Redmine supports the concept of Hooks. It is an API to allow external code to extend the core Redmine functionality in a clean way. Hooks allow the plugin author to register callback functions which are executed one after another when the Redmine code reaches specific points in the code.
There is a list of valid hooks. But the best way to find them is to just have a look into the code to find the place you would like to extend and search for a call to a hook nearby.
Additional methods to extend or replace Redmine code are:- Adding new methods
- Using rails callbacks
- Wrapping an existing method using
alias_method_chain
Fundamentals
As said above, when a hook is called, it executes the previously registered callback functions. These functions must accept exactly one parameter: a hash providing some context. This context hash will always contain data necessary to do something useful in your callback function. In the case of controller of view hooks (see below), it contains at least the following information:- :controller => a reference to the current controller instance
- :project => the current project (if set by the controller),
- :request => the current request object with much information about the current web request
Additionally, the hash will contain some data specific to the respective hook. This data is directly passed in the call_hook
call you will find in Redmine's code.
Model hooks will not contain the default data as it does not apply here. These hooks will only contain the data passed in the call_hook
call.
Types of hooks
Basically, there are currently three types of hooks:- View hooks
- Controller hooks
- Model hooks
While both types use exactly the same API, there is a fundamentally different use-case for these.
View hooks
View hooks are executed while rendering the HTML code of a view. This allows the plugin author to insert some custom HTML code into some sensible places of the view. The return value of the callback function transformed to a string and included into the view. A shortcut exists for rendering a single partial. See below for an example.
Controller hooks
Controller hooks are fewer in number than the view hooks. Often it is sufficient to use additional filters or to extend the model classes, as the controller actions should be (and are most of the time) very short and don't do much. There are however, some more lengthy actions which use hooks. To properly use those, one has to understand that the objects in the context hash are only referenced. Thus, if you change an object in-place, the changes will be available in the actual controller (and later in the view). Consider the following simplified example:
Assume the following function is registered to the do_something
hook. See below for how to achieve that.
Now consider a controller action with the following code:
As you can see, the hook function can change the issue
object in-place. It is however not possible to completely replace an object as this would break the object references.
Model hooks
There are very few model hooks in Redmine. Most extensions in model code can be done by adding new methods or encapsulating existing ones by creatively applying the alias_method_chain pattern. The hooks can be used in the same way as the controller hooks.
Register functions to hooks
View hooks
The following example is going to hook a function into the hook view_issues_form_details_bottom
. This can be used to add some additional fields to the issue edit form.
- In your plugin (assumed to be named
my_plugin
), create the following class inlib/my_plugin/hooks.rb
. You can register to multiple hooks in the same class.
The following class does exactly the same as the above but uses a method instead of the shorterrender_on
helper. The name of the method decides which callback it registers itself to.
- In your
init.rb
make sure to require the file with the hooks. It should look like this:
Controller and Model hooks
You can register methods to controller and model hooks the same way as the view hooks. Always remember to require the hook class in your init.rb
. See an example below:
Additional examples
Some additional real-life examples can be found at
View hooks
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/view_layouts_base_html_head_hook.rb
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/view_issues_show_details_bottom_hook.rb
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/view_issues_form_details_bottom_hook.rb
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/view_issues_bulk_edit_details_bottom_hook.rb
Helper hooks
Controller hooks
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/controller_timelog_available_criterias_hook.rb
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/controller_issues_edit_before_save_hook.rb
- http://github.com/edavis10/redmine_contracts/blob/master/lib/redmine_contracts/hooks/controller_issues_bulk_edit_before_save_hook.rb
TODO
- HowTo add filters to existing controllers?
- HowTo overwrite methods using alias_method_chain
- instance methods
- class methods
- initialize
- modules