Question about basic extension development difficulty.
Development and Programming
Hey all,
I’m a pretty experienced programmer, but fairly new to EE. I’ve been reading through docs and forum posts and I’m getting the impression that if I need a functionality that’s not provided, I should probably develop a module instead of an extension because I might have an easier time of it.
That’s a little counter-intuitive to me since the range of functionality seems more targeted for an extension than a module, but I can do it either way. So, is this correct?
Plus, you know, any other advice for a first-time EE developer would be greatly appreciated.
You know, it depends. An extension, really, is generally changing certain aspects of how EE behaves, very often in regard to the control panel. You are, for all intents and purposes, replacing or enhancing a chunk of EE itself, inserting your code at one of the provided “hooks”, doing something, and then handing the data back to EE.
Modules, on the other hand, are really more all-purpose PHP scripts, generally with a CP of their own, quite often with a db table dedicated to them.
You know, it depends. An extension, really, is generally changing certain aspects of how EE behaves, very often in regard to the control panel. You are, for all intents and purposes, replacing or enhancing a chunk of EE itself, inserting your code at one of the provided “hooks”, doing something, and then handing the data back to EE. Modules, on the other hand, are really more all-purpose PHP scripts, generally with a CP of their own, quite often with a db table dedicated to them.
Yeah, that’s the thing. I need to make a file upload with various text fields associated and a rational ordering system. I have the file upload being done with an existing extension, but haven’t been able to find a good ordering extension. So, I can either make a module that has all that, or make an ordering extension. I was all set to do the extension, but lots of posts say that you should start with a module to get to know the internals of EE. So I’m trying to figure out my next move.
I see. Well, good luck either way 😊
You could create an extension and module that work together. I do this quite a bit and it seems to work well.
If you are ordering files on per entry basis this could be added to the extension. If you need some other kind of ordering a module is the way to go but you will still need the extension to modify the EE internals.
So, in order to have something like a drop down box that populates with the existing order, I’d need to do an extension, right?
Drop down box in the publish form?
Yeah, if there are 10 entries, I want to have a drop down box on the publish page that lists 1-11 as possible slots. Then, it will handle re-ordering all the existing ones if it’s less than the last.
Sounds like an extension to me
Probably best to download an existing extension that adds a new publish field… Try LG Member List it creates a select box and on save it changes the content of the custom field.
Hm, I don’t think that will work because I need the custom drop down to populate from the db dynamically. So it will list all the existing numbers. So that if there were one entry, it would show 1,2. If there were two entries, it would show 1,2,3. Etc.
Hm, I don’t think that will work because I need the custom drop down to populate from the db dynamically. So it will list all the existing numbers. So that if there were one entry, it would show 1,2. If there were two entries, it would show 1,2,3. Etc.
You can access the db from within your extension code.
Right, okay, so what I’m trying to figure out is if a custom extension is the best way to go, or a custom module. I’m guessing you’re falling on the custom extension side.
well i’m not sure of your full functionality but if its a custom field in the publish form it has to be an extension.
Ah, well that pretty much answers my question then. Thanks.