Nooku Framework

Install Nooku Framework

The tutorial and examples are based on Nooku Framework. So before we can take off we need to install the Framework. Nooku Framework can be installed into both Joomla 1.5, Joomla 1.6 and Nooku Server. See Installation for details on how to do this.

Mind the naming conventions

In Nooku Framework there are strict Naming Conventions for files, folders, classes, database tables and fields. For the framework to be able to properly fulfill it's purpose as a Rapid Application Development framework, you need to adhere to these standards. We'll be using them in the sections to come, so you might want to look them up later on.

The anatomy of a component

We'll assume you know about Components, modules and plugins already, and skip right ahead to the actual folder structure of our little test component. We're going to create a blog component, and for this we're going to build both a backend for administrators, and a frontend, that the regular visitor will see. Your own components need not contain both a backend and a frontend though, that's up for you to decide.

The backend files will be located here:

/administrator/components/com_blog

And the frontend files will be located here:

/components/com_blog

Nooku Framework uses the Model-View-Controller pattern, and so should components based on the Nooku Framework. The component folder structure reflects the use of this design pattern:

com_blog/controllers/
com_blog/models/
com_blog/views/

There is no need to set up these folders just yet though.

There is more to be told about the folder structures here, as it is in no way complete, but for the scope of this introduction this is all you need to know for now. Notice though that the folder names are plural, since they will be containing multiple controllers, models and views. Nooku Framework is very specific about the plural and singular form, so that's a taste of the Naming Conventions already.