MODx Web Development

Table of Contents

MODx Web Development

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code for the book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. What is MODx?

Content management system

Manage content

Content management rules

Define content

An application framework

Reusable program components

Abstracting logic from presentation

Web development methodologies

Old school—conventional three tiers

Advantages of the conventional three tiers

Disadvantages of the conventional three tiers

Templating

Advantages of templating

Disadvantages of templating

Application frameworks

Advantages of application frameworks

Disadvantages of application frameworks

Content management systems

Advantages of content management systems

Disadvantages of content management systems

Why MODx?

Why a CMS?

Why an application framework?

So, why Modx?

Overview of the book

Summary

2. Getting Started

Setting up the development environment

Prerequisites

Linux

Windows

MAC

Verification

Downloading MODx

Installing MODx

Creating a database

Starting the installation

Installation status and diagnostics

Documentation

Official documentation

Community-driven documentation

Getting support

Web forums

IRC

Summary

3. MODx Basics

Site configuration

Configuring the site

Default Manager interface page

Noticing and fixing errors and warnings

Changing the name of the site

The basic element of MODx: Documents

Containers

MODx Manager interface

Using the HTML editor

Creating the Front Page

QuickEdit module

Documents revisited

Editing documents

Document properties

General tab

Page Settings

Meta Keywords tab

Preview tab

Summary

4. Templating

Changing the template of a document

Creating a new template and giving it a category

HTML

CSS

Steps to create the new template

Making the Home Page use the created template

Choosing a default template

Introducing template variables

Modifying the template to add dynamic behavior

Changing existing templates

Template variables

Creating template variables

Template variable values

Data source binding

Widgets

Creating a blog site

Creating a document

Post a blog entry

Snippet and chunk basics

Generating output

Using a custom form for the Post a Blog ! page

HTML for the custom blog form

Steps to create a chunk

Using a chunk as a form template

Checking the Post a Blog ! page

Rich text editor for the blog content

Creating the template variable

Chunk and template variable

NewsPublisher and the Rtcontent field

Summary

5. Authentication and Authorization

Create web users

Other user properties

Add the login snippet

Document group for friends

Restricting access for a document

User group: Document group

User: User group

Post moderation

Creating a role

Creating a Manager user

Checking the new role

User registration

Showing a signup form

Joining a default group

Link the signup form in the log in snippet

Snippets and authorization

NewsPublisher and authentication

Summary

6. Content Aggregation

Ditto

More flexibility with parameters

Aggregated data in a template

Theming MODx—chunks and placeholders

Introducing tagging

Creating a template variable to hold the category

Assigning documents to a category

XML formats

Machine-readable formats and readers

Readers

Formats

Ditto and XML formats

Creating RSS views for each category

Filtering

Multiple clauses

Extenders

Summary

7. Creating Lists

Menu details in document properties

Authentication and authorization

Getting to know WayFinder

Theming

Creating a simple menu

Nested menus

Changing the name in the menu

Doc Manager

Removing pages from the menu

More theming using chunks

Breadcrumb navigation

Multiple calls

Summary

8. Snippets

Working of snippets

Finding snippets

Learning about snippets

Jot with the minimal configuration

Snippet parameters

Placeholders

Using non-bundled snippets

Installing a snippet

Downloading and extracting a snippet

Adding a snippet

Copying required files

Using the snippet

Snippet without dependent files

Snippeting skills

Summary

9. PHx

PHx in action

Installing PHx

Adding Family and Friends documents

The PHx notation

Simple usage

Conditional statements

Usage with the PHx placeholder

Multiple conditions

Summary

10. Simple Recipes

Forums

Installing SMF

Installing the SMF module

Image gallery

Emailing from forms

User profiles

Installing WebLoginPE

Edit profile

List users and view profile

Link to edit profile

Similar posts

Summary

11. Creating Snippets

Learning to create a snippet

Returning an output

Returning placeholders

Processing a chunk

Using parameters

MODx API

DBAPI

$MODx->db->select

$MODx->db->getRecordCount

$MODx->db->makeArray

Fortunes

Creating the table

Code for fortunes

Testing the snippet

Chunks, placeholders, and parameters

Using files

Summary

12. SEO, Deployment, and Security

SEO

Search engine-friendly URLs

Meta tags and keywords

Site map

XHTML Strict

Other SEO tweaks

Using CSS to control the layout

Content first

Hidden text

Descriptive text

Tracking

Inbound links

Quality content

Deployment

Filesystem

FTP

SFTP

WebDAV

Database

Exporting

Importing

Configuration file

Configurations

Security

File permissions

Installer

Writable configuration file

Captcha

mod_security

Unused files

Manager configurations

User tab

File Manager tab

Summary

13. Plug-ins and Modules

Plug-ins and events

Using an existing plug-in

Configuration

System events

Exploring other plug-ins

Using custom plug-ins

Learning about the plug-in

Creating plug-ins

Event-triggering snippets

Modules

Using modules

Creating a module

Executing a module

Module's Manager interface

Dependent plug-ins

Learning to use custom modules

Summary

Index

MODx Web Development

Antano Solar John

MODx Web Development

Copyright © 2009 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: March 2009

Production Reference: 1230309

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

32 Lincoln Road

Olton

Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-847194-90-9

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Nilesh Mohite (<[email protected]>)

Credits

Author

Antano Solar John

Reviewers

Shane Sponagle

Susan Ottwell

Acquisition Editor

Viraj Joshi

Development Editors

Sarah Cullington

Siddharth Mangarole

Technical Editor

Mithun Sehgal

Editorial Team Leader

Abhijeet Deobhakta

Project Coordinator

Leena Purkait

Indexer

Rekha Nair

Proofreader

Chris Smith

Production Coordinator

Aparna Bhagat

Cover Work

Aparna Bhagat

About the Author

Antano Solar is a techie to the core—a tech evangelist who is passionate about using technology to revolutionize the learning experience!

Antano has contributed to the open source community in terms of documentation, code, and support, with a variety of platforms based on languages such as PHP, Perl, Lisp, Python, and Ruby.

He loves to share his tech excitement with fellow techies and non-techies, and does so through publishing papers, books, and delivering seminars at colleges, universities such as the IIT, and corporate tech events.

He has published a paper on enhancing wireless networks in an IEEE Journal. His paper on an engine helping machines understand objectives by meta-modelling, using Neuro Linguistic Programming principles and Deep Structure, is considered a landmark.

An avid hacker, Antano has won two Yahoo hack day awards. He recently won the award for developing a Hybrid Search Engine from scratch in 24 hours that uses Machine Intelligence and Social Intelligence to identify, search, and present the information in the required format.

Professionally, Antano, until recently, has been a Consultant and a Trainer providing IT solutions and sessions on VoIP, Networks and Software Plaforms, and Languages. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer at NuVeda Learning. In his current role, he is responsible for the development and deployment of Learning Management Systems that are being used by large MNCs globally. He also plays the role of a Chief Architect in the research and development of technologies related to the understanding and measuring of Learning. He is excited by the challenges of using complex technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing.

Occasionally, when Antano needs to take a Tech break, he likes to train and tell stories!

To those who prepared me:

My Mom and Dad—for all the hope, faith, love, and wise counsel.

And to those who made it happen:

The Packt team—especially Leena and Sarah—the reviewers, and the MODx community for an awesome open source development platform.

About the Reviewers

Shane Sponagle has over 10 years of experience in developing web-based applications. He is currently a senior partner at S/2M2 Design, and has worked on projects ranging from simple web sites to multi-level data-driven applications. Shane is an active member of the MODx community where he enjoys learning about all the interesting ways people are using MODx. He looks forward to collaborating on future publications.

Susan is a self-taught grandmother of eight. She first became interested in computers, both hardware and programming, more than 40 years ago, but got her first computer only a year before the arrival of her first grandchild. She spent a number of years working both independently and as a shop technician building and repairing PCs, from Connecticut to Miami to Israel, while learning various programming and database languages from x86 assembly to dBase to VB to perl in her spare time. For a time, she taught C++ for an online gaming service's online university.

Her PHP studies began over eight years ago, and have been conducted solely with the assets garnered from the Internet. She discovered MODx when it was still a set of modifications to Etomite, found that it suited her needs, and when MODx forked into its own CMS/CMF system, decided to stick with it, learn it thoroughly, and contribute what she could.

Susan lives quietly, except for a very loud canary named Winston, in a Negev desert community in Israel, the home of PHP. She divides her time between hiking and photography in the desert hills and canyons, quilt making and knitting, and working with MODx on her iBook g4.

I owe everything I've accomplished in the last 15 years to my father and my first husband for telling me I'd never be able to do it, computers weren't of any use, and it's not for girls anyway. They triggered my stubborn streak, and made me determined to do this in spite of them! Then I am indebted to the giants of teaching: Jeff Duntemann, Tom Swan, and especially Gary Cornell, for all of their wonderful books. Certain web sites have become indispensable, among them Zend, O'Reilly's OnLamp, and A List Apart. And finally, perhaps most importantly, I owe Ryan Thrash, Raymond Irving, and Jason Coward for giving me MODx to play with in the first place, and now the rest of the MODx team, whom I only know by their MODx Forum handles. They're way above my head, but they give me something to work towards.

Preface

This book teaches you how to use MODx for creating powerful dynamic web sites, even without the knowledge of a programming language as a prerequisite. It leads the reader step by step in a logical pattern to build a complete web site. Each chapter covers certain concepts with simple examples. All the examples if you follow along, aggregate to a self-created web site. Towards the end, it has a chapter dedicated to the serious programmers who would like to extend what they can do with MODx.

This book can also be used as a reference or to relearn the particular concepts that have been discussed in each chapter. It has illustrative examples, wherever necessary, to make sure it is friendly. It has a mix of simple demonstrations and in-depth concepts that will interest both the casual and the serious reader.

What this book covers

Chapter 1: In this chapter, you will learn the general concepts of web development, and also learn why MODx as a tool is a good choice to develop your web site.

Chapter 2: In this chapter, you will learn how to set up a working platform for developing web sites with MODx, which includes the installation and configuration of the prerequisites such as Apache, PHP, and MySQL.

Chapter 3: In this chapter, you will learn about documents and containers, and how every page that is displayed gets its content from a document. You will also learn to create, edit, and manipulate documents, and manage their configurations, and we will explain the TinyMCE editor.

Chapter 4: In this chapter, you will learn how to create/add templates. We will also take a look at template variables and document-specific variables, and briefly discuss snippets and chunks.

Chapter 5: In this chapter, you will learn how to modify the site to have a signup form and login form. We will also learn how to enable blogs to be posted only by friends.

Chapter 6: In this chapter, you will learn one very useful snippet called Ditto. You will see how to create aggregation and feeds, and how to create feeds for separate categories. You will also learn about tagging, and how to tag documents and use them in MODx.

Chapter 7: In this chapter, you will learn how to use the snippet [[WayFinder]] to create lists of documents. We will also see the usage of parameters in WayFinder to make list creation flexible.

Chapter 8: In this chapter, you will learn how to use the hundreds of snippets available in detail. You will also learn how to search for the snippets that don't come packaged with MODx and how to use them.

Chapter 9: In this chapter, you will learn how to format the values in template variables. You will also learn how to make conditions based on the values of template variables, and accordingly present a different output either from the HTML in the expression or from a chunk or snippet.

Chapter 10: In this chapter, we will use what we have already learned, to study how certain commonly required functionalities can be implemented. We will learn how to integrate a forum, an image gallery, or forms that can send a mail, create web user profiles, and identify similar posts for blogs.

Chapter 11: In this chapter, you will learn how to create snippets, the different ways of displaying their output, and how to implement them. You will also learn to use the available MODx APIs and why you should use them.

Chapter 12: In this chapter, we will discuss how to make the site optimized for search engines. We will also discuss clean URLs, meta tags, sitemaps, and other tweaks.

Chapter 13: Finally, in this chapter, you will learn about plug-ins and modules including the ones that we will use in our application. The chapter will also cover events and plug-in configuration.

What you need for this book

No knowledge of PHP programming or any templating language is needed, but the more advanced chapters towards the end of the book will allow more confident developers to extend their applications even further by creating their own snippets.

Who this book is for

This book is ideal for those who want to learn to use MODx. Both beginners and experienced web developers will benefit from this comprehensive guide to MODx.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "You have already seen an example of document-specific template variables when you