How can I manipulate other modules without editing them ? very the same thing that wordpress modules do .
They add functionality to core system without changing the core code and they work together like a charm.
I always wanted to know how to implement this in my own modular application
A long time ago I wrote the blog post "Use 3rd party modules in Zend Framework 2" specifically about extending Zend Framework 2 modules. The answer from Bez is technically correct, it could be a bit more specific about the framework.
Read the full post at https://juriansluiman.nl/article/117/use-3rd-party-modules-in-zend-framework-2, but it gives you a clue about:
Changing a route from a module (say, you want to have the url /account/login instead of /user/login)
Overriding a view script, so you can completely modify the page's rendering
Changing a form object, so you could add new form fields or mark some required field as not required anymore.
This is a long topic, but here is a short gist.
Extensibility in Zend Framework 2 heavily relies on the premise that components can be interchanged, added, and/or substituted.
Read up on SOLID principles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOLID_(object-oriented_design)
Modules typically consists of objects working together as a well-oiled machinery, designed to accomplish one thing or a bunch of related things, whatever that may be. These objects are called services, and managed by the service locator/service manager.
A big part of making your module truly extensible is to expect your developers to extend a class or implement a certain interface, which the developer register as services. You should provide a mode of definition wherein the developers can specify which things he wants to substitute, and/or add their own services to -- and this is where the application configuration comes in.
Given the application configuration, you should construct your machinery a.k.a. module services according to options the developer has specified i.e., use the developer defined Foo\Bar\UserService service as the YourModule\UserServiceInterface within your module, etc. (This is usually delegated to service factories, which has the opportunity to read the application configuration, and constructs the appropriate object given a particular set of configuration values.)
EDIT:
To add, a lot can be accomplished by leveraging Zend's Zend\EventManager component. This allows you to give developers the freedom to hook and listen to certain operations of your module and act accordingly (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_pattern)
Related
I have an idea to add a edit-layer to website as a Plack middleware.
Explanation: let's say, we create a website, based on some framework and templates and CSS (requesting it like /some/page). Now we could create a middleware so that every request to pages starting with adm (like /adm/some/page) shows the same page, but adds a layer for content editing. So we could easily look and use the page as visitors do, but with double-click on block-level element we could modify or add content. So middleware should bind certain block-elements with certain events (double-click) and set handlers too (with some Javascript library).
For now it is just an idea and i have not seen such approach in any CMS. I am looking for hints and ideas and examples, how to start and implement such system. I hope, there is already done something like that.
You could do it, but I don't think you want to do this. My understanding is that Plack::Middleware's are supposed to be generic, and implementing a CMS as a plack middleware limits its re-usability, and its out of place, there is no inherent connection between a middleware and a CMS.
See these as examples Plack::Middleware::OAuth, Plack::Middleware::Debug, Plack::Middleware::iPhone, Plack::Middleware::Image::Scale, Plack::Middleware::HTMLMinify
It would be trivial to add a middleware filter to insert a form in your html based on /adm/ or /admin/ or whatever ... and mapping the url to the dispatch would highly depend on the underlying CMS model/view/controller framework, which is why frameworks such as Catalyst, Mojolicious and other already provide this feature
See http://advent.plackperl.org/2009/12/day-23-write-your-own-middleware.html
Basically, I think this is a job for a view/controller of your application, a plugin, not a wrapper for your application (middleware)
I know my explanation is lacking but hopefully you catch my drift
I'm a bit puzzled about Zend Framework modules.
I mean - I understand that you would usually want to have frontend and backend module... right?
But - What else would you separate out into modules?
can someone who uses Zend Framework professionally give an example of what modules they have in their application?
In the Zend MVC lingo a module is an independent part of your application. For example if you want to write a Content Management System you will probably have different modules like
Main application (user login, application bootstrap etc.)
Blog
News
Admin panel
Image gallery
Basically each of these modules could act as a separate application (although they will eventually be interconnected). The module approach also gives you an easy way for permission management (e.g. users can only pay for using certain modules).
As addition to Daffs answers we could try to figure out some guidelines for deciding between choosing a 'controller' or a 'module' to implement a certain bundle of functionality. Please help making this list comprehensive by commenting or editing:
When to use a 'controller':
when there is a considerable degree of dependency on different models of the same module
when there is a considerable degree of interaction with other controllers of the same module
when the functionality can be covered with a few methods/actions
when the functionality is clearly just a bundle of subordinated functionality of the given module
when the functionality can be easily maintained together with the rest of the code (versioning, deployment, ...)
When to use a 'module':
when there are no or almost no dependencies with the main modules controllers and models
when the bundle of functionality can be seen as a separate (sub)application
when the functionality can't be covered with a few methods/actions and thus has to be broken down into several controllers
when versioning and deployment needs independence from main module
I'm in the middle of converting an existing app built on top of zend framework to work as a plugin within wordpress as opposed to the standalone application it currently is.
I've never really used zend so I've had to learn about it in order to know where to begin. I must say that at first I didn't think much of zend, but it's funny because the more I understand how it works the more I keep questioning why I'd want to remove dependency when it's a clearly well thought out framework. Then I'm reminded that it's because of wordpress.
Now I already know there are WP plugins to make zend play nice with WP. In fact I'm aleady using a zend framework plugin just to get the app functional within the WP admin area which is allowing me to review code, modify code, refresh the browser, review changes, debug code, again and again.
Anyway, I really don't have a specific question but instead I'm looking for advice from any zend masters out there to offer advice on how to best go about a task like this one.... so any comments, advice, examples or suggestions would be super.
One area I'm a little stuck on is converting parts of zend->db calls to work as wpdb calls instead... specifically the zend->db->select.... not sure what to do with that one.
Also on how to handle all the URL routing with automatic calls to "whatverAction" within thier respective controllers files.
Any help would be great! Thanks
You're probably facing an uphill battle trying to get some of the more major components of ZF to work in harmony with Wordpress. It sounds like you've got a full MVC app that you're trying to integrate into a second app that has very different architecture.
You probably want to think about which components handle which responsibilities. Wordpress has it's own routing and controller system that revolves around posts, pages and 'The Loop'. This is entirely different from Zend's Action Controllers and routing system.
It's possible you could write a WP hook to evaluate every incoming request and decide if it should be handled by WP or a ZF controller. However, it is doubtful you would be able to replace WP's routing system outright with ZF's or vice versa.
Same idea, where Zend_Db is concerned. There's nothing stopping you from using Zend_Db to access Wordpress's database, but trying to somehow convert or adapt Zend_db calls into wpdb calls sounds painful. If you have a large model layer, you probably want to hang on to it, and find a way to translate data from those models into the posts/pages conventions that Wordpress uses.
Personally, I would use ZF to build a robust business layer that can be queried through an object model via a Wordpress plugin, and then rely on Wordpress to do the routing and handle the views.
Zend_DB_Select is simple SQL query (but created using objects) that can be used like any other query. Just turn it into string. Ex.:
mysql_query((string)$zendDbSelectObject);
I am building a site in ASP.NET 4 and MVC2 that will have premium features, such as SMS notifications that will only be available to paid subscribers. I also have additional modules for things like Inventory, and Transactions etc
I am already leveraging the standard MembershipProvider, and am leaning towards using Roles tp provide this functionality.
ie: have an "SMSModule" role that the user gets if they pay for the add-on SMS service
This makes the controllers simple with a little attribute decoration, but the problem I see with this is that there will be a bunch of conditional code scattered through my views etc
Is there a better method of providing a "module" style approach in .NET 4 and MVC2???
You can add your conditional logic to view models, use the controllers to set the viewmodels appropriately and it should be fine... Sometimes you have to have the if statements inside the views even if not so ellegent. Unless of course you are using a view engine like spark then your if statements are placed in another unobtrusive location, but they still exist! You can always create HtmlHelpers and set the code to the serverside and based on the logic display appropriately...
FWIW I ended up using a combination of Descriptors in Spark View Engine, along with a custom Feature provider and associated ActionFilter
In a MVC application, what are some of the components that make up the application. What tools and functionality is missing that you would like to have. Regardless of the server-side language, what would you want?
I see a lot in my code where I code some much functionality that it seems should already be there. I looked at Google web toolkit and they seem to get it right. Widgets are widgets and you simply add them to your application.
For example. I work with J2EE apps but in other languages, the components are the same.
Controller Objects
Controller handlers, defined by methods in the controller objects.
Configuration files defining the URL mapping and settings.
Template server page files (e.g. JSP/ASP files).
Configuration files defining O/RM mapping between application objects and the database.
Configuration files defining the database connection properties.
JavaScript libraries (e.g. jQuery)
Logging configuration files
Resource message bundle files
Validation configuration files or code
Middleware components and objects (EJB configurations, JMS/Messaging configurations, etc).
Credit Card or other middleware connectivity APIs and libraries.
Anything else you can think of?
Built-in Unit Testing Component
I think one thing you're missing from that very exhaustive list is the automatic binding of request properties to form objects, and the saving of these objects to the session where appropriate. Form objects here being the object on the server that represents the current state of the HTML-based for displayed to the user.
I think scaffolding and automatic admin interfaces are very nice features too, that I dont want to miss ;)
You've made the assumption that all MVC applications are websites. MVC is widely used for more than just web apps so things like URL mappers, template server pages and "Server side" languages are not associated with the MVC pattern, so much as a particular implementation and adaptation of the MVC for use in web apps.