Developing an MVC Component/Adding a variable request in the menu type

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Joomla!

3.x

Tutorial

Developing an MVC Component

This is a multiple-article series of tutorials on how to develop a Model-View-Controller Component for Joomla! Version.

Begin with the Introduction, and navigate the articles in this series by using the navigation button at the bottom or the box to the right (the Articles in this series).

Introduction[edit]

This tutorial is part of the Developing a MVC Component for Joomla! 3.2 tutorial. You are encouraged to read the previous parts of the tutorial before reading this. You can watch a video associated with this step in the tutorial at Step 5, adding a variable request in the menu.

Adding a variable request in the menu type[edit]

For the moment, the displayed message is always Hello World!. Since Joomla! 2.5, it is possible to add parameters to menu types. In our case, this is done in the site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.xml file:

site/views/helloworld/tmpl/default.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<metadata>
	<layout title="COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_VIEW_DEFAULT_TITLE">
		<message>COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_VIEW_DEFAULT_DESC</message>
	</layout>
	<fields name="request">
		<fieldset name="request">
			<field
					name="id"
					type="list"
					label="COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_FIELD_GREETING_LABEL"
					description="COM_HELLOWORLD_HELLOWORLD_FIELD_GREETING_DESC"
					default="1">
                                <option value="1">Hello World!</option>
                                <option value="2">Good bye World!</option>
                        </field>
		</fieldset>
	</fields>
</metadata>

We're including a type list field within the menu. This is one of the Joomla Standard Form Field Types.

Two important things to note:

the request group of fields indicates mandatory fields.
the name attribute can be passed to the component in the URL. In this case ?option=com_helloworld&id=1 would indicate that you had chosen option 1.

The model has to be modified in order to switch between the two different messages (depending upon which is chosen by the administrator with the field defined above):

site/models/helloworld.php

<?php
/**
 * @package     Joomla.Administrator
 * @subpackage  com_helloworld
 *
 * @copyright   Copyright (C) 2005 - 2018 Open Source Matters, Inc. All rights reserved.
 * @license     GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
 */

// No direct access to this file
defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');

/**
 * HelloWorld Model
 *
 * @since  0.0.1
 */
class HelloWorldModelHelloWorld extends JModelItem
{
	/**
	 * @var string message
	 */
	protected $message;

	/**
	 * Get the message
	 * @return  string  The message to be displayed to the user
	 */
	public function getMsg()
	{
		if (!isset($this->message))
		{
			$jinput = JFactory::getApplication()->input;
			$id     = $jinput->get('id', 1, 'INT');

			switch ($id)
			{
				case 2:
					$this->message = 'Good bye World!';
					break;
				default:
				case 1:
					$this->message = 'Hello World!';
					break;
			}
		}
		return $this->message;
	}
}

Also modify your helloworld.xml file to indicate the new version:

helloworld.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<extension type="component" version="3.0" method="upgrade">

	<name>Hello World!</name>
	<!-- The following elements are optional and free of formatting constraints -->
	<creationDate>January 2018</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>0.0.5</version>
	<!-- The description is optional and defaults to the name -->
	<description>Description of the Hello World component ...</description>

	<update> <!-- Runs on update; New since J2.5 -->
		<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>
		<folder>models</folder>
	</files>

	<administration>
		<!-- Administration Menu Section -->
		<menu link='index.php?option=com_helloworld'>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>

You can test this variable request by putting index.php?option=com_helloworld&view=helloworld&id=1 or index.php?option=com_helloworld&view=helloworld&id=2 in your browser address.

Packaging the component[edit]

Content of your code directory:

Create a compressed file of this directory or directly download the archive and install it using the extension manager of Joomla. You can add a menu item of this component using the menu manager in the backend.

General Information

Contributors[edit]

Prev: Adding a model to the site part

Next: Using the database

J3.x

Developing an MVC Component/Adding a variable request in the menu type

From Joomla! Documentation

< J3.x:Developing an MVC Component

Introduction[edit]

Adding a variable request in the menu type[edit]

Packaging the component[edit]

Contributors[edit]