Create The Domain Model

The domain of our first extension is very simple. The essential concept of our domain is the “product”. All the important properties for us of a product and its “behavior” are defined in a class with the name Tx_Inventory_Domain_Model_Product. The code of this class is stored in a file with the name Product.php. The name of the file arises through supplements of .php at the last word, to count after the last underscore, of the class name. This class file is stored in the folder EXT:inventory/Classes/Domain/Model/.

Tip

The labels of the classes always must reflect the folder structure. For example extbase expects the class Tx_MyExtension_FirstFolder_SecondFolder_File in the folder my_extension/Classes/FirstFolder/SecondFolder/File.php. Pay attention to the corresponding upper case of the folder names.

Below we have a view into this file, note that the class Tx_Inventory_Domain_Model_Product must be derivated from the extbase class Tx_Extbase_DomainObject_AbstractEntity.

<?php
class Tx_Inventory_Domain_Model_Product extends Tx_Extbase_DomainObject_AbstractEntity {
/**
 * @var string
 **/
protected $name = '';

/**
 * @var string
 **/
protected $description = '';

/**
 * @var int
 **/
protected $quantity = 0;

public function __construct($name = '', $description = '', $quantity = 0) {
        $this->setName($name);
        $this->setDescription($description);
        $this->setQuantity($quantity);
}

public function setName($name) {
        $this->name = (string)$name;
}

public function getName() {
        return $this->name;
}

public function setDescription($description) {
        $this->description = (string)$description;
}

public function getDescription() {
        return $this->description;
}

public function setQuantity($quantity) {
        $this->quantity = (int)$quantity;
}

public function getQuantity() {
        return $this->quantity;
}

}
?>

The product properties are designed as class variable $name, $description and $quantity and protected (encapsulated) against direct access from outside by the keyword protected . The property values can be set and/or read only by the methods setProperty() and getProperty() declared as public. Methods in this form are used very frequently and therefore they are generically named Getter and Setter for short.

Tip

At a first view, the methods appear to be cumbersome for accessing the class variables. However, they have several advantages: The Internals of the processing can be added or changed at a later time, without needing to make changes to the calling object. Also, for example, the reading can be permitted, without simultaneously allowing writing access. Later on, the tedious work needed to code these methods will be made for you by the Kickstarter. Moreover, most development environments offer macros or snippets for this purpose. Note that in different moments Extbase internally tries to fill a property $name over a method setName().

The method __construct() serves to guarantee a well defined state at the beginning of the life cycle of the object. Here the properties of the product are set with their respectively preset values.

Warning

In the declaration of the constructor, the argument $name is set with a default value (empty string) and thereupon optional. That is necessary so that Extbase can instantiate the class “empty” without a name must be delivered. With this Extbase offends against the pure doctrine because the constructor actually should guarantee the minimal configuration of the object Organization. In Extbase, This however better is done with so-called validators (see the section “validating domain objects” in chapter 9).