Desk Rail

bench get-app https://github.com/BatchNepal/desk-rail

[![Listed on Frappe Gems](https://frappegems.com/api/method/frappe_gems.seo.badge?app=BatchNepal%2Fdesk-rail)](https://frappegems.com/gems/apps/BatchNepal/desk-rail)

--- ## Why Out of the box, the Frappe desk sidebar lives *inside* the workspace page — so it disappears the moment you open a list or a form, and every workspace must point at a workspace page. Teams that use the desk as their daily driver want the opposite: a navigation rail that is **always there**, that can route a sidebar item straight to a doctype list, a Frappe web page, or an external tool, and that feels like a modern SPA rather than a full page reload. Desk Rail delivers exactly that, as a drop-in app — no forking Frappe, no template overrides. ## Features | | | |---|---| | 🧭 **Persistent rail** | A fixed left sidebar mounted on the desk shell. It survives every route — workspace, list, report, form — and never rebuilds on navigation. | | ⚡ **Soft SPA navigation** | Internal `/app/*` targets route through the Frappe router (no reload, soft back button). Only genuinely external/filtered targets do a full navigation. | | 🔀 **Instant-redirect workspaces** | Flag any workspace and point it at any URL — a doctype list (`/app/trip`), a Frappe page (`/wiki`), or an external app (`https://chat.example.com`). | | 👁️ **Persistent show/hide** | A toggle to the left of the navbar logo collapses/expands the rail. The choice is remembered per user, per browser. | | 🌳 **Nested workspaces** | Parent/child workspaces render as expandable groups; the expanded state persists and auto-opens to the active page. | | 📱 **Responsive** | On phones the rail becomes an off-canvas overlay that opens on demand and closes after you tap a link. | | 🎛️ **Configurable** | Every behaviour is a toggle in **Desk Rail Settings** — width, native-sidebar replacement, full-width navbar, list filter-bar hiding, and more. | | 🧩 **Non-invasive** | Pure additive JS/CSS on the desk shell plus two Workspace custom fields. Disable the app and the stock desk returns untouched. | ## Screenshots | Rail across views | Instant-redirect config | Settings | |---|---|---| |  |  |  | ## How it works ``` ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ navbar [☰] brand search user ▾ │ ← full-width, toggle left of logo ├───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Desk Rail │ │ │ (fixed, │ #body → workspace / list / form │ │ persistent) │ (page content swaps here) │ │ Trips │ │ │ ▾ Suppliers │ │ │ Hotels → │ │ │ Reports │ │ └───────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` - **`boot.py`** injects `frappe.boot.desk_rail` (your settings) and `frappe.boot.redirect_workspaces` (the `{workspace: url}` map) into the desk bootinfo. - **`desk_rail.js`** mounts the rail onto `.main-section` (the desk shell, *outside* the page container), so page swaps never touch it. It reads the workspace tree from the same API the native sidebar uses, then renders links wired to a soft/hard `navigate()` router. - **`desk_rail.css`** styles are all gated behind body classes that the JS toggles from settings — turn a feature off and its CSS disappears too. - **Two Workspace custom fields** (`instant_redirect`, `redirect_url`) drive the redirect map; they ship as fixtures. Nothing here monkey-patches Frappe internals — it composes with the stock desk and degrades to the native sidebar if anything fails to load. ## Installation Requires a working [Frappe Bench](https://frappeframework.com/docs/user/en/installation) (v14 or v15). ```bash # from your bench directory bench get-app https://github.com/BatchNepal/desk-rail bench --site your-site.local install-app desk_rail bench build --app desk_rail bench --site your-site.local clear-cache ``` Then hard-refresh the desk (Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-R). ## Configuration Open **Desk Rail Settings** (search the awesome bar) — a single doctype: | Setting | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | **Enable Desk Rail** | ✅ | Master switch. Off → stock Frappe desk. | | **Replace native sidebar** | ✅ | Hide the native workspace sidebar; rail takes over everywhere. Off → redirects still work on the native sidebar. | | **Rail width (px)** | `274` | Width of the rail. | | **Show navbar toggle** | ✅ | Show the show/hide button left of the logo (state persists per user). | | **Collapsed by default on mobile** | ✅ | Start collapsed on phones. | | **Full-width navbar** | ✅ | Let navbar content span edge to edge. | | **Hide list filter bar** | ☐ | Hide the inline standard-filter row in list views (the Filter button stays). | Changes take effect on the next desk load (the app busts the boot cache on save). ## Instant-redirect workspaces 1. Open any **Workspace** (`/app/workspace`). 2. Tick **Instant Redirect** and set **Redirect URL**. 3. Save. Clicking that workspace in the rail now goes straight to the URL. The router is smart about *how* it navigates: | Redirect URL | Navigation | |---|---| | `/app/trip`, `/app/communication/view/list` | **Soft** SPA route — no reload, rail stays mounted, back button is soft. | | `https://chat.example.com`, `/wiki`, `/drive`, `/app/supplier?status=Active` | **Hard** navigation (cross-origin, non-desk, or filtered). | ## Compatibility - **Frappe / ERPNext:** v14 and v15. - Leans on stable Frappe APIs (`frappe.desk.desktop.get_workspace_sidebar_items`, `frappe.router`, `frappe.utils.icon`) and desk DOM hooks. Pin-test before adopting on a substantially different fork. ## Uninstall ```bash bench --site your-site.local uninstall-app desk_rail ``` The stock desk returns immediately; the two Workspace custom fields are removed with the app. ## Contributing Issues and PRs are welcome — see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) and our [Code of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). ## License [GNU Affero General Public License v3.0](LICENSE) — strong copyleft; networked use counts as distribution. ## Credits Built and maintained by **[BatchNepal](https://batchnepal.com)** — Enterprise solutions for businesses.