Packages

• Basics
• Routing
• Configuration, tasks, urls and views
• Installing packages
• Using packages

Packages can be used to add, extend or override functionality. Packages can contain classes, config files, controllers, language files, migrations, tasks and views.

Package names must be lower case and can only contain ascii alphabet characters, numbers and underscores.

Basics

Packages are installed in the app/packages directory. Here's the directory structure of a basic package containing only one class:

app/packages/foo/
	_init.php
	classes/
		Foo.php

All packages must include a _init.php file. This is where you define constants, global functions and set up autoloading of the package classes. You can use the Mako autoloader or write your own.

<?php

// Map classes

mako\ClassLoader::mapClasses(array
(
	'Foo' => __DIR__ . '/classes/Foo.php',
));

You do not need to map or set up autoloading for controllers or models as this is handled by the framework.

Here's the directory structure of a more complex package containing config files, controllers, language files, migrations, tasks and views.

app/packages/foobar/
	_init.php
	classes/
		Foo.php
		Bar.php
	config/
		config.php
		routes.php
	controllers/
		index.php
	i18n/
		strings/
			language.php
	tasks/
		ask.php
	views/
		view.php

Routing

You can route requests to package controllers by adding your package to the packages list in the app/config/routes.php config file. The array key is the base route you want the package to respond to and the value is the package name.

'packages' => array
(
	// The foobar package will now handle all requests starting with "my/base/route"
	
	'my/base/route' => 'foobar'
);

The package will automatically be initialized when a request matches the base route you have defined and the <package_name>\controllers namespace will be registered by the autoloader allowing your controllers to be autoloaded.

Routable packages also require their own routes.php config file where you define the default route and any custom routes you might need.

Configuration, tasks, urls and views

Loading configuration files in a package is done using the Config::get method like in the application. The only difference is that you have to prefix the name of the config file with the name of your package followed by two colons (::). The same convention is used when running tasks, generating urls or creating views.

// Loads the "app/packages/foobar/config/config.php" file

$config = Config::get('foobar::config');

// Execute the default task action

php reactor foobar::task

// Generates a URL for the foobar package where "foobar::" is replaced by the base route

echo URL::('foobar::users/profile/1');

// Loads the "app/packages/foobar/views/view.php" file

$view = new View('foobar::view');

Installing packages

Installing packages is extremely easy. Just drop the package in the app/packages directory and you're ready to go!

You can also install packages using composer:

composer require mako/image:*

Using packages

You need to initialize a package before you can use it in your application. This can be done using the Package::init method or by registering the package(s) you want to auto-initialize in the app/config/application.php config file.

Package::init('image');

It is recommended to manually initialize packages when needed if you do not use them throughout your entire application.