Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP

A practical tutorial for creating your first Joomla! 1.5 extensions with PHP

In Detail

Joomla! is the world's hottest open-source content management system, and the winner of the 2006 Open Source CMS Prize.

While Joomla! is packed with features, its greatest quality is that it is extremely extensible, allowing any number of complex applications to be cleanly integrated. Shopping carts, forums, social networking profiles, job boards, and real estate listings are all examples of extensions developers have written for Joomla!. All of these can run off one Joomla! site, while only one database, template, and core need to be maintained. When you build an extension to Joomla!, it will inherit the look and feel of the overall site. Any type of program that can be coded in PHP is a potential component waiting to be written!

If you're eager to start creating extensions for Joomla!, this book is for you. Walk through the development of complete Joomla! components and modules with this tutorial for PHP programmers. Written for Joomla! version 1.5 and tested against pre-final releases, this book will get you started coding your first extensions as quickly as possible, and adds the features that will make your work look professional!

The book builds example extensions to create, find, promote, and cross-link restaurant reviews. A component will handle common data items seen across all reviews such as price range, reservations, cuisine type, and location. Your visitors will be able to search and sort through the reviews; adding their own criteria to zero in on their dining options for the evening.

Your modules will highlight new reviews, drawing the attention of frequent visitors. Finally, plugins will pull pieces of the reviews into feature articles and others will integrate them into searches. Even if you don't own a restaurant, you will still find the code applicable to your own development projects, and the skills you develop will make you a Joomla! developer to be reckoned with!

What you will learn from this book?

• Code Joomla! components, modules, and plugins from the ground up
• Create toolbars, list screens, and menu items
• Maintain a consistent look and reduce repetitive code using HTML functions
• Automate database record management
• Validate input and resist hack attempts
• Configure your modules through XML parameters
• Package and distribute your extensions

Approach

A practical tutorial, based around the development of coherent example throughout the book. Each chapter walks you through the steps to add a required feature to the extension.

Who this book is written for?

This book is suitable for PHP programmers who want to take their first step in customizing and extending the features of Joomla! through custom PHP development. It is not a reference guide for advanced Joomla! developers.

You need only the basics of PHP programming; no experience of developing Joomla! extensions is assumed. You are expected to be familiar with the general operation of Joomla!

一本實用的教程，教你如何使用PHP創建你的第一個Joomla! 1.5擴展。

詳細內容：
Joomla!是全球最熱門的開源內容管理系統，並且是2006年開源CMS獎的獲獎者。雖然Joomla!擁有眾多功能，但其最大的優點是非常可擴展，可以將任意數量的複雜應用程序整合到一個乾淨的系統中。購物車、論壇、社交網絡個人資料、職位招聘板和房地產列表都是開發人員為Joomla!編寫的擴展的例子。所有這些都可以在一個Joomla!網站上運行，只需要維護一個數據庫、模板和核心。當你為Joomla!開發擴展時，它將繼承整個網站的外觀和風格。任何可以用PHP編寫的程序都有可能成為一個潛在的組件！

如果你渴望開始為Joomla!創建擴展，這本書就是為你而寫的。通過這本針對PHP程序員的教程，逐步開發完整的Joomla!組件和模塊。本書針對Joomla! 1.5版本進行了編寫和測試，可以讓你盡快開始編寫你的第一個擴展，並添加專業外觀的功能！

本書通過構建示例擴展來創建、查找、推廣和交叉連接餐廳評論。一個組件將處理所有評論中共同的數據項，如價格範圍、預訂、菜系和位置。訪客可以搜索和排序評論，並根據自己的標準找到晚餐的選擇。

你的模塊將突出顯示新的評論，吸引頻繁訪問者的注意。最後，插件將將評論的部分內容引入特色文章，並將其集成到搜索中。即使你不擁有一家餐廳，你仍然可以將這些代碼應用於自己的開發項目，並且你所學到的技能將使你成為一個備受矚目的Joomla!開發者！

本書將教你：
- 從頭開始編寫Joomla!組件、模塊和插件
- 創建工具欄、列表屏幕和菜單項目
- 使用HTML函數維護一致的外觀並減少重複的代碼
- 自動化數據庫記錄管理
- 驗證輸入並抵抗黑客攻擊
- 通過XML參數配置你的模塊
- 打包和分發你的擴展

這是一本實用的教程，通過整本書的連貫示例，逐步引導你添加所需的功能。

本書適合想要通過自定義PHP開發來擴展和定制Joomla!功能的PHP程序員。這不是一本高級Joomla!開發者的參考指南。你只需要基本的PHP編程知識，不需要有開發Joomla!擴展的經驗。你應該對Joomla!的一般操作有所了解。