Plugins

What is it and what is it for?

When you build a customization made of several pieces (for example, a custom field plus the report that shows it, or a custom screen with its buttons), those pieces normally live separately from one another. A Plugin groups them under a single name, version, description and photo, so you can treat them as one package when moving them around.

The Plugins list has two variants, with the same columns but different content:

• Locally Created: the Plugins you built in your own company by choosing which customizations to include. You can edit them, transfer them or publish them.
• Installed: the Plugins that arrived in your company because you installed an App from AdmCloud Connect. These are read-only: you can view or delete (uninstall) them, but not edit them.

Think of Plugins as the "packing" step for your customization. Once it's packed, you decide whether to transfer it directly to another of your companies or publish it on AdmCloud Connect to share it with the community; that second part of the flow (price, marketing text, review, installation) is managed from AdmCloud Connect (Apps & Plugins).

How to use it

1. Open the Plugins list (Locally Created tab) and click Create.
2. Type the Plugin's Name. AdmCloud proposes your own company/relationship as the Owner; you usually don't need to change it.
3. If you want only you to be able to edit this Plugin's structure (and everything it includes), even after transferring it, check Protected. Add Notes if you want to document what it's about.
4. In the Changes to Include table, check the box for each Custom Record, Report, Script, Template, Page, Action or Custom Field you want to pack into this Plugin. The table lists every one of your existing customizations, grouped by type.
5. Optionally upload one or more Photos that illustrate what your customization does.
6. Click Save. AdmCloud creates the Plugin and takes you to its detail screen.
7. From the detail screen, use Transfer to (pick the destination company from the dropdown) to copy the Plugin and everything it includes to another company you manage, or Publish to AdmCloud Connect (beta) to offer it as an App to the community.

Main capabilities

• Package into a single Plugin: Custom Records (screens), Custom Reports, KPIs, Server Scripts, Client Scripts (JavaScript), Print Templates, Email Templates, HTML Custom Pages, Custom Actions/buttons and Custom Lists.
• Also include Custom Fields for Opportunities, Ledger Accounts, Items, Projects, Customers/Vendors (Relationships), Transactions, Fixed Assets, Locations, Serials, Contacts, Units of Measure (UOM), Subsidiaries and Bills of Materials (BOM).
• Transfer the whole Plugin (with all its dependencies) to another company you manage, keeping names and the links between the pieces intact.
• Publish the Plugin as an App on AdmCloud Connect so other companies in the community can install it, free or paid.
• Attach photos that illustrate the customization, alongside the details of the resources it includes.
• Review the Plugin's Security Log and customize which columns show on the list, just like the rest of AdmCloud's screens.

Key fields

Validations when saving, transferring and publishing

• Name is required and can't repeat across your company's Plugins.
• Owner is required and must match an active user.
• If the Plugin is Protected, only its owner can edit or re-save it.
• You can't edit an Installed Plugin from AdmCloud Connect (you can only view or delete it).
• To Transfer: you must be the owner, the Plugin can't be an Installed one, it must include at least one resource, and you can't pick your own company as the destination. If any included resource belongs to a different owner than you, the transfer is rejected.
• To Publish to AdmCloud Connect: you must be the owner, the Plugin can't be an Installed one, and for now only Plugins made exclusively of Custom Reports can be published; if it includes any other type of resource, publishing is rejected (you can still transfer it to another of your companies).
• Transfer and Publish are not available on companies in an evaluation period (free trial); you must activate your subscription first.

Deleting

You can delete both a Locally Created Plugin and an Installed one (in the latter case, this uninstalls the App), as long as you have the delete permission and the Plugin isn't Protected by a different owner. Deleting the Plugin removes the package, but doesn't by itself delete the customizations it contained (Custom Records, Reports, Fields, etc.) — those are managed and deleted individually from their own screens.

Availability, permissions and conditions

• This feature requires the Enterprise plan with the "Create Plugins" feature active for your company; without it, the screen shows a "not available on this edition" message and the option doesn't appear on the Customization menu.
• Access is controlled with the "Customization" permission of the user group, with separate levels for browsing, adding, editing and deleting.
• Transferring a Plugin and publishing it on AdmCloud Connect also require that your company not be in an evaluation period (free trial).
• Publishing (and, on the other end, installing) a Plugin on AdmCloud Connect is currently limited to Plugins made exclusively of Custom Reports; the rest of the publishing, review and installation flow is managed from AdmCloud Connect.

Tips and common mistakes