module ProcessWire Dashboard

[d'Hinnisdaël]

4 hours ago, LuisM said:

Adding the panels and groups worked fine but I cant get the colors on the Pie Chart Panel to work. 
All I get is a Pie with grey segments ?

Just had a look. Your syntax for the dataset options is off: you need the remove the outer array around backgroundColor. Then it works as expected.

'data' => [
  'datasets' => [
    [
      'data' => [
        floor($normalTotal),
        floor($recurringTotal)
      ],
      'backgroundColor' => [
        'rgba(193, 66, 66, 1)',
        'rgba(193, 66, 66, 1)'
      ]
    ]
  ]
]

You're right though about the default colors not being applied to pie charts. I pushed release v0.6.12 that fixes that.

[d'Hinnisdaël]

On 3/1/2020 at 9:04 AM, Sevarf2 said:

Since we are in the matter, the actions on each page, like "lock", "unpub" or "trash"... don't work, I got an alert with "undefined"

I pushed release v0.6.13 which fixes the page list action buttons (unpublish, hide, etc.)

[LuisM]

1 hour ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Just had a look. Your syntax for the dataset options is off: you need the remove the outer array around backgroundColor. Then it works as expected.

'data' => [
  'datasets' => [
    [
      'data' => [
        floor($normalTotal),
        floor($recurringTotal)
      ],
      'backgroundColor' => [
        'rgba(193, 66, 66, 1)',
        'rgba(193, 66, 66, 1)'
      ]
    ]
  ]
]

You're right though about the default colors not being applied to pie charts. I pushed release v0.6.12 that fixes that.

?‍♂️

thanks...

[eydun]

Thank you for a very nice module.

I am using a panel-list like this:

   $panels->add([
        'panel' => 'collection',
        'title' => 'Clients',
        'data' => [
            'collection' => 'template=client, limit=10',
            'sortable' => true,
            'pagination' => true,
            'columns' => [
                'title' => 'Title',
                'url' => 'URL',
                'modified' => 'Modified'
            ]
        ]
    ]);

 

There are 50 client-pages, but the limits it to 10 records.

The pagination shows like this:

Is it possible to have the pagination show "forward" and "back" links to navigate to next 10 records?

 

 

[d'Hinnisdaël]

2 hours ago, eydun said:

Is it possible to have the pagination show "forward" and "back" links to navigate to next 10 records?

Actual pagination buttons aren't implemented at the moment. That footer is meant to provide clarity for editors that there's more records than the ones currently displayed.

I'd consider the dashboard more a jumping-off point for editors than a replacement for other admin views better suited to browsing pages (like the page tree or listers). Ideally, they'd spend as little time as necessary on the dashboard and then go off to do whatever needs to get done in other parts of the admin.

While I'm pondering whether adding this is a good idea (it is a useful feature!), there's two options:

1. Create a copy of the included collection panel and give it a stab yourself. It shouldn't be too difficult — the module supports reloading panels via AJAX and provides the necessary JS events. Have a look at the documentation section on creating custom panels or crack open the chart panel to see an example. Let me know how it goes or if the module is missing anything to get this working.

2. There is a (currently) undocumented parameter you can supply to display a ›View All‹ button next to the pagination info. The parameter name is list and it takes a page, page ID or selector. If it's an admin page (ProcessLister), it will link to that page. If it's a content page (e.g. your Clients parent page), it will open the page tree at that page.

$panels->add([
  'panel' => 'collection',
  'title' => 'Clients',
  'data' => [
    'collection' => 'template=client, limit=10',
    'sortable' => true,
    'pagination' => true,
    'columns' => [
      'title' => 'Title',
      'url' => 'URL',
      'modified' => 'Modified',

      // Display "View All" button in footer
      'list' => 1184, // ID of lister page
    ]
  ]
]);

 

[MoritzLost]

Hi @d'Hinnisdaël , thanks for this module! I'm trying it out now and collecting a couple of suggestions. I have encountered two small-ish bugs so far:

On Firefox, I get a horizontal overflow in Firefox with the 'Shortcuts' panel in 'list' mode and 'small' size. Doesn't happen in Chrome.

The following CSS fixes it for me (even though I haven't checked if it has other unintended consequences yet):

.Dashboard__panel {
	max-width: 100%;
}

I'm also getting two warnings with the 'Collections' panel when I try to output some text from a Textareas field. Here's the input for the collection panel:

'columns' => [
  'title' => wire('fields')->get('title')->getLabel(),
  'c_campaign_parameters.utm_source' => 'Campaign source'
],

This results in warnings (even though the output still works):

1×    PHP Warning: class_parents(): Class InputfieldText does not exist and could not be loaded in .../FieldtypeTextareas.module:1071

1×    PHP Warning: in_array() expects parameter 2 to be array, bool given in .../FieldtypeTextareas.module:1072

I'm not sure if this is a bug in your module or in the Textareas field ? Can you take a look? Thanks!

[d'Hinnisdaël]

1 hour ago, MoritzLost said:

On Firefox, I get a horizontal overflow in Firefox with the 'Shortcuts' panel in 'list' mode and 'small' size. Doesn't happen in Chrome.

Sure. Happy to merge your fix.

The other one seems to be an issue with the Textareas module. I hope ?

The dashboard module uses PW's internal $page->getText() method to resolve the dot syntax field name:  $page->getText($markup, false, true) (where $markup would be 'c_campaign_parameters.utm_source') Haven't worked with the textarea module so far, but it either doesn't cast strings by default or it overwrites the getText method.

Suggested fix in your case: create a custom hook property that casts the textarea field into a string manually, and then use that property for display in the dashboard panel.

[d'Hinnisdaël]

Release 0.6.14 fixes the overflow issue in Firefox.

[MoritzLost]

@d'Hinnisdaël Great, thanks for your support! I'll install the new version tomorrow, and I'll try your suggestions for the Textareas field ?

[MoritzLost]

Thanks for the update @d'Hinnisdaël, the new version fixes the issue ?

As for the warnings with the Textareas field, that was indeed a bug with the Textareas module. I fact, I encountered this bug a year ago and Ryan fixed it already. Now if only I'd remembered to actually use the updated module ... ? Thanks for your help!

[bernhard]

Hi @d'Hinnisdaël

First of all congrats to this beautiful module. I have some suggestions and remarks:

1. The panels do not have proper dependencies set. All panels are installable (and throw an exception, when installed):
   
   IMHO the Dashboard master module should be the only installable module.
    
2. https://philippdaun.github.io/processwire-dashboard/#/configuration?id=dashboard-as-entry-point
   Any reason why you chose this version over a module setting (eg checkbox) that adds a hook? 
   I was hoping that your way of doing it would solve the problem that when clicking "Save & Exit" one would be redirected to the dashboard. But still one gets to the page tree. This also happens when trashing a page. This is one thing annoying me for a long time, but I didn't try to find a solution for it yet. Maybe you can have a look, because imho when having a dashboard it's more likely that one wants to see the dashboard than the page tree ? 
   
   Edit: Just saw that changing the main admin page's process does at least help after trashing pages ? I think I'll also redirect all user requests from the page tree to the dashboard...
    
3. DashboardPanelChart uses jsdelivr CDN to load chart.js - this means that the panel will not work on offline applications (intranet). I think it would be better to ship chartjs with the module. This brings me to the next and more important point:
    
4. Have you thought of making panels Inputfields?

 

The last point needs some more words ? 

I really wonder (not to say dislike) why you made the dasboard work on your own panel implementations rather than using regular PW Inputfields. Please don't take this as devaluation of your module, but after all it's just a ProcessModule like all the other admin pages (just really looking a lot better!).

I've created a very simple Inputfield and posted a thread in the tutorials section:

Take this screenshot of the Grid Dashboard demo:

This is VERY similar to your Dashboard module - with the big difference that it is based on PW Inputfields that can be used everywhere in the PW ecosystem! Your panels can not. As I said your module does indeed look a lot better than a regular PW form. For example as far as I know grid spacing is not possible using InputfieldFieldset. Also the admin width settings are somewhat limited (see this old issue on github).

But this is my point: Instead of creating a new module that handles things in its own ways it would be a lot better to improve or extend the PW internal tools. This means we could either create nicer CSS for PW Inputfields (here the InputfieldFieldset) or we could create an Inputfield that wraps other inputfields in a Uikit grid (as Uikit is already on board). This approach would also make it possible to use the "panels" that you create for your dashboard in other places like PW page edit screens or in other ProcessModules.

I really like the look & feel of your panels, so it would be great to be able to use them all over the PW backend and not only in your module!

Thx for creating and sharing this - I hope you get my point and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about converting panels to Inputfields ? 

[d'Hinnisdaël]

Hi @bernhard, thanks for your feedback, really appreciated. There's a few things to unpack here:

Module dependencies

The panel modules need to inherit from an actual class from a separate PHP file which made things more difficult than I'd like to admit. So right now I'm happy it's working properly at all. I wouldn't dwell on this issue too long since all modules are within a single folder and the naming is quite obvious. Might revisit this in the future.

Exit on save

I'd always expect »Exit & Save« on a page edit form to get me back to the page tree, since that's the level above. I'm happy to make that configurable, though.

Admin home process

Can you think of a way to permanently and consistently re-route everything to the admin homepage instead of the page tree? And then still have the page tree clickable as a stand-alone view? That would be a better solution that the current one for sure. I've had a previous version that changes the admin parent's process manually and changes it back on uninstall, but that was buggy as hell and really scared me.

Asset CDN

Good point about the intranet. I'm really uncomfortable bundling dependencies in projects. There's something quite icky about it and using a CDN feels like sort of a happy middle ground, but your point is valid.

Panels as Inputfield

I get what you're saying about not re-inventing the wheel. I'm afraid I have to disagree here, though.

Input fields primarily serve the need to create complex forms, to arrange components for user input. In ProcessWire, it's become common to use them for everything under the sun since they're as close to a universal layout component as it gets. Might be a misnomer in hindsight, but I don't feel like every layout panel in the admin needs to be an input panel. It's useful for sure, but I don't see the need to have every container in the backend inherit from the base Inputfield class. They come with a lot of additional logic that doesn't apply to simple output panels, like the collapsing stuff and the conditional display logic.

For context, the initial version of the module was created the way you suggested, using ProcessWire's input fields and fieldsets. There was just no way to make them look nice and behave the way the module required. Laying them out in a grid with proper spacing and responsive sizing was plain horrible. You're not only fighting a hundred separate existing CSS rules for margins and outlines but ProcessWire's internal JS for collapsing/uncollapsing/calculating of field widths on top. One of the requirements for me was to have 'renderless' panels without border, background or margin to achieve floating panels for charts. Undoing all the internal inputfield styling just wasn't something I was comfortable spending my time on.

Out of curiosity: what's a possible scenario for re-using a dashboard panel in some other part of the admin?

 

 

[bernhard]

2 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Module dependencies

The panel modules need to inherit from an actual class from a separate PHP file which made things more difficult than I'd like to admit. So right now I'm happy it's working properly at all. I wouldn't dwell on this issue too long since all modules are within a single folder and the naming is quite obvious. Might revisit this in the future.

I've also had those problems, I know that it's not really straight forward and limiting sometimes...

2 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Can you think of a way to permanently and consistently re-route everything to the admin homepage instead of the page tree? And then still have the page tree clickable as a stand-alone view? That would be a better solution that the current one for sure. I've had a previous version that changes the admin parent's process manually and changes it back on uninstall, but that was buggy as hell and really scared me.

At the moment I have this in place and need to test it over the next weeks ?

$this->addHookBefore('ProcessPageList::execute', $this, 'redirectPageList');

/**
 * Redirect all PageList requests to Dashboard
 */
public function redirectPageList(HookEvent $event) {
  if($this->config->ajax) return;
  if($this->page->id > 3) return;
  $this->session->redirect($this->pages->get('name=ear')->url);
}

Edit: Just added the page id check, then all requests to "pages" will be redirected but one can show the pagelist by going to "pages > tree" ? 

2 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Panels as Inputfield

I get what you're saying about not re-inventing the wheel. I'm afraid I have to disagree here, though.

Input fields primarily serve the need to create complex forms, to arrange components for user input. In ProcessWire, it's become common to use them for everything under the sun since they're as close to a universal layout component as it gets. Might be a misnomer in hindsight, but I don't feel like every layout panel in the admin needs to be an input panel. It's useful for sure, but I don't see the need to have every container in the backend inherit from the base Inputfield class. They come with a lot of additional logic that doesn't apply to simple output panels, like the collapsing stuff and the conditional display logic.

I try to answer that by asking you a question ? I have several custom Process Modules. They are great, because I can control where they live (menu) and who can see them (access control). How would I display one of your - I say it again - really nice looking dashboard panels in one of my modules?

2 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

For context, the initial version of the module was created the way you suggested, using ProcessWire's input fields and fieldsets. There was just no way to make them look nice and behave the way the module required. Laying them out in a grid with proper spacing and responsive sizing was plain horrible. You're not only fighting a hundred separate existing CSS rules for margins and outlines but ProcessWire's internal JS for collapsing/uncollapsing/calculating of field widths on top. One of the requirements for me was to have 'renderless' panels without border, background or margin to achieve floating panels for charts. Undoing all the internal inputfield styling just wasn't something I was comfortable spending my time on.

I've just added a commit to my example module: https://github.com/BernhardBaumrock/InputfieldChartDemo/commit/3efa4bd8355bfe6e7499254cad58e70d3f283147

IMHO this is really close to what you built on your dashboard (at least as far as I understood it until now), but it uses PW core features and only a little extra markup: https://github.com/BernhardBaumrock/InputfieldChartDemo/blob/3efa4bd8355bfe6e7499254cad58e70d3f283147/ProcessInputfieldChartDemo.module.php#L139-L146

I agree that it is not the nicest thing to layout pages using InputfieldForm elements, but I think it would be the better way to push PW in that regard than creating custom solutions. We all know the benefits of using existing components:

• showIf would work out of the box
• collapsing works out of the box (ajax loading fields)
• development is the same for dashboard panels and regular inputfields
• panels can be used everywhere
• styling applies automatically (imagine a custom admin theme using your dashboard panel...

To name just a few ? What I mean is for example we could have something like InputfieldGrid that could work like this:

$grid = $modules->get('InputfieldGrid');
$grid->addColumn([
  'class' => 'uk-width-1-4@m',
  'children' => [
    [
      'type' => 'markup',
      'label' => 'one foo',
      'value' => 'one bar',
    ],[
      'type' => 'markup',
      'label' => 'one foo',
      'value' => 'one bar',
    ],
  ],
]);
$grid->addColumn([
  'class' => 'uk-width-3-4@m',
  'children' => [
    [
      'type' => 'markup',
      'label' => 'two foo',
      'value' => 'two bar',
    ],[
      'type' => 'markup',
      'label' => 'two foo',
      'value' => 'two bar',
    ],
  ],
]);
$grid->render();

That would be really easy to build and could - same as everything else - also be used on page edit screens etc.

 

2 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Out of curiosity: what's a possible scenario for re-using a dashboard panel in some other part of the admin?

Scenario from todays work: I'm building a custom CRM for myself where I manage invoices and documents. After import they get flagged as TODO. Then I see them on the Dashboard:

When editing one of those pages I have basically the same Inputfield showing a list of all other todos:

 

[dotnetic]

On 4/3/2020 at 11:59 AM, bernhard said:

I was hoping that your way of doing it would solve the problem that when clicking "Save & Exit" one would be redirected to the dashboard. But still one gets to the page tree. This also happens when trashing a page. This is one thing annoying me for a long time, but I didn't try to find a solution for it yet.

You can use a hook to redirect after "Save & Exit":

// the hook in a location like _init.php or in a module's init function
$this->addHookBefore('ProcessPageEdit::processSaveRedirect', $this, 'redirectAfterSave');

/**
   * redirects to the main ListerPro "Raumdatenblätter" after saving a page with template raum
   * @param HookEvent $event
   * @throws WireException
   * @throws WirePermissionException
   */
  public function redirectAfterSave(HookEvent $event)
  {
    $url = $event->arguments(0);
    $page = $event->object->getPage();
    if ($page->template == "raum" && !$page->isTrash()) {
      if ($url == "../") {
        $goto = wire("pages")->get('/raumdatenblatt/raumdatenblaetter/')->url;
        $event->arguments = array($goto);
      }
    }
  }

 

[dotnetic]

There is also a config setting for the adminRootPageID, but I would not recommend to change it, as a config comment states: "Values in this section are not meant to be changed". And some modules even use this setting, to find a subpage, for example PageLister Pro, which then would not work as expected anymore:

$admin = $this->wire('pages')->get($this->wire('config')->adminRootPageID);
$parent = $admin->child('name=page, include=all');

 

[d'Hinnisdaël]

22 hours ago, bernhard said:

At the moment I have this in place and need to test it over the next weeks ?

  Looks great! Let me know how it's faring and I'm happy to use that instead of the page's process setting.

22 hours ago, bernhard said:

I agree that it is not the nicest thing to layout pages using InputfieldForm elements, but I think it would be the better way to push PW in that regard than creating custom solutions. We all know the benefits of using existing components.

You're doing a good job convincing me here. It does make sense conceptually and thinking about the module ecosystem as a whole. That said, the module is currently at a point where I'm not missing much in terms of functionality and am not that keen on re-writing the whole output layer with no new features to show for it. And it's not like I have the time, with everybody currently wanting to expand their online stores... If anything, I'd put that on the list for version 1.0 as a summer/fall project since it'd be a breaking change either way. If you definitely need this and need it soon, I'm happy to accept a pull request.

Quote

How would I display one of your - I say it again - really nice looking dashboard panels in one of my modules?

But why would you want to re-use a dashboard panel in another module? That doesn't make sense to me. The way I see a dashboard working is the other way around: it displays a condensed form of information found elsewhere, e.g. shortcuts from all possible admin views, a single chart from a whole host of data, the most recent news pages from a whole archive of them, and so on. If anything, you'd re-use a fieldset from one of your modules in the dashboard. Using markup from an existing module in a dashboard panel is working just fine — with the exception of granular access control and conditional visibility. Which to me seem minor but might be a deal-breaker for more corporate-y types of applications.

[joer80]

Would you consider adding an insert action to the collection panel?  That way people can add children?

I love this! Thank you for releasing it!

[JeevanisM]

This one is a brilliant work @d'Hinnisdaël

[d'Hinnisdaël]

23 hours ago, joer80 said:

Would you consider adding an insert action to the collection panel?  That way people can add children?

The collection panel does allow for an ›Add New‹ button. It's just not documented at the moment.

You can either specify the child page's template or the parent page and it'll figure it out. For the template option to work, the child template must have a default parent defined. This should work:

$panels->add([
  'panel' => 'collection',
  'title' => 'Widgets',
  'data' => [
    'collection' => 'template=widget, limit=6',

    // Option A: Add to child template's defined parent page
    'template' => 'widget',

    // Option B: Add to specific parent page (page, ID or selector)
    'parent' => 'template=widget-list',
  ]
]);

 

[joer80]

16 minutes ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

The collection panel does allow for an ›Add New‹ button. It's just not documented at the moment.

You can either specify the child page's template or the parent page and it'll figure it out. For the template option to work, the child template must have a default parent defined. This should work:

$panels->add([
  'panel' => 'collection',
  'title' => 'Widgets',
  'data' => [
    'collection' => 'template=widget, limit=6',

    // Option A: Add to child template's defined parent page
    'template' => 'widget',

    // Option B: Add to specific parent page (page, ID or selector)
    'parent' => 'template=widget-list',
  ]
]);

 

This is great!

Thanks!

[MarkE]

This is a nice module and I've added a number of panels successfully. However, I have a problem with the chart panel. My code is below (the data is just a test and will be replaced by integer variables):

    $reports->add([
        'panel' => 'chart',
        'title' => 'Contact bookings for ' . $property->title,
        'data' => [
            'chart' => [
                'type' => 'bar',
                'data' => [
                    'labels' => [4, 6],
                    'datasets' => [
                        'label' => 'count',
                        'data' => [1, 1],
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ]
    ]);

I get a js error: 

DashboardPanelChart.js?v=0.6.14:121 Uncaught TypeError: e.data.datasets.forEach is not a function
    at Object.beforeUpdate (DashboardPanelChart.js?v=0.6.14:121)
    at Object.notify (chart.js@2.9.3:7)
    at Qe.update (chart.js@2.9.3:7)
    at Qe.construct (chart.js@2.9.3:7)
    at new Qe (chart.js@2.9.3:7)
    at n (DashboardPanelChart.js?v=0.6.14:123)
    at HTMLCanvasElement.<anonymous> (DashboardPanelChart.js?v=0.6.14:123)
    at Function.each (JqueryCore.js?v=1585265024:2)
    at init.each (JqueryCore.js?v=1585265024:2)
    at c (DashboardPanelChart.js?v=0.6.14:123)

 

[d'Hinnisdaël]

11 hours ago, MarkE said:

However, I have a problem with the chart panel. My code is below (the data is just a test and will be replaced by integer variables)

Chart.js expects an array at datasets, even if you just use a single one. It'll work once you wrap that in brackets again.

[MarkE]

10 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Chart.js expects an array at datasets, even if you just use a single one.

Many thanks - didn't spot that!

[MoritzLost]

Hi @d'Hinnisdaël, I have a couple more suggestions for the Shortcuts & Collection panels, hope you don't mind ?

Shortcuts: Warnings with array syntax
The documentation suggests this syntax for a shortcut with a custom icon (but without a summary):
[304, 'user'],                 // Override icon
This currently throws a warning because of this line which expects three array elements. Here's a quick fix to allow passing only the title, or the title and an icon:

list($shortcut, $icon, $summary) = array_pad($shortcut, 3, '');

Shortcuts: Summary should be removable
I would like to see an panel-wide option to not display a summary for any of the shortcuts. Currently the only way to remove the summary is to use the array syntax (see above). At least for my use-case, I don't really need the summaries and the default summaries are at best confusing, so I need to use the array syntax for every item.

Collection: Default to field label for headlines
Almost all the column definitions in my collection panel look like this:

'title' => wire('fields')->get('title')->getLabel(),

This is a minor nitpick and I appreciate the option to set a custom headline, but I feel like in most cases the field label (of the field the column displays) would be a sensible default for the headline. I think it would be a good idea to support a field-only syntax for the columns, where I only need to specificy a field and the headline gets automatically populated with the field label.

Again, thanks for the great module!

[d'Hinnisdaël]

On 5/4/2020 at 5:08 PM, MoritzLost said:

Hi @d'Hinnisdaël, I have a couple more suggestions for the Shortcuts & Collection panels, hope you don't mind ?

All of these are good points, actually. I'm surprised I missed the default field label thing, since it's kind of the standard behavior in most core modules and especially useful in multi-language environments. I'm currently short on time, but will tackle these as soon as things settle down.