HritSample Module

I've managed to create a CMS-independent Hello World! Hrit module that runs in Joomla!

So what, huh? Well, this will make it easy for anyone to write a Hrit module in future, which they can load into any popular CMS, starting with Joomla! The cross-CMS compatibility is provided by a single php file, that is the first point of entry in the extension by the Joomla! system. Also needed is a Joomla!-specific xml file for describing the extension. Thereafter the php entry point delegates everything to the 'module', which is a folder containing a real controller and a real view class that doesn't refer to Joomla! in any way, shape or form.

A HRIT Module wrapper tool

Eventually we will need a wrapper program to take such a module and prepare it for the various CMSes automatically. For that purpose an XML file would have to be added to each module to describe its contents, which the wrapper would read and turn into a CMS-specific form.

Hritcore module

To make writing Hrit modules really easy all of the Hrit-specific functionality is contained in another CMS-independent module called hritcore, which is added to the php include-path and from which not only superclasses for Hrit but also the mvdguilib.js Javascript functions, which provide cross-browser functionality for interactivity, can be called.

One of these support files is a surrogate or imitation HritRest service, which just accesses a local database for experimental purposes, rather than a remote service over the web. There is only one public method: get, which takes a REST-style URL as its only argument, and spews back whatever the caller requested. So if users request:

http://localhost/cortex/english/shakespeare/kinglear/act1/scene1/F1

they will get the F1 version of act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare's King Lear, etc. And if they replace the first bit of the url by 'corcode' they will get the corcode for that version, and similarly for corpix.

Where this still needs to go

Later, when this kind of url is possible on the real REST service the HritRest.php file can be done away with. Shouldn't be long before the two example views: SingleView and CompareView are ready to demonstrate.

Next step, though, is to incorporate formatter (and why not also splitter and stripper?) into the php service and do away with XSLT forever. Oh, what a joy!