Learning Module Development

[szabesz]

The old wiki was still useful when one wanted to learn about the general concepts behind ProcessWire, but module development has evolved since then, so probably a good starting point is this:

https://processwire.com/blog/posts/new-module-configuration-options/

BTW, as far as I know, there are no plans about saving the old wiki. If someone needs it, I have a version of it that was saved by a "web grabber". Just pm me, if you need it.

[EyeDentify]

11 hours ago, szabesz said:

The old wiki was still useful when one wanted to learn about the general concepts behind ProcessWire, but module development has evolved since then, so probably a good starting point is this:

https://processwire.com/blog/posts/new-module-configuration-options/

BTW, as far as I know, there are no plans about saving the old wiki. If someone needs it, I have a version of it that was saved by a "web grabber". Just pm me, if you need it.

Hello.

Thx for your answer.

But i was more looking for along the lines of a central place on the PW website where all documentation and guides pertaining to Module development could be found. Also curiated and verified to be accurate and up to date with latest versions of the PW branches.

- Guides ranging from beginner to advanced.
- Detailed info on what do to and not to do in module development.

- Kinda like the new API docs wich i find absolutly essential for my development these days.

But as stated above, PW community are missing a good central place where all the info that has to do with module development can be found.

I do not want to plow through endles of forum threads only to have to put together a puzzle to make sense of the information.

Plus running the risk of it being outdated.

I would love such a place on the main PW website and i am sure many others would. Because if we had all the info in one place their would be less of threads that come up time and time again where beginners like me asked questions that allready had the answers in one central place.

I have a basic grasp on PW and building sites with it, but are looking to get a bit advanced creating a module, and a reference would be great.

Also a deeper reference how to work with the API, like how you interact with the API outside the Admin software.
From basics to the advanced, what to think about and so on.

And i am talking about things like saving, creating, updating info to templates or pages from your own custom forms or using PW forms and such.

The API stuff about getting info and displaying i allready know and that works. But the more advanced stuff is eluding me.

Every aspect realy.

Right now the new API docs are really helpfull, but for us a bit more beginners, the lack of more detailed guides and examples are missing and you have to go a bit by trial and error or scour the forum for a few hours just to get some basic understanding without knowing why things are done in a certain way. I would like to have this knowledge so i can evolve and become better at PW and also understand all its nuts and bolts from the inside out.

Sorry for my long ramblings.

Love the PW community but we need more DOCs in all areas of PW, the new API docs are a start.
I hope some of the old foxes and the gurus on here would like to come togheter and create something alone the lines that i mentioned.

See you all on the forums. Thx for reading.

/EyeDentify

[szabesz]

@EyeDentify I get what you mean, but this is a short of shortcoming when there is no huge capital behind an open source project. The constant evolution of the system is a must, so there are little resources left for the rest.
But we might want to try out crowdfunding, to raise some money on the vey first ProcessWire "book" (it should be online, so that it can be updated easily by volunteers later on).

such as: http://crowdfunding.com
So anyone interested can spend the time on such a book, without sacrificing too much free time/resources, and the result can be what it really should be. This book should be about introduction to ProcessWire as a whole, front-end development, admin customizations and of course, module development.

I would be happy to support such a book. Anybody else?

[Robin S]

17 hours ago, EyeDentify said:

But i was more looking for along the lines of a central place on the PW website where all documentation and guides pertaining to Module development could be found. Also curiated and verified to be accurate and up to date with latest versions of the PW branches.

This seems to me to be pretty comprehensive: https://processwire.com/api/ref/module/

Also useful: https://processwire.com/blog/posts/new-module-configuration-options/

And there's good stuff in the Helloworld.module

I'm learning development myself and so I understand how it can be challenging to tackle something more advanced like module development. But I think you also need to bear in mind that many of the things that need to be understood in order to build a module are not PW-specific but are actually require knowledge of PHP and object-oriented programming. We can't expect the PW docs to give us all of this on a plate.

[EyeDentify]

11 hours ago, Robin S said:

This seems to me to be pretty comprehensive: https://processwire.com/api/ref/module/

Also useful: https://processwire.com/blog/posts/new-module-configuration-options/

And there's good stuff in the Helloworld.module

I'm learning development myself and so I understand how it can be challenging to tackle something more advanced like module development. But I think you also need to bear in mind that many of the things that need to be understood in order to build a module are not PW-specific but are actually require knowledge of PHP and object-oriented programming. We can't expect the PW docs to give us all of this on a plate.

Hello Robin.

Thank you for your insights.

I am going to have a look at that first link, cause i must have missed that in the new API docs.

I am not expecting PW to docs to give me everything. I just want the info specific to PW in a central place where i can go when i have a question without pestering folks in the forums when there allready is a documented guide or answer. Like how to use the "hooks" and when not to and how to use all the classes and whatnot in PW to create pages with templates and so on. Perhaps that will be in the new API docs also one day.

I Rather read documentation from the creators/maintainers of PW and get quality advice then outdated info spread across the forum.
Sometimes i just need a little help on the way and i can figure out the rest.

That being said, i love the new API docs and it would be superb if this where to be the central place for all relevant documentation.

And the fundamentals of OOP in PHP i have found this website to be pretty informative for the beginner like me:

http://phpenthusiast.com/

I am not trying to sound ungratefull to the comunity when asking for more Documentation, but PHP would not be where it is without PHP.net that i use constantly when dealing with PHP in my programming projects.

See ya around forums.