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!

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 17 Ratings

Breezed right through my first extension - 2009-01-01
Reviewer Rating:
This was a very well done book. It requires some experience with PHP (and even with, there are some new conventions used). The book takes you through building a component piece by piece. Without knowledge of PHP, you might get lost because you have to modify the code repeatedly - chapter by chapter.

Read up on your PHP syntax and functions first, then give this book a try.

A great starter book. - 2008-10-31
Reviewer Rating:
This is a very good starter book that explains a lot of newbie questions you may have about Joomla development. It does kind of pull you by a nose rings in some spots by telling you you need to do this but no real explanation of why. But considering how much information is packed into this small book, its acceptable. This book won't make you an expert Joomla developer but it will have you picked up by your boot straps and capable of asking the right questions to find any answers it didn't contain.

This book is f***ing good! - 2010-04-13
Reviewer Rating:
As a developper, this book help me a lot to start in Joomla. I appreciate reading for several reasons:

1) it is 100% Joomla, no PHP or SQL explanation. If a needed a PHP explanation, I would buy a book about PHP;
2) cover a lot: module, component, plugin;
3) very oriented object programmed;
4) explain "Model, View, Controller" concept;
5) Good learning curve, create a basic component then go deeper with the MVC concept;

Sure there is some type, but that will make you stronger :)

SGÇÜbastien D'Errico
sebastien@hollox.net

A Good Start of your Life with Joomla! 1.5 - 2009-03-10
Reviewer Rating:
This is an ok starting point to get a little under the hood on Joomla! 1.5. Most of the information in the book is also online. If you are looking for a book that gives you tutorials how to fully use the Joomla Framework, choose something else. The tutorials on [...] are in fact better than those in this book.

Not good at all - 2009-01-29
Reviewer Rating:
The content in this book is so hard to understand that you will save money and time finding the same information online.

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