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Notification Centre

A generic backend notification store. Any code pushes a notification with a stable key; the admin toolbar shows a badge + dropdown, and dismissed items are kept in a history view. The store is content-agnostic — every producer (new order, low stock, …) calls the same push().

Raise a notification​

use Alfa\Component\Alfa\Administrator\Helper\NotificationHelper;

NotificationHelper::push('order:123', 'New order #123', [
    'group'       => 'Orders',
    'severity'    => 'success',        // success | info | warning | danger
    'message'     => 'A new order is waiting.',
    'url'         => 'index.php?option=com_alfa&task=order.edit&id=123',
    'dismissible' => true,
    'constant'    => false,            // true = resurface (mark unread) on re-push
    'view'        => ['action' => 'core.manage', 'asset' => 'com_alfa'],  // who may SEE it
    'link'        => ['action' => 'core.edit',   'asset' => 'com_alfa'],  // who may follow the link
]);
  • Dedup — re-pushing the same key updates the row in place and preserves read/dismissed state (a still-true condition doesn't re-nag); constant => true clears read state so a persistent condition resurfaces.
  • Lifecycle — markRead($id, $userId), dismiss($id) (→ history, kept until expires, default 7 days), clear($key, $hard) ($hard deletes outright — for fluctuating live states). Expired rows are purged lazily on read.
  • Two gates — canSee() (the view_access action/asset) controls visibility + the count; canUseLink() (url_access) controls whether the link is clickable. Empty action = unrestricted.

Toolbar badge​

A list view's addToolbar() calls NotificationHelper::toolbarBadge($toolbar) — it loads the assets, registers the panel/markRead/dismiss AJAX endpoints, and renders the badge. summary() counts only unread, active notifications the user can see and reports the highest severity among them (the badge colour).

Storage: #__alfa_notifications (dedup_key unique, group/severity/title/message/url, access columns, timestamps); the Notifications admin view lists the history.

Reference: administrator/src/Helper/NotificationHelper.php.