Re: [Phpwebsite-developers] Simple Module

[Eloi G. <el...@re...>]

Right now there's 2 schools of thought on this, Mike.
 
 The Item-Manager module style came about because we wanted a way for 
new module developers to
(1) be able to rapidly develop applications, and
(2) decrease the memory usage of phpWebsite, because many module classes 
were loaded/kept in memory on each pageview.  If all of the modules used 
the same base class functions (PHPWS_Manager & PHPWS_Item), then less 
code would have to be kept in memory.

Reason #1 is invalid right now because PHPWS_Manager & PHPWS_Item are 
largely undocumented & uncommented. 
Reason #2 is partially obsolete because with version 0.9-2, module 
classes stopped being automatically loaded by the core, freeing module 
developers to more finely tune which classes get loaded when.  I said 
*partially* because it still has a benefit for modules that operate on 
the same page as others.

The Item-Manager module style also has some limitations -- one being 
that you can only take your module's capabilities so far before you have 
to start writing extra code to make the base classes do stuff that 
they're not designed to do, 'cause Item&Manager aren't just reuseable 
code -- it's an entire framework.  The other problem is that when you 
have an additional level of middleware code, you also increase the 
execution time of the script.  When that happens, the server can't 
handle as manu requests before it crashes.

The other method of module writing is like Notes.  If you need a class, 
you use one.  You write the code to be fast and tight, doing only what 
*you* need it to do.  You can optimize queries to reduce the workload on 
the database server.  It's even easier to learn this way because either 
method requires you to learn how to use the Core classes, but you really 
don't ever have to look at Item or Manager if you don't want to.

If you want to keep memory usage down, remember that include() and 
require() are your friends!  If you're not using a piece of code, don't 
load it.  Take a look at ArticleManager as a (non-definitive) example.  
Also, don't be afraid to unset() a variable after you're finished using 
it -- especially if it's using a lot of memory.

Bottom line is -- you can decide for yourself which way to want to code 
the module.  From your description it sounds so simple that it may not 
even need a class!  You could most likely code the entire thing in 
/mod/yourmodule/index.php and not have your server deal with the 
overhead of creating a class.

Geez, I kinda went off on a rant there, didn't I?
-Eloi-


Mike Potvin wrote:

>Don,
>I guess I'm not thinking in a very PHPWS-way yet :) Help me wrap my head
>around this.  This is how my module works:  I have several links to the
>module in various menus.  Each link passes a different parameter (in this
>case an author's name).  The module selects rows from an sql database that
>match that author's name and displays the results in a table.  There is no
>user interaction required (user or deity).  What would my manager do?
>Mike...
>
>  
>
>>Regardless of how simple your module might be, making use of the
>>Item/Manager system provides a lot of flexibility and code re-use.  Even
>>if I just had a single item with a single field (much like skeleton), I
>>would still use a Manager.
>>
>>Don
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>
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