Framework Extensibility

This article summarizes the current possibilities of the framework extension, provides a list of customizations that are not achievable now but are planned to be enabled soon, as well as a list of customizations that are not (and will not be) possible at all.

What is achievable easily¶

• Extending an entity
  • Adding a new attribute
  • Note: There are some limitations when extending OrderItem, for more see the documentation
• The administration can be extended by:
  • Adding a new administration page along with the side menu and breadcrumbs
  • Extending particular forms without the need of the template overriding
• Customizing database migrations
  • adding a new migration as well as skipping and reordering the existing ones
• Configuring the smoke tests (see RouteConfigCustomization class)
  • Note: This is now achievable as the configuration class is located in the open box project-base. However, that makes the upgrading of the component harder so the configuration is planned to be re-worked.
• Implementing custom product feed or modifying an existing one
• Implementing a basic data import to import data to you e-shop from an external source
  • adding a new cron module and configuring it
• Extending the application using standard Symfony techniques
  • e.g. overriding Twig templates, routes, services, ...
• Adding a new advert position to be used in the administration section Marketing > Advertising system
• open-box modifications in project-base
  • e.g. adding new entities, changing the FE design, customization of FE javascripts, adding new FE pages (routes and controllers), ...
• Hiding the existing features and functionality
• adding a new javascript into admin
  • add the new javascript files into the directory src/Shopsys/ShopBundle/Resources/scripts/custom_admin and they will be loaded automatically

What is achievable with additional effort¶

• Extending factories and controllers - see commit in demoshop
• Adding form option into existing form - see commit in demoshop
• Extending administration form theme - see commit in demoshop
• Changing an entity association - see commit in demoshop and actual association change
  • this change is complicated and potentially dangerous

Which issues are going to be addressed soon¶

• Extending data fixtures (including performance data fixtures)
• Extending data grids in the administration
• Extending all forms in the administration without the need of the template overriding
• Extending classes like Repositories without the need for changing the project-base tests

What is not supported¶

• Removing an attribute from a framework entity
• Changing a data type of an entity attribute
• Removing existing entities and features
• Extending the Money class and closely related classes (eg. MoneyType)

Examples of implemented features on the Demoshop repository¶

• Shipping method with pickup places
  • new shipping method Zasilkovna
  • pick up places are downloaded by cron
  • order process change
  • details in a issue description
• Product attribute "condition"
  • product entity extension
  • administration form extension
  • frontend product change
  • google feed change
  • detailed info in a issue description
• Second description of a category
  • category entity extension
  • administration form extension
    • new multidomain
  • frontend product list change
  • detailed info in a issue description
• Twig templates cache
  • performance improved by ~15%
  • cache is invalidated every 5 minutes
• Hidden the functionality of the flags
  • hidden functionality in administration
  • hidden functionality in frontend
  • flags do not affect shop at all
• Company account with multiple users
  • group user accounts under one company account
  • separate users login credentials
  • share company attributes
  • change association from 1:1 to 1:N