Symphony – Articles

Providers: An Introduction

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:34:00 +1000

By brendo

Providers is a concept that was introduced with Symphony 2.3 which allows extensions to natively provide new Data Source types. This allowed for a more seamless experience for users and opened up a world of possibilities for extension developers. The upcoming Symphony 2.3.1 release brings Providers to Events as well, allowing developers to provide new event types selectable from the native Event editor.

Understanding Localisation Contexts

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:30:00 +1000

By eKoeS

In the end, it happened. Symphony 2.3 finally knocked on our doors dragging along a large sack full of shiny new toys to play with, including long awaited improvements to localisation. Thanks to contexts, translators are finally allowed to translate a string in a multitude of ways, depending on the backend page that same string will be shown in.

Introducing the XML Importers

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:23:00 +1000

By brendo

The XML Importer extension is widely used to help users import XML content into their Symphony sections. But if your field returns anything other than simple XML, the chances are you're having to write more complex XPath to grab the import values. In this article I describe how you can implement the prepareImportValue method on your custom fields to ensure the XML Importer gets the values it needs.

Updating Extensions for Symphony 2.3

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:12:00 +1000

By nickdunn

Symphony 2.3 beta3 has been released, so, dear esteemed extension developer, now is the time to test your creations against this latest and greatest of the Symphonies.

On Git Submodules

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:25:00 +1000

By phoque

For the longest time, Git Submodules have been a source of confusion and frustration among developers in our community. As a very complicated and barely controllable method of integrating other peoples code into your projects, they appear to be more a burden than a gain to most of us.

In this article I will try to shed some light on what submodules are, how they work and especially how you will work with them.

A guide to caching extensions

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:58:00 +1000

By nickdunn

Have you ever profiled a Symphony page and raised an eyebrow at the number of database queries needed for a particularly meaty data source? Perhaps you have been linked to from a Slashdot (remember that?) and your server is melting. You need caching.

Introducing extension.meta.xml

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:16:00 +1000

By nickdunn

Symphony 2.3 introduces a new way for extension developers to document metadata. Instead of burying information in PHP classes, you are now strongly encouraged to write this as an XML file. Get the full specification here.

Creating a Field Extension for Symphony

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:46:00 +1000

By brendo

Symphony extension development has always been seen with an aura of 'dark arts' surrounding it, and now that Symphony 2.2 is here, it's a great time to take some steps to demystify this art.

Combining Symphony with Nginx

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:15:00 +1000

By buzzomatic

Rowan Lewis on setting up Symphony rewrites for Nginx.

Getting Git for Symphony Development

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:23:00 +1000

By jonasd

A guide to Git workflows by Jonas Downey.

Localisation in Symphony

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:08:00 +1000

By Nils

Nils Hörrmann introduces developers to the ins and outs of localisation in Symphony.

Beyond the Basics

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +1000

By czheng

Some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Symphony.

Overriding Templates

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:00:00 +1000

By Allen

A technique to keep your XSLT modular for more complex websites.

Combining Different Template Methods

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +1000

By Allen

The art of combining different templates methods In XSLT.

The Tao of Symphony

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +1000

By Allen czheng

The simple philosophy that guides Symphony’s development.

HTML Ninja Technique

Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 +1000

By Allen

When you get HTML in your XML, how do you modify the HTML markup before throwing it to the output? This article answers this problem by showing you the HTML Ninja Technique

XSLT for Creative Minds

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:14:00 +1000

By Allen

Problem solving requires creativity. For example, what do you do when milk in your fridge runs out? You chase after it. Now that’s thinking creatively.