Joomla 2.5 to 3.0 Developer changes

This FAQ was written for Developers of Joomla (not intended for general users).

During the Joomla 2.5 to 3.0 upgrade some functions have changed...

DS Removed

Replace DS with "/". For example:

require_once (dirname(__FILE__).DS.'helper.php');

Becomes...

require_once (dirname(__FILE__).'/helper.php');

JModel, JView and JController

Due to upcoming changes to the MVC implementation in the platform, JModel, JView, and JController are re-used as the names of the new interfaces. For now, use JModelLegacy, JViewLegacy and JControllerLegacy instead.

  • JModel becomes JModelLegacy
  • JView becomes JViewLegacy
  • JController becomes JControllerLegacy

For example:

$controller = JController::getInstance('ComponentName');

becomes

$controller = JControllerLegacy::getInstance('ComponentName');

And...

class ComponentNameController extends JController

becomes...

class ComponentNameController extends JControllerLegacy

Manifest XML Change

Use of the <install> base tag (from 1.5) is no longer supported; use <extension> instead

JUtility getToken obsolete

JSession::getFormToken();

replaces...

JUtility::getToken();

More Info:

Backward Compatibilty list: https://docs.joomla.org/Potential_backward_compatibility_issues_in_Joomla_3.0_and_Joomla_Platform_12.1