Comments on: Loading models within modules in the Zend Framework

By: Top Posts 2008

Top Posts 2008 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:14:13 +0000

[...] Loading models within modules in the Zend Framework [...]

By: jopr

jopr — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:24:10 +0000

Interesting!

I was just looking around to see if I could find any modules to use with my Zend app… :-)

I have a app.ini similar to:

[bind]
acl.class = “LdapAcl”
acl.rdn = “dc=example, dc=com”
…
blog.class = “BlogModel”
blog.config = “blog.ini”

… and a controller plugin that (lazy-)populates a globally accessible model (Zend_Registry). Helpers in
both Controller and View provide access to the same
model so…

$this->getModel(‘blog’)->get($this->getContext(‘blog.cur’)
… will always give the same object.

Extending this with modules could give:

$this->getModel(‘blog:entry’)->get($this->getContext(‘blog:entry.cur’)

… providing seamless access between modules.

Erh… remembering some old python stuff i just miss the compact…

By: Federico

Federico — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:13:19 +0000

You are right, thanks pejotr. I was using Zend_Loader::loadClass() instead of Zend_Loader::loadFile(), and the first one replaces the underscores with a directory separator. There’s no need to pass the name of the class now, just the filename.

Example:

$model = $this->getModel(‘IndexModel’);
$sharedModel = $this->getModel(‘PostsModel’, ‘blog’);

By: pejotr

pejotr — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:48:06 +0000

I’m not sure I’m right but loading model with:
$sharedModel = $this->getModel(‘Blog_PostsModel’, ‘blog’);
will load /appilication/blog/models/Blog/PostsModel.php, is that what you wanted to achieve ?

By: pejotr.log

pejotr.log — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:26:10 +0000

[...] Dwa rozwiązania tego problemu, jako helper i rozszerzenie Zend_Controller_Action, przedstawione są tu [...]

By: Stuado -StR- Rodríguez

Stuado -StR- Rodríguez — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 06:05:57 +0000

the way i have been working is, after creating a front controller helper and extending the dispatcher, my modules follow the pear convention using a vendor and a module.
for example:
Vendor_Module
Vendor_Module_Controller
etc…
i already have
Devel_Blog:
Devel_Blog_Article
Devel_Blog_Article_Comment
Devel_Blog_Controller_Article
Devel_Blog_Controller_Index
Devel_Blog_Admin_Controller_Index

Devel_Cms:
Devel_Cms_Page
Devel_Cms_Controller_Index
etc….

what i mean is that I add the vendor and module namespace (hoping i can port this to php 5.3). even my db table names use the vendor_module convention, also my Zend_Session_Namespace follows the Vendor_Module convention…

I tried to add you to my gtalk contacts, so we can discuss this further

By: Tim Fountain

Tim Fountain — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:00:02 +0000

I use a controller plugin to manipulate the include path in order to load module-specific models. I’ve just stuck up some example code in case anyone is interested – http://www.tfountain.co.uk/blog/2008/8/15/zend-framework-module-models/

I like the idea of a Zend_Module_* set of components as a way to organise modules into packages that could be dropped into other apps. I think routing is the problem here though.

One thing I like about the routing implementation in ZF is that it is flexible enough to allow routes to be defined in a number of different ways depending on coder preference and application needs. But in order for this whole thing to work, there would need to be a standard way for modules to define routes so that the application could load them.

Your Zend_Module example class allows definition of a routes ‘directory’ – so would this contain a routes.ini file containing the module’s routes? Or did you have something else in mind?

By: Federico

Federico — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:07:04 +0000

@Bradley: I agree with what you said, modules have a huge potential. I think the problem is that, at the moment, it’s difficult to extend the functionality of the front controller. For example, the addModuleDirectory() method doesn’t store the value of the path to the modules. So if you want to get the path to the modules, you can’t, there’s no getModuleDirectory() method.

Update: I’ve created a Zend_Controller_Directory proposal that addresses this issue.

By: Laurent Melmoux

Laurent Melmoux — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:35:58 +0000

Right now I ‘m using something like this to load my module models:

$model = Mmx_Loader::loadModel(‘Modulename_Modelname’);

It will be great to see some clear best practices on to setup Zend Framework modules. But I think it will need a hire level framework (Zend Application Framework foe ex.) because all those modules will have to share some component: same bootstrap, db, auth, acl, log, error controller …

By: MonkeyT

MonkeyT — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:00:24 +0000

I think you’re definitely on the right track here. I think this would simplify making truly encapsulated modules AS WELL AS making the Front Controller simpler to explain and work with to those unfamiliar with it.