[horde] "best practices" for adding an external app to horde menus?

Thu Aug 27 15:00:28 UTC 2009

 finally, i have a question just asking for advice -- how best to add
an *external* app into the horde menus.

 consider the following directory structure (inherited from previous
3.0.9 setup but i'm free to make changes if they make sense):

 /var/www/<EXTURL>/
     tts/                 (non-horde ticketing system)
     horde/               (webroot)
         config/          (you get the idea)
         local_apps/      (some other non-horde apps)
             webstats/    (for website stats)
             tts/         (same ticketing system as above)

  how the first (webstats) app was added -- add a new menu heading in
registry.php, and an entry for webstats:

$this->applications['website'] = array(
   'name' => _("Web Site"),
   'status' => 'heading',
);

$this->applications['webstats'] = array(
   'fileroot' => dirname(__FILE__) . '/../local_apps/webstats',
   'webroot' => $this->applications['horde']['webroot'] . '/local_apps/webstats',
   'name' => _("Website Stats"),
   'allow_guests' => false,
   'status' => 'active',
   'menu_parent' => 'website'
);

  then add local_apps/webstats/index.php, which takes one to an
external site:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh"
CONTENT="0;URL=http://extremetracking.com/open?login=XXXXXX">
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--
function redirect () { setTimeout("go_now()",1000); }
function go_now ()   { window.location.href =
"http://extremetracking.com/open?login=XXXXXX"; }
//--></SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY onLoad="redirect()">
</BODY>
</HTML>

  pretty straightforward, registry points to appropriate local_apps
directory, under which the index.php file then redirects *explicitly*
to an external site. that's how it was set up before, and it works
just fine.  now, here's the issue.

  i want to add another external app under that same heading -- the
"tts" ticketing system.  so i add another equivalent entry to
registry.php:

$this->applications['tts'] = array(
   'fileroot' => dirname(__FILE__) . '/../local_apps/tts',
   'webroot' => $this->applications['horde']['webroot'] . '/local_apps/tts',
   'name' => _("Ticket System"),
   'allow_guests' => false,
   'status' => 'active',
   'menu_parent' => 'website'
);

  but the difference is that *that* index.php file reads thusly:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0;URL=http://../../../tts/">
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--
function redirect () { setTimeout("go_now()",1000); }
function go_now ()   { window.location.href = "../../../tts/"; }
//--></SCRIPT>
</HEAD>
<BODY onLoad="redirect()">
</BODY>
</HTML>

  as in, head up three directory levels, *above* the webroot.
however, while that entry shows up in the menus, if i try to run that
app, i get the diagnostic:

 ".." could not be found

this *used* to work in 3.0.9, but not now in 3.3.4.

  one obvious solution is to just hardcode the http url in that
index.php file to go straight to "http://<EXTURL>/tts, which is in
fact externally visible, and which seems to work just fine.  but i'm
not i should count on that.

  so the question is, what's the best practice for adding to the horde
menus apps that live *above* the webroot, the way that "tts" app does?
clearly, using the "../../.." notation used to work once, but not
anymore for reasons i don't understand.  is there a way to fix that?
or am i better off just putting in the actual URL?

  personally, i'd prefer to install non-horde apps above the webroot
to keep them philosophically separate from horde-related content and
not clutter up the webroot directory, but i'll defer to the expertise
of those who know better.

rday