Programming with Modules

benbox

Hey all,

Does anyone know of any learning resources or simple examples on how to use modules while programming with php? Modules being different parts of the website, for example a module for news, polls, or whatever you might have..

I'm trying to understand how to implement such methods, rather than just including files where you want it to be displayed.. I guess the "proper" method would use OOP in some way or another.

Reason I ask here, is because I keep getting search results including server side module stuff, which isn't really what I'm looking for! :p and I'm hoping someone knows of a good site off the top of their head 🙂

Many thanks!
Ben

FatalError

benbox wrote:
...rather than just including files where you want it to be displayed..

Why not just do it that way? I don't quite understand what you mean by "modules."

benbox

Hmm, I'm not really quite sure how to explain it well because I'm not sure what I'm looking for exactly! modules probably isn't the right word for it..

I'm trying to understand the whole dynamic webpage concept, using OOP, templates and modules etc.. for the past few days I've been studying scripts that our out there already (a couple being phpbb and joomla) to see how they all fit and work together. They all seem to have modules included somewhere down the line, who's output then gets passed to a template class of some sort, then finally out to the page.. or thats how I think it works!

Before now my php has been very manual, including files here and there.. my template would literally be a header/footer in seperate files.. included at the top and bottom of every page/file I create.. usually ended up being a long and un-dynamic process.

I thought there was some easier way for including pages you wanted, when needed.. though I'm still unsure on how everything fits together. And I've yet to find a simple, too the point example to try and understand it all~

FatalError

Well there isn't really an easy way to do this...I'd just go with including files when needed, although this seems disorganized, it's actually the best way to do it (and the only one I can think of). Just split everything into separate files, and then include them when necessary. phpBB is a good example of this (haven't heard of the other application you mentioned), so study it to get a better understanding. I don't think there's really a need to do anything more (if I understand what you're saying correctly).

phpsharma

i think you can see the source of code of xoops, http://www.xoops.org, which has developemnt in modules way..

benbox

Thanks! ^{^;}

Some of them are insanely complicated (for me!), so a range of recommended examples helps to compare. I think I might be on the verge of understanding all this, but I'll soon find out as I dive in to attempt something myself!