I am looking into building my own CMS / extended framework on top of CodeIgniter, and I was wondering how to structure it to keep code out of the application folder. I noticed that in a typical CI set up, the file structure looks like this:
application/ //code for your application
system/ //CodeIgniter core
index.php
However, in PyroCMS, They have used the following structure:
application/ //code for your application
system/
--cms/ //PyroCMS core
--codeigniter/ //CodeIgniter core.
How do I accomplish a similar result?
To emulate that structure just edit the index.php constants:
APPPATH
BASEPATH
#WebweaverD has provide you a good solution to improve your application usgin HMVC. I will give you another.
How about something like this:
-system/ //CI core
-index.php //manage the front_end requests
-acp.php //manage the back_end requests
-apps/ //applications dir
--back_end/ //only "admin" controllers, libraries, config. No views here
--frond_end/ //only "user" controllers, libraries, config. No views here
--acp/ //views for back_end
--themes/ //views for front_end
All above can be implemented as you want only extending the necessary core files.
The short answer is that everything starts from index.php, this is where core/CodeIgniter.php is included and it is also where application and system paths are set (retrieving values from config).
I think that pyro cms actually sets /system/cms as the application folder, presumably they have written code which looks at the presented application folder for content and processes it.
Another approach is to use wiredesigns modular HMVC:
https://bitbucket.org/wiredesignz/codeigniter-modular-extensions-hmvc
This will allow you to separate your code out into modules. Just have a folder called cms containing all your cms modules and another folder to build your custom content on top.
You set the path to your modules folder in the config so if you wanted your cms code in the system folder you could set the path to your modules folder there and build on top using codeigniter in the standard way, perhaps adding a hook before or after your controller is loaded to call the cms core.
Mine is just a suggestion but you can easy fork pyrocms and build your own cms on it.
PyroCMS will deprecate codeigniter in the next version so you can keep their code and fix it where you need and modify it as you want
Related
I would like to change/move the Model, View and Controllers folder from application folder and want them to be keep support in a new folder called app. Can someone please give me a solution which would work on CI-3*
application/
library
config
helpers
core
......
app/
model
views
controllers
index.php look for $application_folder and modify this.
You can move views separately using the $view_folder variable.
However, without changing the way the core of CI works you'd have to keep models/controllers inside of application.
I have created my site with controllers such as about, products etc... which gives me example.com/about/ etc..
How would I create a admin section with the same controller name, like example.com/admin/about or example.com/admin/products ?
How do I organize my controllers?
2 more options to compliment WebweaverD answer.
Use Modular Separation
Create a second application folder and index file, that will be responsible for admin, connect them to the same system folder.
The second option is really easy to manage once you have set it up. There are variations but I find the structure below to be the most convenient.
mykewlwebsite.com
apps/
frontend/
app/ frontend codeigniter application folder
public/
index.php
assets/ frontend js, css, images
backend
app/ backend codeigniter application folder
public/
index.php
assets/ backend js, css, images
config/
database.php
constants.php
system/ codeigniter system folder
The database.php file contains the code from CodeIgniter's config/database.php and is shared for all applications of your project - simply remove all code and add require_once('../../../../config/database.php'); to the config/database.php
index.php files inside public folders have two important variables $system_path and $application_folder, change them to
$system_path = '../../../system/codeigniter';
$application_folder = '../app';
constants.php file can have some constants like the ENVIRONMENT constant from the index.php files and some other. Just require_once() it from the index.php files.
Though there are pros and cons.
PROS
For those of you, who are developing on localhost and deploying to servers via FTP or other systems can simply upload one folder - apps and overwrite the target folder without fear of overwriting database.php settings (I'm sure most of you have them different from the local ones).
Adding one more application is easy - just duplicate one of existing. You can add as many applications as you want - api, ajax, user cabinet, etc.
CONS
This structure is meant to be used if you have a domain as mykewlwebsite.com and have the ability to add sub-domains to it, so you just configure the home folders for each of them:
mykewlwebsite.com: path/to/mykewlwebsite.com/apps/frontend/public/
admin.mykewlwebsite.com: path/to/mykewlwebsite.com/apps/backend/public/
api.mykewlwebsite.com: path/to/mykewlwebsite.com/apps/api/public/
You have a few options here:
1) CREATE A SUBFOLDER - Put them in a folder called admin within the controllers directory (in application/contollers/admin/products.php)
A word of warning here is that you can only go one folder deep or codeigniter gets upset. Also, it will use first level controller/methods first so be careful of naming conflicts - e.g if you have an admin controller with a products method in it, that will get called before it looks in the admin directory for a products controller. (when going to example.com/admin/products)
2) USE THE ROUTES FILE - If it is just the urls you are worried about you could just call the controllers whatever you want and use the application/config/routes to redirect those paths to the controllers you want like this:
controller name: admin_products.php
routes file:
$route['admin/products'] = "admin_products";
3) USE A MASTER CONTROLLER FOR ALL - Final option would be to have a single admin controller and use named methods inside it, so for example you have admin.php controller with a products method within it this would then be called by admin/products uri (this will probably get messy though in a big application/site - not recommended)
Hope I have explained this OK for you, if you need any clarification please ask and I will try to elaborate.
Our corporate website already is in place written in "long-hand" PHP. Since we plan to rebuild the site some time in 2011, I don't want to recode it in CodeIgniter (MVC) until we begin the redesign.
However, there are some additions we are making now (i.e., a newsroom/rss feed, a jobs post, etc) that I could add to the site as "modules" until the new design is created in CodeIgniter.
My question -- can I place a CI2 "application" in a folder at the root of my existing site and create my modules in CodeIgniter. For example, a stand-alone CI2 site named news would live in a folder at the root and would be called like www.company.com/news?
Thanks in advance for your insight,
Jon
My question -- can I place a CI2
"application" in a folder at the root
of my existing site and create my
modules in CodeIgniter. For example, a
stand-alone CI2 site named news would
live in a folder at the root and would
be called like www.company.com/news?
Yes you can...
anything else? ;)
All joking aside, you could probably stick it into something like /ci/ and use .htaccess to make URL rewriting, and point your sites /news --> /ci/news/etc;
That way you have 1 single CI instance, and you just point links to the instance:
/news => /ci/news/view/
/form => /ci/form/process/1
etc; number of ways to do it.
I just started working with codeigniter and i found it easy to work with. I recently came across expressionEngine and seems like a great add-on for codeigniter. My questions is, after i install expressionEngine, will that change the way i work with codeigniter where code goes in controller and view in the view folder.
Apples and Oranges,
Codeigniter is a framework that allows you to create a Web Application like an admin system. The customer does not add any content or touch anything. You can add CMS functionality to your codeigniter Web Application however in this sense you are actually building your own CMS on top of your Web Application.
ExpressionEngine, built with codeigniter, is a CMS that allows clients to add content without actually giving them access to your HTML - That is not to say that you can't give them access but this would defeat the purpose of a CMS.
Because expressionEngine is built on top of codeigniter it is possible to access it's functionality (I've seen posts on this but haven't tried it yet myself).
I think you would use the two together if you had a Web Application with a Website around it. In this way the client would be able to add content to the website and even some of the Application information areas but you would use Codeigniter to build the Web Application's functionality.
I don't think it would be a waste of a week to get into expressionEngine. LevelUpTuts has some great video tutes on expressionEngine 2 and try Nettuts+ CodeIgniter from Scratch for, suprisingly, codeigniter.
(For those who are new to CMS) The general process of development is:
- Translate your website design to HTML/CMS/jQuery
- Translate your HTML to expresionEngine Templates
- Define your Channels which your clients will add content to
- Embed those Channels into your templates to display that content dynamically
- In administration, assign permissions to who can add content to which channels for your clients
It will start to make sense once you try it.
You can't layer ExpressionEngine on top of CodeIgniter since CodeIgniter is extracted from ExpressionEngine. It's EE all the way, or use CodeIgniter to build your own thing.
ExpressionEngine supports PHP code inside it's templates if that's what your asking.
EE(2.0) is a CMS built on the CI2.0 framework.
If you are familiar with CI you will be able to hack, modify and extend EE with ease, as well as develop your own plugins etc.
You can of course, have an EE installation and a CI installation on the same server, but the two do not interact directly - CI is a framework, EE is a CMS.
Not sure I would call EE an "add-on"...
EE is it's own standalone Content Management System. Generally EE and CI are not meant to be mixed. While EE is built on CI, it is not meant to be extended/changed etc... They (Ellislab) will tell you, If EE doesn't fulfill your requirements, then you need to use CI exclusively.
Plus, a 300$ license is pretty expensive for something that you view as an "add-on".
I would reccomend looking into PyroCMS, which is also a free (beer and speech) CMS built on CI that directly allows for "Module" development which is straight codeigniter development with a few added meta/installation files that would allow you to build the extra functionality you need within the Codeigniter structure.
There are four files for expression engine.
For Example i have module named "Products"
1)mcp.products for admin end or admin control panel just admin controller in pyrocms
2)mod.products front end code is placed here 3)tab.products tabs are here 4)upd.products installation code. There are views in "views" folder and model is in "model" folder in our case "products_model". Just copy your controllers methods and paste them in mcp.products.php on admin side. and copy your controllers methods and paste them in mod.products.php on front end side. in udp file place the table structure.and it will treat as you are in Pyrocms.
could i use one codeigniter framework directory to create multiple applications?
cause it seems that i have to have separate codeigniter folder instances for different applications. i want to be able to adjust some code in one place (classes that are universal) and every application i created with codeigniter will be affected.
with yii you could do this.
you can do this folder structure:
system
website-1 (your application)
----application
----index.php
website-2 (your application)
----application
----index.php
website-3 (your application)
----application
----index.php
move the 'codeigniter application folder' from the system and put it in one of you application folders.
copy the index.php file and paste inside your application folder.
In the index.php file:
YOu should have the following:
$system_folder = "../system";
$application_folder = "application";
Both Colin and Thorpe are correct.
Out of the box, sharing is not perfect. If you want to share libraries you have to put them in the system/libraries folder which makes upgrading that little bit more difficult and models cannot be shared at all.
To created a "shared" directory for libraries and models then you can use this MY_Loader.
could i use one codeigniter framework
directory to create multiple
applications?
Yes, you can create multiple applications with one CodeIgniter instance