56. Settings¶

SolarNode provides a way for plugin components to describe their user-configurable properties, called settings, to the platform. SolarNode provides a web-based GUI that makes it easy for users to configure those components using a web browser. For example, here is a screen shot of the SolarNode GUI showing a form for the settings of a Database Backup component:

The mechanism for components to describe themselves in this way is called the Settings API. Classes that wish to participate in this system publish metadata about their configurable properties through the Settings Provider API, and then SolarNode generates a GUI form based on that metadata. Each form field in the previous example image is a Setting Specifier.

The process is similar to the built-in Settings app on iOS: iOS applications can publish configurable property definitions and the Settings app displays a GUI that allows users to modify those properties.