Joomla 1.6 External PHP Interaction Issue - php

Question

I am new to working with Joomla and I am adapting an external php class I wrote for v1.5.
Without going into all the details, basically, I use a function to load the Joomla environment after which everything in Joomla is available to the class.
This is essentially done using the index.php file.
It works fine with v1.5 and has done for a while but trying to adapt it for v1.6, it falls over.
Here is the function:
private function loadJoomla() {
$path_base = rtrim($this->joomFullPath, '/');
// Set flag that this is a parent file
define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define( 'DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR );
switch ($joomlaVersion) {
case 'v1.6':
if (file_exists($path_base . '/defines.php')) {
include_once $path_base . '/defines.php';
}
if (!defined('_JDEFINES')) {
define('JPATH_BASE', $path_base);
require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/defines.php';
}
require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/framework.php';
// Mark afterLoad in the profiler.
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterLoad') : null;
// Instantiate the application.
$app = JFactory::getApplication('site');
// Initialise the application.
$app->initialise();
// Mark afterIntialise in the profiler.
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterInitialise') : null;
// Route the application.
$app->route();
// Mark afterRoute in the profiler.
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterRoute') : null;
// Dispatch the application.
$app->dispatch();
// Mark afterDispatch in the profiler.
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterDispatch') : null;
// Render the application.
$app->render();
// Mark afterRender in the profiler.
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterRender') : null;
// Return the response.
return $app;
break;
case 'v1.5':
// PREPARE
define('JPATH_BASE', $path_base);
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'framework.php' );
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark( 'afterLoad' ) : NULL;
// CREATE THE APPLICATION
$GLOBALS['mainframe'] =& JFactory::getApplication('site');
// INITIALISE THE APPLICATION
/* set the language */
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->initialise();
JPluginHelper::importPlugin('system');
/* trigger the onAfterInitialise events */
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterInitialise') : NULL;
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->triggerEvent('onAfterInitialise');
// ROUTE THE APPLICATION
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->route();
/* authorization */
$GLOBALS['Itemid'] = JRequest::getInt( 'Itemid');
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->authorize($GLOBALS['Itemid']);
/* trigger the onAfterRoute events */
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterRoute') : NULL;
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->triggerEvent('onAfterRoute');
// DISPATCH THE APPLICATION
$GLOBALS['option'] = JRequest::getCmd('option');
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->dispatch($GLOBALS['option']);
/* trigger the onAfterDispatch events */
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterDispatch') : NULL;
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->triggerEvent('onAfterDispatch');
// RENDER THE APPLICATION
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->render();
/* trigger the onAfterRender events */
JDEBUG ? $_PROFILER->mark('afterRender') : NULL;
$GLOBALS['mainframe']->triggerEvent('onAfterRender');
// RETURN THE RESPONSE
return JResponse::toString($GLOBALS['mainframe']->getCfg('gzip'));
break;
default:
return NULL;
break;
}
As said, the v1.5 bit works fine and is just the index.php file with the mainframe variable made global. The v1.6 bit falls over at '$app->dispatch();'.
Debugging the flow using 'die' took me to function dispatch in /libraries/joomla/application.php where I found that the fall over point was '$contents = JComponentHelper::renderComponent($component);' which took me to function renderComponent in /libraries/joomla/application/component/helper.php
A few 'dies' later, I found the fall over point to be, wait for it, 'ob_start();'.
Completely baffled especially since checking in v1.5 code, I can see it is exactly the same as v1.6 here.
I suspect the $app scope may be the reason behind this and will appreciate some help. I tried the obvious "$GLOBALS['app']" with no joy.
Thanks for taking the time and pointers appreciated.

Answer 1

I managed to solve this problem as follows.
There were two separate issues happening.
Firstly, The v1.6 section did not have the "$option" parameter properly initialised. Thanks to user hbit in this query I made, I was able to solve that. by changing the code as follows:
// Dispatch the application.
$option = JRequest::getCmd('option');
$app->dispatch($option);
However, that did not solve the issue and the code was still crashing at the 'ob_start' point.
Secondly, I couldn't get to the actual reason for the crash but went for a workaround. Since the ob_start bit in question, located in /libraries/joomla/application/component/helper.php, is only there to gather a component output into a variable, I worked around it by pulling the code that '$app->dispatch($option)' fires into my file and amended the problem section.
First, I modified the main section as follows:
// Dispatch the application.
$option = JRequest::getCmd('option');
/** The process crashes here for some reason
* (See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7039162/).
* So we comment out the Joomla! function, pull the code in here and
* push the component content into the Joomla document buffer ourselves.
**/
//$app->dispatch($option);
$this->joomdispatch($option);
I then wrote a 'joomdispatch' function as follows:
private function joomdispatch($option) {
/************************
* This is pulled from function 'render'
* in /libraries/joomla/application.php
************************/
$document = JFactory::getDocument();
$document->setTitle(JApplication::getCfg('sitename'). ' - ' .JText::_('JADMINISTRATION'));
$document->setDescription(JApplication::getCfg('MetaDesc'));
/************************
* This is pulled from function 'renderComponent'
* in /libraries/joomla/application/component/helper.php
* Function 'renderComponent' is called by the
* '$contents = JComponentHelper::renderComponent($component);' line
* We exclude that line and jump to the function code
************************/
// Initialise variables.
$app = JFactory::getApplication();
// Load template language files.
$template = $app->getTemplate(true)->template;
$lang = JFactory::getLanguage();
$lang->load('tpl_'.$template, JPATH_BASE, null, false, false)
|| $lang->load('tpl_'.$template, JPATH_THEMES."/$template", null, false, false)
|| $lang->load('tpl_'.$template, JPATH_BASE, $lang->getDefault(), false, false)
|| $lang->load('tpl_'.$template, JPATH_THEMES."/$template", $lang->getDefault(), false, false);
$scope = $app->scope; //record the scope
$app->scope = $option; //set scope to component name
// Build the component path.
$option = preg_replace('/[^A-Z0-9_\.-]/i', '', $option);
$file = substr($option, 4);
// Define component path.
define('JPATH_COMPONENT', JPATH_BASE.DS.'components'.DS.$option);
define('JPATH_COMPONENT_SITE', JPATH_SITE.DS.'components'.DS.$option);
define('JPATH_COMPONENT_ADMINISTRATOR', JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR.DS.'components'.DS.$option);
// get component path
if ($app->isAdmin() && file_exists(JPATH_COMPONENT.DS.'admin.'.$file.'.php')) {
$path = JPATH_COMPONENT.DS.'admin.'.$file.'.php';
} else {
$path = JPATH_COMPONENT.DS.$file.'.php';
}
$task = JRequest::getString('task');
// Load common and local language files.
$lang->load($option, JPATH_BASE, null, false, false)
|| $lang->load($option, JPATH_COMPONENT, null, false, false)
|| $lang->load($option, JPATH_BASE, $lang->getDefault(), false, false)
|| $lang->load($option, JPATH_COMPONENT, $lang->getDefault(), false, false);
// Handle template preview outlining.
$contents = null;
// Get component html
/************************
* This has been edited from the native 'ob_start'.
* Could use curl as well
***********************/
$contents = file_get_contents($this->joomUrl . '/index.php?' . $this->joomQS);
// Build the component toolbar
jimport('joomla.application.helper');
if (($path = JApplicationHelper::getPath('toolbar')) && $app->isAdmin()) {
// Get the task again, in case it has changed
$task = JRequest::getString('task');
// Make the toolbar
include_once $path;
}
$app->scope = $scope; //revert the scope
/************************
* Back to function 'renderComponent' code
* to complete process
************************/
$document->setBuffer($contents, 'component');
// Trigger the onAfterDispatch event.
JPluginHelper::importPlugin('system');
JApplication::triggerEvent('onAfterDispatch');
}
With this, everything works fine. Didn't get to the bottom of the (strange) error but managed to get around it.