Best practice: Where to store functions to generate page output

[chrizz]

Sorry for this confusing headline - I guess it's too late for thinking about this anymore

What I want to do:

On a certain page (with a separate assigned template) I want to read some directories from the server and show the contents of the directories on the page.

Now I'm a bit confused where I should place the code the most suitable way

First idea:

just place the code into the template.

=> sounds easy but not "cool"

Second idea:

Write a module, hook the render method and place the code in the module

=> initializing a module on every page which is only needed on one single page seems oversized

Third idea:

Ask the specialists in the forum

=> in every case a good solution

I hope somebody can clarify this and can give me a hint how to solve this problem the "right way".

Thanks in advance!

Chris

[Martijn Geerts]

Nothing wrong doing that on template level.

[Fokke]

Hello there!

Just place it into the template. If you need to run the same code on the other templates, write a function. A module would seem like an overkill here.

[Wanze]

If you need the function multiple times in different contexts (templates, modules... etc.) then you can write a simple module.

Calling a method in your module goes like this:

$myModule = $modules->get('MyModule');
echo $myModule->myFunction();

Advantage: You have access to your module anywhere

Module sample code:

class MyModule extends WireData implements Module {

  public static function getModuleInfo() {
  		return array(
			'title' => 'My Module',
			'version' => 100, 
			'summary' => 'ProcessWire is awesome',
			'singular' => true, 
			'autoload' => false, 
			);
  }

  public function init() {
    // Do stuff after an instance of this module is created
  }

  public function myMethod() {
    return 'yeah baby!';
  }

}

[chrizz]

thanks so much guys!

I thought placing it in templates would be the off the track.

Thanks for bringing light into darkness and thanks for the code examples!

[ryan]

Using modules for this stuff is nice if you are building functions you'll be re-using on multiple sites. But for the sake of simplicity, I usually put my shared output generation functions just in a common include file like this.