Joomla 5 Developer Documentation

Joomla Developers Manual: http://pr-240.manual.joomlacode.org/docs/

Classes: https://api.joomla.org/cms-5/classes

 

Quick notes for Joomla 5 Component Developers

(Joomla Modules have a simpler structure and is not covered here).

 Model: Place for Functions and Database Calls. populateState, getItem, getTable,

View: builds the display. Calls a function database to populate the data. Sets the page name, metadata, breadcrumbs, all the other standard bits.

Controller: Where the edit, remove, checkin, publish functions live. Like a toolbar.

Helper: Component specific functions Service: Where the Router.php file lives. The Router builds the component URL.

 

Calling a component page:

index.php?option=com_organic_shop&view=buyproduct&id='.(int) $item->id . '&catid=' . (int) $item->product_category_id);?>" 

Joomla Form calling to self...

<form action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars(Uri::getInstance()->toString()); ?>" method="post" name="adminForm" id="adminForm">

 This line (in above) means to get the current URL complete with filename of the current script...

Uri::getInstance()->toString());

 

To call a component page and execute a task (a function stored in the controller file)... in this case run the paypalReturn function. Note the "view.task". 

index.php?option=com_organic_shop&view=checkout$task=checkout.paypalReturn

 

Getting a Component Config Parameter

Parameters are defined in administrator/components/my_com/config.xml

Getting from within the component

$app = Factory::getApplication();
$params = $app->getParams();
$param = $params->get('paypal_api');

From within another component:

$content_params = ComponentHelper::getParams( 'com_content' );
$show_date = $content_params->get( 'paypal_api' ); 

 

Getting Page Inputs

Basic page input from GET or POST

use Joomla\CMS\Factory;
$input = Factory::getApplication()->getInput();
$name = $input->getInput('name',"Joe","STRING")

 Filter types:

• INT
• UNIT
• FLOAT
• BOOL
• WORD
• ALNUM
• CMD
• BASE64
• STRING
• HTML
• ARRAY
• RAW
• USERNAME

Example... getting all page inputs, without knowing their names... and processing them...

use Joomla\CMS\Factory;
$input = Factory::getApplication()->getInput();
$post = $input->post->getArray();
//echo "<pre>Input:".print_r($post,1)."</pre>";   // DEBUG	

foreach ($post as $key=>$value){								
	if (str_contains($key, "needle_")) {  // Looks for something in the input
                // Do Something here

		}
	}
}

 

More info on getting other inputs...

http://pr-240.manual.joomlacode.org/docs/general-concepts/input 

 

 Joomla J5 Constants

Visit https://docs.joomla.org/Constants

These return paths (some of these will be depreciated in Joomla 6...)

JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR	The path to the administrator folder.
JPATH_BASE	The path to the installed Joomla! site, or JPATH_ROOT/administrator if executed from the backend.
JPATH_CACHE	The path to the cache folder.
JPATH_COMPONENT	The path to the current component being executed.
JPATH_COMPONENT_ADMINISTRATOR	The path to the administration folder of the current component being executed.
JPATH_COMPONENT_SITE	The path to the site folder of the current component being executed.
JPATH_CONFIGURATION	The path to folder containing the configuration.php file.
JPATH_LIBRARIES	The path to the libraries folder.
JPATH_PLUGINS	The path to the plugins folder.
JPATH_ROOT	The path to the installed Joomla! site.
JPATH_SITE	The path to the installed Joomla! site.
JPATH_THEMES	The path to the templates folder.
JPATH_XMLRPC	The path to the XML-RPC Web service folder.(1.5 only)

 

These return URLS...

use \Joomla\CMS\Uri\Uri;
echo  Uri::getInstance()->toString();  //returns https://organicdemo.com.au/index.php?option=com_organic_shop&view=checkout
echo  Uri::base();                     //returns https://organicdemo.com.au/
echo  Uri::root();                     //returns https://organicdemo.com.au/
echo  Uri::current();                  //returns https://organicdemo.com.au/index.php

 More info on using URLs in Joomla here: https://docs.joomla.org/URLs_in_Joomla

 More info on Uri class... https://api.joomla.org/cms-5/classes/Joomla-CMS-Uri-Uri.html

 

Calling Component Style Sheets

We do this now through WebAssetManager. In the component tmpl page... add this

// Import CSS
$wa = $this->document->getWebAssetManager();
$wa->useStyle('com_organic_shop.organicshop');

 

You will also need to add your stylesheet asset in the json file of your component. (Not the template json). When a component is installed, it is located in the media folder... media/com_mycomponent/joomla.asset.json

 {
 "$schema": "https://developer.joomla.org/schemas/json-schema/web_assets.json",
 "name": "com_organic_shop",
 "version": "CVS: 5.0.1",
 "license": "GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt",
 "assets": [
     {
      "name": "com_organic_shop.organicshop",
      "type": "style",
      "uri": "com_organic_shop/organicshop.css"
     }
]
}

 

 

Sessions

Currently (July 2024) the Joomla Devloper Docs does not adequalty cover sessions cookie use. This is how we use them for Joomla 5...

$session = Factory::getSession();
$cart = $session->get('cart');
if (is_null($cart)) {
 // No cart yet - so make a new Cart
 $cart = array($product_id=>$buy_qty);
}
else {
 // There is a Cart in session - so add items
 $cart[$product_id] = $buy_qty; 
}

//echo "<pre>".print_r($cart,1)."</pre>"; //DEBUG

// Store cart in session
$session->set('cart',$cart);

 

Making a system message

In the controller file.... 

$this->setMessage("We have a problem", 'warning');
$this->setMessage("Saved OK");

 

 In the model file...

Factory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage('Sorry - We have a big problem.', 'error');

 

Modal Confirm then Action

Placed in a tmpl file (and example delete button):

<?php echo HTMLHelper::_(
    'bootstrap.renderModal',
    'deleteModal',
    array(
       'title' => 'Delete item',
       'height' => '50%',
       'width' => '20%',
       'modalWidth' => '50',
       'bodyHeight' => '100',
       'footer' => '<button class="btn btn-outline-primary" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
            <a href="' . Route::_('index.php?option=com_mycomponent&task=myviewform.remove&id=' . $this->item->id, false, 2) .'" class="btn btn-danger">Delete</a>'
    ),
    "Delete item $this->item->id ?"
  ); 
?>

 

Sample Tasks

Task Function are found in the Controller folder, with a filename like MyviewController.php

Code to call a task in the tmpl file...

Cancel button:

<a class="btn btn-danger"
    href="/<?php echo Route::_('index.php?option=com_mycomponent&task=myviewform.cancel'); ?>"
    title="<?php echo "Cancel";?>">
    <span class="fas fa-times" aria-hidden="true"></span><?php echo "Cancel"; ?>
 </a>

 

Save:

Route::_('index.php?option=com_mycomponent&task=myviewform.save')

 Delete:

Route::_('index.php?option=com_mycomponent&task=myviewform.remove&id=' . $this->item->id, false, 2) 

Cancel:

Route::_('index.php?option=com_mycomponent&task=myviewform.cancel')

 

 

Redirecting to pages

To redirect to an edit page...

// Redirect to the edit screen.
 $this->setRedirect(Route::_('index.php?option=com_mycomponent&view=myviewform&layout=edit', false));

 

Icons

Font awesome icons... (https://fontawesome.com/icons)

 <span class="fas fa-circle-check" aria-hidden="true"></span>

Bootstrap 5 Icons: (https://icons.getbootstrap.com/)

<i class="bi bi-check-circle"></i>