Initial version of the User Manual.

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Ferry Boender 10 years ago
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# Scriptform Manual
## Table of Contents
1. Invocations
1. [Form definition (JSON) files](#form_def)
1. [Field types](#form_def)
- [String](#form_def)
- [Integer](#form_def)
- [Float](#form_def)
- [Date](#form_def)
- [Radio](#form_def)
- [Select](#form_def)
- [Text](#form_def)
- [Password](#form_def)
- [File](#form_def)
1. [Callbacks](#form_def)
- [Script callbacks]()
- [Validation]()
- [Field Values]()
- [Output]()
- [Python callbacks]()
1. [Users](#users)
## Invocations
### Behind Apache
Enable Apache modules mod_proxy and mod_proxy_http:
$ sudo a2enmod proxy
$ sudo a2enmod proxy_http
Configure:
Redirect permanent /scriptform /scriptform/
ProxyPass /scriptform/ http://localhost:8000/
ProxyPassReverse /scriptform/ http://localhost:8000/
Make sure the path ends in a slash! (That's what the redirect is for).
## Form definition (JSON) files
Forms are defined in JSON format. They are referred to as *Form Definition*
files. A single JSON file may contain multiple forms. Scriptform will show them
on an overview page, and the user can select which form they want to fill out.
Structurally, they are made up of the following elements:
- **`title`**: Text to show at the top of each page. **Required**, **String**.
- **`forms`**: Dictionary where the key is the form id and the value is a
dictionary that is the definition for a single form. **Required**, **Dictionary**.
- **`title`**: Title for the form. **Required**, **String**.
- **`description`**: A description of the form. May include HTML tags. **Required**, **String**.
- **`submit_title`**: The text on the submit button of the form.
- **`script`**: The path to an executable script of binary that will be
called if the form is submitted. See also [[Callbacks]]. If this field is
omitted, Scriptform will instead call a python callable (function,
method) that's been registered. Scriptform will raise an error if the
script isn't found, if the script isn't executable or (if the `script`
tag is omitted) if no Python callback is registered to handle this form.
**String**.
- **`script_raw`**: If present and `true`, the output of the script is sent
to the browser as-is. The script must include the proper headers and body
itself. This allows you to output images, stream files, etc.
- **`fields`**: List of fields in the form. Each field is a dictionary.
**Required**, **List of dictionaries**.
- **`name`**: The name of the field. This is what is passed as an
environment variable to the callback.
- **`title`**: The title for the field, shown just above the actual
field.
- **`type`**: Field type. Supported types are: *string*, *integer*,
*float*, *date*, *radio*, *select*, *text*, *password* and *file*.
For more information, see [Field types].
- **`required`**: Whether the field is required.
- **`...`**: Other options, which depend on the type of field.
- **`users`**: A dictionary of users where the key is the username and the
value is the plaintext password. This field is not required. **Dictionary**.
For example, here's a form definition file that contains two forms:
{
"title": "Test server",
"forms": {
"import": {
"title": "Import data",
"description": "Import SQL into a database",
"submit_title": "Import",
"script": "job_import.sh",
"fields": [
{
"name": "target_db",
"title": "Database to import to",
"type": "select",
"options": [
["devtest", "Dev Test db"],
["prodtest", "Prod Test db"]
]
},
{
"name": "sql_file",
"title": "SQL file",
"type": "file"
}
]
},
"add_user": {
"title": "Add user",
"description": "Add a user to the htaccess file or change their password",
"submit_title": "Add user",
"script": "job_add_user.sh",
"fields": [
{
"name": "username",
"title": "Username",
"type": "string"
},
{
"name": "password1",
"title": "Password",
"type": "password"
},
{
"name": "password2",
"title": "Password (Repear)",
"type": "password"
}
]
}
}
}
## Field types
### String
The `string` field type presents the user with a single line input field.
### Integer
The `integer` field type presents the user with an input box in wich they may
enter an integer number. Depending on the browser's support for HTML5 forms,
the input field may have spin-buttons to increase and decrease the value.
The `integer` field type supports the following additional options:
- **`max`**: The maximum allowed value for the field.
- **`min`**: The minimum allowed value for the field.
### Float
The `float` field type presents the user with an input box in which they enter
a Real number (fractions).
The `float` field type supports the following additional options:
- ...
### Date
### Radio
### Select
### Text
### Password
### File
## Callbacks
Callbacks are called after the form has been submitted and its values have been
validated. They are the actual implementations of the form's action.
There are two types of callbacks:
- Scripts
- Python callables (functions or methods)
### Scripts
A script callback can be any kind of executable, written in any kind of
language. As long as it is executable, can read the environment and output
things to stdout, it can be used as a callback.
#### Validation
Fields of the form are validated by Scriptform before the script is called.
Exactly what is validated depends on the options specified in the Form
Definition file. For more info on that, see the *Field Types* section of this
manual.
#### Field values
Field values are passed to the script in its environment. For instance, a form
field definition:
{
"name": "ip_address",
"title": "IP Address",
"type": "string"
}
becomes available in a shell script as:
echo $ip_address
or in a Python script as:
import os
print os.environ['ip_address']
Uploaded files are streamed to temporary files by Scriptform. The name of the
temporary file is then passed on as the field's value. For example, given the
following field definition:
{
"name": "csv_file",
"title": "CSV file to import",
"type": "file"
}
The contents of the file is available in a shell script as:
echo $csv_file # output: /tmp/tmp_scriptform_Xu72bK
ROWS=$(wc -l $csv_file)
echo "The CSV file has $(expr $ROWS - 1) rows"
These temporary files are automatically cleaned up after the script's exeuction
ends.
Examples of file uploads can be found in the `examples/simple` and
`examples/megacorp` directories.
#### Output
If the script's exit code is 0, the output of the script (stdout) is captured
and shown to the user in the browser.
If a script's exit code is not 0, it is assumed an error occured. Scriptform
will show the script's stderr output (in red) to the user instead of stdin.
If the form definition has a `script_raw` field, and its value is `true`,
Scriptform will pass the output of the script to the browser as-is. This allows
scripts to show images, stream a file download to the browser or even show
completely custom HTML output. The script's output must be a valid HTTP
response, including headers and a body. Examples of raw script output can be
found in the `examples/raw` directory.
### Python callbacks
## <a name="users">Users</a>
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