[Phpwebsite-developers] To extend PHPWS_Item or not

[Verdon V. <ve...@ve...>]

Hi :)

Previously I've done a lot of serious hacking to other people's mods, 
I'm now in process of trying to write one of medium sophistication 
completely from scratch (well, more or less ;). One thing I'm not sure 
of is when I should make a class an extension of PHPWS_Item and when I 
should not, or if there is any hard-set rule. In my specific case, I am 
writing a mod that facilitates online petitions. I have written one 
class for the actual petitions, which does extend PHPWS_Item. I am now 
working on the class for signatures and it is that one that I am unsure 
of how to handle. The signatures are not items that will ever be 
directly manipulated by a logged in user, per say. Basically, an annon 
visitor can fill in a form to sign the petition. They will then get an 
e-mail with a link to click, which when they do so, the signature 
record is updated to indicate status as verified. At any time, an admin 
will be able to go in to the site and get stats on the number of 
verified signatures, print lists, and so on.

So, I guess what I'm asking is, is there any hard-set rules as to when 
it is best to make a class an extension of PHPWS_Item or not? I've read 
through many core and 3rd party mods, and although I see some 
similarities in approach, I don't really see a pattern.

TIA for any advice.

Best regards from Northern Ontario, Canada,
verdon vaillancourt