I was looking on many template libraries, som I have fair mess in general idea what is out there ready to download/use and what I want to use, so maybe you could help me with this.
I'm currently learning CodeIgniter, thinking about moving to Kohana later. I would like to include controllers/modules(/module function maybe?) based on needs of template/site.
Example, so you would understand:
I have xml-defined page saved in mysql, which states, that in
<div id="sidebar">, i want to use news panel/widget - something like:
<div id="sidebar">{widget:news;3;60}</div>.
I'm looking for template parser and/or way to do it, so in main application I load page, then template. then I look up what modules/widgets page/template use and load them dynamically, pass them parameters (in example news;3;60 - module news, 3 last, 60 characters limit each), and echo their result in place of where i called them.
The usage for this should be understandable - if I use news module on 27 pages, just somewhere with last 3 news, somewhere last month, etc., i want to include it simply and edit it on one place.
Other problems in my mind are: I'm thinking that it would be best to have all modules at one time (not load them one there, one here), so I can access database on one place, etc.
I'm kind of lost and maybe someone will have some idea for me :)
The two best ways to do this are:
Use my CodeIgniter Dwoo implementation and build plugins
Use wiredesignz' Widget plugin
You could of course use Smarty plugins but yuck, who still uses Smarty?
Remember when creating Dwoo plugins that the CodeIgniter instance is available to any PHP loaded in on that request, so wether its Dwoo plugins, modifiers, blocks, etc you can always use:
$CI =& get_instance();
$CI->load->model('something');
//etc
If you're using Kohana3, you could use the HMVC-capabilities. A quick way would be to create a helper-class that you can use in your views. In your view you then make a call to this helper. This helper would start a new request that would trigger the correct controller/action.
There is some kind of widget-class in the Kohana-forums, but that requires a class for the widget instead of utilizing the (already existing?) controllers via the HMVC-capabilities of Kohana3.
Related
Really not sure if the title of the question suits the question overall. But here goes.
What I have currently is an existing SaaS project. That we want to roll out a new template over time. Think of how google introduces new features. Or some other sites might with "Try our new Beta Version".. type of thing. Well we want to do the same, and then we will eventually phase out the old look and feel.
With that, this application is built on top of Zend Framework, so looking through docs I can figure out how to override the template on a given controller. But what I want to basically do, is likely going to make use of the sessions. If it exists, use this template. If not, use the old one.
Is it possible to override the default template in such a fashion? Right now for example, the default loaded file, is "tops.phtml" if the session exists I'd like to load "tops_v2.phtml" for example. So it can use that as the template instead of "tops.phtml" when the session is found.
Zend Framework 1.x solution:
You can disable ViewRenderer plugin in the action, and choose template manually:
public function indexAction(){
$this->_helper->viewRenderer->setNoRender(true);
echo $this->view->render("path/to/template/template.phtml");
}
I think that layouts are the thing you probably want to use, as was briefly touched on by Richie. Based on the question, I'm guessing you aren't already using them. Ultimately you can design a layout that defines the overall website look and then each of your action templates will only then render a fragment of the page (which will be dynamically placed in the content portion of the layout).
Using whatever logic you choose, you can then assign one of any number of layouts to be used on a given page load and of course you could store this as a user preference or something.
I have searched the web and found only styling code posts. I want to write site using Code Igniter and I wonder how should I maintain my code.
For example:
Should I use one class for static pages and methods for each page or separate file for every static page. Should I use the same file to load dynamic pages or different one?
Can I use some common code and include it automatically to every class?
How can I have lets say header_view footer_view etc and then just load->view('whatever') and footer, header and other files would load automatically. Maybe there is better way to do that?
In generall what are the best practices when coding using CodeIgniter.
You can use one single class for static pages (and use one method for each page).
You can use the same one to load dynamic pages, but it is better IMO to load them with a separate class. It will be easier to maintain later.
Using common code: You can always override the CI_Controller with your own, and instantiating controllers from yours. Here is an example about how to do it.
You can load multiple views in a single controller function. A view doesn't have to be a full html document. You can also load the same view multiple times (for example in a loop).
Best practices: CodeIgniter is an MVC framework. IMO, MVC is a best practice. Always use the framework's documented features if they are suitable for what you want to achieve (CodeIgniter's documentation is very good. That link is momentarily offline, so please try this one).
Codeigniter is a MVC based framework, MVC is basically used for organizing your code, so at last its up to you how you are going to use it so ease you on the long term.
Basically when I design large projects in codeigniter I tried to to make unit of functionality at one place lets take example of any simple users, messages based project.
I tried to make functionality by grouping main topics, in this example user will be a controller, in that controller there will be methods like login, register, edit, listing, forgot_password now I'll create single model with all the methods which will give data for these above methods. by using this methods our urls will be also meaningfull like /user/login, /user/register etc
like that if its messages I will create controller message and add all related methods in it so that my related functionality will be in a single group.
as far as the question of static pages you can also group them in a single controller if they can be a part of group.
you can also use codeigniter's caching technique for static pages so that your pages will load faster
I am a beginner with CodeIgniter still struggling to get a complete grasp on how to use the MVC ideology most cleanly.
I am writing a basic CMS system with the ability to vote on entries and follow people etc, consequently, I have found myself using the same or similar pieces of code across multiple views here and there consisting of various pieces of html and logic such as:
Voting panel
Follow/Unfollow panel
Login/Logout panel
Code to check if a user is logged in etc...
I am wondering where to put this code so it can be unified? I am thinking a helper is the way to go? If I declare the helper in the controller, it can be called from the corresponding view right?
Some of the elements are dynamic - such as a follow/unfollow button - It would need to check if you are already following the user or not and display the appropriate button, which would require a model to check. What I have now is that all the logic is in the controller and it returns an appropriate button, but it seems weird to be returning formed html code in a controller return as well. Should it be more like:
controller checks if you are following someone
the controller passes a boolean to the view
the view calls the helper with this value to draw the appropriate button
Also, as a secondary question, I have been doing a fair bit of looping through mysql arrays in foreach loops to process mysql results returned from the view. It seems like my views are getting somewhat complicated, but I can't think of another way to do it, although perhaps this should be done in another helper as well?
Apologies if this is a naive or repetitive question, there is indeed a lot of discussion surrounding this subject but it is not always easily relatable to another project.
Helpers are certainly one way to modularize anything that isn't DRY. Another is to use Partial Views. CodeIgniter looks like it supports partial views. Here's a good breakdown - not PHP specific but the discussion should be agnostic.
As far as handling user logins is concerned, you will probably want to use a static class and the singleton design pattern, which will allow you to check to see if a particular user is logged in or not anywhere in your application. There is a good tutorial here
http://www.phpandstuff.com/articles/codeigniter-doctrine-scratch-day-4-user-login
Loading the helper, I don't believe loading it in your controller will automatically load it in your view. I think you have to re load the helper in your view file, or you have to autoload the helper. (cant remember off top of head but Im pretty sure).
Regarding looping through the mysql results, you should be using a model for this, always. Any functions which are grabbing or sorting information from your applicaiton, should be done within the model. Then, in your view file you loop through the results and format the data how you choose to.
When developing http://newspapair.com which has the vote functionality you mentioned I used helpers and custom classes to spread the functionality across multiple views.
Helper - has functions without a class. So a standalone function or group of functions can be placed in a file and saved as a helper.
For instance I used a helper with generic form processing functions for NewsPapair, instead of a static class. But this is not the "best practices" thing to do. I did it this way because I already had the functions from a previous project.
As far a looping through MySQL results, try to write a query that allows the DB Server to do the heavy lifting. This will make your code more efficient. Perhaps ask a question about a specific query with example code. Plus do all of the data gathering in your Model.
I've got a class Widgets. Widgets are made up of Doohickies. I'm never going to need to access Doohickies directly via url -- they're essentially a private class, only used by Widgets. Where do you put your code to define the Doohicky class? In /app/controllers/doohicky.php? in app/controllers/widget.php? somewhere else? Obviously, the former seems cleaner, but it's not obvious to me how to make the Doohicky class available to Widget.
It sounds like your Widgets and Doohickies are probably Models in MVC architecture.
In which case, your paths would be:
app/models/widget.php
app/models/doohickies.php
I see the question has been answered already, but there are a few things to bear to expand on it.
You could put widgets and doohickies in the libraries folder, if they are there to do a job rather than provide a data service.
Also, take a look at HMVC, which favours the idea that you can have mini-apps that look after various parts of your website (e.g. messages panels, search box/results, doohickies...). This enables you to have smaller view partials dedicated to their widget controllers; and then the main controller calls in widgets but doesn't need knowledge of how they came about.
http://codeigniter.com/wiki/Modular_Extensions_-_HMVC/
I am trying to use the MVC architecture of sugarcrm to add a new action and with that a new view.
I have managed to create a controller with the action and also a class view, the only thing I can't figure out is how to create a simple html page.
Do I really have to use the metada way of sugarcrm?? I just want a simple form with two or three fields.
Are there alternatives to the metadata or do I really have to use it to create my simple page????
You will want to stay within the metadata framework to create your new page if possible. However, once you are in the view controllers, you can echo out anything you wish and still stay "upgrade safe" by overriding the display() function. But, the right way to do what you are wanting to accomplish above is to not only override the display() function but also create a new tpl file (custom/modules//tpls/view.tpl) and then perform whatever you need to perform PHP wise and then assign the variables via the smarty templating engine (I know this sounds complicated - but it's not. It's actually pretty straightforward once you understand Smarty).
One other thing - make sure you are doing all of this (including your controllers and view files) in the custom/modules directory. As this will also keep things upgrade safe. And keep you free from all kinds of headaches in the future. :)
Here is a link to the SugarCRM Developer's Guide online and also a link to their Developer's website. SugarCRM has a pretty good community of developers on the forums so feel free to ask questions there as well.
Developer's Guide:
http://developers.sugarcrm.com/docs/OS/5.2/-docs-Developer_Guides-Developer_Guide_5.2-toc.html
Developer's Site:
http://developers.sugarcrm.com/
Hope this all helps!
Try to do following:
create a new module
put your page into custom/modules/
using URL index.php?module=&action= (without php extension, of course) you can access to your page.
If you'd like to have different action name and page name then you should add the file action_file_map.php
into your module directory and specify inside the mapping:
$action_file_map['action_name'] = 'path_to_your_page';
Note that action_name must be all lowercase - the SugarController won't be able to to match mixed-case actions (true as of SugarCRM 6.1.2).