Getting Started

Recite CMS uses an automatic class-loading system, meaning you don’t have make calls to PHP functions such as require_once() to load PHP scripts. This relies on all classes (including classes you develop for your custom modules) being named appropriately and stored on the filesystem correctly. Classes are automatically loaded when you try to use them.

For example, the Text_Lipsum class (used to generate dummy "Lorem Ipsum" text) needs to be stored in the application include directory with a path of Text/Lipsum.php. In other words, the class filename should end in .php and underscores in the class name correspond to slashes in the path.

Below are two identical ways in Recite CMS to use this class. Firstly, manually including the class:

<?php
    require_once('Text/Lipsum.php');
    echo Text_Lipsum::sentence();
?>

<?php
    echo Text_Lipsum::sentence();
?>

It is also important to note that each module in Recite CMS has its own class namespace ^[1] and include directory. As you will see in the "Developing Custom Modules" document, each module will have the file path ./name/include. For example, if you have a module called Timesheets and a class called Report, its full path (relative to the modules directory) would be ./timesheets/include/Report.php. You must also name the class accordingly, prefixing it with Module_Timesheets_.

For example, to define the class (called Module_Timesheets_Report), you might use the following code.

<?php
    class Module_Timesheets_Report
    {
        public function __construct()
        {
        }
    }
?>

Once you have created the class, it would be somewhat cumbersome to include the full path to the class in order to use it. Thanks to the class auto-loader, you don't need to. You can simply use the following code.

<?php
    $report = new Module_Timesheets_Report();
?>