Learning Joomla! Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP (Taschenbuch)

A rapid and easy-to-follow introductory tutorial to help you use PHP code to create your first Joomla! extensions: modules, components, and plugins. This book is suitable for PHP programmers who want to take their first step in customizing and extending the features of Joomla! through custom PHP development. It is not a reference guide for advanced Joomla! developers. You need only the basics of PHP programming; no experience of developing Joomla! extensions is assumed. You are expected to be familiar with the general operation of Joomla!

If you're a PHP programmer eager to create extensions for Joomla!, this book is for you. Written for Joomla! 1.5, it gets you coding your first extensions as quickly as possible, and adds features that will make your work look professional! The world's hottest open-source content management system, Joomla! won the 2006 Open Source CMS Prize. Already feature packed, it is also extremely extensible, allowing multiple complex applications to be cleanly integrated, inheriting the look and feel of one Joomla! site, with only one database, template, and core to maintain. This practical tutorial is based around the development of example extensions to create, find, promote, and cross-link restaurant reviews. Each chapter is a step-by-step walkthrough, covering modules, components, and plugins as well as configuration and packaging for distribution. Readers need basic PHP skills and familiarity with the general operation of Joomla! but do not need experience of developing Joomla! extensions.

Joseph L. LeBlanc started with computers at a very young age. His independent education gave him the flexibility to experiment and learn computer science. Joseph holds a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems from Oral Roberts University. Joseph is currently a freelance Joomla! extension developer. He released a component tutorial in May 2004, which was later translated into French, Polish, and Russian. Work samples and open-source extensions are available at www.jlleblanc.com. In addition to freelancing, he is a board member of the DC PHP Conference. He has also worked as a programmer for a web communications firm in Washington, DC.