FwChangelog

A per-page changelog for ProcessWire. Every time a page is saved, the module records which fields changed, the value before and after, who made the change and when. The history is shown in a modal opened from the Settings tab of the page editor, for every template.

Features

• Before and after values for each changed field, with the user and the date.
• Multi-language fields: one entry per language that changed.
• Page properties: name, status (published, hidden, locked), parent and template.
• Page events: created, moved to the trash, restored.
• Files and images: added, removed, replaced and description changes. File contents are never stored, only the file name.
• Page reference fields: the titles and ids of the selected pages.
• Repeater, RepeaterMatrix and FieldsetPage: changes inside items are logged on the page that owns them, including items added, removed and switched on or off. RepeaterMatrix items are identified by their type label.
• Combo fields: one entry per changed subfield.
• Toggle and checkbox values are shown with their labels instead of 0 and 1.
• Password fields are logged as changed, without their values.
• Consecutive changes to the same field by the same user are merged into one entry, so autosaves and quick re-saves do not flood the history.
• Old entries are deleted automatically after a configurable retention period.

Requirements

• ProcessWire 3.0.200 or newer.
• The core LazyCron module, for the automatic cleanup of old entries. Without it everything else works, but entries are never deleted.

Installation

1. Copy the FwChangelog folder to /site/modules/.
2. In the admin, go to Modules > Refresh.
3. Install FwChangelog.

Installing creates the fw_changelog database table and the fw-changelog-view permission.

Installing from the admin

You can also install it from Modules > New, either from the modules directory (class name FwChangelog) or with Add Module From URL:

https://github.com/joaochoupinaa/FwChangelog/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

Since ProcessWire 3.0.163 these options are off by default. To enable them, add this to /site/config.php:

$config->moduleInstall = array(
    'directory' => true, // install from the modules directory
    'upload' => false,   // install by uploading a zip file
    'download' => true,  // install by downloading from a URL
);

Usage

Edit any page and open the Settings tab. The changelog block shows the number of logged changes and a link that opens the history.

Only changes made by a logged-in user are logged. Saves made by command-line scripts and importers running as the guest user are ignored.

Who can see the history

Superusers always can. Other users need the fw-changelog-view permission, in addition to being able to edit the page.

Configuration

Pausing the log from code

To skip logging during bulk changes made while a user is logged in:

FwChangelog::pause();
// ... bulk changes ...
FwChangelog::resume();

Notes

• Uninstalling the module drops the fw_changelog table and all history.
• Reordering repeater items, files or images is not logged.
• A replaced file is detected by a change in file size.
• PageTable items are regular pages and have their own changelog.
• The front end is not affected: the module only does work when a page is saved and when the history is opened in the page editor.