Managing Users, Resources and Permissions

qwc-docker has a QWC configuration backend. That backend can be reached by default at http://localhost:8088/qwc_admin.

The configuration backend allows to assign users and groups to roles. The roles in their turn can receive permissions on resources. These configuration settings will be stored in the configuration database. Out of the box qwc-docker comes with with a container qwc-postgis that contains the configuration database.

Users, groups and roles

Roles can be given permissions on resources. That means that if you want to give users or groups permissions on resources, then you have to first create a role, configure the permissions that the roles has on some resources, and then assign the role the users or groups.

Resources

The following resource types are available:

  • Map: WMS corresponding to a QGIS Project
  • Layer: layer of a map
    • Attribute: attribute of a map layer
  • Print template: print composer template of a QGIS Project
  • Data: Data layer for editing
    • Attribute: attribute of a data layer
  • Data (create): Data layer for creating features
  • Data (read): Data layer for reading features
  • Data (update): Data layer for updating features
  • Data (delete): Data layer for deleting features
  • Viewer: custom map viewer configuration
  • Viewer task: permittable viewer tasks
  • FeatureInfo service: Feature info service
  • FeatureInfo layer: Feature info layer

The resource name corresponds to the technical name of its resource (e.g. WMS layer name). Most notably, the name of a map resource corresponds to the relative path to the project below qgs-resources without .qgs extension (so i.e. the resource name for qgs-resources/subfolder/project.qgs will be subfolder/project).

Note: If your QGIS project is configured to return the field aliases rather than the field names in GetFeatureInfo, the resource name for layer attribute resources corresponds to the alias of the field.

Available map, layer, attribute and print_template resources are determined from WMS GetProjectSettings and the QGIS projects.

data and their attribute resources define a data layer for the Data service.

For more detailed CRUD permissions data_create, data_read, data_update and data_delete can be used instead of data (data and write=False is equivalent to data_read; data and write=True is equivalent to all CRUD resources combined).

The viewer resource defines a custom viewer configuration for the map viewer (see Custom viewer configurations).

The viewer_task resource defines viewer functionalities (e.g. printing or raster export) that can be restricted or permitted. Their name (e.g. RasterExport) corresponds to the key in menuItems and toolbarItems in the QWC2 config.json. Restricted viewer task items are then removed from the menu and toolbar in the map viewer. Viewer tasks not explicitly added as resources are kept unchanged from the config.json.

Note: The resource types, i.e. for custom QWC2 plugins, can be extended by inserting new types into the qwc_config.resource_types table. These can be queried, e.g. in a custom service, by using PermissionClient::resource_permissions() or PermissionClient::resource_restrictions() from QWC Services Core.

Permissions

Permissions are based on roles. Roles can be assigned to groups or users, and users can be members of groups. A special role is "public". The "public" role applies always, no matter whether a user is signed in or is not signed in.

Roles can be assigned permission for resources.

The write flag is only used for data resources and determines whether a data layer is read-only.

Based on the user's identity (user name and/or group name), all corresponding roles and their permissions and restrictions are collected. The service configurations are then modified according to these permissions and restrictions.

By using the permissions_default_allow configuration setting in tenantConfig.json, some resources can be set to be permitted or restricted by default if no permissions are set (default: false). Among affected resources are Map, Layer, Print template, Viewer task, FeatureInfo service, FeatureInfo layer. E.g.:

  • permissions_default_allow=true: all maps and layers are permitted by default
  • permissions_default_allow=false: maps and layers are only available if their resources and permissions are explicitly configured

Restricted themes

The display behaviour of restricted themes can be configured in the mapViewer service configuration in tenantConfig.json as follows:

{
  "name": "mapViewer",
  "config": {
    "show_restricted_themes": false,
    "show_restricted_themes_whitelist": [],
    "redirect_restricted_themes_to_auth": false,
    "internal_permalink_service_url": "http://qwc-permalink-service:9090"
  }
}
  • show_restricted_themes: Whether to show placeholder items for restricted themes. Default: false.
  • show_restricted_themes_whitelist: Whitelist of restricted theme names to display as placeholders. If empty, all restricted themes are shown. Only used if show_restricted_themes enabled. Default: [].
  • redirect_restricted_themes_to_auth: Whether to redirect to login on auth service if requesting a restricted theme in URL params, if not currently signed in. Default: false.
  • internal_permalink_service_url: Internal permalink service URL for getting the theme from a resolved permalink for redirecting to login (default: http://qwc-permalink-service:9090). This is used only if redirect_restricted_themes_to_auth is enabled and permalink_service_url is set.

Permissions file

The QWC Config Generator generates a JSON file for all permissions from the QWC ConfigDB. See READMEs of QWC services for service specific contents in permissions.json.

Group registration

Using the optional Registration GUI allows users to request membership or unsubscribe from registrable groups. These requests can then be accepted or rejected in the Admin GUI.

Workflow:

  • Admin GUI
  • admin user creates new groups with assigned roles and permissions on resources
  • admin user configures registrable groups
  • Registration GUI
  • user select desired groups from registrable groups and submits application form
  • admin users are notified of new registration requests
  • Admin GUI
  • admin user selects entry from list of pending registration requests
  • admin user accepts or rejects registration requests for a user
  • user is added to or removed from accepted groups
  • user is notified of registration request updates
  • Map Viewer
  • user permissions are updated for new groups