How to create a control panel in Plone

[sneridagh]

Yesterday I found myself trying to create a control panel in Plone and I discovered that there is nothing to be found in https://6.docs.plone.org

I also found this issue: plone/documentation#1304 in the docs repo so it's known since two years ago at least.

I'm opening this issue in here too, in order to raise awareness.

[rohnsha0]

AFAIK, there are contents about the same for a backend addon. However, nothing for doing it here. However, same can be done using Products.CMFPlone repo sitewide.

1. First, create your control panel settings interface and form

# testcp.py
from zope import schema
from zope.interface import Interface
from plone.app.registry.browser.controlpanel import RegistryEditForm, ControlPanelFormWrapper
from plone.z3cform import layout

class IMyControlPanelSettings(Interface):
    my_setting = schema.TextLine(
        title=u'My Setting',
        description=u'Enter the value for my setting',
        required=False,
        default=u''
    )
    my_choice = schema.Choice(
        title=u'My Choice',
        description=u'Select a value for my choice',
        required=False,
        default=u'value3',
        values=['value1', 'value2', 'value3']
    )

class MyControlPanelForm(RegistryEditForm):
    schema = IMyControlPanelSettings
    schema_prefix = "my.addon"
    label = u"My Addon Settings"

MyControlPanelView = layout.wrap_form(MyControlPanelForm, ControlPanelFormWrapper)

2. Register the control panel view in ZCML

<!-- controlpanel/browser/configure.zcml -->
<browser:page
    name="my-controlpanel"
    for="Products.CMFPlone.interfaces.IPloneSiteRoot"
    class=".testcp.MyControlPanelView"
    permission="cmf.ManagePortal" />

3. Add the control panel entry

<!-- profiles/default/controlpanel.xml -->
<configlet
    title="My Addon Settings"
    action_id="my-controlpanel"
    appId="my.addon"
    category="plone-general"
    condition_expr=""
    icon_expr="string:puzzle"
    url_expr="string:${portal_url}/@@my-controlpanel"
    visible="True">
    <permission>Manage portal</permission>
</configlet>

4. Set default values in the registry

<!-- profiles/default/registry.xml -->
<records interface="Products.CMFPlone.controlpanel.browser.testcp.IMyControlPanelSettings" prefix="my.addon">
    <value key="my_setting">default value</value>
    <value key="my_choice">value3</value>
</records>

Hope this helps! let me knw if it fails @sneridagh.
note: if fields are changed then it doesnt reflect immediately and needs a new site to get the reflection. @davisagli is there any workaround?

[mauritsvanrees]

There is documentation in plone.app.registry. At a very brief glance, this looks about the same as above.
But yes, having it in the docs would be good. Even a link could already help.