How should getModuleConfigInputfields() be declared

[MarkE]

Should getModuleConfigInputfields() be declared in a module as static or not? Also, I am confused that som modules use an array as the parameter whereas others use an InputfieldWrapper.

For example, WireMailSmtp has 

static public function getModuleConfigInputfields(array $data)

whereas WireMailRouter has

public function getModuleConfigInputfields(InputfieldWrapper $inputfields)

I am trying to build a module that allows certain configs to be set outside the modules themselves (to allow non-superuser access), so I need to call the getModuleConfigInputfields() method, but without knowing what parameter to supply. If it is an array, I can use getConfig(), but otherwise what. And why do different modules do it differently anyway?

[ryan]

@MarkE The Modules class supports a lot of different options for this, and it figures out which you are using automatically according to how you've defined it. The one that I prefer to use is your second example, that is not static and has the InputfieldWrapper $inputfields as the argument.

The static method is the old/original way from when ProcessWire first was released (13 years ago), and it was used primarily so that one could configure a module without booting up an instance of the module. Later on (like ~8 years ago?), the Modules class was upgraded so that it could instantiate the module without initializing it, which made the static option obsolete. The only reason ProcessWire still recognizes it is for backwards compatibility, or if it happens to be preferred by the module developer for one reason or another.