Development Environment

To facilitate the writing of OTOBO expansion modules, the creation of a development environment is necessary. The source code of OTOBO and additional public modules can be found on GitHub.

Obtain the Source Code

First of all a directory must be created in which the modules can be stored. Then switch to the new directory using the command line and clone the Git repository by using the following command:

shell> git clone git@github.com:RotherOSS/otobo.git -b master

For a specific branch like OTOBO 6:

shell> git clone git@github.com:RotherOSS/otobo.git -b rel-6_0

Please configure the OTOBO system according to the installation instructions.

Useful Tools

Clone the module-tools module too, for your development environment. It contains a number of useful tools:

shell> git clone git@github.com:OTOBO/module-tools.git

OTOBOCodePolicy is a code quality checker that enforces the use of common coding standards also for the OTOBO development team. It is highly recommended to use it if you plan to make contributions. You can use it as a standalone test script or even register it as a git commit hook that runs every time that you create a commit. Please see the module documentation for details.

shell> git clone git@github.com:RotherOSS/CodePolicy.git

Linking Expansion Modules

A clear separation between OTOBO and the modules is necessary for proper developing. Particularly when using a git clone, a clear separation is crucial. In order to facilitate the OTOBO access the files, links must be created. This is done by a script in the directory module tools repository.

Example: linking the Calendar module:

shell> ~/src/module-tools/link.pl ~/src/Calendar/ ~/src/otobo/

Whenever new files are added, they must be linked as described above.

As soon as the linking is completed, the system configuration must be rebuilt to register the module in OTOBO. Additional SQL or Perl code from the module must also be executed.

Example:

shell> ~/src/otobo/bin/otobo.Console.pl Maint::Config::Rebuild
shell> ~/src/module-tools/DatabaseInstall.pl -m Calendar.sopm -a install
shell> ~/src/module-tools/CodeInstall.pl -m Calendar.sopm -a install

To remove links from OTOBO enter the following command:

shell> ~/src/module-tools/remove_links.pl ~/src/otobo/

Tipps and tricks

Debug syntax errors in OTOBO perl files

Change to the OTOBO Homedirectory:

shell> docker exec -it otobo_web_1 bash
# or for non docker
shell> cd /opt/otobo

After that execute the syntax check:

shell> perl -cw -I Custom/ -I Custom/Kernel/cpan-lib/ -I . -I Kernel/cpan-lib/ Path/To/The/OTOBO/perlfile.pm