Completely Custom Configuration

A configuration UI is generated automatically when you create a configuration interface. But in some cases you want a completely custom UI for your configuration. For example, you plan to handle the configuration programmatically instead of using Liferay’s Configuration Admin. Or maybe you want the flexibility of creating a completely custom UI. Here’s how to do it.

See the Example Project

Start a new Liferay DXP instance by running

docker run -it -m 8g -p 8080:8080 liferay/dxp:7.4.13-u75

Sign in to Liferay at http://localhost:8080 using the email address [email protected] and the password test. When prompted, change the password to learn.

Then, follow these steps:

Download and unzip Completely Custom Configuration.

curl https://resources.learn.liferay.com/dxp/latest/en/building-applications/core-frameworks/configuration-framework/liferay-u2g5.zip -O

unzip liferay-u2g5.zip

From the module root, build and deploy.
```
./gradlew deploy -Ddeploy.docker.container.id=$(docker ps -lq)
```
note

This command is the same as copying the deployed jars to /opt/liferay/osgi/modules on the Docker container.
Confirm the deployment in the Liferay Docker container console.
```
STARTED com.acme.u2g5.web_1.0.0 [1034]
```
Verify that the example module is working. Open your browser to https://localhost:8080.
Navigate to Control Panel → Configuration → System Settings → Third Party. Click U2G5 Configuration.

Note that this view is delivered by a custom JSP file.

Create the Configuration Interface

Define the configurable attributes in the configuration interface. The sample project has three configurable attributes: fontColor, fontFamily, and fontSize.

@ExtendedObjectClassDefinition(
	category = "u2g5", generateUI = false,
	scope = ExtendedObjectClassDefinition.Scope.SYSTEM
)
@Meta.OCD(
	id = "com.acme.u2g5.web.internal.configuration.U2G5WebConfiguration",
	localization = "content/Language", name = "u2g5-configuration-name"
)
public interface U2G5WebConfiguration {

	@Meta.AD(deflt = "blue", required = false)
	public String fontColor();

	@Meta.AD(deflt = "serif", required = false)
	public String fontFamily();

	@Meta.AD(deflt = "16", required = false)
	public int fontSize();

Note that under the @ExtendedObjectClassDefinition annotation, generateUI is set to false. This excludes the configuration UI from being auto-generated.

note

A ConfigurationBeanDeclaration is required for Liferay versions before DXP 7.4 U51 or Portal 7.4 GA51. See ConfigurationBeanDeclaration with Previous Versions of Liferay.

Implement the Configuration Screen

Declare the class as an implementation of ConfigurationScreen with the @Component annotation.
```
@Component(service = ConfigurationScreen.class)
```
Set the category key, the configuration entry’s key, and its localized name. In the sample project, the category key is set to third-party in System Settings. The string value for the configuration’s name is set by the language key in the bundle’s Language.properties file.


@Override
public String getCategoryKey() {
	return "third-party";
}

@Override
public String getKey() {
	return "u2g5-configuration-name";
}

@Override
public String getName(Locale locale) {
	return LanguageUtil.get(
		ResourceBundleUtil.getBundle(locale, U2G5ConfigurationScreen.class),
		"u2g5-configuration-name");
}

For this example, the configuration scope is set to system. To learn more, see Scoping Configurations.

@Override
public String getScope() {
	return "system";
}

The render() method uses ConfigurationProvider to get the configuration. The servlet context provides access to the request dispatcher, which allows the custom JSP to read the configuration.

@Override
public void render(
		HttpServletRequest httpServletRequest,
		HttpServletResponse httpServletResponse)
	throws IOException {

	try {
		RequestDispatcher requestDispatcher =
			_servletContext.getRequestDispatcher("/u2g5.jsp");

		httpServletRequest.setAttribute(
			U2G5WebConfiguration.class.getName(),
			_configurationProvider.getSystemConfiguration(
				U2G5WebConfiguration.class));

		requestDispatcher.include(httpServletRequest, httpServletResponse);
	}
	catch (Exception exception) {
		throw new IOException("Unable to render /u2g5.jsp", exception);
	}
}

Make sure to use the @Reference annotation to define the module’s symbolic name.
```
@Reference(
	target = "(osgi.web.symbolicname=com.acme.u2g5.web)"
)
```

Add the Web-ContextPath

Specify your bundle’s Web-ContextPath in the bnd.bnd file. For example, the sample project has Web-ContextPath: /u2g5-web in the Bnd file. This is what registers the ServletContext object in the Configuration Screen file. Note that a servlet context is created automatically for portlets, but since this sample doesn’t have a portlet, you must add this line to the Bnd file.

Create a Custom JSP

Import the configuration interface to the JSP.

<%@ page import="com.acme.u2g5.web.internal.configuration.U2G5WebConfiguration" %>

Access the configuration values from the request object.

<%
U2G5WebConfiguration u2g5WebConfiguration = (U2G5WebConfiguration)request.getAttribute(U2G5WebConfiguration.class.getName());
%>

The attributes fontColor(), fontFamily(), fontSize() can now be used in the JSP.

This sample project demonstrates a basic example of how to use ConfigurationScreen to read and display configuration values in a custom JSP. In your application, write your own code and create a completely custom configuration UI to meet your needs.