source: main/waeup.kofa/trunk/docs/source/userdocs/customization.rst @ 13120

.. _customization:

Portal Customization
********************

Portal customization requires profound knowledge of the Python programming language. Customization is part of the portal deployment process. It can only be done by the custom package manager and activated by the system administrator, who is allowed to update/upgrade the package on the server and restart the portal. Usually, custom packages are not designed for regular reconfiguration. Due to the complexity of school fee computation at Nigerian universities, however, a lot of configuration had to be done in the Python code and can thus not be subject to online configuration. Technically speaking, the parameters are only loaded and registered once during start-up and are not stored in the database like the configuration parameters described in :ref:`configuration`.

Kofa must not be customized by manipulating original Kofa code, i.e. by editing Python files, Zope page templates or ZCML configuration files in the Kofa base package. Customization is done by deploying a custom package which can inherit all the Python classes from the base package, in order to override distinct attributes and methods and register these customized classes instead of the orginal classes during start-up. It would go beyond the scope of the user handbook to explain, how to build such a Kofa custom package. This will be done in the :ref:`developer_handbook`. Here we roughly describe the three different customization approaches with a focus on the third approach, the customization of utility attributes and methods.

Localization
============

Zope Interfaces
===============

Zope Utilities
==============

Zope utilities are dedicated to customization by overriding their methods in custom packages.

Kofa Utils
----------

Students Utils
--------------

Applicants Utils
----------------