I use the following method:
Using conventional modular directory layout most controllers go into a
folder/directory named after the module.
controllers/admin
/testing
/etc
Controllers in the testing module might be cookies, pages and so on:
controllers/testing/CookiesController.php
controllers/testing/PagesController.php
Now, I create a subfolder in the testing folder named after the controller
controllers/testing
/pages
/cookies
I factor common utility functions used by the PagesController actions into a
file called pages_utilities.php.
The file page_utilities.php goes into the /pages subfolder, so we have:
controllers/testing/CookiesController.php // controller action scripts
controllers/testing/PagesController.php
controllers/testing // sub directory
/pages/pages_utilities.php // file containing page
controller utility functions
/pages/enroll_form.php // contains a function that
returns a form used by the page controller
controllers/cookies // same as above
/cookies_utilities.php
/cookies/test_form.php
Inside the PagesController.php require_once allows access to controller
specific files
require_once 'pages/pages_utilities.php';
require_once 'pages/enroll_form.php';
class Testing_PagesController{...}
This allows me to move the controller around to different modules as long as I
move its subdir along with it.
(and change the class name of course, Testing_PagesController would become
ModuleX_PagesController).
I should point that with this method you need to be on the alert for link rot
especially in forms.
If your form posts to /testing/pages/add and you move the controller to a new
module named 'working',
you should change your form to post to /working/pages/add.
This leads to module relative addressing stuff like:
$view->menu =
create_nav_menu(get_menu_items($this->getRequest()->module),'Delete Item');
The create_nav_menu function is in one of the directories in the php include
path making it available
to all controllers in all modules. Its first parameter is a function that
returns an array of menu items, like:
get_menu_items($mod) { $items = array ('Add Item' => "$mod/pages/add",
'Delete Item' => "$mod/pages/delete); return $items; }
The second parameter is a menu item so it can treat the selected menu item
different from the un-selected ones, hilite it maybe.
The function get_menu_items() is in the file 'pages/pages_utilities.php' its
only parameter (look closely) is the module name.
It injects the module name into the above $mod variable
Now, when the controller is moved to a new module the module relative address
can track automatically.
My controllers are much smaller now that I factor out common or complex
functions especially forms!
I hope this helps and if I am doing it wrong or backwards, please let me know.
Pat Veach
