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Symfony can generate modules, based on model class definitions from the schema.yml file, for the back-end of your applications. You can create an entire site administration with only generated administration modules. The examples of this section will describe administration modules added to a backend application. If your project doesn't have a backend application, create its skeleton now by calling the generate:app task:

> php symfony generate:app backend

Administration modules interpret the model by way of a special configuration file called generator.yml, which can be altered to extend all the generated components and the module look and feel. Such modules benefit from the usual module mechanisms described in previous chapters (layout, routing, custom configuration, autoloading, and so on). You can also override the generated action or templates, in order to integrate your own features into the generated administration, but generator.yml should take care of the most common requirements and restrict the use of PHP code only to the very specific.

With symfony, you build an administration on a per-model basis. A module is generated based on a Propel object using the propel:generate-admin task:

> php symfony propel:generate-admin backend Article

This call is enough to create an article module in the backend application based on the Article class definition, and is accessible by the following:

http://localhost/backend.php/article

The look and feel of a generated module, illustrated in Figures 14-5 and 14-6, is sophisticated enough to make it usable out of the box for a commercial application.

# apps/backend/config/routing.yml
  article:
    class: sfPropelRouteCollection
    options:
      model:                Article
      module:               article
      with_wildcard_routes: true

> php symfony propel:generate-admin backend article

Figure 14-5 - list view of the article module in the backend application

Figure 14-6 - edit view of the article module in the backend application

$ php symfony plugin:publish-assets

The code of the Article administration module, in the apps/backend/modules/article/ directory, looks empty because it is only initiated. The best way to review the generated code of this module is to interact with it using the browser, and then check the contents of the cache/ folder. Listing 14-4 lists the generated actions and the templates found in the cache.

Listing 14-4 - Generated Administration Elements, in cache/backend/ENV/modules/article/

// Actions in actions/actions.class.php
index            // Displays the list of the records of the table
filter           // Updates the filters used by the list
new              // Displays the form to create a new record
create           // Creates a new record
edit             // Displays a form to modify the fields of a record
update           // Updates an existing record
delete           // Deletes a record
batch            // Executes an action on a list of selected records
 
// In templates/
_assets.php
_filters.php
_filters_field.php
_flashes.php
_form.php
_form_actions.php
_form_field.php
_form_fieldset.php
_form_footer.php
_form_header.php
_list.php
_list_actions.php
_list_batch_actions.php
_list_field_boolean.php
_list_footer.php
_list_header.php
_list_td_actions.php
_list_td_batch_actions.php
_list_td_stacked.php
_list_td_tabular.php
_list_th_stacked.php
_list_th_tabular.php
_pagination.php
editSuccess.php
indexSuccess.php
newSuccess.php

This shows that a generated administration module is composed mainly of three views, list, new, and edit. If you have a look at the code, you will find it to be very modular, readable, and extensible.

The generated administration modules rely on parameters found in the generator.yml YAML configuration file. To see the default configuration of a newly created administration module, open the generator.yml file, located in the backend/modules/article/config/generator.yml directory and reproduced in Listing 14-5.

Listing 14-5 - Default Generator Configuration, in backend/modules/article/config/generator.yml

generator:
  class: sfPropelGenerator
  param:
    model_class:           BlogArticle
    theme:                 admin
    non_verbose_templates: true
    with_show:             false
    singular:              ~
    plural:                ~
    route_prefix:          article
    with_propel_route:     1
 
    config:
      actions: ~
      list:    ~
      filter:  ~
      form:    ~
      edit:    ~
      new:     ~

This configuration is enough to generate the basic administration. Any customization is added under the config key. Listing 14-6 shows a typical customized generator.yml.

Listing 14-6 - Typical Complete Generator Configuration

generator:
  class: sfPropelGenerator
  param:
    model_class:           BlogArticle
    theme:                 admin
    non_verbose_templates: true
    with_show:             false
    singular:              ~
    plural:                ~
    route_prefix:          article
    with_propel_route:     1
 
    config:
      actions:
        _new: { label: "Create a new Article", credentials: editor }
 
      fields:
        author_id:    { label: Article author }
        published_on: { credentials: editor }
 
      list:
        title:          Articles
        display:        [title, author_id, category_id]
        fields:
          published_on: { date_format: dd/MM/yy }
        layout:         stacked
        params:         |
          %%is_published%%<strong>%%=title%%</strong><br /><em>by %%author%%
          in %%category%% (%%published_on%%)</em><p>%%content_summary%%</p>
        max_per_page:   2
        sort:           [title, asc]
 
      filter:
        display: [title, category_id, author_id, is_published]
 
      form:
        display:
          "Post":       [title, category_id, content]
          "Workflow":   [author_id, is_published, created_on]
        fields:
          published_at: { help: "Date of publication" }
          title:        { attributes: { style: "width: 350px" } }
 
      new:
        title:         New article
 
      edit:
        title:          Editing article "%%title%%"

In this configuration, there are six sections. Four of them represent views (list, filter, new, and edit) and two of them are "virtuals" (fields and form) and only exists for configuration purpose.

The following sections explain in detail all the parameters that can be used in this configuration file.