Yii web shell

Web shell for Yii allows you to run console commands from your browser. Can be useful for both no-ssh webservers and console-style administration modules.

Yii web shell uses the same config as your web application so if your application works it will work too.

Since we're working in the web environment we don't have STDIN. It means that commands like yiic migrate will not work in interactive mode. In case of migrate you can turn it off be setting interactive to false.

Installing

To use web shell, you must include it as a module in the application configuration like the following:

[php]
return array(
	…
	'modules'=>array(
		'webshell'=>array(
			'class'=>'ext.yiiext.modules.webshell.WebShellModule',
			// when typing 'exit', user will be redirected to this URL
			'exitUrl' => '/',
			// custom wterm options
			'wtermOptions' => array(
				// linux-like command prompt
				'PS1' => '%',
			),
			// additional commands (see below)
			'commands' => array(
				'test' => array('js:function(){return "Hello, world!";}', 'Just a test.'),
			),
			// uncomment to disable yiic
			// 'useYiic' => false,

			// adding custom yiic commands not from protected/commands dir
			'yiicCommandMap' => array(
				'email'=>array(
					'class'=>'ext.mailer.MailerCommand',
					'from'=>'[email protected]',
				),
				'migrate' => array(
					'class' => 'system.cli.commands.MigrateCommand',
					'interactive'=>false,
				),
			),
		),
	),
)

With the above configuration, you will be able to access web shell in your browser using the following URL:

http://localhost/path/to/index.php?r=webshell

If your application is using path-format URLs with some customized URL rules, you may need to add the following URLs in your application configuration in order to access web shell module:

[php]
'components'=>array(
    'urlManager'=>array(
        'urlFormat'=>'path',
            'rules'=>array(
                'webshell'=>'webshell',
                'webshell/<controller:\w+>'=>'webshell/<controller>',
                'webshell/<controller:\w+>/<action:\w+>'=>'webshell/<controller>/<action>',
                …other rules…
        ),
    )
)

You can then access web shell via:

http://localhost/path_to_webroot/webshell

Adding custom commands

You can add both shell commands and yiic commands.

Shell commands are configured via commands property of WebShellModule:

[php]
'commands' => array(
    // js callback as a command
    'test' => array('js:function(tokens){return "Hello, world!";}', 'Just a test.'),

    // ajax callback to http://yourwebsite/post/index?action=cli (will be normalized according to URL rules)
    'postlist' => array(array('/post/index', array('action' => 'cli')), 'Description.'),

    // sticky command handler. One will need to type 'exit' to leave its context.
    'stickyhandler' => array(
        array(
            // optional: called when 'stickyhandler' is typed. Can be either URL array or callback.
            'START_HOOK' => array('/post/index', array('action' => 'start')),
            // optional: called when 'exit' is typed. Can be either URL array or callback.
            'EXIT_HOOK' => "js:function(){ return 'bye!'; }",
            // required: called when parameter is typed. Can be either URL array or callback.
            'DISPATCH' => "js:function(tokens){ return "Hi, Jack!"; }",
            // optional: custom prompt
            'PS1' => 'advanced >',
        ),
        'Advanced command.',
    ),
),

Callback for a shell command should look like this:

[php]
function actionMyCommandHandler(){
    $tokens = explode(" ", $_GET['tokens']);
    print_r($tokens);
}

To learn about creating custom yiic commands you can read "Console Applications".

Security

There are two module settings that will help you to keep web console secure:

[php]
// Allowed IPs, localhost by default. Set to false to allow all IPs.
'ipFilters' => array('127.0.0.1','::1'),
// Valid PHP callback that returns if user should be allowed to use web shell.
// In this example it's valid for PHP 5.3.
'checkAccessCallback' => function($controller, $action){
    return !Yii::app()->user->isGuest;
}

Special thanks

• Dimitrios Meggidis for a nice idea and for showing me wterm. You can check his general purpose wterm Yii widget.

• Qiang Xue for Yii itself, and ipFilters routine code.