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What are invisible permissions?
FOLIO permissions have a concept being either "visible" or "invisible."
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- Defined in a back-end module, not as part of a user-interface module;
- Extremely granular - they may control one action in one function, for example, fetching a single record type in a single module;
- Not named in a super readable way. They have names like "circulation-rules.storage.get" or"item.record.put".
Why would I want to know about invisible permissions?
Ideally, when you're working in the FOLIO UI, you never have to worry about invisible permissions, because the development process did the work of defining the visible permissions such that they include all the permissions you need to do your work.
However, because FOLIO is in active development, it does happen that you might need to assign an invisible permission to a user in order to troubleshoot a potential bug, or accomplish a workflow piece that can be handled no other way in FOLIO.
How can I see invisible permissions in the FOLIO UI?
The ability to see invisible permissions is determined user-by-user. The logged-in user must have access to Settings → Developer. In Settings → Developer → Configuration, check the box for 'List 'invisible' permissions in add-perm menus?', and Save your changes.
You should not leave this setting on permanently – there are over 4,000 permissions in FOLIO (visible and invisible together), and displaying invisible permissions will significantly slow down the add-perms user interface.
How should I configure FOLIO to use invisible permissions with user accounts, if I need them to be able to be assigned to multiple staff while waiting for a fix to be released?
It is possible for one account (say, a systems administrator with access to developer settings) to assign individual permissions to multiple FOLIO users, however, if other users in the system don't also have the ability to see invisible permissions, the systems administrator's changes could potentially be overwritten.
For example:
- John Admin decides that Jane Smith Jeanne Dupont needs the invisible permission "circulation-rules.storage.get". John enables the invisible permission option in Settings → Developer, goes into the Users App, finds JaneJeanne's record and assigns the invisible permission to her.
- A few days later, Max Mustermann realizes that Jane also needs the permission "Courses: Read All" to be able to see the Courses app. Max is a manager but not a systems administrator, so he can't see invisible permissions. Because of that, he doesn't realize that JaneJeanne's permissions were modified to add invisible permissions. He goes into Users, finds JaneJeanne's record, adds the permission "Courses: Read All" and saves her record. When he saves the record, FOLIO saves a complete new copy of JaneJeanne's permissions, which overwrites the changes that John Admin made.
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