Designer
Edit forms, playbooks, inventories and workflows in the browser
For form authors: the designer’s sections, and what each of their tabs shows.
The designer needs the showDesigner role option. It edits one item at a time, a form, a playbook or a workflow file, with its sections in the left menu. Each kind of file also needs its own option, all on by default: allowPlaybookDesign for the Playbooks, allowWorkflowDesign for the Workflows, allowInventoryDesign for the Inventories and allowVarsFileDesign for the Vars files. Without one, its section is read-only and the server refuses to save, create, remove or push its files; forms and workflows can still pick them. The Forms, Categories and Constants need allowFormDesign the same way: without it they are read-only, and the server refuses to save, pull or push them. Only one person edits at a time: see The designer lock.
Its sections
Each section edits one kind of file, kept locally or in a repository:
| Section | What it edits |
|---|---|
| Forms | The form files |
| Categories | The categories of config.yaml |
| Constants | The constants of config.yaml |
| Vars files | The vars files that forms load |
| Playbooks | The playbooks that forms and workflows run |
| Inventories | The inventories: inventory.yaml, group_vars and host_vars |
| Workflows | The workflow files |
The sections with files list them in a file explorer and open the first one; a section with no files yet says so. The Forms section and every file section have a New file button first in their toolbar: in the Inventories it makes a new inventory, in the Workflows a new, empty workflow. The explorer’s magnifying glass opens a box that filters its files by name.
The search box on the title line finds a text in the YAML that is open: it marks every place it appears. It works on the YAML tab, once the designer lock is yours.
Its tabs
Every section has the same three tabs, all on the same YAML: an edit in one shows in the others, and Save saves it.
- YAML is the file as it is written.
- Visual edits it with fields. Only the keys an edit touches change, so comments and the rest stay as written.
- Preview shows what it does, and edits nothing.
What the Visual and Preview tabs show, section by section:
| Section | Visual | Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Forms | The form’s settings and its fields, with lists of the designer’s playbooks, inventories and workflows | The form as it is now, unsaved edits included; its submit runs nothing |
| Categories | The categories as a table, edited | The Forms page’s menu, built from them |
| Constants | The constants as an outline, edited (a key moves with the arrow keys) | Each constant with its reference, $(NAME), to copy, and the forms that use it |
| Vars files | The variables, edited | Each variable with its reference in a playbook, {{ name }}, to copy, and the forms that load the file |
| Playbooks | The plays: each play’s name, hosts, Become, Gather facts and roles, and its tasks, each with its module and arguments | The playbook’s outline: its plays, with their hosts, roles and tasks, and the playbooks it imports |
| Inventories | The groups, their child groups, their hosts, and the variables each sets | The inventory as a tree, with its group_vars and host_vars |
| Workflows | The workflow’s graph, to edit it | A dry run: click a node to make it fail |
When the YAML cannot be read, the Visual and Preview tabs say why, with Show in YAML to open the YAML on the line.