In this article I will show how to use a modular system to create a website
that is constructed on the fly using dynamic modules, which for performance
sake can be cached if you want. Each module is a php script on its own, returning
html data to be included in the final html page.
that is constructed on the fly using dynamic modules, which for performance
sake can be cached if you want. Each module is a php script on its own, returning
html data to be included in the final html page.
Overview
- php scripted modules that implement functionality (e.g. a style definition, menu or discussion board)
- a parser that can construct the html page by reading input files, determining which modules to
call and then combine output of the modules - files with specific extension (say .my) that specifiy html + calling tags for each module
Walkthrough
To demonstrate how it works, let’s see a file called hello.my:
<title>Hello world</title>
<my-style name=test>
hello world
If a request is being made for index.my, the webserver redirects
this request to the php parser, which just scans for <my- .. >
tags. It finds the ‘style’ tag, and looks for the module style.php in its module directory.
this request to the php parser, which just scans for <my- .. >
tags. It finds the ‘style’ tag, and looks for the module style.php in its module directory.
The file style.php is included and the function handle_style ($arglist)
is called, where $arglist is an associative array of all specified
parameters to the tag (here:
is called, where $arglist is an associative array of all specified
parameters to the tag (here:
<?php $arglist[name] = "test"; ?>
).
The handle_style function must return a string containing html. How
the module determines the html doesn’t concern the system. Say, the handle_style
module returns <font face=Arial size=2 color=yellow> and the parser
includes this in the final html.
the module determines the html doesn’t concern the system. Say, the handle_style
module returns <font face=Arial size=2 color=yellow> and the parser
includes this in the final html.
