Model Class¶

The Model class provides functions to work with information in your database.

Creating a Model¶

Let's say you want to create bulletin board application. You might have a model class that contains functions to insert, update, and retrieve bulletin board application data. Here is an example of what such a model class might look like:

defined('V_IN_FRONTEND') or die('Powered by <a href="http://www.vesthelm.com/">Vesthelm EE</a>');

class Bulletin_Board_Bulletin extends Vesthelm_Model {

    protected $_table = 'bulletin_board_bulletins'; //bulletins table

    public function getBulletins() {
        $this->select(array('b.title', 'b.description'))
                ->from(array('b' => $this->_table))
                ->where(array(array('status' => 'active')))
                ->limit(0, 100);

         return $this->all();
    }

    public function get() {
        $this->select(array('b.title', 'b.description'))
                ->from(array('b' => $this->_table))
                ->where(array('id' => 10));

         return $this->row();
    }

    public function add() {
        $data['title'] = 'Bulletin title';
        $data['description'] = 'Bulletin description';

        $additional['date'] = 'NOW()';

        return $this->insert('', $data, $additional);
    }

    public function edit() {
        $data['title'] = 'Bulletin title';
        $data['description'] = 'Bulletin description';

        return $this->update('', $data, array('id' => 10));
    }

    public function delete() {
        $id = 10;
        $id = is_array($id) ? $id : array($id);

        return parent::delete($this->_table, array(array('id', 'IN', $id));
    }

}

Anatomy of a Model¶

Model classes are stored in folders:

//Core models
example.com/frontend/models
example.com/acp/models

//Application models
example.com/applications/{application_name}/frontend/models
example.com/applications/{application_name}/acp/models

//Addon models
example.com/addons/{addon_name}/frontend/models
example.com/addons/{addon_name}/acp/models

//Sometimes models can be found here (old way):
example.com/addons/{addon_name}/frontend/classes
example.com/addons/{addon_name}/acp/classes

The basic prototype for a model class is:

class Enhancement_Name_Model_Name extends Vesthelm_Model {
    function __construct(){
        parent::__construct();
    }
}

Where Enhancement_Name is the name of your enhancement. Enhancement names must have the first letter capitalized after underscore _ character.

Where Model_Name is the name of your class. Class names must have the first letter capitalized after underscore _ character. Make sure your class extends the base Model class.

The file name will be same as your class name (Model_Name). For example, if your class is:

class Bulletin_Board_Bulletin extends Vesthelm_Model {
    function __construct(){
        parent::__construct();
    }
}

Your file will be:

example.com/applications/bulletin-board/acp/models/Bulletin.php

//or
example.com/applications/bulletin-board/acp/models/bulletin/Bulletin.php

Calling a Model¶

Calling core model:

$Addon_Model = $this->Addon;

Calling Bulletin Board application model:

$Bulletin_Model = $this->bulletin_board->Bulletin;

//identical
$Bulletin_Model->add();
$this->bulletin_board->Bulletin->add();

Where bulletin_board is the name of enhancement and Bulletin is the name of the Model.

Extending Core Model¶

Core model:

class Vesthelm_Category extends Vesthelm_Model {
    function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
    }
}

Extending:

class Bulletin_Board_Category extends Vesthelm_Category {
    public function your_func() {}
}