Demandware MVC concept - model-view-controller

I am new guy to Demandware and I am switching from Magento to Demandware.
Demandware is not opensource I am not getting proper tutorials, stuff to understand the concepts of it.
I am from Magento so I know the Magento MVC structure.
But in Demandware we have different concepts like pipelines, pipelets, ISML scripts, ECMA script, DW scripts etc.
I want to know the MVC pattern of Demandware.
How it works and what are the basic concept I need to concentrate?

I would suggest to request a Demandware XChange account as soon as possible for you, so that you get access to the Demandware community portal and also to the API documentation.
In short:
Models are Demandware Forms and Demandware API objects
Controllers are Demandware Pipelines (there are JavaScript Controllers that are recently released, you may find these easier to understand if you have Node.js experience). These can call DW Scripts (DemandwareScript is based on ECMAScript standard 5.0 for JavaScript with some extensions like E4X and optional types)
Views are the isml templates. You should avoid including a lot of logic in them, either with isml tags like isif, isloop, etc. or with isscript.
Any further questions - let me know.
Hope this helps,
Zlatin

I hope you'll be able to avoid pipelines and dwscript. Those are a bit older. The most recent version works with plain old JavaScript, with pipelines being replaced by controllers.
Be aware that the underlying JavaScript engine is Rhino, which isn't really modern.

The Demandware documentation is open source now anyone can access to without having an exchange account it has the latest SFRA(javascript) based concepts as well
here is the link for the docs
Demadware Documentation

Demandware is very much designed around the MVC concept (in theory). The pipelines are basically your controllers and each pipeline filename (the xml file) is the first part of the URL and the start nodes inside the pipeline are the second part of the URL that basically represent the controller (eg Cart.xml has a start node called Show, so the url is Cart-Show). At the end of the pipeline flow chart is, usually, an interaction node to that links to an ISML file, those are basically the View and are HTML with some minor Demandware-specific markup.
Typically in the MVC world you try to prevent putting business logic in the views, however if you use SiteGenesis as your starting point you'll find that not to be the case on most of the pages. If you switch to using Javascript Controllers instead of Pipelines, then it'll be closer to the Magento style of MVC (but using NodeJS-like syntax).

Related

Easiest language/framework to use for web app that follows MVC for someone who has experience with Java/JavaFX

I am trying to create a web app that allows the user to browse a noSQL (Preferably MongoDB) database and perform some queries using a graphical interface. All the queries are written in the code and the user only needs to click links and/or enter strings (mostly to search for matches to be displayed in properly formatted tables). The app follows MVC model.
Up until now I used to write similar desktop apps using Java and JavaFX. I have no experience with other languages or frameworks (Aside from C and SDL), neither have I ever deployed anything on a server, and the assignment should be completed within 6 weeks (Three other students are working with me). And I have the three following questions:
Which language/framework is easiest to learn (considering I/we know Java/JavaFX)?
The answer to that would most probably be JavaScript*, which takes me to the next question:Is there any (practical) way that I would make it possible to write the app without having to learn HTML and CSS?
The third and last question, in case I write the View class in JS or Angular, can I write the Controller and Modal with Java (If we disregard complicated workarounds)? And do I deploy all three MVC classes/packages on the same server?
*I believe some would suggest we use GWT or Vaadin, and in this case I wonder if these frameworks have any quirks or limitations that would make it difficult for us as students to work with, be it when it comes to deployment (which is totally new for us) or the writing of the code itself.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Since nobody answered I am posting the best answer I could find so if anyone googles this subject could read it. At last we went with Java for backend running on Tomcat server and JS for front end. It turns out that HTML is very simple and JS is pretty similar to C/Java in syntax.

Should views be rendered by the app, or should a static site contact the API using AJAX?

I am starting to write my first web app with Node.js and Express. I have two approaches in mind.
Create two sets of routes. One that sends JSON, one that renders the page using a templating engine
Create a static website that makes API calls to the backend using AJAX, and have only routes for the API.
I understand that approach #2 depends on AJAX support in the browser, but if this was your project, based on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, which would you choose and why?
If I am reading it right, both options #1 and #2 first set of routes is an API that returns JSON rather than sends it.
Assuming that in #2 you wouldn't create static pages with JavaScript doing AJAX calls, but rather still use express static routing like app.use('/', express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'dist'))); the difference between 2 approaches isn't that big.
Unless you already know some supported template language, such as mustache the cons are that you have to learn one and before that pick one (which isn't always an easy task from my experience!).
If you don't know one, depending on your application, you might still benefit from learning and using one. As an example you can think of a very generic UI where a single template could be reused very many times - like a generic database UI similar to, say well known phpmyadmin.
In case of static routing, you can achieve similar results by using a JavaScript framework which has components or templates, such as angular. If you aren't planning to use one, that could result in a lot of code duplication of otherwise re-usable widgets. And even when using one I can imagine a case when template engine would result in less code (or less files in your project at the very least). Not sure though if it's going to be easier to navigate and moreover to cover with tests when the project grows.
Without knowing more about your project it is hard to give more advice.
If the product you're developing is primarily static content with some dynamic pieces here and there, I'd recommend serving HTML from your backend via a templating system. A good example of this would be a blog. You'll end up with better SEO and there are less moving pieces to grok in this approach.
However, if you want to develop a single page application, I recommend using your backend entirely as an api, and writing your client side logic entirely in React/Vue/Angular/whatever. Single page applications have their front ends written entirely in javascript, and are best suited to highly dynamic, "app like" experiences online. Think gmail or facebook.
In my current project we use both approaches. Many views are static and data is obtained from API calls (we just use angular) or bootstrapped values (we load some objects with template, like user roles etc.)
However, some views are rendered on server site, because it easily allow us to dynamically inject values, tokens or other supporting data without making extra requests.
So, I vote for flexibility

RESTful API with CMS Made Simple

I have a client with a content-heavy site built in CMS Made Simple. The redesign requires a mostly AJAX interface, and I think a frontend framework like Backbone or Angular would be the way to go.
I want to avoid moving off CMS Made Simple, though (client is used to that interface, it will be annoying to migrate all the data).
I think if I could find or create a RESTful api for CMS Made Simple, I'd solve my problem. But after searching around online, I only found CGSocialApp module, which seems to provide a limited API for things like user management. I've also looked into other AJAX solutions for CMS Made Simple, and there don't seem to be good modules for it.
If there is no ready-made solution for me, how complex would building a RESTful API module be? I haven't built a RESTFUL api in a PHP framework before.
Thanks for any guidance!
So, there is no easy answer for this question, as the CMSMS doesn't have a build-in RESTful API.
I would go for one of the two solutions:
1. Output the content as hand made json.
In CMSMS, you really have a lot of control on the templates. You could change the default templates to output json content instead of HTML content. The only issue is that the CMSMS will still send an http content-type header, that you can try to ignore in the JS part.
To access the menu, just remove it from the main template and create an empty page who output the {menu}with a custom template that also build json content.
That's the quick and dirty solution, but it should be very accessible in terms of doing it.
2. Create a dedicated module.
As far as I know, there are no modules that expose the CMSMS in RESTFul format, but a module is really very easy to build. Well, you can try to build it yourself, with the help of the community. It don't really solve the current problem, but it's a hint.
I hope it shed some light on the problem.

what is simple MVC based PHP blogging application?

I am searching for a Blogging tools like wordpress. But I want MVC based tools to extend my blog with MVC structure.
My main requirements is
Must be based on MVC
Simple & lightweight
it's blog url structure should be domain.com/cat_name/post_title , because my current wordpress blog is like that, I don't want to lose Facebook Share and Tweets.
I want a simple one, because this is learning only.
Clarifying: if a CMS you use is based on a MVC design pattern or not is irrelevant to you as an user, except if you want to meddle with its inner workings (which you don't - a CMS is made to be used and possibly extended, but in 99% of use cases, if it isn't extendable to your needs, changing the source code is a bad idea, as it will most likely break with any updates you may want to make)
You may want a MVC framework, which will in turn allow you to **code** a CMS of your own, or use a good, extendable, CMS app
The one I use is ProcessWire, which is a CMS/CMF (F stands for Framework) php app, and seems to be the kind of thing you are looking for - it manages your content for you (the default installation comes with a few demo pages) but you define the fields, and you use them to display your content at will. Check it out - the user forum is quite active, and people there are really helpful.
Well there are tons of Content Managment System Based on MVC frameworks (eg . CodeIgniter ) . I personally recommend Pyro ( Based on CodeIgniter) but other also seem promising . but i don't know much since i haven't tried .
Note that this is a highly relative question and will bring forth a ton of opinions and not real answers. With that in mind, here is my answer.
I know of a tool that you can use to install an MVC template for and on top of ProcessWire along with basic project managing tasks using gulp. Note, the M will be considered ProcessWire.
Have a look on github.com and look at the profile of fixate and repo generator-fixate-pw. (ie: generator-fixate-pw, added the sentence if the link breaks).
Install this by following the instructions on the repository. The tool is very specific but learning to use the framework helped improve my php skills allot (still learning allot).
Whether the CMS will be used as a blog or not will depend on your implementation of the install.

Is WordPress MVC compliant? [closed]

Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers.
Closed 7 years ago.
Locked. This question and its answers are locked because the question is off-topic but has historical significance. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.
Some people consider WordPress a blogging platform, some think of it as a CMS, some refer to WordPress as a development framework. Whichever it is, the question still remains. Is WordPress MVC compliant?
I've read the forums and somebody asked about MVC about three years ago. There were some positive answers, and some negative ones. While nobody knows exactly what MVC is and everybody thinks of it in their own way, there's still a general concept that's present in all the discussions.
I have little experience with MVC frameworks and there doesn't seem to be anything about the framework itself. Most of the MVC is done by the programmer, am I right? Now, going back to WordPress, could we consider the core rewrite engine (WP_Rewrite) the controller? Queries & plugin logic as the model? And themes as the view? Or am I getting it all wrong?
Thanks ;)
Wordpress itself is not architected in MVC, but one can build very MVC oriented themes and plugins within the framework. There are several tools which can help:
WordPress MVC solutions:
Churro: # wordpress.org/extend/plugins/churro
Tina-MVC: # wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tina-mvc
Plugin Factory: # wordpress.org/extend/plugins/plugin-factory
MVCPress: http://mozey.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/mvcpress-screenshots/#comment-3634 (abandoned, but interesting ideas)
MVC threads on WordPress.org Ideas and Trac:
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/mvc-plugin-framework
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/complete-reestructuring
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/rewrite-wordpress-using-mvc
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/wordpress-theme-revamp (more on XSL than MVC)
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12354 (on MVC in widgets)
Wordpress is kinda-sorta MVC. If anything it is a pull-type MVC layout, where the View 'pulls' data from the model. It does this in a very proceedural way, instead of using lots of different objects, but this actually makes the front end templates easier to write in a lot of ways.
This also gives the views some degree of controller logic (thus the kinda-sorta MVC).
Lets run this down:
Wordpress gets a URL. The wordpress core acts as a controller and determines what initial queries to run of the database, and by extension, what view should be loaded (category view, single post or page view, etc). It then packages that INTIAL query response and sends it to the view file.
That view file CAN be a strict display only file OR it can request additional information/queries beyond the built in one. This is the pull-type of the MVC, where the view pulls data from the model instead of the controller 'pushing' data from the model into the view.
Thus, when the view sees code to load a sidebar or widget area, it asks for that information. However, what widgets should be there is determined by the controller, which looks at the model for what widgets are in the sidebar, and then selects those that are set to show on the current page, and returns those to the view.
That each part of that isn't an object doesn't make this any less MVC. You can alter WP core without (necessarily) altering anything about a theme. Similarly, as long as you use built in functions like 'get_pages()' then the model and the database tables could change as long as those functions still returned the right data. So, the model is independent of the view, and the controller is independent as well (except when the view adds controller logic to do more than the core normally does).
While you COULD have a model object holding a number of methods and stuff like WPModel::get_pages('blah blah'), and contain everything that way, there is still fundamental separation of concerns.
View: template files
Controller: WP core
Model: the various functions that handle specific data handling.
As long as the names, arguments, etc, stay the same (or just have new ones added) then separation of concerns is maintained and one can be altered without disturbing the others.
It isn't a super-clean version of MVC, (especially when hooks get involved), but at a basic level it starts there.
And being proceedural about it isn't a bad thing IMO. A request from a website is pretty inherently proceedural: it is a process with a clear beginning and end, and just needs a procedure to process the request, get data, package it, then die. You can set up those steps with objects and object methods and OOP layouts (which would make some things easier) or you can just write alot of function calls and separate them out that way. Class members like private variables are lost that way but depending on the needs of the application... you might not care.
There is no one-grand-way to do development, and WP sits at like 20% of websites so it is doing something right. Probably something to do with not making people have to learn/memorize complex class hierarchies to get the database to answer the question 'what pages are child of page x?' and deal with that data. Could you make it that easy with OOP? yes, but if Joomla is any example of how hard it is to implement a complex custom website with OOP, then WP is FAR easier and quicker, and time is money.
As already mentioned in the comments, MVC is an architectural design pattern, not a specific framework, and no, Wordpress doesn't follow the MVC pattern.
There is a separation of views (templates) from the programming logic, but only in the frontend, not in the admin panel and a general separation of views and application logic is not inevitably MVC. An implementation of the MVC pattern usually assumes some kind of object oriented programming paradigm behind it and Wordpress is mainly implemented in a procedural way, with plain SQL queries in the PHP functions, therefore not having an actual model either.
One of the topics that periodically crops up in discussions as it relates to WordPress is the idea of WordPress and MVC.
But the thing is that MVC is not the silver bullet of web development that we try to make it out to be. Yes, it’s an awesome design pattern, and I personally think that it fits the web application model like a glove, but not every framework or platform implements that design pattern.
Case in point: WordPress is not MVC.
And that’s okay. I think we need to leave the desire of trying to shoehorn it into our projects aside especially when the pattern WordPress provides is not only sufficient, but works well when leveraged correctly.
“But I Love MVC!”
So do I! In fact, I spent the last year working on a project that more-or-less mimicked the MVC architecture.
A high-level example of MVC.
A high-level example of MVC.
For example:
Views were implemented using templates
Controllers were implemented by a combination of using function names like create, read, update, destroy, delete, and so on (even though these functions were hooked into the WordPress API
Models were functions also were called to validate and verify data prior to serializing the data. Again, this required that certain functions be hooked into WordPress to achieve the desired result.
Finally, a set of rewrite rules gave the application a clean set of predictable URLs in the format of /people/update/1 or /people/all.
What Pattern Does WordPress Implement?
WordPress implements the event-driven architecture (of which there are several variations such as the Observer Pattern).
In short, you can conceptually think of this as the following:
Things happen when WordPress is processing information.
You can register your own function to fire when these things happen.
Not too complicated, is it?
A high-level example of event-driven patterns
A high-level example of event-driven patterns
When you begin to think in terms of the paradigm in which it works rather than trying to make it work the way that you want it to work, it’s liberating. It helps to solve problems much more easily.
The bottom line is this: WordPress implements the event-driven design pattern, so even if you end up trying to implement MVC, you’re still going to have to utilize the hook system.
If you’re not careful, you can end up trying to craft the perfect architecture without actually getting your work done, and thus end up finding yourself so high up in the atmosphere of software that you’ve effectively become an architecture astronaut.
So You’re Saying Avoid Design Patterns?
Not at all! Design Patterns serve a purpose because, above all else, they basically give us solutions to previously and commonly solved problems. Use them!
But the point I’m trying to make is that we don’t need to try to force things to fit pattern just because we like the pattern. That’s not their purpose. Instead, leverage the primary pattern that your platform of choice implements – in our case, it’s an event-driven pattern – and then implement patterns where they fit (such as dependency injection or something like that).
Otherwise, it’s like trying to put your foot in a glove.
Courtesy (and totally copied :P) from : http://tommcfarlin.com/wordpress-and-mvc/
Just to update this with more recent information for people hitting this from search engines - the wp-mvc plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-mvc/ goes a long way to creating a mvc framework for plugin development. You can find out more here: http://wpmvc.org/documentation/70/tutorial/
Just to add to the list of options, (I'm admittedly biased as the author,) swpMVC is a fully featured, lightweight MVC framework, inspired by Rails, Sinatra, Express, and FuelPHP. It's thoroughly documented, and while I have used and enjoyed wp-mvc, I wanted something where the models were able to populate views themselves, including form controls for interacting with said models.
I put this together largely to reduce the amount of controller code required to put together an app on top of WordPress, and the result is a very fast and effective framework that runs inside WordPress. The models are based on PHP Activerecord and 8 models are included for existing WordPress data types, including Post, PostMeta, User, UserMeta, Term, and a few more. Modeling data is very easy thanks to the activerecord library, and I've enjoyed working with this framework immensely thus far.
Also ships with underscore PHP and PHP Quick Profiler (as seen in FuelPHP.)
RokkoMVC is a micro MVC framework built especially for WordPress. The project is meant to simplify AJAX functionality in WordPress applications, as well as bringing in all the other benefits of using models, views, and controllers to your theme.
I had a bash recently at creating a plugin that makes use of a simple view-controller system, and quite liked the results, so I separated the template stuff out to its own repo. It offers object-based controllers, passing variables locally to PHP templates, template fragments (templates within templates) and components (template fragments with their own sub-controller). All in two tiny classes!
Of course, I wrote this code thinking that no other WP developer had considered the problem before ;-).
It's far from mvc, there is no kinda-sorta thing like some people say, it's either MVC or not... The fact that you write logic on the view level doesn't qualify it as a mvc framework. The reason people use it - it's easy to learn, you don't need to be hardcore php programmer, they're lazy.

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