WebGUI 6.x Plugin Migration Guide
---------------------------------

This document is provided by the WebGUI 6.x development team in order to help
you migrate your WebGUI 5.x plugins to the new API's.

CONTENTS

1. Wobject Migration
2. Macro Migration
3. Authentication Migration
4. Scheduler Migration
5. System Changes Affecting Migration



1. Wobject Migration
--------------------

1.1 Nothing Yet

There have currently been no changes to the Wobject API.



2. Macro Migration
-------------------

2.1 Navigation Macros

As of WebGUI 6.0 there is no longer a need to develop custom navigation macros. WebGUI 
has an entirely new navigation system that is 100% configurable and templated. The
legacy navigation system has been removed. Any nav macros that you've written
will need to be removed from the system. Then just create a navigation
configuration to do what your old nav once did. 

If you absolutely must write a navigation macro for some reason that our nav
system does not accomodate you, then please check out the new API in
WebGUI::Navigation.



3. Authentication Migration
-----------------------------

3.1 Authentication Modules Changes

Authentication in WebGUI is now completely Object Oriented.  The superclass WebGUI::Auth defines a loose set of rules by which
to create authentication parameters.  Subclasses MUST be WebGUI::Auth objects, however they can define thier own rules
for authentication.  No methods are required to be overwritten as it is up to the user to decide which methods may be called
through WebGUI.  The only method that MUST be calllable is the init routine which should define the starting point for authentication.
For instance, WebGUI's init method calls the displayLogin function.

Methods which remain compatible the auth modules distributed with WebGUI:
www_createAccount
www_deactivateAccount
www_displayAccount
www_displayLogin
www_login
www_logout
www_recoverPassword

There is no guarentee, however that any custom apps which call these routines will work for custom authentication instances.


4. Scheduler Migration
-----------------------

4.1 Nothing Yet

There have currently been no changes to the scheduler API.



5. System Changes Affecting Migration
-------------------------------------

5.1 Set Date Format Changes

In 6.0 the "set date" format used by WebGUI::Form::date() and other methods
was changed from "MM/DD/YYYY" to "YYYY-MM-DD" and optionally "YYYY-MM-DD
HH:MM:SS". If you are using WebGUI::FormProcessor to handle processing of your
dates then you will notice no side effects from the format change. If you are
not, then you should convert your plugin to use WebGUI::FormProcessor.

In addition to the format change above, we also made one related API change.
WebGUI::Form::dateTime() and WebGUI::HTMLForm->dateTime() no longer have
"dateExtras" and "timeExtras", but rather just "extras" properties. This is
because there is only one field to represent both the date and the time,
unlike before.


5.2 Database Links

The database links API was changed in 6.0. The getHash function was removed and
replaced with a getList function that returns a hash reference.


5.3 Paginator

In 6.0 almost all of the paginator methods were modified in an incompatible
way, including the constructor. We removed depricated parameters from the methods, 
which will cause pagination not to function in items that have not been updated. 


5.4 Dynamic Plug-in Loading

In 6.1 plug-ins (Wobjects, Macros, and Auth) are all dynamically loaded. They
used to be statically loaded at session open time. If you are writing
something that uses a macro, wobject, or auth module outside of the usual
mechanisms that call those plug-ins, then you'll need to write a piece of code
to load the plug-in at use time.

5.5 Privilege API Change

In 6.1 we moved isInGroup from WebGUI::Privilege to WebGUI::Grouping, where it
belongs. We also moved canViewPage and canEditPage to WebGUI::Page and renamed them 
to canView and canEdit. And finally, we moved canEditWobject and
canViewWobject to WebGUI::Wobject and renamed them canView and canEdit and
converted them from regular functions into methods.

5.6 Template API Change

In 6.1 we completely rewrote the underlying template framework to add template
caching. Any plug-ins that use WebGUI::Template, must be updated to reflect
the new API.

5.7 Internationalization and Help Change

In 6.1 we moved the internationalization out of the database and into compiled
perl modules. This helps tremendously in performance. It also allows for
text-based tags to be used instead of integers for international ids. If
you've written any plug-ins that use the internationalization system, you'll
need to migrate them to the new system. We've created a tool that will
auto-generate the new help and internationalization files from an existing 6.0
database. You can get it from the "tools" module in CVS or in the user
contributions area on plainblack.com. The utility is called:
gen61i18nfrom60data.pl

We also made the International API object oriented. The old procedural version
is still intact as well. See WebGUI::International for API changes.

As a developer you can convert your translations (including English) and your
help files using a script we provide. You can find the script here:

http://www.plainblack.com/translations?wid=1552&func=viewSubmission&sid=1213

5.8 WebGUI::Session Changes

In 6.1 we changed the session API to remove functions that didn't really
belong in WebGUI::Session. The main changes of interest are that you no longer
do HTTP redirects and set cookies via session. Take a look at WebGUI::HTTP for
details.


