Configure Plugin

configure interface using json-rpc

This plugin provides access to all Foswiki configuration data through the webserver, supports running server-side checkers and wizards, and allows you to save modifications.

You do not have to have this plugin installed to run Foswiki. Checkers and wizards can be run from the command-line using the tools/configure_test script, and LocalSite.cfg can be manually edited to add your required settings. However this UI provides a simple way to access the configuration without requiring login access to the server.

If your system has an existing LocalSite.cfg, then you must be logged in to Foswiki as an administrator, or as a user identified by the {FeatureAccess}{Configure} parameter before attempting to use this interface. If no LocalSite.cfg exists, then you will automatically logged in as an admin. Do not log out of Foswiki until you have done one or more of the following:

• Registered a user and added them to the AdminGroup
• Registered a user and added them to the {FeatureAccess}{Configure} list of users
• Set an internal admin user password in the expert setting {Password}

Users of the configure interface access it through the CGI script in bin/configure. The UI is self-explanatory and needs no further introduction here.

Of interest to developers may be the JSON RPC interface provided by the plugin, which gives access to the Foswiki configuration to web clients (who must, of course, meet the above criteria to make RPC calls).

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) interface

RPC calls are handled via the JsonRpcContrib. Callers must authenticate as admins, or the request will be rejected with a 403 status.

Note: If Foswiki is running in 'bootstrap' mode (without a LocalSite.cfg) then all calls are automatically assumed to be from an admin. As soon as a LocalSite.cfg is put in place, then the authentication set up therein will apply, and users are required to logged in as admins.

Entry points for each of the static methods published by the Foswiki::Configure::Query class are supported. See that class for descriptions.

Invocation examples

Call using a URL of the format:

https://astrowiki.physics.ox.ac.uk/bin/jsonrpc/configure

while POSTing a request encoded according to the JSON-RPC 2.0 specification:

{
  jsonrpc: "2.0", 
  method: "getspec", 
  params: {
     get : { keys: "{DataDir}" },
     depth : 0
  }, 
  id: "caller's id"
}

.spec format

The format of .spec files is documented in detail in There are two node types in the .spec tree:

SECTIONs have:

• headline (default UNKNOWN, the root is usually '')
• typename (always SECTION)
• children - array of child nodes (sections and keys)

Key entries (such as {DataDir}) have:

• keys e.g. {Store}{Cupboard}
• typename (from the .spec)
• Other keys from the .spec e.g. SIZE, FEEDBACK, CHECK

Installation

You do not need to install anything in the browser to use this extension. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the extension on the server.

Open configure, and open the "Extensions" section. "Extensions Operation and Maintenance" Tab -> "Install, Update or Remove extensions" Tab. Click the "Search for Extensions" button. Enter part of the extension name or description and press search. Select the desired extension(s) and click install. If an extension is already installed, it will not show up in the search results.

You can also install from the shell by running the extension installer as the web server user: (Be sure to run as the webserver user, not as root!)

cd /path/to/foswiki
perl tools/extension_installer <NameOfExtension> install

If you have any problems, or if the extension isn't available in configure, then you can still install manually from the command-line. See https://foswiki.org/Support/ManuallyInstallingExtensions for more help.

The plugin uses the JsonRpcContrib, which must be installed.

Dependencies

Name	Version	Description
Foswiki::Plugins::JQueryPlugin	>=6.00	Required JQuery
Foswiki::Contrib::JsonRpcContrib	>=0	Required JSON interface

Change History

06 Aug 2023:	(1.12) Foswikitask:Item15151: add warnings and strictness
31 Jan 2021:	(1.11) Foswikitask:Item15014: Prevent password fields form being auto-filled
17 Apr 2020:	(1.10) Foswikitask:Item14901: Add support for XML and CERT data types in configure pages
08 Dec 2017:	(1.09) Foswikitask:Item14536: Configure leaves "wait" cursor spinning while waiting for user action. Foswikitask:Item14472: replaced use of attr() with prop() where needed; fixed use of null value trying to trim values
04 Apr 2017:	(1.08) Foswikitask:Item13883: Updated base template to suggest solutions when configure shows base login page. Foswikitask:Item13339: Warning or errors icons in configure get stuck unless page is reloaded. Foswikitask:Item14366: Reorder initialization to allow local CGI::Carp
23 Jan 2017:	(1.07) Foswikitask:Item14287: Configure needs to encode reported configuration values.
28 Nov 2016:	(1.06) Foswikitask:Item13206: Upgrade to latest jquery-ui
11 Apr 2016:	(1.05) Foswikitask:Item14049: fixed jsonrpc endpoint
03 Feb 2016:	(1.04) Foswikitask:Item13917: Regex type doesn't correctly compare default value
14 Oct 2015:	(1.03) fixed base use of console not supported by all browsers
08 Sep 2015:	(1.02) Foswikitask:Item13560: Configure does not set initial values for extensions.
18 Dec 2014:	(1.01) Initial version