;
 }
 $this->attributes['macAddress'][] = $post['macAddress' . $i];
 }
 }
 }
 // check new MAC
 if (isset($post['macAddress']) && ($post['macAddress'] != "")) {
 // check if address has correct format
 if (get_preg($post['macAddress'], 'macAddress')) {
 $this->attributes['macAddress'][] = $post['macAddress'];
 }
 else {
 $message = $this->messages['mac'][0];
 $message[] = $post['macAddress'];
 $errors[] = $message;
 }
 }
 $this->attributes['macAddress'] = array_unique($this->attributes['macAddress']);
 return $errors;
 }

4. Defining that your module is ready for user input and LDAP add/modify

In most cases you will not need to implement these functions. The baseModule will return true for both functions.

There are two functions which control the module status:

The module_ready() function has to return true if the user may move to your module page. If it is false the user will be shown an error message that your module is not yet ready. You can use this if your module depends on input data from other modules (e.g. you need the user name from posixAccount first).

The second function is module_complete(). The user cannot do the LDAP operation if one or more modules return false. This defines if all needed input data for your module was entered.
Use this function if you want to check that all required attributes are set.

Example:

The sambaSamAccount module needs the user's uidNumber and gidNumber before it can accept input and the account needs a sambaSID before it can be saved.

    /**
    * This function is used to check if this module page can be displayed.
    * It returns false if a module depends on data from other modules which was not yet entered.
    *
    * @return boolean true, if page can be displayed
    */
    function module_ready() {
        if ($_SESSION[$this->base]->module['posixAccount']->attributes['gidNumber'][0]=='') return false;
        if ($_SESSION[$this->base]->module['posixAccount']->attributes['uidNumber'][0]=='') return false;
        if ($this->attributes['uid'][0]=='') return false;
        return true;
    }

    /**
    * This functions is used to check if all settings for this module have been made.
    *
    * @return boolean true, if settings are complete
    */
    function module_complete() {
        if (!$this->module_ready()) return false;
        if ($this->attributes['sambaSID'][0] == '') return false;
        return true;
    }

5. Saving the LDAP attributes

In most cases you will not have to implement this option if you use $this->attributes and $this->orig to manage the LDAP attributes. The baseModule will generate the save comands for you.

When all modules report that they are ready for LDAP add/modify and the user clicks on the add/modify button your module will be asked what changes have to be made.
This is done in the function save_attributes().

Example:

The kolabUser module uses this function to make sure that its object class is saved. Other modules (e.g. quota) use it build the lamdaemon commands.

/**
 * Returns a list of modifications which have to be made to the LDAP account.
 *
 * @return array list of modifications
 * This function returns an array with 3 entries:
 * array( DN1 ('add' => array($attr), 'remove' => array($attr), 'modify' => array($attr)), DN2 .... )
 * DN is the DN to change. It may be possible to change several DNs (e.g. create a new user and add him to some groups via attribute memberUid)
 * "add" are attributes which have to be added to LDAP entry
 * "remove" are attributes which have to be removed from LDAP entry
 * "modify" are attributes which have to been modified in LDAP entry
 */
 function save_attributes() {
 // add object class if needed
 if (!isset($this->attributes['objectClass']) || !in_array('kolabInetOrgPerson', $this->attributes['objectClass'])) {
 $this->attributes['objectClass'][] = 'kolabInetOrgPerson';
 }
 return parent::save_attributes();
 }