tips and tricks...
Ian MacLennan
So I needed a change from writing API documentation, and I noticed that
there is a tips and tricks section on the wiki, an in it are documents
that are HOWTOish in nature. I decided to write a new howto, entitled:
How to use User State Variables. It can be accessed at:
http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=tips:user_state_variables
I tried to roughly follow the format of another one of the pages. If
others here think that this is a helpful thing, perhaps I will write
more. I have not linked this page anywhere, so if you don't like it,
you can just scrap it and forget this ever happened :)
I am open to comments and suggestions as well if some think that this is
an idea that needs refinement.
Some other howtos that I thought of were:
How to paginate list results
How to use the Joomla! caching system (this may be beyond my abilities)
How to use Joomla! internationalization features
How to access environment variables (i.e. base URL, paths, etc.)
Joomla! extension standard directory structure, and how to use the
JApplicationHelper class to retrieve paths to these files
How to work with the pathway
How to use parameters
How to use the JQuery class (is this class at a place where it can be used?)
How to access files using the file system package
How to do error handling using the builtin error handler
How to write an installer XML file
How to manage component configuration values (is there a recommended way
to do this?)
Anyways, those were just some thoughts. Would love to hear what people
think. These will not be the focus of my time, as I still want to keep
working on documenting the API, but it gets a little bit monotonous and
I needed a bit of a change.
Have a great day all!
Ian
Louis Landry
Luois
Hey folks,
So I needed a change from writing API documentation, and I noticed that
there is a tips and tricks section on the wiki, an in it are documents
that are HOWTOish in nature. I decided to write a new howto, entitled:
How to use User State Variables. It can be accessed at:
http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=tips:user_state_variables
I tried to roughly follow the format of another one of the pages. If
others here think that this is a helpful thing, perhaps I will write
more. I have not linked this page anywhere, so if you don't like it,
you can just scrap it and forget this ever happened :)
I am open to comments and suggestions as well if some think that this is
an idea that needs refinement.
Some other howtos that I thought of were:
How to paginate list results
How to use the Joomla! caching system (this may be beyond my abilities)
How to use Joomla! internationalization features
How to access environment variables ( i.e. base URL, paths, etc.)
Michelle Bisson
If you have some Tips and Tricks documented that could would be of benefit to Administrators, please contact me.
It would be nice to have such a document targeted to Administrators on the Help Site.
My skype is michelle.joomla
Thanks!
Michelle
m.schmuck
standalone HowTos and some are in the Tutorials for creating components,
plugins etc so i guess to seperate some HowTos as standalone if they are
general would be good and some as additional to existing Tutorials,
thoughts?
Marko
Ian MacLennan schrieb:
> Hey folks,
>
> So I needed a change from writing API documentation, and I noticed that
> there is a tips and tricks section on the wiki, an in it are documents
> that are HOWTOish in nature. I decided to write a new howto, entitled:
> How to use User State Variables. It can be accessed at:
> http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=tips:user_state_variables
>
> I tried to roughly follow the format of another one of the pages. If
> others here think that this is a helpful thing, perhaps I will write
> more. I have not linked this page anywhere, so if you don't like it,
> you can just scrap it and forget this ever happened :)
>
> I am open to comments and suggestions as well if some think that this is
> an idea that needs refinement.
>
> Some other howtos that I thought of were:
> How to paginate list results
> How to use the Joomla! caching system (this may be beyond my abilities)
> How to use Joomla! internationalization features
> How to access environment variables (i.e. base URL, paths, etc.)
> Joomla! extension standard directory structure, and how to use the
> JApplicationHelper class to retrieve paths to these files
> How to work with the pathway
>
Breadcrumb could be more expand here:
http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=components:hello_world2
> How to use parameters
> How to use the JQuery class (is this class at a place where it can be used?)
>
Can be an additional to this:
http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=tips:using_database_class
> How to access files using the file system package
> How to do error handling using the builtin error handler
> How to write an installer XML file
>
We allready started this in the Tutorial section
http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=tutorials:components
> How to manage component configuration values (is there a recommended way
> to do this?)
>
> Anyways, those were just some thoughts. Would love to hear what people
> think. These will not be the focus of my time, as I still want to keep
> working on documenting the API, but it gets a little bit monotonous and
> I needed a bit of a change.
>
> Have a great day all!
> Ian
>
> >
>
>
--
Marko Schmuck
Joomla! Core Member
Chris Davenport
Excellent work Ian!
Couple of trivial points you might like to consider:
1. In the first section title: "Why should I use the Joomla! User State
Variables?", there is no need to capitalise "User State Variables".
2. References to classes or methods (eg. "JApplication::setUserState")
could be made into wiki links to the relevant API ref pages.
My vision for the dev doc wiki is for the API reference to be the
central definitive reference for the API but surrounding that should be
a collection of loosely-organised and much less formal documents, such
as how-to's, tutorials and so on, all richly interlinked. This means
that a tutorial-style document can focus on clear narrative flow without
having to strive for completeness; the links to the formal API ref are
there if the reader needs more detailed or specific information.
Conversely, the API reference, particularly the class overview pages,
should contain links to the various how-to's and tutorials that are
relevant.
This separation of styles, connected by rich interlinking, is I believe,
the best approach to answering the two principal kinds of questions that
developers ask: There's the "how do I pass state variables from one
screen to the next?" kind of question, as opposed to the "what do I pass
as the 3rd argument to this function call?" kind of question.
Anyway, keep up the good work Ian. My apologies for not being able to
contribute much recently. I'm swamped with work at the moment and each
time I think I'm getting on top of it something else comes up! Anyway,
most of the work I do is seasonal and it WILL dry up as the (northern
hemisphere) Summer draws to a close. Can't be soon enough for me as I
really miss working on Joomla!
Regards,
Chris.
--
Chris Davenport
ch...@dcsnet.demon.co.uk
Ian MacLennan
Actually, I just noted a document called "Storing Variables
<http://dev.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wiki&Itemid=31&id=faq:storing_variable>"
by Andrew... I just have looked more carefully as there is a lot of
overlap between this one and my own... Sorry Andrew :(
I definitely think we need to have component tutorials, module tutorials
etc... but I think the HOWTOs I suggested were directed, specific
tutorials for using certain aspects of the API. As a developer, I don't
necessarily want to wade through the five step Hello World component
tutorial if all I want to do is learn how to do something specific. If
I know the basics of writing a component, but don't remember how to work
with the pathway, for example, a quick HOWTO for pathways would be
helpful and would save a lot of time.
Maybe another helpful element that would in some way bridge these two
would be an index page. Search engines are great, but it is helpful
sometimes to have a human generated index that will point you to
reference material on a certain subject.
So on the subject of Database, for example, you would have a list of
links, i.e.
Creating a Table at Install Time
Accessing the Database (Hello World component example)
Portable Database Development (how to use JQuery to build queries
that will port across database platforms)
UTF and Non-UTF install files (what is the difference)
Some of these would point to specific howtos, some of these would point
to other tutorials (as in the component tutorial in this example)
Anyway, just some further thoughts...
@Chris: As I think about it I should probably go back to some of my
other pages that I have created and add more links there as well. I get
lazy sometimes :(
No worries about not being too active... I went a few months without
saying much or doing much... make sure you are getting the job done
they are paying you for :)
Ian