Question

I have build a CMS using Zend Framework (1.11). In the application I have two modules, one called ‘cms’ which contains all the CMS logic and an other ‘web’ which enables a user to build their own website around the CMS. This involves adding controllers/views/models etc all in that module.

The application allows you to serve multiple instances of the app with their own themes. These instances are identified by the hostname. During preDispatch(), a database lookup is done on the hostname. Based on the database field ‘theme’ the app then loads the required css files and calls Zend_Layout::setLayout() to change the layout file for that specific instance.

I want to extend this functionality to also allow the user to run different web modules based on the ‘theme’ db field. However, this is where I am stuck. As it is now, the web module serves the content for all the instances of the application.

I need the application to switch to a different web module based on the ‘theme’ database value (so indirectly the hostname). Any ideas?

Answer 1

Well, in my opinion,

You should write a front controller plugin for the web module, and do it so, that when you need another plugin, you can do so easily.

The front controller plugin should look something like this:

class My_Controller_Plugin_Web extends My_Controller_Plugin_Abstract implements My_Controller_Plugin_Interface
{ 
    public function init()
    {
        // If user is not logged in - send him to login page
        if(!Zend_Auth::getInstance()->hasIdentity()) {

            // Do something
            return false;

        } else {

            // You then take the domain name
            $domainName = $this->_request->getParam( 'domainName', null );

            // Retrieve the module name from the database
            $moduleName = Module_fetcher::getModuleName( $domainName );

            // And set the module name of the request
            $this->_request->setModuleName( $moduleName );

            if(!$this->_request->isDispatched()) {

                // Good place to alter the route of the request further 
                // the way you want, if you want 

                $this->_request->setControllerName( $someController );
                $this->_request->setActionName( $someAction );
                $this->setLayout( $someLayout );

            }
        }   
    }

/**
 * Set up layout
 */
    public function setLayout( $layout )
    {
        $layout = Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance();
        $layout->setLayout( $layout );
    }   
}

And the My_Controller_Plugin_Abstract, which is not an actual abstract and which your controller plugin extends,looks like this:

class My_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{
    protected $_request;

    public function __construct($request)
    {
        $this->setRequest($request);
        $this->init();
    }

    private function setRequest($request)
    {
        $this->_request = $request;
    }
}

And in the end the front controller plugin itself, which decides which one of the specific front controller plugins you should execute.

require_once 'Zend/Controller/Plugin/Abstract.php';
require_once 'Zend/Locale.php';
require_once 'Zend/Translate.php';

class My_Controller_Plugin extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{

/**
 * before dispatch set up module/controller/action
 *
 * @param Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request
 */
public function routeShutdown(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
{
    // Make sure you get something
    if(is_null($this->_request->getModuleName())) $this->_request->setModuleName('web');

    // You should use zend - to camelCase convertor when doing things like this
    $zendFilter = new Zend_Filter_Word_SeparatorToCamelCase('-');
    $pluginClass = 'My_Controller_Plugin_' 
                   . $zendFilter->filter($this->_request->getModuleName());

    // Check if it exists
    if(!class_exists($pluginClass)) { 
        throw new Exception('The front controller plugin class "' 
                             . $pluginClass. ' does not exist');
    }

    Check if it is written correctly
    if(!in_array('My_Controller_Plugin_Interface', class_implements($pluginClass))) {   
        throw new Exception('The front controller plugin class "' 
                             . $pluginClass.'" must implement My_Controller_Plugin_Interface'); 
    }

    // If all is well instantiate it , and you will call the construct of the 
    // quasi - abstract , which will then call the init method of your 
    // My_Plugin_Controller_Web :)
    $specificController = new $pluginClass($this->_request); 
}

}

If you have never done this, now is the time. 🙂

Also, to register your front controller plugin with the application, you should edit the frontController entry in your app configuration. I will give you a json example, i’m sure you can translate it to ini / xml / yaml if you need…

"frontController": {
    "moduleDirectory": "APPLICATION_PATH/modules",
    "defaultModule": "web",
    "modules[]": "",
    "layout": "layout",
    "layoutPath": "APPLICATION_PATH/layouts/scripts",
    // This is the part where you register it! 
    "plugins": {
        "plugin": "My_Controller_Plugin"
     } 

This might be a tad confusing, feel free to ask for a more detailed explanation if you need it.