Another day playing around with joomla, and another shortcoming to fix :)
This time it comes in the form of the administration(backend) menu.
To add items/subitems to this menu, people have to write the menu items in an xml file accompanying their components/extension/plugin/whatever.
When the extension is installed, joomla "generates" the menu items and "stores" them in the DB.
Effectively, the real/tangible menu is rendered by reading the DB.
This has several implications:
The menu is not scriptable
The menu is not dynamic; changing the XML file after installation, won't update the menu
Removal of items is not scriptable; joomla takes care of removing any items when you uninstall the extension.
I've got this system which relies on the ability to modify menu items on the fly, but through code.
Simply put, I need to have functionality where I can create a volatile menu item (ie, it gets removed at the end of session).
To do so, I've got a couple of prospective hacks:
Override the joomla global database instance so that I can make it return fake menu items. This is possible since the database object is stored in a public property of JFactory class: JFactory::$database=new MyFakeJDatabase(JFactory::$database);
Intercept the menu code (html) before being output and mess it up according to my needs. This is not template-friendly in that the end result would be injecting html, which might not be what the template was designed for.
Create menu items through javascript. This suffers issues with the template AND the javascript that toggles submenus.
Create menu items in the DB whenever I need them and somehow "tag" my items so that I remove them the next time (or end of session). This sounds like it would work like a charm. Since I can buffer menu items, I could possibly create my menu items in one whole SQL statement. Than I could use another SQL to remove the tagged menu items. 2 SQL statements might not be much of a load on the server.
What do you think?
Edit: I've checked joomla/administrator/modules/mod_menu/helper.php to see if I could find a way to inject my stuff, wishing that maybe joomla used a global variable or something, but to no use - the menu items are creating directly by reading the db and rendering as well.
FYI I've searched a while on Google, to no use.
Interesting. I have worked with Joomla for many years, writing all kinds of extensions for various purposes, including integrating external systems. It has been my experience to approach these types of situations by looking at the basic needs of code execution. And I always seem to start off asking: is it UI driven or system-driven?
First, consider if the code will execute according to user-generated system events. There are a whole bunch of 'em and you can even trigger your own. If this is a requirement, then the solution will need to incorporate a plugin, attached to events.
However, for any kind of dynamic UI content, you will need a module. Modules are all about displaying content. These guys are designed for the user experience. So, consider how access to the UI content will be managed. Which users will comprise the "audience" of this content? This is controlled by user groups and access levels. At some point in your code, preferably early, you will have to check the user's rights and then modify your code execution in response. Thankfully, I find that someone has already done a lot of the work for me. How?
Find an extension that performs the things that your code needs to do, or as close as one might match up. The entire CMS is built with extensions running atop the Joomla! Framework and there are thousands of extensions available for download. Once you've found it, clone the thing. Then edit it so that it does what you need it to do, plus what it did before (if that is a requirement). Install your updated clone, unpublish the original and publish yours. Saves a lot of time.
Looking at your requirements, the code only executes as long as there is a session. I would start with with a 'user' type plugin. When the user triggers a login event the plugin can add the dynamic menu records to a session variable as an array of db records. When the user triggers a logout or the session times-out, the records will go away by themselves. Then I would simply clone "mod_menu" and have read in any records that it finds in the users session. I use this session variable technique all the time, especially when implementing analytic data gathering stuff.
Anyway, I don't post often; but I sure hope this helps. I would love to see this type pf functionality myself. Just haven't the time to code it.
Good luck!
chozyn
The "correct" way would be to write a module which overrides the core menu module to achieve the old functionality with the added feature of dynamic menus from whatever source you have. Not particularly a nice way to go, but that is Joomla's way.
Thanks to #ircmaxell to point this method out.
No hack seems satifactory, safe or maintainable enough to achieve this.
I've aborted the project and instead am putting buttons in the main dashboard through JS.
It's highly inconvenient to end users (they still miss sub-items). But what the hell...it's Joomla's fault.
Oh and for the record, I needed to add my own custom "pages" similar to admin components. Guess what? That failed as well, so it's another hack.
Hope that by version 1.7, they[joomla] trash the initial codebase altogether.
Related
I have a project that I'd like to integrate into a wordpress site that I run. I realize that wordpress isn't the best way to do this- but it's what I have at the moment.
My project involves taking archival data, uploading it into a relational database, and then being able to query it. the data is in the form of
"reports" each of which have mixed data- ship's names, people's names, locations, all kinds of things.
so I have created a database where I'm uploading all the data- a MySQL database. Because I have phpmyadmin access, adding the 10 or 12 tables or whatever it turns out to be will be extremely easy. I'm not worried about that.
My problem, however, is programming the front end.
The idea is this
Page (not post) 1: User chooses which 1 of a number of pre-set queries they'd like to run (IE retrieve a report, get all data for 1 ship, for 1 officer, 1 location etc), as well as a date range.. (I'm planning to use Gravity Forms for this part)
Page 2: based on what was done the first time, the tables I've added to the WPDB is queried, and whatever is selected is used to populate a drop-down list from which the user can use choose the ship/officer/location etc.
This will result in another query, and the result of which will be the user will be taken to another page where a PDF will be generated of the retrieved data that they can look at/save.
I've looked hard but I can't see any plugins that will actually do this- lots of plugins writing to the DB (or custom tables), but not that focus on retrieving and displaying data from custom tables.
Now, I've seen a bunch of conflicting information
1) That I should do this via adding functions to the theme (Bangkok Press) functions.php file- which I undrestand in concept- but I don't understand how I could then call them
2) I can create a custom plugin- If I could, I'd love to modify Gravity Forms so that the when the form is submitted, a query is triggered that retrieves from the DB- I know I could write the code, I'm just not sure where I would modify the code.
3) I've seen tutorials that talk about custom pages and page templates and putting PHP and HTML in them- I did write a version of this on my home dev server that is just PHP and HTML- if I could put that into a custom page and modify it so that it a) works with the template and b) uses the Wordpress hooks (such as the WPDB object) that would be fine with me too.
I'm going to say again- I know that Wordpress is not the ideal platform for that. At the moment, I don't have the option to change to another platform.
I'm sure that what I want to do is possible- I'm interested in what's the best way to achieve this- and what's probably the easiest way to achieve this (which doesn't have to be the most permanent- I'm looking to take this project to show what I mean by the idea, and then work on a better version after that)
I appreciate all advice, thanks.
I have a large complex web site currently implemented using PHP and MySQL.
Some of the pages (about, contact us, etc) are largely static, but need to be updated from time to time. I'd like these updates to be able to be done by non technical admins, so I'm migrating the site to Joomla CMS. I've created a Joomla template to reproduce the banners, styling etc of my existing web site and have successfully reproduced the static pages by cutting and pasting into Joomla articles.
I'm now trying to embed my existing dyanamic php pages into the Joomla framework. I assume that I need to convert them into one or more Joomla components? I realize that I'll need to strip out the php code that currently generates banners, menus, etc, but I don't want to make major changes to these php pages, i.e. I don't want to re-implement them to follow an MVC pattern. I'm looking for a simple Joomla 3.2 hello world component tutorial. The tutorials that I've found are either too complex (i.e. MVC) or they're "too simple". By too simple I mean the component is not listed when I select Menu Item Type within the Menu Manager. Can anyone point me to any documentation that explains the minimal config that I need to include in a custom Joomla 3.2 component in order for the component to be listed when selecting Menu Item Type?
Also, should I create one big custom component to wrap my existing PHP application containing multiple pages("views"?)? Conceptually there the system could be considered as about 3 sub-systems, but there is some overlap between the MySQL tables used in these different sub-systems.
I don't need the implementation to be portable, i.e. I'm not trying to create a reusable component that others could use, I just need it to work on my site, using the least amount of work possible.
Thanks, Wayne.
I hope to clarify a bit and give you way out.
In response to your comment on #user3057084, the power of Joomla and its flexibility comes from it being MVC! If you want to wrap your existing code with little modifications, Wordpress will let you do all kind of nasty things! Nasty in the sense of mixing logic with data, i.e. copying and pasting your code and getting it to work quickly.
Joomla coding standards require that you separate models from views. And that you understand how the Joomla MVC implementation works. It will take longer, but you'll learn a useful skill that can and should be applied if you want to write portable maintainable code following Design Patterns.
Now about the way out.
Nothing keeps you from putting your raw php code in a Joomla view, including the database access. It's really ugly and I feel bad even suggesting this, but if it can be a small step towards using a great framework, then the end justifies the means.
The absolute easiest way for you in Joomla would be to create a template override (which you'll do from the admin with a few clicks in the template manager), then throw your code in, and it will run. Then, a little bit at a time, you might learn to separate the parsing of the input in the controller, store / retrieve the data in a model, and leave just the markup in the view.
But are you absolutely sure you need to code for this? There are thousands of (free) extensions out there that might do the job for you with no coding and little configuration, leaving you just a data migration to handle.
Have you had a look at Wordpress yet? In my experience, non-technical people find it easier to administer a wordpress website in comparison to a Joomla website.
When it comes to the menu structures,themes and contact forms and blogs - Wordpress takes the cake.
It would be worth your while to check it out? It might save you hours of frustration?
I'm starting to look at Object Oriented PHP. To date I've developed a large number of PHP systems with a procedural approach, but I think it's time to move forward.
One of the projects I'm working on at the moment is a Grade and Handicap Calculation plugin for WordPress. In short, the plugin takes table tennis players' results from uploaded CSV files and works out their grading for handicap tournaments.
I'm using WordPress because my table tennis club's website uses WP and if it works for them I can potentially give it to other clubs/leagues and they too will be able to install the plugin and have access to a fully-fledged grade and handicap system.
Outside of WordPress, I'm reasonably confident that I could develop such a system in OO-PHP using the MVC pattern. It would probably look something like this:
Controller
Create an instance of the Model
Deal with "navigation", i.e. GET/POST requests, and work out which page templates to display accordingly
Model
Deal with uploading and storage of files
Update and select information from database
Host mechanism for working out players' grades
View
Admin pages, i.e. settings and uploading files
Grades page, displaying players' grades and handicaps
Results page, where specific users can see individual players' results (mostly for debugging purposes)
Please correct me if I'm wrong, as I've only learnt this pattern in the past 30 minutes or so, but by my logic that is a true MVC approach to creating this system.
However, once I bring WordPress plugins into the equation, I'm starting to struggle with the following questions:
In the non-WP system, CSS styles would simply be included in the View's PHP pages which I'd then include in the Controller. However, in WordPress, it doesn't work like that - I can't use CSS styles in that way, they have to be enqueue'd. Where would I host the function for enqueueing my CSS files?
When someone first activates the plugin, it will need to create the appropriate database table using WordPress functions to do so. This would then have to be run off a hook, i.e. a register_activation_hook. Where would I host these functions? It would seem sensible to put them in the Controller but at the same time I'd imagine that maybe the Controller needs to be kept as clean and simple to read as possible.
Similar to the above question, I also need to create WordPress admin pages using add_menu_page and add_submenu_page commands. Where do I host these functions?
All of these questions probably have the same answer, and I know it's just semantics, but I'm keen to try and get this right early on so I can truly get my head round the MVC pattern of Object Oriented PHP.
Thanks in advance,
If you are looking for a better place for learning MVC, this would be it.
Hope I'm getting this right.
Can't tell you about CSS, as I just keep those defined in my layout files (view).
Heavy logic can be put into services (external Class), and then being ran in controller. You'll keep your controller 'thin'
Similar to previous one. You can have your menu stored as a model (which doesn't have to be strictly DB related, but also XML/JSON/array data), and then call your add/remove actions in controller.
I'm working on a task management application for use at my company. Part of the spec is to create a plugin system that lets users customize and extend the functionality as they need, or as their department requires. I'd love to do this in a really elegant and modularized way, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how.
Consider a view that's a task list: each iteration of the generating loop adds a pre_task() and post_task() call on either end, which builds the interactive pieces on either end of the task title (Complete checkbox, comments link, etc). Now, when the system detects and includes the plugin file plugin_time_tracking.php, the plugin should add functionality to post_task() - adding a "track time" button in addition to everything else.
What I'd like to accomplish is making the plugin "hook" onto pre_task() or post_task() - let it do all the legwork by attaching itself to the proper functions and extending them, instead of having the core sort plugins and herd their functions to the right places. Does PHP offer such functionality? Am I going about this the wrong way? Let me know if I need to clarify at all - thanks for the help!
The boys of Qafoo gave a talk about modularity on the 2012 edition of the PHPBenelux conference. They presented various options to create modular applications such as hooks, patching and inheritance.
You could check out the slides of that presentation here.
I think you should really use a framework that has a built in plugin infrastructure with capabilities to override/inherit. As an example, let's say Symfony2: in sf2 you could create FormType classes that build the form objects (which then pass certain data tot he view). So in this case to add fields another team would simply need to extend your FormType and modify the build to add new fields. Further the Form Api supports embedding subforms so if they want time track then then just need to embed that in the task form or "turn it on" through whatever configuration facilities you supply.
Similarly with render things, you can define override the view template simply by providing at a different level or referencing a different Bundle (a plugin of sorts).
Now Symfony2 is very complex and it has a high learning curve so it may or my not be the framework you should choose, but something along these lines would be more than appropriate. The WP/Drupal pattern of "hook" functions is incredibly annoying to work with, especially if they are building HTML strings on a deeper layer and not giving you the raw data to output as you see fit.
Can somebody please tell me what is the basic difference between the module and component in Joomla?
If possible, please tell with some examples, so that it is easily understood.
Modules are usually small pieces of functionality designed to _present information in your site). They can appear a number of times, on a number of pages in various positions.
On the other hand, a component is typically more complex, with extensive functionality and capabilities. A component can only be displayed in the main area of a page, and can usually only be displayed in a single page.
Read this article for more info:
http://www.dart-creations.com/joomla/joomla-tutorials/the-difference-between-modules-and-components.html
Taken from http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?t=344599#p1485432 by David Hurley.
When I'm working with clients here is how I typically explain the differences.
A plugin will manipulate output already generated by the system. It typically does not run as a stand-alone piece, but takes data from other sources (i.e. the content) and manipulates it before outputting to the user window. A plugin typically does not display directly to a user, but does its work behind the scenes.
A module is typically considered to be an add-on to the site that extends the functionality of another part of the system. It usually has fewer options that are configurable by the end user and most of the time does not handle any storing of information into the database. A module usually occupies a secondary portion of the web page and is not considered the primary focus of a page.
A component is the most extensive add-on. This typically adds completely new, or different, functionality to your site and extends the overall site possibilities. A component handles data manipulation as well as input and storage into the database. A component on most sites occupies the main area of the website layout and is the primary focus of the page.
These are just generalizations and there are exceptions to every rule, but this should give you a good starting point.
As far as I can see, any reason for distinguishing between components and modules is hidden in the technique of the Joomla framework. The fact that the main editorial content of a page is provided by a component, whereas subsidiary information (side frames, headers and footers, etc.) are provided by modules is not a real difference as far as the user is concerned. Page content is page content - full stop!
I think it is misleading to confuse users by stressing this difference. The way modules associate with menu items is probably technically different to the way the components do. Components are associated with a page on a one to one basis and they are run by triggering a menu item. Also modules do not always need to access the database whereas this is an integral part of a component. I expect these technical differences ultimately explain why Joomla has built the distinction in the the user interface. Perhaps avoiding this distinction would be the basis for Joomla version 4 - but I suspect this would mean starting from scratch with a totally new CMS :(
A component always displays its results in the "mainbody" area of your template.
A module displays its results outside of the "mainbody" ... usually along the side, top, or bottom of the mainbody.