Working with Models, Views, Controllers, and Routes in Visual C#

Decoding Data Matrix ECC200 in Visual C# Working with Models, Views, Controllers, and Routes

Figure 2-2

this view is named after the controller and action and can be found in the corresponding view scripts directory, which in this case would be $APP_DIR/application/views/scripts/index/index phtml Open this file and you ll see the HTML markup that generates the output shown in Figure 2-2:

<style> a:link, a:visited { color: #0398CA; } span#zf-name { color: #91BE3F; } div#welcome { color: #FFFFFF; background-image: url( http://frameworkzendcom/images/bkg_headerjpg); width: 600px; height: 400px; border: 2px solid #444444; overflow: hidden; text-align: center; }

div#more-information { background-image: url( http://frameworkzendcom/images/bkg_body-bottomgif); height: 100%; } </style> <div id="welcome"> <h1>Welcome to the <span id="zf-name">Zend Framework!</span></h1> <h3>This is your project's main page</h3> <div id="more-information"> <p><img src= "http://frameworkzendcom/images/PoweredBy_ZF_4LightBGpng" /> </p> <p> Helpful Links: <br /> <a href="http://frameworkzendcom/">Zend Framework Website</a> | <a href="http://frameworkzendcom/manual/en/"> Zend Framework Manual</a> </p> </div> </div>

From this markup, it should be clear that so long as you name and place your controllers, actions, and views correctly, there isn t really very much work for you to do The framework will automatically locate and execute files for you, using its default routes, without requiring any manual intervention As you proceed through this chapter and the remainder of this book, you ll learn a little more about how these standard Zend Framework conventions can be used to your advantage, by reducing the amount of manual coding required in getting an application up and running

In the previous chapter, you saw how the zf command-line tool creates a directory structure for your new Zend Framework application In its initial form, this structure only contains the directories needed to get a basic test application up and running As you flesh out your application with new features, you ll also need to expand this basic structure and create additional directories to hold different types of data To better understand this, consider Figure 2-3, which illustrates the full directory structure for a Zend Framework application Each of the directories shown in Figure 2-3 has a specific purpose, as listed in Table 2-1 The $APP_DIR/application/modules/ directory bears special mention This directory

2:

$APP_DIR/application $APP_DIR/application/controllers $APP_DIR/application/views $APP_DIR/application/models $APP_DIR/application/configs $APP_DIR/application/layouts $APP_DIR/application/modules $APP_DIR/library $APP_DIR/public $APP_DIR/public/css $APP_DIR/public/js $APP_DIR/public/images $APP_DIR/tests $APP_DIR/temp Table 2-1

Main application directory Global controllers Global views Global models Global configuration data Global layouts Modules Third-party libraries and classes Main publicly accessible directory CSS style sheets JavaScript program code Application images Unit tests Temporary data

is intended to store application modules, with each module represented as a subdirectory under $APP_DIR/application/modules/ The internal structure of each module directory mirrors that of the global $APP_DIR/application/ directory, as shown in Figure 2-4 This directory structure thus makes a distinction between global application controllers, views, and models, which are stored under the $APP_DIR/application/ hierarchy, and modulespecific controllers, views, and models, which are stored under the $APP_DIR/application/modules/ hierarchy From a development perspective, the choice of which location to use for your application s code is an entirely subjective one There is no one correct approach, and so you can choose to store your code in the global directories, in permodule directories, or in a hybrid combination of both, depending on what approach you find

Figure 2-3

appropriate to your application s requirements and structure That said, the SQUARE example application described in these chapters makes extensive use of modules, and this book recommends the use of modules in general for Zend Framework application development, for the following reasons: Organizing code into modules produces a structured code tree, because all the controllers, views, and models related to a particular function or set of functions are stored within the same directory tree A module-based directory layout also makes the areas of logical separation within an application immediately visible, with no additional documentation necessary, and is more maintainable in the long run

Figure 2-4

Organizing code into modules encourages the creation of more robust and extensible software Modules can be structured as independent packages with their own controllers, views, and models Modules can thus be thought of as reusable components that can be plugged in to an existing application to quickly give it new functionality