Magento’s Class Instantiation Abstraction and Autoload

PHP Autoload

 

function __autoload($class_name){

   require('lib/'.strToLower($class_name).'.class.php');

}

 

Magento Autoload

 

You cansplit all Magento classes into four parts that we’ll call Namespace, ModuleName, Class Type, and Name.

Namespace_ModuleName_ClassType_Name

Directory Structure

Varien’s current recommendation is that all non-core modules be stored in the local folder.

Namespace/ModuleName/ClassType/Name.php

Abstracting Away Class Instantiation

Magento Config Files

 

For example:

Mage::getModel('dataflow/batch_export');

ð  Mage_Dataflow_Model_Batch_Export

With your Own Modules

High Concept

The Cart Model has a method named removeItem.

<!-- ....  -->

<global>

    <models>

        <!-- standard model section -->

        <roimagic>

            <class>Companyname_RoiMagic_Model</class>

        </roimagic>

        <!-- new checkout section -->

        <checkout>

            <rewrite>               

                <cart>Companyname_RoiMagic_Model_Cart</cart>

            </rewrite>

        </checkout>

    </models>

</global>

<!-- ....  -->

The<rewrite> node lets Magento know we want to override something in thedefault customer module. Remember, Magento merges all the config filestogether, so it’s seeing something more like

<checkout>

    <class>Mage_Checkout_Model</class>

    <resourceModel>checkout_mysql4</resourceModel>          

    <rewrite>               

        <cart>Companyname_RoiMagic_Model_Cart</cart>

    </rewrite>

</checkout>

The presence of the <rewrite> node lets Magento know it shouldn’t assume the class you want is Mage_Checkout_Model_Cart. that’s Companyname_RoiMagic_Model_Cart

Wrap-up