How to Use Same Models in Different Modules in Zend Framework?

Question

I am working on implementing Zend Framework within an existing project that has a public marketing area, a private members area, an administration site, and a marketing campaign management site. Currently these are poorly organized with the controller scripts for the marketing area and the members area all being under the root of the site and then a separate folder for admin and another folder for the marketing campaign site.

In implementing the Zend Framework, I would like to create be able to split the controllers and views into modules (one for the members area, one for the public marketing area, one for the admin site, and one for the marketing campaign admin site) but I need to be able to point each module to the same model's since all three components work on the same database and on the same business objects.

However, I haven't been able to find any information on how to do this in the documentation. Can anyone help with either a link on how to do this or some simple instructions on how to accomplish it?

Answer 1

What I do is keep common classes in a "library" directory outside of the modules hierarchy. Then set my INCLUDE_PATH to use the "models" directory of the respective module, plus the common "library" directory.

docroot/
    index.php
application/
    library/    <-- common classes go here
    default/
        controllers/
        models/
        views/
    members/
        controllers/
        models/
        views/
    admin/
        controllers/
        models/
        views/
. . .

In my bootstrap script, I'd add "application/library/" to the INCLUDE_PATH. Then in each controller's init() function, I'd add that module's "models/" directory to the INCLUDE_PATH.

edit: Functions like setControllerDirectory() and setModuleDirectory() don't add the respective models directories to the INCLUDE_PATH. You have to do this yourself in any case. Here's one example of how to do it:

$app = APPLICATION_HOME; // you should define this in your bootstrap
$d = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
$module = $this->_request->getModuleName(); // available after routing
set_include_path(
  join(PATH_SEPARATOR,
    array(
      "$app{$d}library",
      "$app{$d}$module{$d}models",
      get_include_path()
    )
  )
);

You could add the "library" to your path in the bootstrap, but you can't add the "models" directory for the correct module in the bootstrap, because the module depends on routing. Some people do this in the init() method of their controllers, and some people write a plugin for the ActionController's preDispatch hook to set the INCLUDE_PATH.

Answer 2

This can also be accomplished through a naming convention to follow Zend_Loader. Keep your model files in the models folder under their module folder. Name them as Module_Models_ModelName and save them in a file name ModelName.php in the models folder for that module. Make sure the application folder is in your include path and assuming you are using Zend_Loader for auto loading, you can then just reference the models by their class name.

This has the advantage of keeping your model code grouped in with the actual module it is for. This keeps the module contained within a single folder structure which helps encourage encapsulation. This will also help in the future if you need to port the module to another project.