Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP (Paperback)

by Joseph L. LeBlanc (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A practical tutorial for creating your first Joomla! 1.5 extensions with PHP

In Detail

Joomla! is the world's hottest open-source content management system, and the winner of the 2006 Open Source CMS Prize.

While Joomla! is packed with features, its greatest quality is that it is extremely extensible, allowing any number of complex applications to be cleanly integrated. Shopping carts, forums, social networking profiles, job boards, and real estate listings are all examples of extensions developers have written for Joomla!. All of these can run off one Joomla! site, while only one database, template, and core need to be maintained. When you build an extension to Joomla!, it will inherit the look and feel of the overall site. Any type of program that can be coded in PHP is a potential component waiting to be written!

If you're eager to start creating extensions for Joomla!, this book is for you. Walk through the development of complete Joomla! components and modules with this tutorial for PHP programmers. Written for Joomla! version 1.5 and tested against pre-final releases, this book will get you started coding your first extensions as quickly as possible, and adds the features that will make your work look professional!

The book builds example extensions to create, find, promote, and cross-link restaurant reviews. A component will handle common data items seen across all reviews such as price range, reservations, cuisine type, and location. Your visitors will be able to search and sort through the reviews; adding their own criteria to zero in on their dining options for the evening.

Your modules will highlight new reviews, drawing the attention of frequent visitors. Finally, plugins will pull pieces of the reviews into feature articles and others will integrate them into searches. Even if you don't own a restaurant, you will still find the code applicable to your own development projects, and the skills you develop will make you a Joomla! developer to be reckoned with!

What you will learn from this book?

• Code Joomla! components, modules, and plugins from the ground up
• Create toolbars, list screens, and menu items
• Maintain a consistent look and reduce repetitive code using HTML functions
• Automate database record management
• Validate input and resist hack attempts
• Configure your modules through XML parameters
• Package and distribute your extensions

Approach

A practical tutorial, based around the development of coherent example throughout the book. Each chapter walks you through the steps to add a required feature to the extension.

Who this book is written for?

This book is suitable for PHP programmers who want to take their first step in customizing and extending the features of Joomla! through custom PHP development. It is not a reference guide for advanced Joomla! developers.

You need only the basics of PHP programming; no experience of developing Joomla! extensions is assumed. You are expected to be familiar with the general operation of Joomla!

About the Author

Joseph L. LeBlanc

Joseph L. LeBlanc started with computers at a very young age. His independent education gave him the flexibility to experiment and learn computer science. Joseph holds a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems from Oral Roberts University.

Joseph is currently a freelance Joomla! extension developer. He released a component tutorial in May 2004, which was later translated into French, Polish, and Russian. Work samples and open-source extensions are available at jlleblanc.com. In addition to freelancing, he is a board member of the DC PHP Conference. He has also worked as a programmer for a web communications firm in Washington, DC.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Packt Publishing; 1st edition (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847191304
• ISBN-13: 978-1847191304
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,429 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Eh, too little for the pricetag, October 9, 2007

By	Gary A. Mort (Astoria, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At half the cost of a comprehensive book, I expected a good bit of detail on development.

This book doesn't demonstrate much beyond what you can get from the demo's online already. And it doesn't provide any hidden gems of knowledge or tips of any sort.

All in all, a disappointment and a waste of money

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really helpful, July 14, 2008

By	Rudolf Jan Heijink "Rudolf Jan Heijink" (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

At first sight this book looks great. It is concise and gives a good introduction from the start to build Joomla extensions. It does not waste pages explaining how to program in SQL and PHP. You are supposed to have mastered that. The book has a major weak point. For the main part it just shows lots of code, but does not explain anything about the API classes and how they relate. After reading the book and trying to create your own extension, it feels like you have not understood anything really.

A second drawback is that the author seems not to bother about testing the sample code. It contains several very obvious bugs, eg using a functou JOutputFilter instead of JFilterOutput. This is annoying.

Summarized, the book may give you a small start but is insufficient for seriuous development. The sad thing is that the official Joomla documentation is in a very alpha stage of development.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much content for the price!, February 26, 2008

By	jimbo (NYC) - See all my reviews

I certainly agree with those who said this book is way too sparse, weighing in at 176 non-packed pages. For the same audience this book is intended for I would instead recommend "Professional Joomla" by Dan Rahmel. It covers the same material plus a great deal more and it costs less money. It even gives more explanation and examples of building components, modules, and plugins, things "Learning Joomla" is supposed to focus on.