From 60bfb9b969bd8e61da53d57974f49f0e5a543796 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Ferry Boender Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2015 21:36:40 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Initial version of the User Manual. --- doc/MANUAL.md | 258 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 258 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/MANUAL.md diff --git a/doc/MANUAL.md b/doc/MANUAL.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c28a77a --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/MANUAL.md @@ -0,0 +1,258 @@ +# 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 + +## Users +