Customizing SugarCRM With Module Builder
SugarCRM has come a long way from it’s early days as a basic CRM application. It is now gradually becoming more of a platform than an application. This becomes very clear when you need to customize SugarCRM. One of the most common customization scenarios is building new modules.
Using the term ‘Modules’ might deter novice SugarCRM developers, because Modules sounds like something very complicated (in ERP systems, for example, modules are usually difficult to develop). But all a module does is describe the properties and supporting UI elements required to support a certain type of data object. SugarCRM supports many objects (modules) out of the box - accounts, leads, projects,cases, calls etc. If you want to add support to a new type of object, you need to to create a new module to represent that object.
Creating a new module
First, we need to create a new package. To create a new package in SugarCRM, go to Admin->Module Builder, and click on New Package. A package can contain a single or multiple modules. If you plan to develop several modules which relate to each other, it’s a good idea create them under a single package - it will be easier to deploy them later.
Create new package screenshot
There are 4 fields you need to fill here: Package name, description and author are obvious. As for the ‘key’ field - this will be used as a prefix for any module you will create under this package.
Once a package is created - it is time we create module. After saving the new package (you click the Save button, didn’t you??), you can select the new package by clicking it. Then, just click on New Module. The New Module screen appears:
The important thing to notice in this screen is the Type field - module types are reusable templates of data structures and UI elements. When you select any of the types available, a set of pre-configured module attributes are created. That includes fields, menus and relationships, based on commonly used objects, such as companies, files and people. So if you plan to create a new objects, let’s say a ‘Vendor’, and assuming all your vendors are commercial companies, you would select the ‘Company’ type as a template for your Vendor modules. I often end up using the basic type, but that decision is really up to you. Click Save.
You have now created a new module in SugarCRM. It should appear in the application’s top menu, along all other modules. Although your new module is ready and you can start using it (create new objects, delete or update existing ones), you want to further customize your new module.
The next post will explain how to further customized the data structure and the user interface of your module. Register to our RSS feed to learn more on SugarCRM customization.
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