Creating modules for basic field-template-template file set up

[Joss]

I was thinking about creating myself a module to short cut certain site development.

For instance, on a basic brochure site , it would be common to have a small news section that would vary very little from one site to another.

So, all the module need to do is a one-off process on installation: Create:

• A bunch of fields using standard available field types,
• A handful of templates using the fields
• A few template files and some inc files in a separate folder (which may or may not exist yet)
• A few pages to weld it together.

As I said, this is just a development short cut - you would still have to work it into the site, but it would reduce the work load.

I suppose the result would be a skeleton module that could be used to create lots of variations of the above.

The trouble is, I am not sure how to do the install functions for the above - especially the creation of actual files and/or folders.

Any clues?

Joss

PS: Oh, I suppose an added function could be that you could get it to check if a particular field type existed (for instance, crop-image) and if not, download and install it!)

[Soma]

Check this http://processwire.com/talk/topic/1051-adding-and-assigning-fields-without-using-gui/

[Joss]

Thanks Soma!

That at least gets me part of the way there.

What about creating actual files (complete with content)?

[Soma]

Creating files and all that http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-put-contents.php

And this: https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/blob/dev/wire/core/Functions.php

[Joss]

Ta!

[Soma]

Or simply use copy() to copy files from a dir to another. http://php.net/manual/de/function.copy.php doh!

[Joss]

Ah, that is a good point. The files could just be in a subdirectory to the module and then just copied....

a bit obvious  - why didnt I think about that???