Creating a front-office module

Table of contents

• Creating a front-office module

  • Organizing your module

  • Creating the bootstrap file

    • Adding a constructor

    • The install() and uninstall() methods

  • Building the config.xml file

  • Adding a configuration page

  • Implementing hooks

  • Template and CSS files

Creating a front-office module

Organizing your module

A module is made of a lot of files, all stored in a folder that bears the same name as the module, that folder being in turn stored in the /modules folder at the root of the main PrestaShop folder.

Default files and folders for a PrestaShop 1.5 module:

• "Bootstrap" file: name_of_the_module.php

• Translation files: fr.php, en.php, es.php, etc., all in the /translations sub-folder

• Cache configuration file: config.xml

• Module-specific controllers, all in the /controllers sub-folder

• Class-overriding code, all in the /override sub-folder (automatic install/uninstall using copy or merge)

• View files: JavaScript, Models, CSS files, etc.:

  • /views/css sub-folder for CSS files

  • /views/js sub-folder for JavaScript files

  • /views/templates/front sub-folder for files used by the module controller

  • /views/templates/hooks sub-folder for files used by the module's hooks

• 16x16 module logo: name_of_the_module.jpg (JPG format)

• 32x32 module logo: name_of_the_module.png (PNG format)

The module we are going to create in called "Hello World!". Therefore, its folder is /modules/helloworld, and its bootstrap file must be /modules/helloworld/helloworld.php, with a HelloWorld class defined inside.

Creating the bootstrap file

Here is a very basic first file for the module, named helloworld.php:

<?phpif (!defined('_PS_VERSION_')) exit;class HelloWorld extends Module{}

At this stage, the module can only be seen in the "Modules" page in the back-office, in the "Other modules" section.

Adding a constructor

Let's add a first method to our bootstrap code. This method will initialize the module's variables.

<?phpif (!defined('_PS_VERSION_')) exit;class HelloWorld extends Module{ public function __construct() { $this->name = 'helloworld'; $this->tab = 'front_office_features'; $this->version = '1.0'; $this->author = 'Me, myself and I'; // New in Prestashop 1.5 $this->ps_versions_compliancy = array('min' => '1.5', 'max' => '1.6'); // required Prestashop 1.5 $this->dependencies = array('blockcart'); // This module needs the 'blockcart' module in order to work properly. parent::__construct(); $this->displayName = $this->l('Hello World'); $this->description = $this->l('This is a sample module.'); $this->confirmUninstall = $this->l('Are you sure you want to uninstall?'); if (!Configuration::get('HELLO_WORLD_NAME')) $this->warning = $this->l('No name provided'); }}

$this->name must be the same as the module's folder name!

$this->tab is meant to indicate in which module category the module should reside when displayed in the back-office module list. It can take one of the following values:

• administration: Administration

• advertising_marketing: Advertising & Marketing

• analytics_stats: Analytics & Stats

• billing_invoicing: Billing & Invoices

• checkout: Checkout

• content_management: Content Management

• export: Export

• front_office_features: Front Office Features

• i18n_localization: I18n & Localization

• market_place: Market Place

• merchandizing: Merchandizing

• migration_tools: Migration Tools

• others: Other Modules

• payments_gateways: Payments & Gateways

• payment_security: Payment Security

• pricing_promotion: Pricing & Promotion

• quick_bulk_update: Quick / Bulk update

• search_filter: Search & Filter

• seo: SEO

• shipping_logistics: Shipping & Logistics

• slideshows: Slideshows

• smart_shopping: Smart Shopping

• social_networks: Social Networks

The install() and uninstall() methods

These two methods make it possible to control what happens when the store administrator installs or uninstalls the module.

In this example, we perform the following tasks during installation:

• check that the module is not already installed

• check that the module is not added to the leftColumn hook

• check that the module is not added to the header hook

• create the HELLO_WORLD_NAME configuration setting, setting its value to "World"

public function install(){ if (Shop::isFeatureActive()) Shop::setContext(Shop::CONTEXT_ALL); if (!parent::install() OR !$this->registerHook('leftColumn') OR !$this->registerHook('header') OR !Configuration::updateValue('HELLO_WORLD_NAME', 'World')) return false; return true;}

For its part, the uninstallation method simply deletes the HELLO_WORLD_NAME configuration setting.

public function uninstall(){ if (!parent::uninstall() || !Configuration::deleteByName('HELLO_WORLD_NAME') ) return false; return true;}

Building the config.xml file

This file makes it possible to optimize the loading of the module list in the back-office.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><module> <name>helloworld</name> <displayName>Hello World></displayName> <version>1.0></version> <description>This is a sample module.</description> <author>Moi></author> <tab>front_office_features></tab> <confirmUninstall>Are you sure you want to uninstall?</confirmUninstall> <is_configurable>1</is_configurable> <need_instance>1</need_instance> <limited_countries></limited_countries></module>

A few details:

• is_configurable indicates whether the module has a configuration page or not.

• need_instance indicates whether an instance of the module must be created when it is displayed in the module list. This can be useful if the module has to perform checks on the PrestaShop configuration, and display warning message accordingly.

• limited_countries is used to indicate the countries to which the module is limited. For instance, if the module must be limited to France and Spain, use <limited_countries>fr,es</limited_countries>.

This module can be created automatically by PrestaShop.

Adding a configuration page

Your module can get a "Configure" link in the back-office module list, and therefore let the user change some settings. This "Configure" link appears with addition of the getContent() method.

public function getContent(){ if (Tools::isSubmit('submit'.$this->name)) { $HELLO_WORLD_NAME = strval(Tools::getValue('HELLO_WORLD_NAME')); if (!$HELLO_WORLD_NAME OR empty($HELLO_WORLD_NAME) OR !Validate::isGenericName($HELLO_WORLD_NAME)) $output .= $this->displayError( $this->l('Invalid Configuration value') ); else { Configuration::updateValue('HELLO_WORLD_NAME', $HELLO_WORLD_NAME); $output .= $this->displayConfirmation($this->l('Settings updated')); } } return $output.$this->displayForm();}

The configuration form itself is displayed with the displayForm() method:

public function displayForm(){ // Get default Language $default_lang = (int)Configuration::get('PS_LANG_DEFAULT'); // Init Fields form array $fields_form[0]['form'] = array( 'legend' => array( 'title' => $this->l('Settings'), ), 'input' => array( array( 'type' => 'text', 'label' => $this->l('Configuration value'), 'name' => 'HELLO_WORLD_NAME', 'size' => 20, 'required' => true ) ), 'submit' => array( 'title' => $this->l('Save'), 'class' => 'button' ) ); $helper = new HelperForm(); // Module, Token and currentIndex $helper->module = $this; $helper->name_controller = $this->name; $helper->token = Tools::getAdminTokenLite('AdminModules'); $helper->currentIndex = AdminController::$currentIndex.'&configure='.$this->name; // Language $helper->default_form_language = $default_lang; $helper->allow_employee_form_lang = $default_lang; // title and Toolbar $helper->title = $this->displayName; $helper->show_toolbar = true; // false -> remove toolbar $helper->toolbar_scroll = true; // yes - > Toolbar is always visible on the top of the screen. $helper->submit_action = 'submit'.$this->name; $helper->toolbar_btn = array( 'save' => array( 'desc' => $this->l('Save'), 'href' => AdminController::$currentIndex.'&configure='.$this->name.'&save'.$this->name. '&token='.Tools::getAdminTokenLite('AdminModules'), ), 'back' => array( 'href' => AdminController::$currentIndex.'&token='.Tools::getAdminTokenLite('AdminModules'), 'desc' => $this->l('Back to list') ) ); // Load current value $helper->fields_value['HELLO_WORLD_NAME'] = Configuration::get('HELLO_WORLD_NAME'); return $helper->generateForm($fields_form);}

Implementing hooks

As is, the module does not do much. In order to display something on the front-office, we have to add support for a few hooks. This is done by implementing the hooks' methods:

• hookDisplayLeftColumn(): will hook code into the left column – in our case, it will fetch the HELLO_WORLD_NAME module setting and display the module's template file, helloworld.tpl

• hookDisplayRightColumn(): will simply do the same as hookDisplayLeftColumn()

• hookDisplayHeader(): will add a link to our CSS file, /views/css/helloworld.css

public function hookDisplayLeftColumn($params){ $this->context->smarty->assign(array( 'name' => Configuration::get('HELLO_WORLD_NAME') )); return $this->display(__FILE__, 'helloworld.tpl');} public function hookDisplayRightColumn($params){ return $this->hookDisplayLeftColumn($params);} public function hookDisplayHeader(){ $this->context->controller->addCSS($this->_path.'views/css/helloworld.css', 'all');}

Template and CSS files

Here is our template file, located in /views/templates/hook/helloworld.tpl:

<div id="hello_world_block_left" class="block"> <h4>{l s='Message' mod='helloworld'}</h4> <div class="block_content"> <p>Hello, {if isset($name) AND $name}{$name}{else}World{/if} </p> </div></div>

...and our CSS file, located in /views/css/helloworld.css:

div#hello_world_block_left p { font-weight: bold }