Joomla Module

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Creating the folder and file structure

There is a strict file/folder structure when creating any kind of Joomla extension. Create the files and

folders below using your favorite code editor or IDE. If you don't have this, use Notepa.. Create the main

folder which will be called "mod_siteusers". Then create the files/folders below.

Important: In order for the module to work, the mod_siteusers folder needs to be in your Joomla sites

"Modules" folder BUT do not put it there yet because we need to create everything first then pack it in a

zip file to install via Joomla admin area.

mod_siteusers

-mod_siteusers.xml

-mod_siteusers.php

-helper.php

-index.html

--tmpl (folder)

--tmpl/default.php

--tmpl/ordered_list.php

--tmpl/index.html

Lets go through each file one by one...please read the comments in the code as well

mod_siteusers.xml

This file holds all of the modules metadata, information and parameters. The file structure must be

exact.

Site Users

Brad Traversy

2012

All rights reserved by Tech Guy Web Solutions.

GPL 2.0


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[email protected]

www.techguywebsolutions.com

1.0.0

Provides a listing of registered users

mod_siteusers.php

index.html

helper.php

tmpl/default.php

tmpl/ordered_list.php

tmpl/index.html

en-GB.mod_siteusers.ini


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label="LABEL_USER_LAYOUT"

description="DESC_USER_LAYOUT">

Unordered List

Ordered List

Feel free to change the personal info. One thing you should look at here is the " tags. These are

the parameters that are on the right hand side when viewing your module in modlue manager. Here we

have 4. The first is the "module class suffix" which all modules have. The suffix the user adds here will be

attached to the modules css class so you can style individual modules. The second is just a simple

"spacer". The third is the number of users you wish to display in the module and finally, the fourth is the

layout option. You can have multiple layouts for one module. Each layout should go in the tmpl folder.

Our 2 options here is the default, which is an unordered list with the "Website Users" description at the

top. The ordered_list layout uses a numbered list and no description at the top. The changes are very

subtle but I just wanted to show you a simple example.

Another thing you might be looking at is the uppercase constants like "LABEL_USER_COUNT". These are

used with the language file that will be included later.

mod_siteusers.php

This file acts as a controller directing the functions and files

helper.php

This is the main workhorse model that handles the business logic


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This file runs the query and selects the user "names" from the #__users table and limits the number of

returned rows to whatever the user sets as the "user count" param from module manager. This query

will then be loaded using the "loadObjectsList method and put in the $rows variable which we can now

loop through in our default.php layout file below.

index.html

This html file is strictly used to prevent users from accessing the module files directly

tmpl/default.php

The default.php file is the modules "default view". It is in charge of displaying the module to the user. It

is essentially html with php includes and loops. This file performs a foreach loop to diaplay the $rows

array which is the array of users.

tmpl/ordered_list.php

This is the "ordered list" layout. As stated above, the only difference is that it uses a numbered list and

has no description parameter.

tmpl/index.html

Same as above, it is used to prevent users from accessing the module files directly

Now that all of your files are created, add the entire "mod_siteusers" folder to a zip file using whatever

zip program you use (winzip, winrar, 7zip, etc).

Congrats! Your first Joomla module is complete. Lets try it out!

Login to your Joomla admin area and goto the extension manager. From the "install" seciton, browse

and upload the zip file. You should get a "Successful Install" message.

Now go to the "Module Manager" and you should see your module. click on the title. Now you should

see the properties of the module. You should see all your parameters on the right hand side. You can

change the number of users to be displayed as well as the layout. Now make sure it is published and use

the desired module position in your template.


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Visit your frontend and you should see a list of your website users.

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