The Definitive Guide to SugarCRM Better Business Applications

275 Pages·2009·3.079 MB·English

by  John Mertic

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BOOKs fOR PROfessIOnALs BY PROfessIOnALs® The eXPeRT’s VOIce® In OPen sOuRce
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The Definitive Guide to SugarCRM:
Better Business Applications The
Definitive
Guide to
Dear Reader,
The Definitive Guide to
S
SugarCRM is the world's leading commercial open source CRM software, serv-
ing more than 500,000 users all over the world. What most people don't realize u
is how flexible SugarCRM is as a platform, enabling businesses of all sizes to
g
John Mertic custom build the CRM application they need. In this book, you'll learn all about
SugarCRM
SugarCRM from a developer's perspective. a
This book brings to light the developer side of SugarCRM, an often rather
r
neglected topic. It provides something unique compared to all previous SugarCRM
C
books; the insight from being a part of very talented engineering team at SugarCRM
which has put endless efforts into making SugarCRM one of the premier open
R
source web applications today. This insight will give you a deeper understanding
how the internals of SugarCRM tick, and this book will be an authoritative resource M
for developing new applications on top of the SugarCRM platform.
The Definitive Guide to SugarCRM comes in three parts. Part 1 focuses on
SugarCRM itself: the company, the community, the application, and the plat- Better Business Applications
form. Here we’ll do a deep dive into everything the platform offers, from the
MVC and Metadata frameworks to Web Services, and many pieces in between.
Part 2 then takes this knowledge of the Sugar platform and builds upon it show-
ing you how to customize the Sugar application out of the box. Part 3 takes
that a step further, showing you how to build entirely new functionality on
top of SugarCRM, and closes up with building an entire application on top of
SugarCRM from start to finish.
With this book, you’ll gain a better understanding of SugarCRM, and in
doing so, you’ll be able to take SugarCRM and customize it to meet your organi-
A hands-on guide to the #1 open source
zation's needs. I truly hope you enjoy it.
CRM platform
John Mertic
Companion eBook Software Engineer - SugarCRM
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SOURCE CODE ONLINE
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The Definitive Guide to
SugarCRM
Better Business Applications

■ ■ ■
John Mertic

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The Definitive Guide to SugarCRM: Better Business Applications
Copyright © 2009 by John Mertic
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-2439-6
ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-2440-2
Printed and bound in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Lead Editor: Steve Anglin
Technical Reviewer: Matt Heitzenroder, Roger Smith, Collin Lee
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Contents at a Glance

■Contents at a Glance............................................................................................iv(cid:1)
■Contents................................................................................................................v(cid:1)
■About the Author..................................................................................................xi(cid:1)
■About the Technical Reviewers...........................................................................xii(cid:1)
■Acknowledgments..............................................................................................xiii(cid:1)
■Introduction .......................................................................................................xiv
Part 1: The SugarCRM Platform...............................................................................1(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: What Is SugarCRM?.............................................................................3(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: MVC Architecture...............................................................................11(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Metadata Layer..................................................................................35(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Web Services.....................................................................................55(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: More Platform Features.....................................................................77
Part 2: Customizing SugarCRM Out of the Box....................................................107(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Easy Customizations Using Studio..................................................109(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Workflows and Logic Hooks............................................................125(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Overriding Existing Code.................................................................151
Part 3: Building New Functionality on Top of SugarCRM.....................................169(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Using Module Builder to Build Custom Modules..............................171(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Building a Custom Module Manually...............................................195(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: Designing a Complete Application...................................................219(cid:1)
■Index.................................................................................................................219(cid:1)

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Contents

■Contents at a Glance............................................................................................iv(cid:1)
■Contents................................................................................................................v(cid:1)
■About the Author..................................................................................................xi(cid:1)
■About the Technical Reviewers...........................................................................xii(cid:1)
■Acknowledgments..............................................................................................xiii(cid:1)
■Introduction........................................................................................................xiv

Part 1: The SugarCRM Platform................................................................................1(cid:1)
■Chapter 1: What Is SugarCRM?.............................................................................3(cid:1)
The Company..................................................................................................................3(cid:1)
Rapid Growth—Harnessing Open Source and SaaS..............................................................................4(cid:1)
The Product.....................................................................................................................4(cid:1)
The Community...............................................................................................................7(cid:1)
Sugar Forums and Wiki..........................................................................................................................7(cid:1)
SugarExchange and SugarForge............................................................................................................7(cid:1)
Sugar Developer Zone............................................................................................................................8(cid:1)
Getting SugarCRM..................................................................................................................................8(cid:1)
Summary.........................................................................................................................9(cid:1)
■Chapter 2: MVC Architecture...............................................................................11(cid:1)
What Is MVC?................................................................................................................11(cid:1)
MVC the Sugar Way......................................................................................................12(cid:1)
SugarApplication..................................................................................................................................13(cid:1)
SugarController....................................................................................................................................15(cid:1)
SugarView............................................................................................................................................18(cid:1)
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■ CONTENTS
Entrypoints....................................................................................................................21(cid:1)
What About the Model?.................................................................................................22(cid:1)
Bean Classes and SugarObjects..........................................................................................................22(cid:1)
Vardefs.................................................................................................................................................24(cid:1)
Fields....................................................................................................................................................24(cid:1)
Indexes.................................................................................................................................................28(cid:1)
Relationships.......................................................................................................................................29(cid:1)
Database Layer....................................................................................................................................31(cid:1)
Sugar Before MVC.........................................................................................................33(cid:1)
Summary.......................................................................................................................33(cid:1)
■Chapter 3: Metadata Layer..................................................................................35(cid:1)
DetailView and EditView..............................................................................................35(cid:1)
How the DetailView and EditView Classes Work..........................................................38(cid:1)
SugarFields..........................................................................................................................................40(cid:1)
ListViews..............................................................................................................................................41(cid:1)
Defining Search Fields.........................................................................................................................44(cid:1)
Field Overlays”.....................................................................................................................................46(cid:1)
Subpanels............................................................................................................................................48(cid:1)
Summary.......................................................................................................................53(cid:1)
■Chapter 4: Web Services.....................................................................................55(cid:1)
What Are Web Services?...............................................................................................55(cid:1)
Connectors....................................................................................................................56(cid:1)
Building the Connector Source............................................................................................................56(cid:1)
Defining the Fields from the Web Service”...................................................................60(cid:1)
Formatters...........................................................................................................................................61(cid:1)
Localization..........................................................................................................................................63(cid:1)
Pulling It Together................................................................................................................................63(cid:1)
Web Services API..........................................................................................................64(cid:1)
SOAP....................................................................................................................................................65(cid:1)
Make a Connection..............................................................................................................................66(cid:1)
Get Lists and Counts of Records..........................................................................................................67(cid:1)
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■ CONTENTS
Add a New Record...............................................................................................................................68(cid:1)
Saving and Retrieving Attachments.....................................................................................................70(cid:1)
Relate Records.....................................................................................................................................71(cid:1)
REST.....................................................................................................................................................72(cid:1)
Logging in Using REST.........................................................................................................................73(cid:1)
Custom Web Services...................................................................................................73(cid:1)
Create a Custom Registry....................................................................................................................74(cid:1)
Provide an Implementation Class.........................................................................................................74(cid:1)
Add soap.php and rest.php Files..........................................................................................................75(cid:1)
Summary.......................................................................................................................75(cid:1)
■Chapter 5: More Platform Features.....................................................................77(cid:1)
User Management.........................................................................................................77(cid:1)
ACL.......................................................................................................................................................79(cid:1)
Password Management.......................................................................................................................81(cid:1)
Tracking User Actions..........................................................................................................................82(cid:1)
Team Management.......................................................................................................84(cid:1)
Dashlets...............................................................................................................................................85(cid:1)
ListView Dashlet..............................................................................................................................86(cid:1)
Chart Dashlets.................................................................................................................................89(cid:1)
Iframe Dashlets...............................................................................................................................92(cid:1)
Custom Dashlets.............................................................................................................................93(cid:1)
Sugar Feeds.........................................................................................................................................94(cid:1)
Record Importing and Exporting..........................................................................................................98(cid:1)
Themes..............................................................................................................................................102(cid:1)
Logger................................................................................................................................................104(cid:1)
Summary.....................................................................................................................106(cid:1)
Part 2: Customizing SugarCRM Out of the Box....................................................107(cid:1)
■Chapter 6: Easy Customizations Using Studio ..................................................109(cid:1)
Starting with Studio....................................................................................................109(cid:1)
Adding New Fields to a Module.........................................................................................................111(cid:1)
Customizing View Templates......................................................................................113(cid:1)
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■ CONTENTS
Customizing Edit and Detail Views.....................................................................................................113(cid:1)
Customizing ListViews.......................................................................................................................115(cid:1)
Editing Labels.....................................................................................................................................117(cid:1)
Relationships, Relationships, Relationships......................................................................................119(cid:1)
Help! My Customizations Have Gone Awry........................................................................................121(cid:1)
Summary.....................................................................................................................123(cid:1)
■Chapter 7: Workflows and Logic Hooks............................................................125(cid:1)
What Are Logic Hooks?...............................................................................................125(cid:1)
Creating Your First Logic Hook...........................................................................................................127(cid:1)
Point and Click Logic Hooks with Workflows.....................................................................................131(cid:1)
Creating the Workflow..................................................................................................................132(cid:1)
Defining Workflow Alerts..............................................................................................................138(cid:1)
Workflow Actions..........................................................................................................................141(cid:1)
Managing the Sequence of Workflows.........................................................................................142(cid:1)
Logic Hooks Pitfalls............................................................................................................................143(cid:1)
Modifying the Bean Object............................................................................................................143(cid:1)
Conflicting Logic Hooks.................................................................................................................147(cid:1)
Logic Hook Being Nullified by the Existing Code...........................................................................148(cid:1)
Logic Hook Weaknesses...............................................................................................................149(cid:1)
Summary.....................................................................................................................150(cid:1)
■Chapter 8: Overriding Existing Code.................................................................151(cid:1)
Safety Lies in the Custom Directory............................................................................151(cid:1)
Customizations You Can Make...........................................................................................................153(cid:1)
Altering View Actions....................................................................................................................153(cid:1)
Changing the Metadata-Driven Views...........................................................................................156(cid:1)
Adding New Custom Field Types..................................................................................................161(cid:1)
Changing Language Strings..........................................................................................................164(cid:1)
Tweak vardef Definitions..............................................................................................................165(cid:1)
Custom Themes and Theme Customizations (Yes, They Are Different ).......................................166(cid:1)
Summary.....................................................................................................................168(cid:1)
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