Version 4 supported
This version of Silverstripe CMS is still supported though will not receive any additional features. Go to documentation for the most recent stable version.

ModelAdmin

ModelAdmin provides a simple way to utilize the Silverstripe CMS UI with your own data models. It can create searchables list and edit views of DataObject subclasses, and even provides import and export of your data.

It uses the framework's knowledge about the model to provide sensible defaults, allowing you to get started in a couple of lines of code, while still providing a solid base for customization.

The interface is mainly powered by the GridField class (documentation), which can also be used in other areas of your application.

Let's assume we want to manage a simple product listing as a sample data model: A product can have a name, price, and a category.

// app/src/Model/Product.php
namespace App\Model;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Product extends DataObject
{
    private static $db = [
        'Name' => 'Varchar',
        'ProductCode' => 'Varchar',
        'Price' => 'Currency',
    ];

    private static $has_one = [
        'Category' => Category::class,
    ];
}
// app/src/Model/Category.php
namespace App\Model;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Category extends DataObject
{
    private static $db = [
        'Title' => 'Text',
    ];

    private static $has_many = [
        'Products' => Product::class,
    ];
}

To create your own ModelAdmin, simply extend the base class, and edit the $managed_models property with the list of DataObject's you want to scaffold an interface for. The class can manage multiple models in parallel, if required.

We'll name it MyAdmin, but the class name can be anything you want.

// app/src/Admin/MyAdmin.php
namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Category;
use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    private static $managed_models = [
        Product::class,
        Category::class,
    ];

    private static $url_segment = 'products';

    private static $menu_title = 'My Product Admin';
}

This will automatically add a new menu entry to the Silverstripe CMS UI entitled My Product Admin and logged in users will be able to upload and manage Product and Category instances through http://yoursite.com/admin/products.

After defining these classes, make sure you have rebuilt your Silverstripe CMS database and flushed your cache.

Defining the ModelAdmin models

The $managed_models configuration supports additional formats allowing you to customise the URL and tab label used to access a specific model. This can also be used to display the same model more than once with different filtering or display options.

namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Category;
use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    private static $managed_models = [
        // This is the most basic format. URL for this Model will use the fully
        // qualified namespace of `Product`. The label for this tab will be determined
        // by the `i18n_plural_name` on the `Product` class.
        Product::class,

        // This format can be used to customise the tab title.
        Category::class => [
            'title' => 'All categories',
        ],

        // This format can be used to customise the URL segment for this Model. This can
        // be useful if you do not want the fully qualified class name of the Model to
        // appear in the URL. It can also be used to have the same Model appear more than
        // once, allowing you to create custom views. (Only available in SS4.7+)
        'product-category' => [
            'dataClass' => Category::class,
            'title' => 'Product categories',
        ],
    ];

    private static $url_segment = 'products';

    private static $menu_title = 'My Product Admin';

    public function getList()
    {
        $list = parent::getList();
        // Only show Categories specific to Products When viewing the product-category tab
        if ($this->modelTab === 'product-category') {
            $list = $list->filter('IsProductCategory', true);
        }
        return $list;
    }
}

Edit links for records

As of Silverstripe CMS 4.12.0 it is trivial to get links to the edit form for managed records.

The getLinkForModelClass() method returns a link for the first tab defined for that class. If you have multiple tabs for a given class (as in the example above) it is better to use getLinkForModelTab() which will give you a link for the specific tab you pass in.

$admin = MyAdmin::singleton();
if ($admin->isManagedModel(Product::class)) {
    // Get the link to the tab holding the record's gridfield
    $tabLink = $admin->getLinkForModelClass(Product::class);
    // Get the link to edit the record itself
    $editLink = $admin->getCMSEditLinkForManagedDataObject($someProduct);
}
// Get the link for a specific tab in the model admin
$tabLink = $admin->getLinkForModelTab('product-category');

If you want getLinkForModelClass() to return the link for a specific tab, you can override the getModelTabForModelClass() method for your ModelAdmin subclass.

You can also use the new CMSEditLinkExtension to provide a CMSEditLink() method on the record - see Managing Records.

Permissions

Each new ModelAdmin subclass creates its' own permission code, for the example above this would be CMS_ACCESS_MyAdmin. Users with access to the Admin UI will need to have this permission assigned through admin/security/ or have the ADMIN permission code in order to gain access to the controller.

For more information on the security and permission system see the Security Documentation

The DataObject API has more granular permission control, which is enforced in ModelAdmin by default. Available checks are canEdit(), canCreate(), canView() and canDelete(). Models check for administrator permissions by default. For most cases, less restrictive checks make sense, e.g. checking for general CMS access rights.

// app/src/Model/Category.php
namespace App\Model;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;
use SilverStripe\Security\Permission;

class Category extends DataObject
{
    // ...

    public function canView($member = null)
    {
        return Permission::check('CMS_ACCESS_Company\Website\MyAdmin', 'any', $member);
    }

    public function canEdit($member = null)
    {
        return Permission::check('CMS_ACCESS_Company\Website\MyAdmin', 'any', $member);
    }

    public function canDelete($member = null)
    {
        return Permission::check('CMS_ACCESS_Company\Website\MyAdmin', 'any', $member);
    }

    public function canCreate($member = null)
    {
        return Permission::check('CMS_ACCESS_Company\Website\MyAdmin', 'any', $member);
    }
}

Custom ModelAdmin CSS menu icons using built in icon font

An extended ModelAdmin class supports adding a custom menu icon to the CMS.

namespace App\Admin;

use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;

class NewsAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    private static $menu_icon_class = 'font-icon-news';
    // ...
}

A complete list of supported font icons is available to view in the Silverstripe CMS Design System Manager

Searching records

ModelAdmin uses the SearchContext class to provide a search form, as well as get the searched results. Every DataObject can have its own context, based on the fields which should be searchable. The class makes a guess at how those fields should be searched, e.g. showing a checkbox for any boolean fields in your $db definition.

To remove, add or modify searchable fields, define a new DataObject::$searchable_fields static on your model class (see Searchable Fields and SearchContext docs for details).

// app/src/Model/Product.php
namespace App\Model;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Product extends DataObject
{
    // ...

    private static $searchable_fields = [
      'Name',
      'ProductCode',
    ];
}

SearchContext documentation has more information on providing the search functionality.

Displaying results

The results are shown in a tabular listing, powered by the GridField, more specifically the GridFieldDataColumns component. This component looks for a DataObject::$summary_fields static on your model class, where you can add or remove columns. To change the title, use DataObject::$field_labels. See Summary Fields and Field labels for details.

// app/src/Model/Product.php
namespace App\Model;

use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class Product extends DataObject
{
    // ...

    private static $field_labels = [
      // renames the column to "Cost"
      'Price' => 'Cost',
    ];

    private static $summary_fields = [
      'Name',
      'Price',
    ];
}

The results list are retrieved from SearchContext::getResults(), based on the parameters passed through the search form. If no search parameters are given, the results will show every record. Results are a DataList instance, so can be customized by additional SQL filters, joins.

For example, we might want to exclude all products without prices in our sample MyAdmin implementation.

// app/src/Admin/MyAdmin.php
namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;
use SilverStripe\ORM\DataObject;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    // ...

    public function getList()
    {
        $list = parent::getList();

        // Always limit by model class, in case you're managing multiple
        if ($this->modelClass == Product::class) {
            $list = $list->exclude('Price', '0');
        }

        return $list;
    }

    public function getCMSEditLinkForManagedDataObject(DataObject $obj): string
    {
        if (!$obj->Price) {
            // We don't manage models without a price here, so we can't provide an edit link for them.
            return '';
        }
        // This method is only available from 4.12.0 onwards
        return parent::getCMSEditLinkForManagedDataObject($obj);
    }
}

You can also customize the search behavior directly on your ModelAdmin instance. For example, we might want to have a checkbox which limits search results to expensive products (over $100).

// app/src/Admin/MyAdmin.php
namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;
use SilverStripe\Forms\CheckboxField;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    // ...

    public function getSearchContext()
    {
        $context = parent::getSearchContext();

        if ($this->modelClass == Product::class) {
            $context->getFields()->push(CheckboxField::create('q[ExpensiveOnly]', 'Only expensive stuff'));
        }

        return $context;
    }

    public function getList()
    {
        $list = parent::getList();

        // use this to access search parameters
        $params = $this->getRequest()->requestVar('q');

        if ($this->modelClass == Product::class && isset($params['ExpensiveOnly']) && $params['ExpensiveOnly']) {
            $list = $list->exclude('Price:LessThan', '100');
        }

        return $list;
    }
}

Altering the ModelAdmin, GridField, or Form

If you wish to provided a tailored esperience for CMS users, you can directly interact with the ModelAdmin form or gridfield. Override the following method:

  • getEditForm() to alter the Form object
  • getGridField() to alter the GridField field
  • getGridFieldConfig() to alter the GridField configuration.

Extensions applied to a ModelAdmin can also use the updateGridField and updateGridFieldConfig hooks.

getGridField(), getGridFieldConfig(), updateGridField and updateGridFieldConfig are only available on Silverstripe CMS 4.6 and above.

To alter how the results are displayed (via GridField), you can also overload the getEditForm() method. For example, to add a new component.

Overriding the methods on ModelAdmin

// app/src/Admin/MyAdmin.php
namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Category;
use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldConfig;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldFilterHeader;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    private static $managed_models = [
        Product::class,
        Category::class,
    ];

    private static $url_segment = 'my-admin';

    protected function getGridFieldConfig(): GridFieldConfig
    {
        $config = parent::getGridFieldConfig();

        $config->addComponent(GridFieldFilterHeader::create());

        return $config;
    }
}

The above example will add the component to all GridFields (of all managed models). Alternatively we can also add it to only one specific GridField:

// app/src/Admin/MyAdmin.php
namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Category;
use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldConfig;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldFilterHeader;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    private static $managed_models = [
        Product::class,
        Category::class,
    ];

    private static $url_segment = 'my-admin';

    protected function getGridFieldConfig(): GridFieldConfig
    {
        $config = parent::getGridFieldConfig();

        // modify the list view.
        if ($this->modelClass === Product::class) {
            $config->addComponent(GridFieldFilterHeader::create());
        }

        return $config;
    }
}

Using an extension to customise a ModelAdmin

You can use an Extension to achieve the same results. Extensions have the advantage of being reusable in many contexts.

// app/src/Extension/ModelAdminExtension.php
namespace App\Extension;

use SilverStripe\Core\Extension;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldConfig;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldFilterHeader;

/**
 * You can apply this extension to a GridField.
 */
class ModelAdminExtension extends Extension
{
    public function updateGridFieldConfig(GridFieldConfig &$config)
    {
        $config->addComponent(GridFieldFilterHeader::create());
    }
}
# app/_config/extensions.yml
App\Admin\MyAdmin:
  extensions:
    - App\Extension\ModelAdminExtension

Altering a ModelAdmin using only getEditForm()

If you're developing against a version of Silverstripe CMS prior to 4.6, your only option is to override getEditForm(). This requires a bit more work to access the GridField and GridFieldConfig instances.

// app/src/Admin/MyAdmin.php
namespace App\Admin;

use App\Model\Category;
use App\Model\Product;
use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;
use SilverStripe\Forms\GridField\GridFieldFilterHeader;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    private static $managed_models = [
        Product::class,
        Category::class,
    ];

    private static $url_segment = 'my-admin';

    public function getEditForm($id = null, $fields = null)
    {
        $form = parent::getEditForm($id, $fields);

        // $gridFieldName is generated from the ModelClass, eg if the Class 'Product'
        // is managed by this ModelAdmin, the GridField for it will also be named 'Product'
        $gridFieldName = $this->sanitiseClassName($this->modelClass);
        $gridField = $form->Fields()->fieldByName($gridFieldName);

        // modify the list view.
        $gridField->getConfig()->addComponent(GridFieldFilterHeader::create());

        return $form;
    }
}

Data import

The ModelAdmin class provides import of CSV files through the CsvBulkLoader API. which has support for column mapping, updating existing records, and identifying relationships - so its a powerful tool to get your data into a Silverstripe CMS database.

By default, each model management interface allows uploading a CSV file with all columns auto detected. To override with a more specific importer implementation, use the ModelAdmin::$model_importers static.

Data export

Export is available as a CSV format through a button at the end of a results list. You can also export search results. This is handled through the GridFieldExportButton component.

To customize the exported columns, create a new method called getExportFields in your ModelAdmin:

namespace App\Admin;

use SilverStripe\Admin\ModelAdmin;

class MyAdmin extends ModelAdmin
{
    // ...

    public function getExportFields()
    {
        return [
            'Name' => 'Name',
            'ProductCode' => 'Product Code',
            'Category.Title' => 'Category',
        ];
    }
}

Related lessons

Related documentation

API documentation

Edit on Github