RAD tools: extension wizards, catalogue, survey and health check #

This page is for developers who write their first (or fiftieth) extension. Exponential is extended in a few repeating ways: a class in a directory the kernel scans, a class named by an ini setting, a file in a place found by convention, or a template in a design. The RAD tools put that knowledge in one place and write the boilerplate for you. Open them at Setup > RAD (/setup/rad).

Why it helps #

Extending Exponential used to mean reading the kernel to learn which ini line, directory or class name a hook needs. A mistake in any of them fails quietly: the extension loads, nothing happens. The RAD tools turn that knowledge into a list you can read, wizards that write a working extension, and checks that tell you what is configured and cannot work. A first extension takes minutes, not an afternoon of source reading.

Use it in five minutes #

1. Open Setup > RAD (/setup/rad). You need the setup/setup policy.
2. Pick the point you want to extend in the catalogue. Use /setup/rad/(show)/tools to list only the points that have a wizard.
3. Press its tool. The wizard asks for a name and what to generate, then lists every file it would write under extension/<name> before writing any of them.
4. Confirm. Enable the extension (site.ini [ExtensionSettings] ActiveExtensions[]=<name>), run php bin/php/ezpgenerateautoloads.php -e and clear the caches.
5. Open Setup > RAD > Extension point survey to see your registration counted, and the health check to see it load.

The catalogue: 68 extension points, 64 with a tool #

kernel/setup/expradcatalogue.php lists every point the system can be extended at, how it is registered (directory, handler, autoload, file, design, ini or override), the kernel file the mechanism lives in, and the tool that writes it. On this installation it holds 68 points in seven groups (content, templates, modules, workflow, storage, packaging, access); 64 have a tool and 4 are documentation only (/setup/rad/(show)/docs). The mechanisms are directory, handler, autoload, file, design, ini, override and runnable. The 14 September change brought it from fifteen points to sixty-four of sixty-four; four points were added after that. Each was checked against this installation's source. Read the curated text in Extension points.

Wizards #

Each wizard builds a working extension, not a snippet to paste, and shows every file it would write before it writes any of them. Nothing is written outside extension/<name>, an existing extension is never overwritten, and generated templates escape what they print; see RAD tools security.

The first two RAD tools in the old system had not changed since 2003 and handed back one php file; they were rewritten to write a complete extension.

Extension surface survey #

Setup > RAD > Extension point survey (/setup/radsurvey) reads what this installation really exposes off disk: settings that name a class, what a template can call, what announces an event, and what has already been replaced. It counts 1737 points in the reference installation on 14 September (924 before it also swept template calls, events and replacements); the same survey at HEAD on this installation counts 3940 across ten groups (settings that name a class 624, places the kernel looks 263, interfaces and abstract classes 64, module views 452, template operators and functions 424, events 40, template overrides 411, kernel classes replaced 3, commands, cronjob parts and views as classes 485, registry entries that name no class 1174), because the installation and the sweep both grew. A survey page can be linked to with /setup/radsurvey/(show)/<section>/(offset)/<n>. Every count is a link to the entries behind it, and every finding says how to fix it. An alias is told apart from a broken registration, so a healthy alias is not reported as a fault. The generated reference is The extension surface.

Health check: what is configured and cannot work #

The health check (kernel/setup/expradhealth.php, shown on the RAD page) reports settings that name a class that cannot be loaded and, more widely, these kinds of finding: setting-names-no-class, directory-searched-and-not-there, design-extension-with-no-design, view-with-no-script, datatype-offered-and-not-found and nothing-implements-it. At HEAD it reports 32 findings on this installation (expRADHealth::findings()), each with how to fix it. Its first run found a kernel fault that stopped every payment gateway loading (ezpaymentgatewaytype.php), fixed in the same change.

From the command line, bin/php/checkclasses.php loads every class this installation declares and lists the ones php refuses. It loads them in a child process that prints each name before trying it, so a class that kills php is identified as the last name printed and the run carries on:

php bin/php/checkclasses.php --allow-root-user
php bin/php/checkclasses.php --kernel --quiet-ok --allow-root-user

--kernel also checks the kernel classes (slower), --tests includes classes under tests directories, and --quiet-ok prints nothing when everything loads. (Options from php bin/php/checkclasses.php --help --allow-root-user.)

A class that cannot be loaded is not a quiet problem: the fatal takes the whole request with it, and it stays invisible until something touches that class.

Settings #

The RAD pages read no settings of their own; they are drawn from the code catalogue and from the installation's ini files. The one settings entry is the menu link in settings/menu.ini (Links[rad]=setup/rad, PolicyList_rad[]=setup/setup). Check with grep -n -B1 -A3 "Links\[rad\]" settings/menu.ini.

Limits #

• A wizard never overwrites an existing extension and writes nothing outside extension/<name>.
• The survey and health check read the installation as it is on disk; after a change run the autoload and cache steps first.
• Four catalogue points have no wizard: follow the curated text in Extension points.

Related pages #

• Extension points, the extension surface, RAD tools security
• Runnable commands, cronjobs and views (specification), extension metadata (specification)
• Extension module override, additional extension directories
• Changelog 6.0.15
• Chronicle: September 2026, first half, 14 September