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This is an ongoing list of best procedures and tips for MODx module development. Modules are used in the MODx manager to help site administrators control custom functionality.

Pasting PHP Code into the Manager

Pasting PHP code into the Module Manager or Snippet Editor can be extremely frustrating. Copy/paste your code into a file under /assets/modules/{module-name}/{module-name}.module.php or assets/snippets/{snippet-name}/{snippet-name}.snippet.php.

For modules, delete all PHP source in the Module Manager editor and paste:

<?php
 
require_once($modx->config['base_path'] . "assets/modules/{module-name}/{module-name}.module.php");
 
?>

For snippets, delete all PHP source in the Create/edit Snippet textarea and paste:

<?php
 
require_once($modx->config['base_path'] . "assets/snippets/{snippet-name}/{snippet-name}.snippet.php");
 
?>

• If your snippet fails to display after require-ing the helper file. Try using echo to output the snippet’s response.
• This method allows you to continue using your preferred PHP editor while developing modules and takes two steps out of the testing procedure.

Helper Files

Most of the modules I develop have overlapping functionality. I like to move generic/overlapping functions into an external file and include them in my modules and snippets. This practice helps keep my main module and snippet code tidy. If you prefer an object-oriented approach, you can use classes instead of procedural functions.

As an example, my module ‘user_manager.module.php’ includes a ‘user_manager.inc.php’. This inc.php file is included in the admin area module and front-end snippet.

Database Access

The following code snippet will give you a quick overview of how to access the database from a MODx module:

function getUserTotalPoints($web_user_id)
{
	global $modx;
 
	$web_user_id = $modx->db->escape($web_user_id);
 
	$tp = $modx->db->config['table_prefix'];
 
	$fields = 'SUM(tbl_points.points) AS total';
	$from = $tp . 'web_user_competency_points AS tbl_points';
	$where = 'tbl_points.web_user_id=' . $web_user_id;
 
	$result = $modx->db->getRow($modx->db->select($fields, $from, $where));
 
	return intval($result['total']);
}

• $modx is the document parser.
• $modx->db is the database connection to the primary MODx database.
• $tp is the table prefix for the database (default is ‘modx_’).
• The example above assumes there will only be one row returned. Since the query will never return more than one row, we can use getRow() on a select() in a single line.
• If your result set will return more than one row, use:

  while($row = $modx->db->getRow($result))

Refer to http://wiki.modxcms.com/index.php/API:DBAPI for more information.

Module Sections

A single module may have more than one section or state. I use an ‘opcode’ to keep track of the current module state. For more information visit: http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/MODx096/Writing+the+module+code

This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 4:53 am and is filed under Development Procedures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.