Social Engine 4: Controllers

Since Social Engine uses the Zend Framework, the files structure are most probably the same. Social Engine uses modules. So inside the application directory you find modules folder. Each module has a separate folder, containing its associated controllers, models, views, widgets ..etc.

Controllers:

Controllers are found inside controllers folder. Each controller class has defined actions (methods) and each method must have an associated view.

Controllers’ naming convention is NameController.php. The controller’s class name becomes {modulename}_{controllername}Controller

So if we’re inside User module and looking at the Profile Controller, you’ll find:

• Controller filename is ProfileController.php
• Controller class name is User_ProfileController

The standard method in controller is the init()  method. This is the method that get invoked when the class is instantiated. So inside it important variables that are used within other method in the controller should be set. For example, setting the subject. I understood that socialengine uses the term “Subject” to name a variable, or an item that the user is currently looking at. For example when you view someone’s profile, the subject becomes that person. If you’re viewing a group, subject becomes that group. Subject is set in the init function so as to be available easily to all other methods in the same controller.

To set subject:

if( !Engine_Api::_()->core()->hasSubject() )    {  //Check is there is  no already set subject

$subject_temp = Engine_Api::_()->user()->getUser($id);      //set temp variable to some user, we got using his id

if( $subject_temp->getIdentity() )        {        //If temp is indeed a valid  user

Engine_Api::_()->core()->setSubject($subject_temp);      // set the subject to that user

}

}

To get subject:

$subject = Engine_Api::_()->core()->getSubject();

Methods other than init() are called actions. The take the following convention:

public function methodnameAction(){ }

inside which the action’s logic is defined.

Each  controller has a folder containing it’s views, found in views/scripts folder. For Profile Controller explained above, there is a folder called “profile“, and for each method in this controller -other than init() – there must be an associated view. So if we have a method called helloAction, there must be a file called hello.tpl within that folder.

To invoke a certain action within a certain controller, you follow this scheme in URL:

http://serveraddress/modulename/controllername/actionname/

This action gets invoked, and automatically the associated view gets rendered for display.