This feature is available on Beefree SDK Superpowers plan and above. If you're on the Core or Essentials plan, upgrade a development application for free to try this and other Superpowers-level features.
Overview
With Advanced permissions, you can tailor permissions for users of your Beefree application by hiding or locking UI elements related to:
content tiles
content settings
layout settings
row & content actions (clone, delete, drag, save)
basically anything in the editor!
These advanced permissions grant total customization of the experience you want to present. Since you set them in the configuration parameters passed to your Beefree app after you’ve initialized it, they could be different each time the editor starts, and have different setups for different users.
Use cases
The absolute flexibility of these permissions makes it easy to address specific needs, not achievable with the Roles and Permissions feature that is available in the Beefree SDK Console.
Create skill-based roles
You can create roles that can act only on a content type. For example, you may want a “copywriter” role for people in an organization that only need to touch copy for editing or translation purposes. To do so, you can:
hide any action that doesn’t involve working on the copy of an email or page.
limit style options for the text itself, by
locking/hiding the side tab;
hiding specific settings in the text toolbar.
Customize image & file management workflows
You can limit how users upload and manage images and files inside Beefree SDK; for example, you want some users – e.g., external collaborators – to select pre-approved images and files uploaded by “admin” users. You can do so by:
disabling drag-and-drop of images onto the stage;
limit actions in the file manager (either the built-in one or your custom file picker) by disabling actions like upload, import, and create a folder.
Another interesting case for using advanced permissions is the possibility to set a maximum sizefor uploads, per user. The maximum size set per user must not exceed the custom limitation size set on the Activate Custom Limitation on File Manager. The default limit is 20 Mb unless otherwise stated.
When this permission is configured, the system will check if a file exceeds the set size before uploading it; if so, Beefree SDK will return an error message, which you may customize using Custom languages.
Create custom, secondary roles
When customers of your applications are structured businesses, typically with a headquarter and a locally-deployed organization (e.g., Real Estate, Travel, Retail), their administrators can create custom, secondary roles to match any internal policy they might have. In this scenario, admins typically want to reduce disruptions of centrally-deployed templates for external communication, while allowing a specific degree of freedom.
Initialize different versions of the editor
By combining multiple permissions, you can load Beefree SDK with radically different experiences, based on the user that starts it. For example:
a “stripped-down” version of the content builder for lower-level subscribers;
a “simplified” version of the builder for new users of an account.
How it works
To set up the advanced permissions, you will need to add the advancedPermissions object to beeConfig.
Note: Click on the arrow next to the section title in the following section to expand the following sections and reference its corresponding content.
Steps to set up advanced permissions in your beeConfig
Take the following steps to set up advanced permissions in your beeConfig for Beefree SDK:
Locate your beeConfig object: This is where you configure the Beefree SDK with its basic settings, such as the user ID and container.
Add the advancedPermissions object: You will need to insert the advancedPermissions object within your beeConfig to specify which content types and settings can be customized with specific permissions.
Define content permissions: Inside advancedPermissions, you can specify what content blocks (e.g., image, button, text) are visible and what actions are allowed.
Configure settings permissions: This controls settings like content area width, background color, or fonts for different blocks.
Control tabs visibility: You can manage which tabs (such as rows or settings) are visible and editable in the editor interface.
Set rows behaviors: You can control row-specific permissions, such as adding or hiding rows, background colors, and mobile visibility.
Test the configuration: After adding the advancedPermissions object to your beeConfig, test your configuration by launching the editor and checking if the permissions are applied correctly (e.g., specific settings are visible or locked as intended).
Sample code
Reference the following sample code to understand the structure of advancedPermissions.
The following table provides the name, data type, description, and an example value for the first-level fields for advancedPermissions.
Name
Data Type
Description
Example Value
uid
string
Unique identifier for the CMS user (mandatory).
'CmsUserName'
container
string
HTML container element ID for embedding Beefree SDK (mandatory).
'bee-plugin-container'
advanced permissions
object
Contains settings for content elements, rows, settings, and tabs configurations.
See configuration object for details.
components
object
Specifies available components like file picker and link types.
{ filePicker: {...}, linkTypes: {...} }
rowAddOn
object
Settings for custom row add-ons, such as custom behaviors.
{ customRowAddonHandle: {...} }
workspace
object
Defines workspace settings, such as stage toggle and history buttons visibility.
{ stageToggle: {...}, historyButtons: true }
Available permissions and behaviors
You can add all the permissions, some of them, or just one. It is up to your application to create them for all users or a segment, as there are no related server-side settings. You may have a different setup each time the editor starts.
All the permissions use a similar pattern, but the object must match the content schema for the type of content (described in the following section).
Defaults
Each content type below contains a parameter for “behaviors” and “properties”. The behaviors control what someone can, or can’t, do. The properties parameter is an array of sidebar property widgets (e.g., the width slider), and each widget has its default permissions.
Sidebar property widget permissions
All sidebar property widgets (e.g. width slider, alignment, color, etc.) accept the following basic permissions:
Name
Type
Value
locked
boolean
true or false
show
boolean
true or false
Let’s look at an example of these permissions applied to an image module. The following example will hide the image width property widget and lock the text alignment widget. We’ll cover more of the available settings below.
All contents and rows (e.g. image module, video module, stage row, etc.) accept the following basic behaviors:
Name
Type
Value
Description
canSelect
boolean
true or false
Can select a row or module to edit its properties
canAdd
boolean
true or false
Can drag and drop the content tile or row onto the stage
canViewSidebar
boolean
true or false
Can view the content in the sidebar
canClone
boolean
true or false
Can clone a content or row on the stage
canMove
boolean
true or false
Can drag content to another location on the stage
canDelete
boolean
true or false
Can remove the content or row from the stage
canResetMobile
boolean
true or false
Can reset mobile style for content properties that make use of it
Components
The components object lets you control the behavior and permissions for tools like file pickers and link types within the editor. You can define what actions users can take, such as uploading or deleting files, and specify which link types (e.g., web addresses, emails) are available. This section provides more information on the component object within advanced permissions.
filePicker
The following code provides an example of the filePicker object.
The rows object in Beefree SDK allows you to manage the behavior and appearance of rows in the editor. You can control what users can do with rows, such as adding, deleting, or moving them. Additionally, you can set permissions for properties like background color, stacking behavior on mobile, and visibility settings. Configuring the rows object ensures users can work with rows in a controlled way, customizing their content without altering crucial layout elements.
Rows Addon
The following code demonstrates how to specify behavior settings for individual row addons. A custom row addon can have its behaviors set independently from the global row settings.
The columns object in the Beefree SDK lets you control the behavior and permissions for columns within the editor. You can define what users can do with columns, such as adding, selecting, moving, or deleting them. You can also set properties like column spacing and border radius. Configuring the columns object ensures that users can manage column layouts effectively, while maintaining control over the design and structure of the content.
The tabs object in the Beefree SDK allows you to manage the visibility and permissions of different tabs within the editor, such as the Rows, Content, and Settings tabs. You can control which tabs users can access and whether they can interact with them. By configuring the tabs object, you streamline the editor’s interface, ensuring users have access to only the relevant tabs they need for editing while maintaining control over what they can modify.
The settings object in the Beefree SDK allows you to control various design-related settings within the editor, such as content area width, background colors, and default font styles. You can define which settings users can view or modify, such as enabling or locking background images or link colors. By configuring the settings object, you ensure that users can customize specific design elements while maintaining overall control over the layout and style of the content.
The content object in the Beefree SDK controls the behavior and permissions for different types of content blocks, such as text, images, buttons, and more. You can specify what users can do with each content type, such as adding, editing, or selecting them, and set properties like alignment, padding, and visibility. By configuring the content object, you allow users to interact with content blocks while maintaining control over how each element can be modified within the design.
You should use the Icon object to set advanced permissions when you need granular control over the display and behavior of icon elements. This allows you to lock certain properties, such as the visibility and font weight, ensuring consistency across different devices and user interactions. Additionally, setting these permissions helps in maintaining a cohesive design by managing how icons respond to mobile and AMP environments.
In the given icon code, the structure is defined using objects, properties, and parameters to represent a detailed configuration. The main object, icons, encompasses two primary properties: behaviors and properties, each of which is an object itself. The behaviors object contains a property canResetMobile with a boolean parameter set to false, indicating a specific behavior setting. The properties object holds various properties such as icons, fontWeight, align, and more, each representing different characteristics and settings for the icons. Each of these properties has parameters assigned to them; for instance, the icons property has show and locked parameters set to true, determining the visibility and lock status of the icons. This nested structure using objects and properties with defined parameters represent the configuration settings in the code.
Behaviors Object
The table below outlines the configuration elements, their data types, descriptions, and default values for the behaviors object used in the icon configuration.
Configuration Elements
Data Type
Description
Default Value
canResetMobile
boolean
Indicates whether icons can reset to default settings on mobile devices.
false
Properties Object
The table below outlines the configuration elements, their data types, descriptions, and default values for the properties object used in the icon configuration.
Configuration Elements
Data Type
Description
Default Value
icons
object
show
boolean
Determines if the icons are visible.
true
locked
boolean
Indicates if the icons' visibility setting is locked.
true
fontWeight
object
show
boolean
Determines if the font weight option is visible for icons.
In this section, we will explore how to assign advanced permissions and behaviors for various AddOn types, specifically focusing on how to customize permissions for Custom AddOns and Row AddOns. These permissions can override default settings to provide granular control. For instance, an image addon can have specific permissions different from the default image block permissions.
To successfully use this feature, follow these steps:
Identify the AddOn ID: Obtain the unique ID of the addon you wish to assign permissions to.
Define Custom Permissions: Based on the type of addon, assign relevant permissions in your configuration file.
Override Default Permissions: Specify advanced permissions for the addon, ensuring they override the default ones if needed.
Set Specific Behaviors: For row addons, include permissions for individual modules like image blocks inside the row addon.
Apply Global Restrictions: Optionally, set global restrictions for all mixed and row content addons for consistent behavior.
By following these steps, you can effectively manage and customize addon permissions.
The following code provides an example of the different content modules and the addons-id.
content: { image: { /**/ },// The image block allows you to add and configure images in your content. button: { /**/ },// The button block provides options for adding and styling call-to-action buttons. social: { /**/ },// The social block enables you to include social media icons for sharing or linking. addon: {// The addon block supports custom addons content, such as custom images or mixed content addons. customImageHandle: { /**/ },// A custom image addon to manage and configure image properties. customRowAddonHandle: { /**/ } // A custom row addon for managing entire row behaviors and properties. }}
The following code shows an example AddOn with the canViewSidebar behavior set to true.
content: { addon: {// This is where you define custom addons, such as a custom images addon. customImageHandle: { behaviors: { canViewSidebar:true,// Specifies that the sidebar is visible for this custom image addon. }, }, }}
Module inside row addon
The following code defines specific permissions and behaviors for different modules within a Row AddOn.
content: { addon: {// This block allows the addition of custom addons and controls their behaviors. customImageHandle: { behaviors: { canViewSidebar:true,// Enables the sidebar for this specific addon. }, }, customRowAddonHandle: {// Custom row-specific behaviors and permissions for an addon inside a row. behaviors: { canAdd:true,// Allows adding a new row. canClone:false,// Disables cloning of this row. canDelete:false// Disables deleting of this row. }, image: {// Controls behaviors and properties for image modules within this row addon. behaviors: { canSelect:true// Allows image selection inside the row addon. }, properties: { textAlign: { show:false// Hides the text alignment control for images in this row addon. } } } }, mixed: {// Handles behaviors for mixed content addons (those containing multiple types of content). behaviors: { canAdd:false// Disables the ability to add mixed content. } }, rowAddon: {// Controls behaviors for all row content addons. behaviors: { canAdd:false// Disables adding new row content addons. } } }}
Add Condition and Edit Condition Buttons
You can choose to display or hide the "Add Condition" and "Edit Condition" buttons when using the Content Dialog with Display Conditions.
The following code shows an example config for how you can display or hide these buttons using advanced permissions.
{ rows: {// Controls the display conditions for rows in your design. displayConditions: { locked:false,// Specifies whether the display conditions can be edited. 'false' means it can be modified. show:true// Determines if the display conditions are visible to the user. } }}
Role templates
We’ve put together a few JSON templates of custom roles created with Advanced permissions, so you can get started experimenting with this powerful feature.
