Announcing Group Office Studio

The last seven months have been strange. However, we worked hard and it is with a certain pride that we announce a new module in Group Office 6.4. The Studio module enables administrators to create their own modules, without the need to be able to code.

Two Target Audiences, one Goal

The studio module is aimed at both seasoned Group Office administrators and developers. By the use of custom fields and custom filters, Group Office already had some very powerful tools to adjust functionality. With Studio, we added another level of customization: the ability to create entire modules.

In the field, there are several resellers who need custom functionality for their customers. They either have to program the entire module themselves or have a developer do it. Studio enables an administrator to create a simple module with a list view, a detail view and an editing dialog, all within the space of a few mouse clicks.

On the other hand, developers benefit from the generation of boilerplate code. A lot of boring, repetitive work is skipped and the developer can immediately start with the more interesting bits.

In both use cases, the goal is to reduce development time, thus saving money.

How does Studio work?

Creating a new module from scratch is done is a few steps:

1. Fill in the module data, like package name, module name and the entity name;
2. Add custom fields;
3. Add group permissions;
4. Enter frontend options;
5. Confirm your choices and click 'Finish'.

The new module is automatically generated, Group Office will reload itself and your new module will be visible in the start screen.

Here's an example of a module with cars:

How to get started

Studio will run in any recent 6.4 installation with the Professional package. In system settings, the module can be found in the Business package. Be sure to read the documentation first.