Book Image

CMS Made Simple Development Cookbook

Book Image

CMS Made Simple Development Cookbook

Overview of this book

CMS Made Simple has great capabilities “out of the box,” but one of its great strengths is the ease of extending those capabilities. You can add a surprising amount of functionality just by customizing the core modules, but once you learn to write your own tags and modules, your ability to add features is virtually limitless.CMS Made Simple Development Cookbook will show you how to use custom PHP code to extend the power and features of CMS Made Simple, and make it do exactly what you want. This easy to use guide contains clear recipes that introduce the key concepts behind each approach to extending the CMS, while also providing examples of solutions to real-world problems.You will learn the differences between the various kinds of tags and modules in the CMS Made Simple environment, and to which purposes each is best fit. Each technology is then explored in detail with a series of practical recipes and examples.You will not only learn the basics of creating tags and modules, but you will explore the underlying APIs that you will use to solve real-world website problems. You will become proficient with the database and form APIs, so that the code you write is portable and maintainable. You'll learn to localize your code and use templates to add its flexibility. You'll master the safe handling of parameters and the creation of secure code. You’ll be familiar with the CMS Made Simple Developer's Forge, and how you can use it in conjunction with revision control as a community-focused code management system, complete with web-based bug tracking and feature requests. You will learn to code complex interactions between modules, both directly and via the creation and handling of events. You will gain exposure to an array of advanced tips and tricks, along with commentary from the distilled experience of someone who has written dozens of modules. The CMS Made Simple Developer's Cookbook offers an amazing wealth of knowledge in approachable, bite-sized recipes. Whether you're new to the CMS or an old hand, you're sure to find valuable tips and information that will have you creating a richer CMS.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
CMS Made Simple Development Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

Altering a database table when a module gets upgraded


One thing to which you should accustom yourself as a module author is the continuous need for change. As your module gets used, in addition to the vast volumes of fan mail you will undoubtedly receive, you will also be deluged by feature requests, suggested changes, bug reports, and various other complaints. Some of this communication will motivate you to make changes, and possibly even new releases of your module.

In the course of your new development, you may find yourself needing to make changes to your database structures in addition to your code. The CMS Made Simple module API anticipates this need, and provides a method for performing such changes. This recipe will demonstrate how it works.

How to do it...

  1. 1. Use SSH to connect to your server.

  2. 2. Change your working directory to the modules directory of your CMS Made Simple installation directory, for example:

    cd /var/www/mysite-root/modules
    
  3. 3. Create a top level module directory:

    mkdir...