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Overview Xentral Scripts

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Flexibility through customization

Xentral Scripts provides our users with a powerful way to customize the software. These can be implemented by our own IT department or by external agencies and technology partners. With our partner model, we provide the "brains", skills and resources to leverage these technical capabilities for your benefit.

What does customization mean?

The basic version of Xentral already offers many configuration options, which you can have explained and set up as part of our onboarding process. These include, for example, the appearance of your documents, the setup of logistics processes or the connection of various shipping and payment service providers as well as marketplaces and online stores. In addition, qualified partners can

  • Define own processes
  • Integrate own data structures
  • Create your own reports and evaluations
  • Develop or adapt your own store connections
  • Customize the appearance of documents
  • And much more

Important information: All methods described here change the appearance or behavior of the software without interfering with the so-called core functions of Xentral ERP. Thus, our technology partners do not work as service providers on the basic functions of the software but customize Xentral to your individual needs.

Information for users and interested parties

As a key user, you have your process in mind and want to build your business model on secure and reliable software in the long term. We have the software and the partners to do this! Nevertheless, questions may remain:

  • Will my Xentral remain upgradeable?
  • Which versions of Xentral are customizable?
  • What is the process and how much will customization cost me?
  • Where can I find technology partners?

We have compiled the most important information for you on the page Information for decision makers and users.

Important information: Customizing is available starting with the Enterprise version.

Information for agencies and technology partners

As an agency or technology partner, you have your customer in mind and want to build their requirements on secure and reliable software in the long term. For this we offer the software and the knowledge!

Below we have compiled the options available to you for customizing Xentral ERP. We are happy to be your backbone and support you in the background with knowledge, tips and technical updates.

Technical onboarding

We make getting started easy and fast! We have explained the installation of Xentral and the first steps on our page  Technical Onboarding for external developers.

Important information: You can attempt the installation and initial work with the system yourself. After installing our Open Scource version, you can upgrade to our commercial business license for a period of 30 days. If you still need it for your development after the 30 days, we will gladly extend the license for the duration of your development project.

Xentral Scripts

Xentral Scripts can be used to adapt the behavior of the software in many places without interfering with the core of the software. In the future, more and more functions will be available for direct use without programming knowledge. All these possibilities are summarized under the name "Scripts".

  • Template Scripts: Customization of PDF output, email templates, layout templates, etc.
  • Trigger Scripts: React to events and make adjustments to workflow, shipping and payment options, print events, regular actions (process starters)
  • Report Scripts: Output of business-specific business figures
  • Converter Scripts: Customized output formats and structures in export (CSV, XML, JSON, EDI) and in import e.g. by data conversion in the store importer
  • The pivotal point of adjustments is the Xentral Customizing Suite

Important information: Adjustments to the core of the software may also require adjustments to the functions described here, especially if you want to benefit from added features of newer versions. Therefore, please refer to the release notes when updating the system.

Xentral REST-API

External services, stores, mobile devices or own processes for data manipulation can be connected via the REST API. Among other things, it is also possible to call reports via this. API documentation is available separately for each Xentral version:

Coding best practice and debugging

As a general rule, the use of Xentral-internal functions, interfaces and services is always preferable to independent manipulation of data. The inline documentation of the source code makes the objects and methods clear. If required, there is the possibility of developer training or support by members of our developer team (so-called developer support).

Most important functions: An overview of programming, the most important objects and methods can be found at Important functions.

In the case of developments for cloud instances, the customizations are first created and tested on a local development system. These are then transferred to the deployment by the xentral team. For this purpose, the modified files can simply be submitted via the ticket system (ideally via the account of the respective customer). After a check, these are then made available on the xentral update server for the corresponding customer and are then available with the next update for this customer.

A note from our development department to all development partners: Please do not use capital letters for file names. We will amend our manual accordingly - but a good guide is certainly this range of characters: a-z 0-9 and the underscore (_).

To develop in the Xentral environment, some help functions and debugging tips are provided. The article Debugging during Xentral developments provides a summary.

Links and resources

We also welcome ideas, suggestions and code samples in our forum: https://forum.xentral.biz. Good to know: This page, our Customizing and Partner Guide, and a growing number of other resources are available in English.

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