October CMS Builder Plugin Setup

Configuration of Builder Plugin for October CMS

Builder is an official RainLab plugin for visual plugin development in October CMS. It allows creating models, databases, controllers and forms without writing code. Useful for rapid prototyping, but final code should be refined manually.

Installation

php artisan plugin:install rainlab.builder
php artisan october:migrate

Builder Features

Database — create tables via visual constructor. Supports all Laravel column types, indexes, foreign keys. Generates migration file.

Models — create Eloquent models with field configuration, validation rules, relationships, scope methods.

Backend Controllers — CRUD controllers with behavior configuration (list, form, reorder).

Menus — add navigation items to backend.

Versions — manage plugin versions and migrations.

Example: Creating Plugin via Builder

1. Go to Backend → Builder → Select Plugin
2. Database → Add Table → specify name, add columns
3. Models → Add Model → select table, configure $fillable, rules
4. Controllers → Add Controller → select model, configure list columns and form fields via YAML

Generated columns.yaml:

# models/Product/columns.yaml
columns:
    name:
        label: Product Name
        searchable: true
        sortable: true
    price:
        label: Price
        type: number
        sortable: true
    is_active:
        label: Active
        type: switch
    created_at:
        label: Created
        type: timesince

fields.yaml:

# models/Product/fields.yaml
fields:
    name:
        label: Product Name
        type: text
        required: true
        span: left
    slug:
        label: Slug
        type: text
        preset:
            field: name
            type: slug
        span: right
    price:
        label: Price (RUB)
        type: number
        span: left
    description:
        label: Description
        type: richeditor
        size: large
    image:
        label: Image
        type: fileupload
        mode: image
        imageWidth: 1200
        imageHeight: 630

tabs:
    fields:
        seo_title:
            tab: SEO
            label: SEO Title
            type: text
        seo_description:
            tab: SEO
            label: SEO Description
            type: textarea

Builder Limitations

Builder cannot: create custom components with non-trivial logic, configure complex Many-to-Many relationships, add custom widgets and behaviors. After skeleton generation — refine code manually.

Creating a CRUD plugin via Builder takes 2–4 hours. Subsequent manual refinement takes 1–3 days.