Portal:Developers

<translate> 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.</translate>

• Developer guidelines.
• Participating in the community: a brief description of how people can get involved.
• Coding style and standards (To be reviewed).
• Secure coding guidelines.
• Error message conventions.
• Exception handling.
• Patch submission guidelines.
• Filing bugs and issues.
• How to release a distribution tarball.
• Release numbering, compatibility and deprecation.
• Localisation (L18N): an explanation of how localisation is implemented in Joomla! 1.5 and how to use it.
• Routing: how it works and how to use it

• Complete/update/review the wiki API reference (assumes this has been moved from DocuWiki to MediaWiki).
• Update developer tutorials and how-to's currently on dev.joomla.org
  • Review all material under the tutorials heading at http://dev.joomla.org/component/option,com_jd-wiki/Itemid,32/
  • Recommend material to be migrated over to docs.joomla.org
  • Update material that is to be migrated over to docs.joomla.org
• How to debug your code.
  • Write a tutorial giving debugging tips for new developers. Perhaps list different kinds of problems code might have and suggested approaches to locating the problem and fixing it.
• Using the core parameter types (To be reviewed)
• Creating custom XML parameter types.
  • Write a document detailing the steps to creating a custom XML Parameter type. Explain how these types can be used in templates, modules, components and plugins.
• Creating component preferences (ready for review).
  • Write a document describing how to create an xml file for modifying component preferences and how to add a Parameters button to an administrator toolbar.
• Adding JavaScript and CSS to the page.
  • Write a document describing how to add JavaScript and CSS to the page. Explain how to decide whether JavaScript should go in the head block or in the page itself and how to insert the JavaScript.
• Accessing the current user object.
  • Write a document describing how to access the current user object and also indicate what type of information can be found in the object, and how that data should be retrieved and/or set.
• Adding AJAX to your component.
  • Write a document describing how to add AJAX to an MVC component. If desired, use the MVC Hello World tutorial as a base. Describe where various elements should go in the MVC design pattern. Also describe how to implement MVC in a module (these need supporting components to do AJAX).
• Using JPagination in your component (frontend and backend).
  • Describe the steps necessary to add pagination to a component using the JPagination class. Describe the differences between frontend and backend.
• Creating a toolbar for your component.
• Adding configuration objects to modules and plugins.
• Storing data in the session between page loads.
• Using the caching system in your component.
• Creating a file uploader in your component.
• Suppressing output of extra HTML.
• Supporting plugins in your component (Ready for review).
  • Explain how to add triggers so that your component can fire custom events.
• Adding multi-language support.
• Retrieving data from GET and POST requests - the Joomla! way.
• Adding view layout configuration parameters.
  • Explain how to create an XML file that will allow users to configure views.
• Using the installer API to support package installation.
  • Explain how to use the JInstaller API to install add-ons to components
• How to implement XML-RPC in a component
  • There are two ways to do this:
    • Implement it using an XML-RPC plugin
    • Implement it in the component itself using raw views
• How to use the filesystem package
• 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 use JDate
  • What JDate does and how to use it...
• How to add CSRF anti-spoofing to forms
  • How to use JHTML::_( 'form.token' ) and token checking to secure components
• How to add breadcrumbs
• How to use the JTable class
• How to create component feeds (RSS/ATOM)
• How to create PDF views
• How to send email from components
• What's available in the JFactory class
• How to generate paths for client side and server side
• How to access information from the request/browser
  • This focuses on using the JBrowser class to retrieve information about the features available in the user's browser.
• How to create a search plugin (To be reviewed)
• How to create a content plugin (To be reviewed)
• How to create an editor plugin
• How to create a system plugin
• What can be done with a user plugin
• How to create a module
• How to create a stand-alone application using the Joomla! Framework
• How to work with parameters
• How to use the JToolBar class in the frontend
• How to create a custom button
• How to use the editor in a component
• How to use the JPane classes in a component
• How to cloak email addresses
• JUser_example
• Form validation