1 | .. _customization: |
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2 | |
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3 | Portal Customization |
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4 | ******************** |
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5 | |
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6 | Portal customization requires profound knowledge of the Python |
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7 | programming language. Customization is part of the portal deployment |
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8 | process. It can only be done by the custom package manager and |
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9 | activated by the system administrator, who is allowed to |
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10 | update/upgrade the package on the server and restart the portal. |
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11 | Usually, custom packages are not designed for regular |
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12 | reconfiguration. Due to the complexity of school fee computation at |
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13 | Nigerian universities, however, a lot of configuration had to be |
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14 | done in the Python code and can thus not be subject to online |
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15 | configuration. Technically speaking, the parameters are only loaded |
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16 | and registered once during start-up and are not stored in the |
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17 | database like the configuration parameters described in |
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18 | :ref:`configuration`. |
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19 | |
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20 | Kofa must not be customized by manipulating original Kofa code, i.e. |
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21 | by editing Python files, Zope page templates or ZCML configuration |
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22 | files in the Kofa base package. Customization is done by deploying a |
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23 | custom package which can inherit all the Python classes from the |
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24 | base package, in order to override distinct attributes and methods |
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25 | and register these customized classes instead of the orginal classes |
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26 | during start-up. It would go beyond the scope of the user handbook |
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27 | to explain, how to build such a Kofa custom package. This will be |
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28 | done in the :ref:`developer_handbook`. Here we roughly describe the |
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29 | three different customization approaches with a focus on the third |
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30 | approach, the customization of utility attributes and methods. |
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31 | |
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32 | Localization |
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33 | ============ |
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34 | |
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35 | The base language of the Kofa User Interface (Kofa UI) is English. |
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36 | The English language regime has been specified by WAeUP's first |
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37 | customer, the University of Benin in Nigeria. Kofa is language-aware, |
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38 | which means it has been translated into different languages (German |
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39 | and French so far), and the preferred language can be selected via |
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40 | the UI. The Kofa UI translations and also the English language |
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41 | regime can be localized in custom packages by overriding single |
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42 | entries of the language files. Headlines, field labels, field |
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43 | descriptions, navigation tabs, buttons, page comments, flash |
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44 | messages etc. can be easily adjusted to the needs of the institution |
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45 | which wants to deploy Kofa. |
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46 | |
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47 | Kofa is using the `GNU gettext utilities |
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48 | <http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext>`_ for translation and |
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49 | localization. Translation is done via ``po`` text files which are |
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50 | located in the ``locales`` folder of a package. Each language has |
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51 | its own subfolder. Localized English Kofa terms, for intance, can be |
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52 | found in ``locales/en/LC_MESSAGES/waeup.kofa.po``. A single |
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53 | entry/message consists of two lines. |
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54 | |
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55 | Example:: |
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56 | |
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57 | msgid "Login" |
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58 | msgstr "Let me in" |
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59 | |
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60 | ``msgid`` contains the original term from the base package, |
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61 | ``msgstr`` contains its localized/translated version, which results |
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62 | into a renamed login tab on the right side of the navigation bar. |
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63 | |
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64 | ``po`` files must be compiled before restarting the portal. Editing |
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65 | and compilation of ``po`` files can be done with a nice tool called |
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66 | 'Poedit' which is `available <https://poedit.net/download>`_ for |
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67 | various operating systems. |
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68 | |
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69 | |
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70 | Zope Interfaces |
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71 | =============== |
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72 | |
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73 | Zope Utilities |
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74 | ============== |
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75 | |
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76 | Zope utilities are dedicated to customization by overriding their methods in custom packages. |
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77 | |
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78 | Kofa Utils |
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79 | ---------- |
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80 | |
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81 | Students Utils |
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82 | -------------- |
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83 | |
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84 | Applicants Utils |
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85 | ---------------- |
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86 | |
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87 | |
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