README

Create advanced custom pages with HTML, BBCode, Markdown, PHP, or plain text content types for your Flarum 2.x forum. A powerful alternative to fof/pages with multi-format support, live preview, formatting toolbars, and granular access control.

Latest highlights (2.1.0):

• Nested / child pages with a Parent Page selector, drag-and-drop ordering & nesting in the admin (grab the ⋮⋮ handle), parent-chain breadcrumbs, and optional per-tree breadcrumb CSS (style or hide them).
• Per-content-type creation permissions — control who can create Plain Text / BBCode / Markdown pages from the admin grid, and who can create the sensitive HTML / PHP pages via a dedicated console command (php flarum advancedpages:permission).
• Per-page "Allow script execution" toggle — <script> tags in a page now run only when you explicitly opt in (off by default).
• Cross-database visibility — per-group visibility now works on SQLite and PostgreSQL too, not just MySQL/MariaDB.
• $actor now works inside PHP pages.

Note: Advanced Pages targets the 2.x line only (Flarum 2.x).

Features

• 6 content types — HTML (rendered raw — admin/permission-gated), BBCode, Markdown, PHP (server-side, admin/permission-gated), Plain Text, and Redirection (forward to another URL — great for pinned menu links).
• View counter — every page tracks how many times it's been viewed, shown in the admin list and readable from PHP pages ($page->view_count).
• Nested pages — parent/child hierarchy with slash-based URLs and breadcrumbs.
• Pinned navigation — pin any page into the forum's sidebar navigation menu (alongside All Discussions, Members, Badges…) with an optional FontAwesome icon; pinned links follow the page-list order and respect each page's visibility.
• Formatting toolbars — context-aware buttons for the BBCode and Markdown editors.
• Live preview — Raw / Preview toggle with syntax highlighting (highlight.js One Dark).
• Code editor — CodeMirror-powered editor for HTML and PHP with syntax highlighting.
• Code blocks — rendered code gets Select / Copy buttons and a capped, scrollable height; the toolbar can optionally be added to regular forum posts too (admin setting).
• BBCode extensions — [table], [spoiler], [center], extended [url] parser (configurable).
• Newline modes — Flarum vanilla or preserve-all for BBCode pages.
• Spoiler system — [spoiler] / [spoiler=Title] with permission-based visibility (advancedPages.viewSpoilers, default Members).
• Admin panel — full CRUD with pagination, per-page selector, inline settings, Save Changes + Reset Settings buttons (Reset opens Flarum core's ResetExtensionSettingsModal populated with this extension's settings).
• SEO support — meta descriptions and proper <title> tags.
• Access control — publish, hide (admin-only), restrict (login-required), per-group visibility (works on MySQL/MariaDB, SQLite 3.38+ and PostgreSQL).
• Granular permissions — manage pages, view spoiler content, and per-content-type page creation (text/BBCode/Markdown in the admin grid; HTML/PHP via console command).
• Clean URLs — pages live at /p/{slug}, including nested paths like /p/docs/getting-started.

Screenshots

Mobile view — discussion list rendered with different combinations of TryHackX extensions (thumbnails + ratings + views, thumbnails + views, thumbnails only, ratings only, views only, vanilla Flarum).

Advanced Pages admin panel — page management, BBCode tag toggles ([table], [spoiler], [center], extended [url]), forum spoiler replacement and the Save Changes / Reset Settings row, plus the Manage Advanced Pages and View spoiler content permissions.

Desktop discussion list with the full TryHackX stack — thumbnail sliders on the left, star ratings on the right, magnet button next to each topic.

Desktop discussion list — hover state showing the magnet tooltip loading inline (powered by tryhackx/flarum-magnet-link).

Support Development

If you find this extension useful, consider supporting its development:

• Monero (XMR): 45hvee4Jv7qeAm6SrBzXb9YVjb8DkHtFtFh7qkDMxS9zYX3NRi1dV27MtSdVC5X8T1YVoiG8XFiJkh4p9UncqWGxHi4tiwk
• Bitcoin (BTC): bc1qncavcek4kknpvykedxas8kxash9kdng990qed2
• Ethereum (ETH): 0xa3d38d5Cf202598dd782C611e9F43f342C967cF5

You can also find the donation option in the extension's admin settings panel.

Requirements

• Flarum ^2.0
• PHP ^8.2
• PHP memory_limit 256M minimum (512M+ recommended — see Memory below).

Installation

composer require tryhackx/flarum-advanced-pages
php flarum migrate
php flarum cache:clear

Updating

composer update tryhackx/flarum-advanced-pages
php flarum migrate
php flarum cache:clear

Usage

Creating pages

1. Go to Admin Panel → Advanced Pages.
2. Click Create Page.
3. Choose a content type and write your content.
4. Configure visibility (published, hidden, restricted, group access).
5. Save — the page is available at /p/{your-slug}.

Content types

BBCode toggles

After toggling BBCode settings, clear the formatter cache:

php flarum cache:clear

Newline mode (BBCode)

Per-page newline behaviour:

• Flarum (default) — multiple newlines collapse to a single break (vanilla Flarum behaviour).
• Preserve — every newline is kept as a line break (code blocks keep real newlines, so they still highlight correctly).

PHP pages

⚠️ PHP pages run via eval() with full server privileges. The closure only scopes the variables below — it is not a security sandbox. Treat the ability to create PHP pages as equivalent to shell access. By default only administrators can create them.

PHP page code runs in a closure with access to:

• $page — current Page model
• $actor — the current user. This is always a User object; for guests it is a guest instance ($actor->isGuest() === true), not null.
• $settings — Flarum SettingsRepository
• $csrfToken — the current session's CSRF token (see Forms below)
• $pages — read-only page-tree helper for nav menus (see Building a nav menu below)
• the usual PHP superglobals: $_GET, $_POST, $_FILES, $_SERVER, …

<h1>Welcome, <?= htmlspecialchars($actor->isGuest() ? 'Guest' : $actor->display_name) ?></h1>
<p>Current time: <?= date('Y-m-d H:i:s') ?></p>

PHP errors are written to Flarum's log but never shown to visitors.

Forms, GET, POST and file uploads

PHP pages can read query strings and handle form submissions — including file uploads — through the normal PHP superglobals:

• GET — …/p/your-page?q=hello → $_GET['q']. Works out of the box.
• POST / file upload — a <form method="post"> (use enctype="multipart/form-data" for files) submits back to the same page URL; read $_POST / $_FILES. Because the page lives on a normal forum route, Flarum's CSRF protection applies, so the form must include the session token — emit it with the $csrfToken variable:

<?php if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST'): ?>
  <p>You said: <?= htmlspecialchars($_POST['message'] ?? '') ?></p>
  <?php if (!empty($_FILES['file']['name'])): ?>
    <p>Uploaded: <?= htmlspecialchars($_FILES['file']['name']) ?>
       (<?= (int) $_FILES['file']['size'] ?> bytes)</p>
  <?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
  <input type="hidden" name="csrfToken" value="<?= htmlspecialchars($csrfToken) ?>">
  <input name="message" placeholder="Say something">
  <input type="file" name="file">
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

A POST without a valid csrfToken is rejected with HTTP 400 — this is Flarum's standard CSRF protection, not a limitation of the extension. (A live demo page ships at /p/php-request-test.)

Building a nav menu — the $pages tree helper

PHP pages get a read-only $pages helper for walking the page tree, so you can generate a navigation menu, a sidebar, a sitemap, etc. It only ever returns pages the current viewer is allowed to see (drafts, hidden, restricted and per-group pages are filtered out automatically) and is ordered to match the admin tree — so menus never leak hidden pages. The whole visible set is loaded in a single query, no matter how many calls you make.

Each Page exposes ->title, ->slug, ->content_type, ->is_published, ->view_count (the hit counter), etc. — so a PHP page can, for example, build a "most viewed pages" list with $pages->all()->sortByDesc('view_count').

<?php
// A nested <ul> menu of everything under /p/docs (visibility-aware).
function ap_menu(array $nodes): void {
    if (!$nodes) return;
    echo '<ul>';
    foreach ($nodes as $node) {
        $p = $node['page'];
        printf('<li><a href="/p/%s">%s</a>',
            htmlspecialchars($p->slug), htmlspecialchars($p->title));
        ap_menu($node['children']); // recurse into children
        echo '</li>';
    }
    echo '</ul>';
}

ap_menu($pages->tree('docs'));
?>

Nested pages, ordering & breadcrumbs

Pages form a tree. The hierarchy (parent + order) is the organisation; the slug is the independent URL. A child page renders breadcrumbs built from its parent chain (each ancestor links to its own page).

Two ways to organise pages:

• Parent Page selector in the editor — pick a parent (for a brand-new page it also suggests a matching child slug, which you can edit).

• Drag and drop in the admin list — grab the ⋮⋮ handle at the end of a row and:

  • drop it onto another page to nest it underneath, or
  • drop it between rows to reorder it at that level.

  Order is saved per parent; a page can't be dropped into its own subtree.

Slugs may be a slash path (e.g. docs/getting-started) or flat — your choice; they accept lowercase a-z0-9- segments joined by single / (no leading, trailing or doubled slashes).

Pinning a page to the navigation menu

In the page editor, tick Pin to navigation menu to surface the page as a link in the forum's index sidebar navigation — the same menu that holds All Discussions and links added by other extensions (Members, Badges, …). When pinned, two optional fields appear:

• Menu icon — a FontAwesome class such as fas fa-book or far fa-file-alt (leave it blank for a default icon).
• Short Name — a shorter label to show in the menu when the page title is too long for a nav item; leave it blank to use the page title.

Pinned links are ordered exactly like the admin page list (parent/child tree, then per-level order) and honour every visibility rule — a draft, hidden, restricted or group-limited page is only shown in the menu to viewers who are allowed to open it. Nothing is pinned by default.

Redirection pages

A Redirection page (content type Redirection) forwards visitors to another address — enter an https://… URL or a root-relative /path (e.g. /tags). The target is validated on save, so it can never carry a javascript: or data: scheme.

Two behaviours, chosen per page with Redirect immediately:

• On (default) — visiting /p/{slug} issues a real HTTP 302 redirect straight to the target (no page shown).
• Off — the page shows a 5-second countdown (“You will be redirected in N s…”) above the destination link, then forwards automatically. No button to click.

Either way the visit is counted first. Combined with pinning, this is the easiest way to add a custom menu link — internal or external — to the forum navigation. The menu link points at the page's own /p/{slug} (not straight at the destination) precisely so those clicks pass through the view counter before forwarding.

Tip: to redirect, use this content type — don't write a PHP page that calls header('Location: …'). PHP pages are rendered inline (their output is captured, not sent as a raw response), so header() and exit() won't work there.

Per-tree breadcrumb styling

On a root page (Parent Page = none), tick Custom breadcrumbs CSS? to reveal a small CSS editor. Whatever you write applies to the breadcrumbs of that page and everything nested under it — target .AdvancedPages-breadcrumbs. For example, hide them entirely:

.AdvancedPages-breadcrumbs { display: none; }

Page visibility

Permissions

Out of the box, only administrators can create, edit or delete pages. To let other groups help, you grant access in two places:

1. The admin Permissions page — for everyday things: who can create the safe page types (Plain Text, BBCode, Markdown), who can edit/delete pages, and who can see spoiler content. Just tick the boxes.
2. One console command — for the two powerful page types, HTML and PHP.

Why are HTML and PHP separate? An HTML page can run JavaScript in every visitor's browser, and a PHP page runs code on your server. Letting a group create those is a big deal, so it's deliberately kept out of the clickable admin panel (you can't enable it by accident) and done from the server console instead.

What each permission lets a group do:

Editing also needs Manage Advanced Pages. On top of that, turning a page into — or editing — an HTML/PHP page needs that group's HTML/PHP create permission too, so a manager can't sneak executable code in without it.

The console command

php flarum advancedpages:permission <action> [<group>] [<type>] [--force]

• <action> — list, grant, or revoke.
• <group> — the group's name (e.g. Members, or "Trusted Authors" in quotes if it has a space) or its number. Run list to see the numbers.
• <type> — text, bbcode, markdown, html, php, or all (every create type at once). You can also pass manage (edit/delete) or spoilers.
• --force — only needed when granting html, php or all. It's a safety confirmation for the dangerous ones (revoking never needs it).

Recipes:

# See who can do what (and the group numbers)
php flarum advancedpages:permission list

# Let the "Members" group write Markdown pages (same as ticking the box)
php flarum advancedpages:permission grant Members markdown

# Let a "Trusted Authors" group build HTML pages (dangerous → needs --force)
php flarum advancedpages:permission grant "Trusted Authors" html --force

# Let a group create PHP pages — by group number this time
php flarum advancedpages:permission grant 4 php --force

# Let your moderators edit & delete any page
php flarum advancedpages:permission grant Mods manage

# Take a permission back
php flarum advancedpages:permission revoke Members markdown

Changes apply immediately — no cache clear. Administrators always have every permission, so you can't (and don't need to) target them.

Memory requirements

Flarum compiles all extension LESS styles together. If you get PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size exhausted:

1. Set memory_limit to at least 256M in php.ini (512M+ recommended).
2. WAMP users: Apache with mod_fcgid uses the php.ini in the Apache bin directory, not the PHP directory.
3. Restart Apache after changes.

Security

This extension intentionally lets trusted authors publish raw HTML and run server-side PHP — that is the whole point. Understand the model before delegating page creation:

• HTML is rendered raw and is NOT sanitised. Whoever can create HTML pages can publish arbitrary markup and (if Allow script execution is enabled on that page) JavaScript to every visitor. There is no HTMLPurifier. Treat advancedPages.create.html as "can run JS in every visitor's browser".
• PHP pages run via eval() with full server privileges — not a sandbox. Treat advancedPages.create.php as equivalent to shell access. PHP errors are logged, never shown to visitors.
• Safe by default: out of the box only administrators can create or edit pages. HTML and PHP creation can only be delegated via the advancedpages:permission console command (never an accidental panel click).
• The per-page Allow script execution toggle gates <script> tags (off by default). It is not a sandbox: HTML is rendered raw, so a page can still run JavaScript by other means (inline event-handler attributes like onerror, <svg onload>, etc.) regardless of the toggle. Treat anyone allowed to create HTML pages as able to run JS in every visitor's browser, toggle or not — the toggle is a convenience for disabling <script> blocks, not a trust boundary.
• The raw content field is exposed only to admins and holders of advancedPages.manage (so page managers can edit without blanking it); everyone else gets only the rendered output.
• Spoiler content is stripped server-side for users without advancedPages.viewSpoilers, regardless of the Replace Forum Spoiler setting.
• URL-scheme blocking (javascript:, data:, vbscript:) in the extended [url] BBCode parser.

Database support

Works on every database Flarum 2.x supports — MySQL / MariaDB, SQLite 3.38+, and PostgreSQL — including the per-group page visibility feature (uses Laravel's cross-database JSON query builder).

Note on cache clearing (Windows)

After php flarum cache:clear or enabling/disabling the extension, the very first page load may briefly return HTTP 500 and succeed on refresh. This is a known Flarum/Symfony behaviour on Windows (the translation-catalogue cache is rebuilt and concurrent first requests can collide on the file rename) — it affects the whole forum, not just this extension, and clears itself once the cache is warm. Loading any one page once after clearing the cache avoids it.

Links

• GitHub
• Packagist
• Report Issues

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.