Documentation

Sign3x is a MODX 3 component for storing, managing and signing PDF documents with a simple electronic signature under Russian Federal Law No. 63-FZ “On Electronic Signature”. The signature records the signer’s full name, position, date/time and a unique SHA-256 hash key.

1. Requirements

2. Installation

1. Install the package via the MODX Package Manager (or copy the files manually).
2. Installation creates two database tables:
   • sign3x_documents — documents
   • sign3x_profiles — signer profiles
3. Go to System Settings → Namespace: sign3x and configure the parameters (see System settings).
4. Be sure to create signer profiles on the “Employees” tab for every user who should be able to sign.

Access. The Sign3x panel is only available to users logged in to the MODX manager (mgr). The right to sign is further restricted by user groups via the sign3x_allowed_groups setting.

3. System settings

All settings are in the sign3x namespace. Open System Settings → filter “sign3x”.

General

Visual PDF stamp

The default stamp texts are in Russian; change them in the settings below if you need another language.

4. Administration

The Sign3x panel is opened from the menu: Extras → Sign3x. It has two tabs.

4.1. “Employees” tab

Here you manage signer profiles — records linking a MODX user with their full name and position.

Important: a user must both have a signer profile and belong to one of the groups listed in sign3x_allowed_groups. If either condition is missing, the “Sign” button is not shown. The exception is users with the sudo flag: the group check is skipped for them.

4.2. “Documents” tab

A table of all uploaded documents with search, pagination and colour coding.

• Grey row — draft (status = 0, not signed)
• Green row — signed (status = 1)

Search works on the document name, the signer’s name and the hash key.

4.3. Signing

1. Click “Sign” next to the document.
2. The dialog shows:
   • The document name and a link to preview the PDF
   • Your full name, position and the signing date/time
   • A warning that the action cannot be undone
3. Click “Confirm”. The system:
   • Records the full name, position and exact signing time in the database
   • Generates a unique SHA-256 hash key
   • Sets the document status to “Signed”
   • Adds the visual stamp to the file if the PDF stamp is enabled

Signing cannot be undone. A signed document cannot be turned back into a draft from the interface.

5. The Sign3x snippet

The snippet outputs signed documents (status = 1) on the site with an electronic signature icon and the signer’s details.

5.1. Snippet parameters

Template placeholders

5.2. Call examples

<!-- Last 20 signed documents, default template -->
[[!Sign3x]]

<!-- With a limit -->
[[!Sign3x? &limit=`5`]]

<!-- One specific document -->
[[!Sign3x? &id=`3`]]

<!-- Your own chunk (MODX syntax) -->
[[!Sign3x? &tpl=`sign3x.doc.bs5`]]

<!-- Your own chunk (Fenom syntax, requires pdoTools) -->
[[!Sign3x? &tpl=`sign3x.doc.bs5.fenom` &fenom=`1`]]

<!-- Inline Fenom template -->
[[!Sign3x? &tpl=`@INLINE <a href="{$file_url}">{$name}</a>` &fenom=`1`]]

6. Ready-made chunks

The component comes with six ready-made template chunks:

All chunks can be edited in Elements → Chunks. They contain the signature SVG icon, a tooltip with the name, position, date and hash, a link to the PDF and ARIA attributes for accessibility.

7. Fenom templates

Fenom is a template engine with {$var} syntax and {if}...{/if} conditions, provided by pdoTools. It does not depend on the MODX “Allow Fenom on pages” setting.

When to use Fenom chunks: when the template needs logic — conditional fields or loops. For example, showing the position only if it is set.

Syntax comparison

A Fenom chunk with a condition:

<div class="sign3x-document">
  <span class="sign3x-stamp" aria-label="{$aria_label}">
    <img src="{$assets_url}components/sign3x/img/sign3x.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="">
  </span>
  <a href="{$file_url}">{$name}</a>
  {if $signer_position}
    <small>{$signer_position}</small>
  {/if}
</div>

Calling the snippet with a Fenom chunk:

[[!Sign3x? &tpl=`sign3x.doc.default.fenom` &fenom=`1`]]

8. CSS and styles

The built-in styles are added automatically if sign3x_frontend_css is not empty. To disable the built-in styles and use your own CSS, clear the sign3x_frontend_css setting.

Key CSS classes

9. Visual PDF stamp

When sign3x_pdf_stamp is on, a visual stamp is added to the PDF file after signing. The FPDI and TCPDF libraries are included in the package.

Stamp modes

When the stamp is created successfully, the original file is replaced with the signed version and the path is updated in the database. On error the document is kept without the stamp and the error is written to the MODX log.

All stamp texts are configured with the sign3x_stamp_* system settings.

10. Signature verification

Every signature comes with a unique SHA-256 hash key built from the following data:

SHA-256(id|name|file_path|fio|position|signed_at|salt)

The hash key is shown:

• In the documents table (“Documents” tab)
• In the tooltip on the site when hovering over the signature icon
• In the PDF stamp (if enabled)

Do not change sign3x_secret_salt after the first signature. Changing the salt makes it impossible to reproduce the hash keys and effectively voids the verifiability of all existing signatures.