Support

Control Overview

Control is an extension that augments the built-in Joomla access system, based on phpGACL, and provides facilities to manage additional permissions, groups and rules within that system.

Please note that Control does not automatically enhance the access control provided by existing Joomla extensions, such as the Content Component. This must be done by other means (hacks) or by using extensions that are already integrated with Control. However, it does provide developers an interface to allow them to use the full features of the Joomla access control system. Version 1.5 includes the full phpGACL API but it is not used by default.

There are a number of board concepts with which you need to be familiar in order to use Control. More advanced information is also available on the phpGACL project site.

Permission Objects

Permissions are actions that you allow users to perform.

In phpGACL terminology, Permissions are the same as Access Control Objects (ACO's).

User Objects

Joomla already uses User Objects and when you install Control, you will see the existing users in your system.

In phpGACL terminology, User Objects are the same as Access Request Objects (ARO's).

Item Object

Item Objects are related to data items that are stored by your extension. Not all extensions will use Item Objects.

In phpGACL terminology, Item Objects are the same as Access eXtension Objects (AXO's).

User Groups

In phpGACL terminology, User groups are the same as ARO Groups.

Item Groups

Control bases it's item groups on the same system used for setting the access level in most components, that is, setting an item, such as an Article as Public, Registered or Special. Item groups allow you to expand on these groups into which you can place items in an extension.

In phpGACL terminology, Item Groups are the same as AXO Groups.

Rules

Rules are combinations of Permissions applied to a User Group, or Permissions applied to a User Group and an Item Group.

In phpGACL terminology, Rules are the same as an Access Control List (ACL).

Sections

Sections are a way of grouping together related Permissions, Users, Items and Rules. Each extension will generally have it's own section for Permissions, Items and Rules.

In phpGACL terminology, Sectios have the same meaning.


5 Votes

3 Comments

  1. avatar Kevin Woolf makes this comment

    Mon May 5 04:27:17 2008

    Thanks for offering this component to the public. It would be very helpful to offer so examples or snapshots of what these basic functions are. The articles here define terms but don't give any practical example of how to use this component. Perhaps you could show a demonstration of how to accomplish the tasks this component is designed to do using the features you mention in this documentation. Thanks again!

  2. avatar Rob Schley makes this comment

    Mon May 5 07:56:31 2008

    I believe Andrew addressed some of your questions about this in the forums but I want to make sure we address them all. Control was released as a tool to the developer community. It is not currently functional on its own or with a standard Joomla! 1.5 installation. We are in the process of integrating some of our products with Control to provide advanced ACL support but it will probably be some time before these changes are ready for prime time. Regards, Rob Schley

  3. avatar Antoine LEPEE makes this comment

    Tue Jul 22 07:11:57 2008

    As Kevin Woolf said, thanks a lot for the release. I've looking for this kind of functionality for a long time without any hack. But that's not easy to handle, in fact I'm a bit lost with all these concepts.. Some exemple, screenshots or maybe screen records could be welcome :) Thanks again for all your work ! Regards Antoine Lépée

Add Comment