Developers
Contents |
As a developer you are tasked with altering or extending the functionality of Joomla! or one of its extensions. You will be proficient in a range of programming languages, including PHP, but may be less familiar with such things as JavaScript or CSS. If you are new to Joomla! you will need information about the Joomla! Framework API and how to use it and will probably make extensive use of best practice example code.
A complete contents list of all pages of interest to developers can be found in the development category.
Reference Material
- Joomla Framework.
- API documentation automatically generated using phpDocumentor.
Articles and Tutorials
General
- Setting up your workstation for Joomla! development. A step-by-step guide to installing the Eclipse IDE on your local workstation for Joomla! development.
- Setting up your workstation for extension development A guide to Joomla Extension development
- Using Eclipse for Joomla! Development Video webinar demonstrating overview of Eclipse features for Joomla! development
- Running Automated Tests for Version 1.6
- Do not use die to debug
- How to debug your code
- Adapting Joomla 1.0 extensions to Joomla 1.5
- Version 1.6 Developer Notes
- Joomla Beginning Developer Course
- Secure coding guidelines
Components
- Developing a Model-View-Controller Component
- Adding ACL rules to your component
- Adding sortable columns to a table in a component
- Component Program Flow.
- (UML sequence diagrams showing the control flow for a component.)
- Creating a file uploader in your component
- Creating a toolbar for your component
- Creating Mootools accordion or simple slider/toggler
- Creating PDF views
- File Structure and Naming Conventions
- How to add breadcrumbs
- How to add custom filters to components
- How to implement XML-RPC in a component
- JController and its subclass usage overview
- Joomla Platform Portal
- Managing Component Updates - Part 1
- Manifest files
- (For the installation of extensions.)
- Sending email from extensions
- Supporting SEF URLs in your component
- Using a custom image in the menu bar title
- Using multiple models in an MVC component
- Using the JHtmlTabs class in a component
- Using the JToolBar class in the frontend
- Using Tags in an Extension
- Xml-rpc changes in Joomla! 2.5
For more information, see Component Development.
Modules
For more information, see Module Development.
Plugins
- Plugin Developer Overview
- Creating a Plugin for Joomla
- J1.5:Creating a content plugin
- Creating a search plugin
- Creating a Smart Search plug-in
- J1.5:Creating an Authentication Plugin for Joomla
- Supporting plugins in your component
- Triggering content plugins in your extension
- Creating a System Plugin to augment JRouter
For more information, see Plugin Development.
Templates
- Accessibility
- Creating clickable background images using CSS
- Jim Yuzwalk has contributed a useful introduction to Joomla templates (download the example template from here).
- Changing the site favicon
- Using Class Suffixes
- Using Firebug With Your Joomla Website
- Understanding Output Overrides
- Layout Overrides in Joomla 2.5
- How are templates executed?
- How to determine if the user is viewing the front page
- jdoc statements
- Objects methods and properties available from your template - what you can do with
$this - How to cloak email addresses
For more information, see Template Development.
Parameters
- Standard parameter types
- Custom parameter types
- Component parameters
- Creating custom template parameter types
See also: Category:Parameters
Core extensions summary
Security
Database
- How to use the database classes in your script
- How to use the JTable class
- How to connect to an external database
Localisation
- Localization Advancements in Joomla! 1.5
- Adding multi-language support
- Language Guidelines for 3rd Party Extensions
- Adding Joomfish functionality to custom components
- Specification of language files
- Language Metadata
Access Control
Miscellaneous
- How to use the filesystem package
- How to use the editor in a component
- Adding AJAX to your component.
- How to send email from components
- How to use the JToolBar class in the frontend
- Routing
- Joomla Routes and SEF
- API Execution Order
- Accessing the current user object
- Adding JavaScript and CSS to the page
- Constants used in the Joomla Framework.
- Form validation
- How to create a custom button
- How to create a stand-alone application using the Joomla! Framework
- How to use user state variables
- Adding template overridable images in your extension
- Retrieving data from GET and POST requests
- Cache and Using caching to speed up your code
- Using a custom image in the menu bar title
- Using the installer API to support package installation
- How to add tooltips to your Joomla! website
- Xml-rpc changes in Joomla! 1.6
- How to add breadcrumbs
- Creating a file uploader in your component.
- Display error messages and notices.
- Errors
- Overriding JFormFields
Contributing to Joomla Development
The development of Joomla itself is carried out by the Development Working Group and third party developers.
- Participating in the community: a brief description of how people can get involved.
- Developer Email lists: a list of email lists for developers, including third party developers.
- Coding style and standards (To be reviewed).
- Setting up your workstation for Joomla! development. A step-by-step guide to installing the Eclipse IDE on your local workstation for Joomla! development.
- How to check out SVN Code
- Patch submission guidelines.
- Filing bugs and issues.
- How to release a distribution tarball.
- How to create a continuous integration.
Contributing to Joomla Developer Documentation
The development of Joomla developer documentation is carried out primarily by the Documentation Working Group. There are currently two sub-projects of interest to developers:
When creating a new page, ensure you place the following marker at the bottom of the page so it is included in the category list:
[[Category:Development]]
If you locate other articles you think are relevant to developers, please add this marker to those pages.
Suggested topics
This is a short list of articles that might be written to support developers. Please feel free to add further topic ideas.
- Adding configuration objects to modules and plugins.
- Storing data in the session between page loads.
- Suppressing output of extra HTML.
- How to use the filter package.
- Describe how and when to use the Filter package and explain what needs to be filtered for various situations (for queries, for URLs, etc)
- How to use the registry package
- How to use JSimpleXML.
- How to load and store XML files and how to work with them
- How to create component feeds (RSS/ATOM)
- How to create PDF views
- How to generate paths for client side and server side
- How to access information from the request
- This focuses on using the JBrowser class to retrieve information about the features available in the user's browser.
- How to create an editor plugin
- What can be done with a user plugin
- How to work with parameters
- How to cloak email addresses
- Using the caching system in your component. This might be enough (for now?) -> Cache
- Extending Joomla's MVC Architecture
Joomla Security Guide
Developers should also be aware of security issues. Template:Security Guide
