Chapter 12. Building a Module from Scratch

Based on the knowledge acquired from previous chapters, we will now build a miniature Helpdesk module. Though miniature, the module will showcase the usage of several important Magento platform features as we go through the following sections:

  • Registering a module (registration.php and module.xml)
  • Creating a configuration file (config.xml)
  • Creating e-mail templates (email_templates.xml)
  • Creating a system configuration file (system.xml)
  • Creating access control lists (acl.xml)
  • Creating an installation script (InstallSchema.php)
  • Managing entity persistence (model, resource, collection)
  • Building a frontend interface
  • Building a backend interface
  • Creating unit tests

Module requirements

Module requirements are defined as follows:

  • Name used, Foggyline/Helpdesk
  • Data to be stored in table is called foggyline_helpdesk_ticket
  • Tickets entity will contain ticket_id, customer_id, title, severity, created_at, and status properties
  • The customer_id property is to be foreign key on the customer_entity table
  • There will be three available ticket severity values: low, medium, and high
  • If not specified, the default severity value for new tickets is low
  • There will be two available ticket statuses: opened and closed
  • If not specified, the default status value for new tickets is opened
  • Two e-mails templates: store_owner_to_customer_email_template and customer_to_store_owner_email_template are to be defined for pushing e-mail updates upon ticket creation and status change
  • Customers will be able to submit a ticket through their My Account section
  • Customers will be able to see all of their previously submitted tickets under their My Account section
  • Customers will not be able to edit any existing tickets
  • Once a customer submits a new ticket, transactional e-mail (let's call it Foggyline – Helpdesk – Customer | Store Owner) is sent to the store owner
  • Configurable option is required for possibly overriding Foggyline – Helpdesk – Customer | Store Owner e-mail
  • Admin users will be able to access a list of all tickets under Customers | Helpdesk Tickets
  • Admin users will be able to change ticket status from Opened to Closed and other way round
  • Once an admin user changes the ticket status, transactional e-mail (let's call it Foggyline – Helpdesk – Store Owner | Customer) is sent to the customer
  • Configurable option is required for possibly overriding Foggyline – Helpdesk – Store Owner | Customer e-mail

With the requirements outlined, we are ready to begin our module development.

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