Running Scripts from the Control Panel

To see a very simple example of the script console in action, log into the portal as an administrator and navigate to the Control Panel → Server Administration → Script. Change the script type to Groovy and replace the code in the scripting console with the following:

number = com.liferay.portal.service.UserLocalServiceUtil.getUsersCount(); 
out.println(number); 

Click the Execute button and check the scripting console or the log for the output.

Now let’s implement a more realistic example. We’ll retrieve some user information from the database, make some changes and then update the database with our changes. Our company has updated the terms of use and requires that everyone be presented with the updated terms of use on the next log in. When users agree to the terms of use, a boolean attribute called agreedToTermsOfUse is set in their user records. As long as the boolean is true, Liferay will not present the user with the terms of use. However, if we set this flag to false for everyone, all users will have to agree to it again to use the site.

We’ll again use Groovy, so ensure that the script type is set to Groovy and execute the following code to check the status of the agreedToTermsOfUse user attribute:

import com.liferay.portal.service.UserLocalServiceUtil

userCount = UserLocalServiceUtil.getUsersCount()
users = UserLocalServiceUtil.getUsers(0, userCount)

for (user in users) {
    println("User Name: " + user.getFullName() + " -- " + user.getAgreedToTermsOfUse())
}

The code above just prints the value of the agreedToTermsOfUse attribute for each user. Next, we’ll actually update each user in the system to set his or her agreedToTermsOfUse attribute to false. We’ll be sure to skip the default user as the default user is not required to agree to the Terms of Use. We’ll also skip the admin user that’s currently logged in and running the script. If you’re logged in as someone other than [e-mail], be sure to update the following script before running it.

    import com.liferay.portal.service.UserLocalServiceUtil

userCount = UserLocalServiceUtil.getUsersCount()
users = UserLocalServiceUtil.getUsers(0, userCount)

for (user in users){

    if(!user.isDefaultUser() && 
        !user.getEmailAddress().equalsIgnoreCase("[e-mail]")) {
        
            user.setAgreedToTermsOfUse(false)
            UserLocalServiceUtil.updateUser(user)
    
    }
    
}

To verify the script has updated the records, run the first script again and you should see that all users (except the default user and your user) have been updated.

That’s all that’s needed to run scripts and to access the Liferay service layer. There are, however, some things to keep in mind when working with the script console: 

• There is no undo

• There is no preview

• When using Local Services, no permissions checking is enforced

• Scripts are executed synchronously, so be careful with scripts that might take a long time to execute. 

For these reasons, you should use the script console with care. It’s best to test run your scripts on non-production systems before running them on production. Of course, Liferay’s script engine has uses beyond the script console. Let’s learn how to leverage Liferay’s script engine for designing workflows.