Question

Rather a basic question, though i’m a bit confused with the architecture.
I am programming a website using Yii framework.
There is a SiteController and AdminController (built not by me).
All the site administration is in AdminController, and the user interaction in SiteController.
I know it is not correct as it is not model-based.

Now, I want to implement user registration. The user can signup and administrator can change his properties.
Is it better to build UserController or manage all the above in the existing controller (not breaking previous logic)?

Answer 1

By MVC standards its best to split controllers by function groups.

Auth Controller

handles authentication/registration/deletion. Sets session vars for logins which all other controllers check first thing.

function register(){
}
function logout(){
}
function edit(){
}
function login(){
}

Admin Controller

handles all administrative tasks

User Controller

handles all user tasks. Maybe editing profiles, or posting to a personal blog?

Front Controller

handles all public facing tasks, displaying non auth based pages etc.

---

Unrelated, CodeIgniter Example

I use this methodology in my CI projects. This information will vary from Yii framework but it gives you a glimpse of a proper MVC setup.

I have core controllers such as:

application/core/FRONT_Controller.php
this controller extends CI_Controller and handles all the setup of my pub facing pages. All of my public facing controllers extend FRONT_Controller instead of CI_Controller.

application/core/USER_Controller.php
this controller handles all of my users authentication.

application/core/ADMIN_Controller.php
this controller does preliminary checks, again all of my admin based controllers extend this controller so the authentication fires off right away… IE:

if (!$this->tank_auth->is_logged_in()){
        redirect(site_url('/user/login/'));
    }else{
        $this->data['user'] = array(
            'user_id' => $this->tank_auth->get_user_id(),
            'username' => $this->tank_auth->get_username(),
            'emailAddress' => $this->tank_auth->get_email(),
            'firstname' => $this->tank_auth->get_firstname(),
            'lastname' => $this->tank_auth->get_lastname(),
            'userlevel' => $this->tank_auth->get_userlevel(),
            'avatar' => $this->tank_auth->get_avatar(),
            'last_login' => $this->tank_auth->get_last_login()
        );
    }

application/controllers/blog.php:

class Categories extends ADMIN_Controller{

function __construct(){
    parent::__construct();

} #end constructor function