A module is practically an application inside the main application. In fact, it is organized as a directory that is called the base path of the module. Within the directory, there are folders containing its controllers, models, views, and other code, just like in an application.
Follow the typical structure of a module:
myCustomModule/
Module.php the module class file
controllers/ containing controller class files
DefaultController.php the default controller class file
models/ containing model class files
views/ containing controller view and layout files
layouts/ containing layout view files
default/ containing view files for DefaultController
index.php the index view fileThe module class file is instanced when a module is being accessed and it is used to share data and components for code, such as application instances.
The module class file has these characteristics:
- It is by default named
Module.php - It is instanced once during the code execution
- It is located directly under the module's base path
- It extends from
yiiaseModule
Let's look at an example of a module class for myCustomModule (under the appmodulesmyCustomModule namespace):
namespace appmodulesmyCustomModule;
class Module extends yiiaseModule
{
public function init()
{
parent::init();
$this->params['foo'] = 'bar';
// ... other initialization code ...
}
}As a standard application, a module can have its own configuration based on a config file that has the same contents of a standard application:
<?php
return [
'components' => [
// list of component configurations
],
'params' => [
// list of parameters
],
..
..
..
];We load this in the init() method of the module:
public function init()
{
parent::init();
// initialize the module with the configuration loaded from config.php
Yii::configure($this, require(__DIR__ . '/config.php'));
}Then, we create and use controllers, models, and views in the same way we do with a normal application.
Finally, to use a module in an application, we simply configure the application by listing the module in the module's property of the application. The following code in the application configuration uses the forum module:
[
'modules' => [
'myCustomModule' => [
'class' => 'appmodulesmyCustomModuleModule',
// ... other configurations for the module ...
],
],
]