j2.5 : 2. Setting the controller

Setting the controller

In the core code of Joomla, there is a class able to manage controllers: JController. This class has to be extended to be used in our component. In the file site/helloworld.php (entry point of our Hello World component), put these lines
site/helloworld.php

<?php
// No direct access to this file
defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');
 
// import joomla controller library
jimport('joomla.application.component.controller');
 
// Get an instance of the controller prefixed by HelloWorld
$controller = JController::getInstance('HelloWorld');
 
// Perform the Request task
$input = JFactory::getApplication()->input;
$controller->execute($input->getCmd('task'));
 
// Redirect if set by the controller
$controller->redirect();

The getInstance static method of the JController class will create a controller. In the code above, it will instantiate a controller object of a class named HelloWorldController. Joomla will look for the declaration of that class in an aptly named file called controller.php (it's a default behavior).
Now, controller.php needs to be created and HelloWorldController needs to be declared and defined. So with your favorite file manager and editor, create a site/controller.php file containing
site/controller.php

<?php
// No direct access to this file
defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');
 
// import Joomla controller library
jimport('joomla.application.component.controller');
 
/**
 * Hello World Component Controller
 */
class HelloWorldController extends JController
{
}

When no task is given in the request variables, the default task will be executed. It's the display task by default. The JController class has such a task. In our example, it will display a view named HelloWorld.

Setting the view

When JController wants to display a view, it will look for certain files in the component/com_[component_name]/views/[name of view]/ folder.
The name of the folder of the default view is the name of the component itself. In our case the path is component/com_helloworld/views/helloworld/.
The file that will contain the code of the view is called view.[view_mode].php. The default view mode, and probably the only view a component might need is the html mode. So this give us our file name which is view.html.php.
With your favorite file manager and editor, create a file site/views/helloworld/view.html.php able to display the default view and containing
site/views/helloworld/view.html.php

<?php
// No direct access to this file
defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');
 
// import Joomla view library
jimport('joomla.application.component.view');
 
/**
 * HTML View class for the HelloWorld Component
 */
class HelloWorldViewHelloWorld extends JView
{
        // Overwriting JView display method
        function display($tpl = null) 
        {
                // Assign data to the view
                $this->msg = 'Hello World';
 
                // Display the view
                parent::display($tpl);
        }
}

The display method of the JView class is called with the display task of the JController class. In our case, this method will display data using the tmpl/default.php file. With your favorite file manager and editor, create a file site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.php able to display the default view and containing
site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.php

<?php
// No direct access to this file
defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');
?>
<h1><?php echo $this->msg; ?></h1>

This template file will be included by the JView class. Therefore, here, $this refers to the HelloWorldViewHelloWorld class.

Packaging the component

Content of your code directory

• helloworld.xml
• site/index.html
• site/helloworld.php
• site/controller.php
• site/views/index.html
• site/views/helloworld/index.html
• site/views/helloworld/view.html.php
• site/views/helloworld/tmpl/index.html
• site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.php
• admin/index.html
• admin/helloworld.php
• admin/sql/index.html
• admin/sql/updates/index.html
• admin/sql/updates/mysql/index.html
• admin/sql/updates/mysql/0.0.1.sql

Create a compressed file of this directory or directly download the archive and install it using the extension manager of Joomla. You can test this basic component by putting index.php?option=com_helloworld in your browser address.
helloworld.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<extension type="component" version="2.5.0" method="upgrade">
 
        <name>Hello World!</name>
        <!-- The following elements are optional and free of formatting constraints -->
        <creationDate>November 2009</creationDate>
        <author>John Doe</author>
        <authorEmail>john.doe@example.org</authorEmail>
        <authorUrl>http://www.example.org</authorUrl>
        <copyright>Copyright Info</copyright>
        <license>License Info</license>
        <!--  The version string is recorded in the components table -->
        <version>0.0.2</version>
        <!-- The description is optional and defaults to the name -->
        <description>Description of the Hello World component ...</description>
 
        <update> <!-- Runs on update; New in 2.5 -->
                <schemas>
                        <schemapath type="mysql">sql/updates/mysql</schemapath>
                </schemas>
        </update>
 
        <!-- Site Main File Copy Section -->
        <!-- Note the folder attribute: This attribute describes the folder
                to copy FROM in the package to install therefore files copied
                in this section are copied from /site/ in the package -->
        <files folder="site">
                <filename>index.html</filename>
                <filename>helloworld.php</filename>
                <filename>controller.php</filename>
                <folder>views</folder>
        </files>
 
        <administration>
                <!-- Administration Menu Section -->
                <menu>Hello World!</menu>
                <!-- Administration Main File Copy Section -->
                <!-- Note the folder attribute: This attribute describes the folder
                        to copy FROM in the package to install therefore files copied
                        in this section are copied from /admin/ in the package -->
                <files folder="admin">
                        <!-- Admin Main File Copy Section -->
                        <filename>index.html</filename>
                        <filename>helloworld.php</filename>
                        <!-- SQL files section -->
                        <folder>sql</folder>
                </files>
        </administration>
 
</extension>

Result: You will see by default the message contained in the variable $this->msg in the view.html.php file.