The document discusses the development of a new feature for Joomla, specifically focusing on adding an article counter to the category manager. It outlines lessons learned during the development process, including the importance of constructive feedback, limiting project scope, thorough testing, and effective communication. The presentation emphasizes collaboration and provides technical details on implementing the feature within Joomla's framework.

1. The Category Item Counter
Developing a new feature for Joomla
by Peter Martin, @pe7er, www.db8.nl
Joomladay UK 2016, 13 February 2016

2. Origin of “nice”
new Feature

10. Saturday 9 May 2015, around 15:00 / 16:00 hours (3-4pm)

11. Lesson 1
Share your ideas
for improvements constructively,
preferably in real life
(and not on Twitter)

12. “It's a pity that the
Joomla Category
Manager doesn't
have an Article
Counter anymore”
Marc Dechèvre

14. “That should not
be that hard to
build in...”

15. Lesson 2
Have fun!

18. The hidden secret
of com_category

19. Joomla 1.5
● Articles + categories
● Banners + categories
● Contacts + categories
● Newsfeeds + categories
● Weblinks + categories
Counter:
extend SQL query with count statement

20. Joomla 3.x
● Articles
● Banners
● Contacts
● Newsfeeds
● Weblinks
● Categories → 1 dedicated component

21. Articles
● Article Manager: Articles
(via Content > Article Manager) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_content
&view=articles
● Category Manager: Articles
(Content > Category Manager) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_categories
&extension=com_content

22. Banners
● Banner Manager: Banners
(via Components > Banners > Banners) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_banners
● Category Manager: Banners
(via Components > Banners > Categories) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_categories
&extension=com_banners

23. Use yourself
Category Manager: Your items
(via Components > Banners > your items) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_categories
&extension=com_yourcomponent

24. Use yourself
Declare in JForm
administrator/components/com_yourcomponent/models/
forms/some_item.xml
<field
name="catid"
type="category"
extension="com_yourcomponent"
default=""
class="inputbox"
label="JCATEGORY"
description="JFIELD_CATEGORY_DESC"
required="true">
<option
value="0">JOPTION_SELECT_CATEGORY</option>
</field>

25. Lesson 3
Limit your project scope,
take small steps...

26. My scope
● com_content →
“if extension = com_content”
● Later on: make more generic...

27. Joomla's
development cycle

28. git
git
Distributed system
for Software Version Control
Github
Website with git repocitories
https://github.com/joomla/joomla-
cms/

29. git
● PR = Pull Request,
ask Joomla to pull the code from your private
fork into the Joomla project.
● Need two successful tests before RTC
= Ready To Commit
→code possibly in new version...

30. Lesson 4
Be willing to test

31. Patch tester
● Testing 123...
– Install Joomla staging + sample test data
– Install Patch Testing Component
– Load Pull Requests
– Read testing instruction,
test, install patch,
test, write report,
uninstall patch

32. git
● Patch for Bug?
→ next subversion (3.4.9)
● New Feature?
→ next main version (3.5)
gets labels: “milestone” + “New feature”
● New language strings?
gets label: “new language string”

33. My workflow

34. Create copy
/joomla/joomla-cms /pe7er/joomla-cms
Fork
Clone

35. Clone to PC
/joomla/joomla-cms
/pe7er/joomla-cms
Define “Upstream”Get all new changes

36. /joomla/joomla-cms
/pe7er/joomla-cms
New branch for new
code/feature
Push code to remote
Create Pull Request
Share new code

37. Lesson 5
Write clear test
instructions

38. Get tested
/joomla/joomla-cms
Pull request #no
Add clear testing instructions
Travis (automated)
2 x Human test

39. Lesson 6
Use screen dumps!
A picture = thousand words

42. “Hathor template?”

43. “Alignment
looks bad”

44. “can you try to
fix the Travis
errors?”
“Travis is not happy”

45. Photo: Pierre Sempé

50. Making it more
generic

51. Lesson 7
Ask for help

52. Articles
● Article Manager: Articles
(via Content > Article Manager) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_content
&view=articles
● Category Manager: Articles
(Content > Category Manager) has the URL:
/administrator/index.php?
option=com_categories
&extension=com_content

53. Loading submenu
option=com_categories
&extension=com_content
→ com_categories
gets helper file from
/administrator/components/com_content/
helpers/content.php
→ uses the method to create left submenu

54. Extend $query
administrator/components/
com_categories/models/categories.php
protected function getListQuery()
→ $query object will be extended by
$classname::countItems($query);
→ loads class from helper file other component

55. New tmpl
administrator/components/com_categories/views/
categories/tmpl/default.php - column header
<?php if (isset($this->items[0]) && property_exists($this-
>items[0], 'count_published')) :
$columns++; ?>
<th width="1%" class="nowrap center hidden-phone">
<i class="icon-publish"></i>
</th>
<?php endif;?>

56. New tmpl
administrator/components/com_categories/views/
categories/tmpl/default.php - clickable counter
<?php if (isset($this->items[0]) && property_exists($this->items[0],
'count_published')) : ?>
<td class="center btns hidden-phone">
<a class="badge <?php if ($item->count_published > 0) echo
"badge-success"; ?>" title="<?php echo Jtext::_('COM_
CATEGORY_COUNT_PUBLISHED_ITEMS');?>" href="<?php echo
JRoute::_('index.php?option=' . $component .
'&filter[category_id]=' . (int) $item->id . '&filter[published]=1' .
'&filter[level]=' . (int) $item->level);?>">
<?php echo $item->count_published; ?>
</a>
</td>
<?php endif;?>

57. More problems
in the core

58. Banners
● Status filter in all components:
&filter[published]
● Banners:
&filter[state]

59. Extending your
own component

60. Add to helper
● Add to helper file
/administrator/components/com_your_
component/helpers/your_component.php
class YourcomponentHelper extends
JHelperContent

61. New method
public static function countItems(&$query)
{
// Join articles to cats and count published items
$query->select('COUNT(DISTINCT cp.id) AS
count_published');
$query->join('LEFT', '#__yourcomponent_items
AS cp ON cp.catid = a.id AND cp.state = 1');
return $query;
}

62. Other counters
// Count unpublished items
$query->select('COUNT(DISTINCT cu.id) AS count_unpublished');
$query->join('LEFT', '#__yourcomponent_items AS cu ON cu.catid =
a.id AND cu.state = 0');
// Count archived items
$query->select('COUNT(DISTINCT ca.id) AS count_archived');
$query->join('LEFT', '#__yourcomponent_items AS ca ON ca.catid =
a.id AND ca.state = 2');
// Count trashed items
$query->select('COUNT(DISTINCT ct.id) AS count_trashed');
$query->join('LEFT', '#__yourcomponent_items AS ct ON ct.catid = a.id
AND ct.state = -2');

63. Conclusion

64. Summary
1.Share your ideas for improvements
constructively (not on Twitter)
2.Have fun!
3.Limit your scope, take small steps...
4.Be willing to test
5.Write clear test instructions
6.Use screen dumps
7.Ask for help

65. Thanks to everybody that helped developing
this new feature!
Peter Martin
e-mail: info at db8.nl
twitter: @pe7er
presentation available at: http://www.db8.nl
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