Help creating a plugin from scratch

jimbo

Hello there,
I have been trying in vain for several days now to create a simple plugin that will convert an URL from a text field in providence V2.
I did not seem to find up to date documentation on that and even the AI like Chat-GPT gives me wrong tips.
So far I have created a folder and then a file in the app/plugins folder like this:

<?php
require_once(__CA_LIB_DIR__.'/BaseApplicationPlugin.php');
require_once(__CA_MODELS_DIR__.'/ca_objects.php');
require_once(__CA_MODELS_DIR__.'/ca_object_representations.php');
class QnapPathConverterPlugin extends BaseApplicationPlugin { 
    public function __construct($ps_plugin_path) {
        parent::__construct();
        $this->description = _t('Converts QNAP paths to local paths');

        // Register the hook using ca_hooks
        $this->opo_config->addHook('ca_objects.afterSave', array($this, 'convertQnapPath'));

        // Debugging statement
        error_log("QnapPathConverterPlugin initialized");
    }

    # -------------------------------------------------------
    public function checkStatus() {
        return array(
            'description' => $this->getDescription(),
            'errors' => array(),
            'warnings' => array(),
            'available' => ((bool)caGetOption('enabled', $this->getPluginUserAppConfig(), false))
        );
    }

    # -------------------------------------------------------
    public function convertQnapPath($pa_options) {
        error_log("convertQnapPath hook triggered");

        $t_instance = $pa_options['instance'];
        $va_changed_values = $pa_options['changed_values'];

        // Check if the QNAP Path field has changed
        if (isset($va_changed_values['qnap_path'])) {
            $vs_qnap_path = $va_changed_values['qnap_path'];

            // Debugging statement
            error_log("QNAP Path before conversion: $vs_qnap_path");

            // Convert the QNAP path to the local path
            $vs_local_path = str_replace('\\\\QNAP_IP\\share\\', '/mnt/qnap/', $vs_qnap_path);

            // Debugging statement
            error_log("QNAP Path after conversion: $vs_local_path");

            // Update the media path in the record
            $t_instance->set('ca_object_representations.media', $vs_local_path);
            $t_instance->update();

            // Debugging statement
            error_log("Media path updated for object ID: " . $t_instance->getPrimaryKey());
        } else {
            // Debugging statement
            error_log("QNAP Path field has not changed");
        }
    }
}

I am probably missing something simple but I always get an error 500 as soon as any php file (even empty) gets into my plugin subfolder.
I'd be glad for any help of clear walkthrough/template for creating a plugin on Providence V2.
Thanks!

monica

Documentation at: https://manual.collectiveaccess.org/providence/developer/app_plugins.html should still be relevant.

Take a plugin that is already there like the prepopulate plugin and use that as your template.

If you are getting a 500 error, then make sure logging is turned on and look in the logs for a more precise reason this is happening.

jimbo

Thanks for the reference. I though this doc was outdated but managed to create a plugin without any server error. However it does not work once I try it and I get the following error on the GUI when I create or view any object:

There are errors preventing information in my specific fields from being saved:
Media URI: 'media_uri' does not exist in this object

(for the record, media_uri is the field I created and it is assigned to object:image the very same I am using for my tests.)

Does this error mean anything to anyone?
When I disable my plugin this error does not appear. Besides that the only error I have in the warning log is this that seem unrelated to my problem:

Undefined array key "deaccession_sdatetime"
[/var/www/html/collectiveaccess/app/lib/Search/SearchIndexer.php:829]

Thanks in advance for any help I could get, I am kind of stuck on this.
Jim

monica

jimbo No idea sorry. We would need to see your plugin code and to understand what you are trying to do.

From your first post, you say something about converting a text field to a URL? You could probably do this simply by using a URL field instead of a text field for that data. Or using the prepopulate plugin that will populate fields on either save or edit based on different rules/data.

jimbo

Thank you for getting back to me.
In fact I need to convert URI like this "\qnap-hostname\share*" to this format: "/mnt/qnap/*"
My plugin code is the following, in case it helps:

<?php
/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 * QnapPathConverterPlugin.php
 * ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 */

class QnapPathConverterPlugin extends BaseApplicationPlugin {
	/**
	 * Plugin config
	 * @var Configuration
	 */
	var $opo_plugin_config = null;
	public function __construct($ps_plugin_path) {
		$this->description = _t('This plugin converts paths in the custom metadata field "media_uri" and removes double quotes.');
		parent::__construct();

		$this->opo_plugin_config = Configuration::load($ps_plugin_path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'conf' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'QnapPathConverter.conf');
	}
	/**
	 *
	 */
	public function checkStatus() {
		return array(
			'description' => $this->getDescription(),
			'errors' => array(),
			'warnings' => array(),
			'available' => (bool) $this->opo_plugin_config->get('enabled')
		);
	}
	public function hookInsertItem(&$pa_params) {
		if($this->opo_plugin_config->get('enabled')) {
			$this->convertPaths($pa_params);
		}
		return $pa_params;
	}
	public function hookUpdateItem(&$pa_params) {
		if($this->opo_plugin_config->get('enabled')) {
			$this->convertPaths($pa_params);
		}
		return $pa_params;
	}
	public function hookSaveItem(&$pa_params) {
		if($this->opo_plugin_config->get('enabled')) {
			$this->convertPaths($pa_params);
		}
		return $pa_params;
	}
	public function hookEditItem(&$pa_params) {
		if($this->opo_plugin_config->get('enabled')) {
			$this->convertPaths($pa_params);
		}
		return $pa_params;
	}
	/**
	 * Convert paths in the custom metadata field "media_uri" and remove double quotes
	 *
	 * @param array $params Plugin parameters, including the table instance to convert paths
	 */
	public function convertPaths(&$params) {
		if(!($t_instance = caGetOption('instance', $params, null))) { return false; }

		// Get the value of the custom metadata field "media_uri"
		$vs_media_uri = $t_instance->get('media_uri');

		// Remove all double quotes from the media_uri field
		$vs_media_uri = str_replace('"', '', $vs_media_uri);

		// Replace the path segment "\\QNAP-IP\share\" with "/mnt/qnap/"
		$vs_media_uri = preg_replace('|\\\\QNAP-IP\\share\\|', '/mnt/qnap/', $vs_media_uri);

		// Set the converted path back to the metadata field
		$t_instance->set('media_uri', $vs_media_uri);

		return true;
	}
}

However I do not think my problem is related to the string manipulation itself as even when removing the preg_replace() part, I still get the same error in the GUI.

Again I am thankful for any help anyone could give me on this.

monica

jimbo I still think a prepopulate would be easier here.

However, your issue is most likely with the ln:
$vs_media_uri = $t_instance->get('media_uri');

As a metadata element you need to state the table eg ca_objects.media_uri
However this plugin is being called on all record types and I am assuming media_uri isn't on every record, so it's going to throw errors about not finding it. Also, pick one hook to run this on, such as save (or save AND edit in the first instance, which is what prepopulate does).

Your code will need to check if the instance type is object (or which ever it is you are doing this on) before getting the element value.

monica

jimbo I still think a prepopulate would be easier here.

However, your issue is most likely with the ln:
$vs_media_uri = $t_instance->get('media_uri');

Your code will need to check if the instance type is object (or which ever it is you are doing this on) before getting the element value.

jimbo

Hi again.
Thanks again for the quick reply.
I tried to make it work with prepopulate but without success. This is the code I used in the prepopulate.conf :

# prepopulate field configuration

# set to 1 to enable the plugin
enabled = 1

prepopulate_fields_on_save = 1
prepopulate_fields_on_edit = 1

prepopulate_rules = {
        convert_media_uri = {
                # what types of records does this rule apply to?
                table = ca_objects,

                # mode determines handling of existing values in target element
                # can be overwrite, or addIfEmpty
                mode = overwrite,

                # Set which events this run runs on here. Values can be "edit" and/or "save".
                useFor = [save],

                # What's the prepopulate target?
                target = ca_objects.media_uri,

                # content to prepopulate
                # (this is a display template evaluated against the current record)
                template = ^ca_objects.media_uri|replace:"\\\\QNAP\\share\\":"/mnt/qnap/"|replace:"\"":""
        },
}

In fact it dit "replace" my field string but it gave me very weird replacement output on the textbox:

"\QNAP\share\test\test.png|replace:\\QNAP\share\":

I tried several variations but could never make it work nor did I find any prepopulate examples that were similar enough. Now I know I am not very good at coding so if there is something obviously wrong with my code, I'll be glad if anyone could tell me how to fix it.

monica

Need to use a template there.
Here are some functions you can use in templates:
https://manual.collectiveaccess.org/providence/user/reporting/expressions.html#functions

Try with something like
template = replace("\\\\QNAP\\share\\","/mnt/qnap/",replace("\"","","^ca_objects.media_uri"))

jimbo

I tried your code:
template = replace("\\\\QNAP\\share\\","/mnt/qnap/",replace("\"","","^ca_objects.media_uri"))

With this input:

but instead of the intended output (/mnt/qnap/test53.png)
I get this output:

At first I tought it was something buggy with the escaping backslashes things but I also tried with other more simple functions, like "join" and I always get the same problem.
Somehow it's like the code is never interpreted correctly.

I have looked at the doc but it's all very abstract to me and maybe I am missing something.
Am I the only one with this problem?
Thanks again.

monica

jimbo I went and have a look through the documentation to remind myself. For the expressions, they need to be surrounded by an <expression> tag.

I did a test and entered the data you have used as an example into a field, then played around with the display template and some regex.

I came back with the following working

template = "<expression>replace('/\\\QNAP\\\share\\\/','/mnt/qnap/', replace('/\"/','','^ca_objects.media_uri'))</expression>"

jimbo

It finally solves it!
OMG thank you so much monica!!!!

monica

jimbo To run this across all object records, use the caUtils command apply-prepopulate-rules, get the full options you can use by running support/bin/caUtils help apply-prepopulate-rules

jimbo

Very good to know! that may be useful for existing records!
Thanks a lot!