Storing a value associated with a component

[xtempore]

I'm working on a component which acts as a wrapper for a 3rd party
product.

As part of the component I want to be able to install the latest
version of that product, and then keep track of the version so that I
can later check whether it is still up to date.

To do that, I need somewhere to store the current product version.

One place I considered is in the parameters for the component, but I'm
not sure how best to do that.

Also I'm not sure what would then happen the next time the user
updates the options. Would my additional parameter get lost?

Any suggestions as to the best place/method for storing internal data
like this>\?

Thanks

[Mark Dexter]

Why don't you use the standard method we use for extensions? See:
http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_%28MVC%29_Component_for_Joomla!2.5_-_Part_06#Packaging_the_component

http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_%28MVC%29_Component_for_Joomla!2.5_-_Part_15

and

http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_%28MVC%29_Component_for_Joomla!2.5_-_Part_17.

If you use that, the version number is stored in the #__extensions
table as a value in the manifest_cache column. You can check it just
by reading that row (based on the component name) and unpacking that
column.

Good luck. Mark

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[xtempore]

Hi Mark

Thanks for the reply, but I don't get what you are saying.

I need to store the version of the 3rd Party product, NOT the version of my component (that's already taken care of).

I looked through all the MVC example, but found nothing in there that helped me with this problem.

Is there a standardised way of storing extra values that the user cannot change?

Thanks

On Tuesday, 15 May 2012 12:21:32 UTC+10, Mark Dexter wrote:

Why don't you use the standard method we use for extensions? See:
http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_%28MVC%29_Component_for_Joomla!2.5_-_Part_06#Packaging_the_component

http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_%28MVC%29_Component_for_Joomla!2.5_-_Part_15

and

http://docs.joomla.org/Developing_a_Model-View-Controller_%28MVC%29_Component_for_Joomla!2.5_-_Part_17.

If you use that, the version number is stored in the #__extensions
table as a value in the manifest_cache column. You can check it just
by reading that row (based on the component name) and unpacking that
column.

Good luck. Mark

On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 6:55 PM, xtempore wrote:
> I'm working on a component which acts as a wrapper for a 3rd party
> product.
>
> As part of the component I want to be able to install the latest
> version of that product, and then keep track of the version so that I
> can later check whether it is still up to date.
>
> To do that, I need somewhere to store the current product version.
>
> One place I considered is in the parameters for the component, but I'm
> not sure how best to do that.
>
> Also I'm not sure what would then happen the next time the user
> updates the options.  Would my additional parameter get lost?
>
> Any suggestions as to the best place/method for storing internal data
> like this>\?
>
> Thanks
>
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> To post to this group, send an email to joomla-dev-general@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to joomla-dev-general+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Mark Dexter]

Hi. Sorry I misunderstood. In that case, I'm not aware of any specific
convention. Just create a column in a suitable table and store the
value. Good luck. Mark

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[Sam Coult]

Another alternative to creating a new column in one of your db tables is to add a hidden field into your component config.xml and update the value of the field when the 3rd party product is updated.  If the field is set to type="hidden" then it will not be overwritten and the user will not be able to see the field when they are in the options. 

[xtempore]

Thanks Sam!  I knew there had to be something like that.  I think that's the way to go and I know how to put the hidden field there, I'm just not sure how to update it through code.  Any ideas?

[Sam Coult]

I think the easiest thing to do (if you haven't already) would be to add an extension script (see here) and modify the form value in the update function. 

[Sam Coult]

Oh and just in case you are unsure how to set the field value I think that you can do something like this:

$registry = new JRegistry();

$registry->set($registrypath, $newvalue);

[Mark Dexter]

Hi. Sorry, I misunderstood. In that case, I don't think there is any convention. Just make a place in your database. Mark

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