FE: enhance settings save functionality with reload wait detection and background processing

front/php/server/util.php

@@ -166,15 +166,74 @@ function saveSettings()
     copy($fullConfPath, $fullConfPath . ".bak");
   }
 
+  // Detect whether the frontend needs to block-wait for backend reload
+  $requiresReloadWait = getReloadWaitRequired($decodedSettings);
+
   // Open the file for writing without changing permissions
   $file = fopen($fullConfPath, "w") or die("Unable to open file!");
   fwrite($file, $txt);
   fclose($file);
 
-  echo "OK";
+  echo json_encode(['success' => true, 'requiresReloadWait' => $requiresReloadWait]);
 
 }
 
+// -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Determines if the frontend must wait (block) for the backend to finish reloading after a
+// settings save. Blocking is required when LOADED_PLUGINS changes or UI_WAIT_FOR_SETTINGS
+// is explicitly enabled. Defaults to true (safe) on any parsing error.
+function getReloadWaitRequired($decodedSettings) {
+  $newLoadedPlugins = null;
+  $uiWaitForSettings = false;
+
+  foreach ($decodedSettings as $setting) {
+    if ($setting[1] === 'LOADED_PLUGINS') {
+      $newLoadedPlugins = $setting[3];
+    }
+    if ($setting[1] === 'UI_WAIT_FOR_SETTINGS') {
+      $uiWaitForSettings = ($setting[3] === true || $setting[3] === 1
+        || strtolower((string)$setting[3]) === 'true');
+    }
+  }
+
+  if ($uiWaitForSettings) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  $oldLoadedPlugins = getSettingValue('LOADED_PLUGINS');
+
+  // If the old value couldn't be read, default to blocking (safe).
+  if (strpos((string)$oldLoadedPlugins, 'Could not') !== false) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  return normalizePluginList($oldLoadedPlugins) !== normalizePluginList($newLoadedPlugins);
+}
+
+// -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Normalise a plugin list value (PHP array, JSON array, or Python-style list) to a sorted
+// JSON string for reliable equality comparison.
+function normalizePluginList($value) {
+  if ($value === null || $value === '') {
+    return '[]';
+  }
+  if (is_array($value)) {
+    $arr = $value;
+  } else {
+    $arr = json_decode($value, true);
+    if (!is_array($arr)) {
+      // Handle Python-style single-quoted lists: ['A','B']
+      $jsonStr = str_replace("'", '"', (string)$value);
+      $arr = json_decode($jsonStr, true);
+    }
+    if (!is_array($arr)) {
+      return trim((string)$value);
+    }
+  }
+  sort($arr);
+  return json_encode($arr);
+}
+
 // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // 🔺----- API ENDPOINTS SUPERSEDED -----🔺
 // check server/api_server/api_server_start.py for equivalents

front/php/templates/language/en_us.json

@@ -807,6 +807,7 @@
     "settings_publishers_label": "Publishers",
     "settings_readonly": "Can't READ or WRITE <code>app.conf</code>. Try restarting the container and read the <a href=\"https://docs.netalertx.com/FILE_PERMISSIONS\" target=\"_blank\">file permissions documentation</a>",
     "settings_saved": "<br/>Settings saved. <br/> Reloading… <br/><i class=\"ion ion-ios-loop-strong fa-spin fa-2x fa-fw\"></i> <br/>",
+    "settings_saved_background": "Settings saved. Changes are being applied in the background.",
     "settings_system_icon": "fa-solid fa-gear",
     "settings_system_label": "System",
     "settings_update_item_warning": "Update the value below. Be careful to follow the previous format. <b>Validation is not performed.</b>",

front/settings.php

@@ -615,19 +615,33 @@ $settingsJSON_DB = json_encode($settings, JSON_HEX_TAG | JSON_HEX_AMP | JSON_HEX
             settings: JSON.stringify(settingsArray) },
             success: function(data, textStatus) {
 
-              if(data == "OK")
-              {
-                // showMessage (getString("settings_saved"), 5000, "modal_grey");
+              // Parse response: support both legacy "OK" string and new JSON format
+              let saveSucceeded = false;
+              let requiresReloadWait = true; // safe default
+
+              if (data === "OK") {
+                saveSucceeded = true;
+              } else {
+                let parsed = null;
+                try { parsed = (typeof data === 'object') ? data : JSON.parse(data); } catch(e) {}
+                if (parsed && parsed.success === true) {
+                  saveSucceeded = true;
+                  requiresReloadWait = parsed.requiresReloadWait === true;
+                }
+              }
+
+              if (saveSucceeded) {
                 // Remove navigation prompt "Are you sure you want to leave..."
                 window.onbeforeunload = null;
 
-                // Reloads the current page
-                // setTimeout("clearCache()", 5000);
-
                 write_notification(`[Settings] Settings saved by the user`, 'info')
 
-                clearCache()
-              } else{
+                if (requiresReloadWait) {
+                  clearCache()
+                } else {
+                  showMessage(getString("settings_saved_background"), 5000, "modal_green");
+                }
+              } else {
                 // something went wrong
                 write_notification("[Important] Please take a screenshot of the Console tab in the browser (F12) and next error. Submit it (with the nginx and php error logs) as a new issue here: https://github.com/netalertx/NetAlertX/issues", 'interrupt')
                 write_notification(data, 'interrupt')

server/conf.py

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ SCAN_SUBNETS = ["192.168.1.0/24 --interface=eth1", "192.168.1.0/24 --interface=e
 LOG_LEVEL = "verbose"
 TIMEZONE = "Europe/Berlin"
 UI_LANG = "English (en_us)"
+UI_WAIT_FOR_SETTINGS = False
 UI_PRESENCE = ["online", "offline", "archived"]
 UI_MY_DEVICES = ["online", "offline", "archived", "new", "down"]
 UI_NOT_RANDOM_MAC = []

server/initialise.py

@@ -452,6 +452,16 @@ def importConfigs(pm, db, all_plugins):
         "UI",
     )
 
+    conf.UI_WAIT_FOR_SETTINGS = ccd(
+        "UI_WAIT_FOR_SETTINGS",
+        False,
+        c_d,
+        "Wait for settings reload",
+        '{"dataType":"boolean", "elements": [{"elementType" : "checkbox", "elementOptions" : [] ,"transformers": []}]}',
+        "[]",
+        "UI",
+    )
+
     #  Init timezone in case it changed and handle invalid values
     try:
         if conf.TIMEZONE not in all_timezones: