Tools Management¶

This chapter explains how to manage bioinformatics tools and software in the LabPress administration panel. The Tools module is designed for laboratories that develop or maintain computational tools, databases, or software packages and want to present them professionally on the public website.

LabPress divides tool management into three related areas:

• Tool List – manages the basic information for each tool.
• Tool Detail – manages the extended description, metadata, and citation information.
• Version History – records multiple versions and download links for each tool.

These three areas are accessed through the Tools parent menu in the admin sidebar. The following sections describe each area in a practical, task-oriented manner.

Administrator Tools Manage Page

1. Accessing the Tools Module¶

To manage tools, hover over or click Tools in the admin sidebar. A submenu appears with the following entries:

• Tool List
• Tool Detail
• Version History

Click the corresponding submenu item to open the desired management page.

Access to all tool management pages requires the tools permission. Administrator accounts with the all permission can also access them. Users without the appropriate permission will see a permission error message.

2. Managing the Tool List¶

The Tool List page is the starting point for managing tools. It displays all existing tools in a table and allows you to add new tools, edit basic information, and delete tools that are no longer needed.

2.1 Understanding the Tool List¶

The table contains the following columns:

• Name – the display name of the tool.
• Type – the tool category, either “Software” or “Database”.
• Description – a short summary of the tool, truncated for display.
• Actions – buttons for editing and deleting the tool.

The list is ordered by the sort_order field, which you can set when creating or editing a tool. Lower values appear earlier on the frontend.

Administrator Tools List

2.2 Adding a Tool¶

To add a new tool:

1. Open Tools > Tool List.
2. Click the Add Tool button at the top of the table.
3. In the modal form, fill in the following fields:

1. Click Save.

The new tool is inserted into the tools table and appears immediately in the tool list and on the public tools page.

Administrator Add Tools

2.3 Editing a Tool¶

To edit an existing tool:

1. Find the tool in the list.
2. Click the Edit button in that row.
3. The modal form opens with the current information filled in.
4. Update any field as needed.
5. Click Save.

The changes take effect immediately and are reflected on the frontend after the next page load.

2.4 Deleting a Tool¶

To delete a tool:

1. Find the tool in the list.
2. Click the Delete button in that row.
3. Confirm the deletion.

The tool record is permanently removed. Associated tool detail and version history records may also be affected depending on the database foreign key constraints. Use this operation carefully.

3. Managing Tool Details¶

The Tool Detail page allows you to manage the extended information that appears on the tool’s detail page. This includes a detailed description, version, programming language, license, update date, external links, images, and citation information.

3.1 Selecting a Tool¶

When you open Tools > Tool Detail, the page displays a dropdown list of all tools. Select a tool from the list to load its current detail information.

If no detail record exists for the selected tool, the form appears empty, and you can create a new detail record by filling in the fields and saving.

Administrator Tool Detail

3.2 Tool Detail Fields¶

The tool detail form contains the following fields:

The detailed description supports HTML, allowing you to format paragraphs, lists, headings, and links. You can also include images directly in the HTML content.

To save the detail information, click Save at the bottom of the form.

Administrator Tool Detail

3.3 Updating Tool Details¶

If a tool already has a detail record, selecting it from the dropdown loads the existing data into the form. You can update any field and save the changes. The updated information appears on the public tool detail page immediately.

4. Managing Version History¶

The Version History page allows you to track multiple versions of a tool and provide download links for each version. This is useful for software releases, updates, and changelogs.

4.1 Selecting a Tool¶

When you open Tools > Version History, the page displays a dropdown list of all tools. Select a tool to load its version records.

If the selected tool has no versions, the page displays a message such as “No version records”.

Administrator Tool version

4.2 Viewing Version Records¶

The version list shows each version with its number, release date, changes, and download links. Changes are displayed as bullet points, and downloads are shown as clickable links.

The page also includes an Add Version button to create a new version record.

4.3 Adding a Version¶

To add a new version:

1. Select a tool from the dropdown.
2. Click Add Version.
3. In the modal form, fill in the version number and release date.

The form also includes two dynamic sections: Changes and Downloads.

For Changes, you can add multiple change entries. Click the + Add change button to create a new input field for each change. Enter a short description such as “Fixed a parsing error” or “Added GPU acceleration support”.

For Downloads, you can add multiple download links. Each download entry contains:

• Name – the label for the download, such as “Windows 64-bit” or “Linux source”.
• URL – the download URL.
• Icon Class – a Font Awesome icon class, such as fab fa-windows or fab fa-linux.

Click Save to store the version.

Administrator Add Tool version

4.4 Editing and Deleting Versions¶

Each version row in the list has Edit and Delete buttons.

Clicking Edit opens the version modal with the existing changes and downloads pre-filled. You can modify any value, add new entries, or remove existing ones.

Clicking Delete prompts for confirmation and then removes the version record permanently.

5. Frontend Display¶

The public website displays tools in two places: the Tools listing page and the Tool Detail page.

The tools listing page shows all tools in a card-style layout. Each card includes the tool icon, name, type badge, description, key features, and links to GitHub and the official website. A “View Details” button leads to the tool detail page.

The tool detail page presents the extended information from the Tool Detail management page. It includes a hero section with the tool name and short description, a metadata panel with version, language, license, and update date, the detailed description content, citation information if available, and a version history section with download links.

The frontend loads tool data through the API endpoints. The tool list page fetches data from api/data.php?type=tools, while the tool detail page loads api/data.php?type=tool-detail&name=... and api/data.php?type=tool-versions&name=....

Tool List

Tool Detail

6. Multilingual Considerations¶

Tool names, descriptions, and version information are stored as raw text in the database. The current core does not translate these fields automatically.

If you need to present tool information in multiple languages, consider one of the following approaches:

• Keep the tool content in a single primary language, such as English, while the rest of the site interface switches language normally.
• Use the Dynamic Multi-Language plugin’s filter system to add custom translations for tool fields if needed.
• Store bilingual text directly in the tool description field, for example by providing both Chinese and English paragraphs separated by headings.

The plugin system provides the tool_list_item filter, which allows developers to modify tool data before it is rendered on the frontend.

7. Next Steps¶

After managing tools, you may want to continue with:

• Projects – manage research projects and portfolios.
• Publications – manage academic publications.
• Slides – manage homepage carousel slides.
• Research News – manage laboratory news and announcements.
• Site Settings – configure the homepage sections that display tools and other content.