Table of contents
PrestaShop's database tables start with the ps_
prefix. Note that this can be customized during installation
All table names are in lowercase, and words are separated with an underscore character ("_
").
When a table establishes the links between two entities, the names of both entities are mentioned in the table's name. For instance, ps_category_product
links products to their category.
A few details to note:
id_lang
field to store the language associated with a record.id_shop
field to store the store associated with a record._lang
suffix. For instance, ps_product_lang
contains all the translations for the ps_product
table._shop
suffix. For instance, ps_category_shop
contains the position of each category depending on the store.This is the main object of PrestaShop's object model. It can be overridden with precaution.
It is an Active Record kind of class (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_record_pattern). PrestaShop's database table attributes or view attributes are encapsulated in the class. Therefore, the class is tied to a database record. After the object has been instantiated, a new record is added to the database. Each object retrieves its data from the database; when an object is updated, the record to which it is tied is updated as well. The class implements accessors for each attribute.
You must use the $definition
static variable in order to define the model.
For instance:
/** * Example from the CMS model (CMSCore) */ public static $definition = array( 'table' => 'cms', 'primary' => 'id_cms', 'multilang' => true, 'fields' => array( 'id_cms_category' => array('type' => self::TYPE_INT, 'validate' => 'isUnsignedInt'), 'position' => array('type' => self::TYPE_INT), 'active' => array('type' => self::TYPE_BOOL), // Lang fields 'meta_description' => array('type' => self::TYPE_STRING, 'lang' => true, 'validate' => 'isGenericName', 'size' => 255), 'meta_keywords' => array('type' => self::TYPE_STRING, 'lang' => true, 'validate' => 'isGenericName', 'size' => 255), 'meta_title' => array('type' => self::TYPE_STRING, 'lang' => true, 'validate' => 'isGenericName', 'required' => true, 'size' => 128), 'link_rewrite' => array('type' => self::TYPE_STRING, 'lang' => true, 'validate' => 'isLinkRewrite', 'required' => true, 'size' => 128), 'content' => array('type' => self::TYPE_HTML, 'lang' => true, 'validate' => 'isString', 'size' => 3999999999999), ), ); |
In order to retrieve an object in many languages:
'multilang' => true |
In order to retrieve an object depending on the current store
'multishop' => true |
In order to retrieve an object which depends on the current store, and in many languages:
'multilang_shop' => true |
Any overriding of the ObjectModel methods is bound to influence how all the other classes and methods act. Use with care.
Method name and parameters | Description |
---|---|
__construct($id = NULL, $id_lang = NULL) | Build object. |
add($autodate = true, $nullValues = false) | Save current object to database (add or update). |
associateTo(integer|array $id_shops) | Associate an item to its context. |
delete() | Delete current object from database. |
deleteImage(mixed $force_delete = false) | Delete images associated with the object. |
deleteSelection($selection) | Delete several objects from database. |
getFields() | Prepare fields for ObjectModel class (add, update). |
getValidationRules($className = _CLASS_) | Return object validation rules (field validity). |
save($nullValues = false, $autodate = true) | Save current object to database (add or update). |
toggleStatus() | Toggle object's status in database. |
update($nullValues = false) | Update current object to database. |
validateFields($die = true, $errorReturn = false) | Check for field validity before database interaction. |
The DBQuery class is a query builder which helps you create SQL queries. For instance:
$sql = new DbQuery(); $sql->select('*'); $sql->from('cms', 'c'); $sql->innerJoin('cms_lang', 'l', 'c.id_cms = l.id_cms AND l.id_lang = '.(int)$id_lang); $sql->where('c.active = 1'); $sql->orderBy('position'); return Db::getInstance()->executeS($sql); |
Here are some of the methods from this class:
Method name and parameters | Description |
---|---|
__toString() | Generate and get the query. |
build() | Generate and get the query (return a string). |
from(string $table, mixed $alias = null) | Set table for FROM clause. |
groupBy(string $fields) | Add a GROUP BY restriction. |
having(string $restriction) | Add a restriction in the HAVING clause (each restriction will be separated by an AND statement). |
innerJoin(string $table, string $alias = null, string $on = null) | Add INNER JOIN clause, E.g. $this->innerJoin('product p ON ...'). |
join(string $join) | Add JOIN clause, E.g. $this->join('RIGHT JOIN'._DB_PREFIX_.'product p ON ...');. |
leftJoin(string $table, string $alias = null, string $on = null) | Add LEFT JOIN clause. |
leftOuterJoin(string $table, string $alias = null, string $on = null) | Add LEFT OUTER JOIN clause. |
limit(string $limit, mixed $offset = 0) | Limit results in query. |
naturalJoin(string $table, string $alias = null) | Add NATURAL JOIN clause. |
orderBy(string $fields) | Add an ORDER B restriction. |
select(string $fields) | Add fields in query selection. |
where(string $restriction) | Add a restriction in WHERE clause (each restriction will be separated by an AND statement). |
The Dispatcher is one of the main technical features of v1.5. It handles URL redirections. Instead of using multiple files in the root folder like product.php
, order.php
or category.php
, only one file is used: index.php
. From now on, internal URL will look like index.php?controller=category
, index.php?controller=product
, etc.
Additionally, the Dispatcher is built to support URL rewriting. Therefore, when URL-rewriting is off, PrestaShop will use the following URL form:
http://myprestashop.com/index.php?controller=category&id_category=3&id_lang=1 http://myprestashop.com/index.php?controller=product&id_product=1&id_lang=2 |
...and when URL-rewriting is on (or "Friendly URLs"), PrestaShop's Dispatcher will correctly support this URL form:
http://myprestashop.com/en/3-music-ipods http://myprestashop.com/fr/1-ipod-nano.html |
There are several advantages for this system:
The Dispatcher makes use of three abstract classes: Controller
, FrontController
and AdminController
(the last two inheriting from the first one).
New routes can be created by overriding the loadRoutes()
method.
The store administrator can change a controller's URL using the "SEO & URLs" page in the back-office's "Preferences" menu.
In the MVC architecture, a Controller manages the synchronization events between the View and the Model, and keeps them up to date. It receives all the user events and triggers the actions to perform.
If an action needs data to be changed, the Controller will "ask" the Model to change the data, and in turn the Model will notify the View that the data has been changed, so that the View can update itself.
All of PrestaShop's controllers actually override the Controller
class through another inheriting class, such as AdminController
, ModuleAdminController
, FrontController
, ModuleFrontController
, etc.
Some of the class' properties:
Property | Description |
---|---|
$template | Template name for page content. |
$css_files | Array list of CSS files. |
$js_files | Array list of JavaScript files. |
$errors | Array of errors that have occurred. |
$guestAllowed | Whether a customer who has signed out can access the page. |
$initialized | Whether the init() function has been called. |
$iso | The ISO code of the currently selected language. |
$n | The number of items per page. |
$orderBy | The field used to sort. |
$orderWay | Whether to sort is ascending or descending ("ASC" or "DESC"). |
$p | The current page number. |
$ajax | If the ajax parameter is detected in request, set this flag to true. |
__contruct()
: Sets all the controller's member variables.init()
: Initializes the controller.setMedia()
or setMobileMedia()
: Adds all JavaScript and CSS specifics to the page so that they can be combined, compressed and cached (see PrestaShop's CCC tool, in the back-office "Performance" page, under the "Advanced preferences" menu).postProcess()
: Handles ajaxProcess
.initHeader()
: Called before initContent()
.initContent()
: Initializes the content.initFooter()
: Called after initContent()
.display()
or displayAjax()
: Displays the content.Controller's filename | Description |
---|---|
AddressController.php | Used by address.php to edit a customer's address. |
AddressesController.php | Used by addresses.php to get customer's addresses. |
AuthController.php | Used by authentication.php for customer login. |
BestSalesController.php | Used by best-sales.php to get best-sellers. |
CartController.php | Used by cart.php to manage the customer's cart. |
CategoryController | Used by category.php to get product categories. |
CMSController.php | Used by cms.php to get a CMS page. |
CompareController.php | Used by products-comparison.php to compare products. |
ContactController.php | Used by contact-form.php to send messages. |
DiscountController.php | Used by discount.php to get a customer's vouchers. |
GuestTrackingController.php | Used by guest-tracking.php to manage guest orders. |
HistoryController.php | Used by history.php to get a customer's orders. |
IdentityController.php | Used by identity.php for customer's personal info. |
IndexController.php | Used by index.php to display the homepage. |
ManufacturerController.php | Used by manufacturer.php to get manufacturers. |
MyAccountController.php | Used by my-account.php to manage customer account. |
NewProductsController.php | Used by new-products.php to get new products. |
OrderConfirmationController.php | Used by order-confirmation.php for order confirmation. |
OrderController.php | Used by order.php to manage the five-step checkout. |
OrderDetailController.php | Used by order-detail.php to get a customer order. |
OrderFollowController.php | Used by order-follow.php to get a customer's returns. |
OrderOpcController.php | Used by order-opc.php to manage one-page checkout. |
OrderReturnController.php | Used by order-return.php to get a merchandise return. |
OrderSlipController.php | Used by order-slip.php to get a customer's credit slips. |
PageNotFoundController.php | Used by 404.php to manage the "Page not found" page. |
ParentOrderController.php | Manages shared order code. |
PasswordController.php | Used by password.php to reset a lost password. |
PricesDropController.php | Used by prices-drop.php to get discounted products. |
ProductController.php | Used by product.php to get a product. |
SearchController.php | Used by search.php to get search results. |
SitemapController.php | Used by sitemap.php to get the sitemap. |
StoresController.php | Used by stores.php to get store information. |
SupplierController.php | Used by supplier.php to get suppliers. |
Thanks to object inheritance, you can change a controller's behaviors, or add new ones.
PrestaShop's controllers are all stored in the /controllers
folder, and use the "Core" suffix.
For instance, when working with the Category controller:
/controllers/CategoryController.php
CategoryControllerCore
In order to override a controller, you must first create a new class without the "Core" suffix, and place its file in the /override/controllers
folder.
For instance, when overriding the Category controller:
/override/controllers/front/CategoryController.php
CategoryController
PrestaShop uses the Smarty template engine to generate its views: http://www.smarty.net/
The views are stored in .tpl
files.
A view name is generally the same as the name for the code using it. For instance, 404.php
uses 404.tpl
.
As there is no inheritance, there is no way to override a view. In order to change a view, you must rewrite the template file, and place it in your theme's folder. |
PrestaShop uses encrypted cookies to store all the session information, for visitors/clients as well as for employees/administrators.
The Cookie class (/classes/Cookie.php
) is used to read and write cookies.
In order to access the cookies from within PrestaShop code, you can use this:
$this->context->cookie; |
All the information stored within a cookie is available using this code:
$this->context->cookie->variable; |
If you need to access the PrestaShop cookie from non-PrestaShop code, you can use this code:
include_once('path_to_prestashop/config/config.inc.php'); include_once('path_to_prestashop/config/settings.inc.php'); include_once('path_to_prestashop/classes/Cookie.php'); $cookie = new Cookie('ps'); // Use "psAdmin" to read an employee's cookie. |
Token | Description |
---|---|
date_add | The date and time the cookie was created (in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format). |
id_lang | The ID of the selected language. |
id_currency | The ID of the selected currency. |
last_visited_category | The ID of the last visited category of product listings. |
ajax_blockcart_display | Whether the cart block is "expanded" or "collapsed". |
viewed | The IDs of recently viewed products as a comma-separated list. |
id_wishlist | The ID of the current wishlist displayed in the wishlist block. |
checkedTOS | Whether the "Terms of service" checkbox has been ticked (1 if it has and 0 if it hasn't) |
id_guest | The guest ID of the visitor when not logged in. |
id_connections | The connection ID of the visitor's current session. |
id_customer | The customer ID of the visitor when logged in. |
customer_lastname | The last name of the customer. |
customer_firstname | The first name of the customer. |
logged | Whether the customer is logged in. |
passwd | The MD5 hash of the _COOKIE_KEY_ in config/settings.inc.php and the password the customer used to log in. |
The email address that the customer used to log in. | |
id_cart | The ID of the current cart displayed in the cart block. |
checksum | The Blowfish checksum used to determine whether the cookie has been modified by a third party. The customer will be logged out and the cookie deleted if the checksum doesn't match. |
Token | Description |
---|---|
date_add | The date and time the cookie was created (in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format). |
id_lang | The ID of the selected language. |
id_employee | The ID of the employee. |
lastname | The last name of the employee. |
firstname | The first name of the employee. |
The email address the employee used to log in. | |
profile | The ID of the profile that determines which tabs the employee can access. |
passwd | The MD5 hash of the _COOKIE_KEY_ in config/settings.inc.php and the password the employee used to log in. |
checksum | The Blowfish checksum used to determine whether the cookie has been modified by a third party. If the checksum doesn't match, the customer will be logged out and the cookie is deleted . |
Hooks are a way to associate your code to some specific PrestaShop events.
Most of the time, they are used to insert content in a page.
For instance, the PrestaShop default theme's home page has the following hooks:
Hook name | Description |
---|---|
displayHeader | Displays the content in the page's header area. |
displayTop | Displays the content in the page's top area. |
displayLeftColumn | Displays the content in the page's left column. |
displayHome | Displays the content in the page's central area. |
displayRightColumn | Displays the content in the page's right column. |
displayFooter | Displays the content in the page's footer area. |
Hooks can also be used to perform specific actions under certain circumstances (i.e. sending an e-mail to the client).
You can get a full list of the hooks available in PrestaShop 1.6 in the "Hooks in PrestaShop 1.6" chapter of the Developer Guide.
It is easy to call a hook from within a controller: you simply have to use its name with the hookExec()
method: Module::hookExec('NameOfHook');
For instance:
$this->context->smarty->assign('HOOK_LEFT_COLUMN', Module::hookExec('displayLeftColumn')); |
In order to attach your code to a hook, you must create a non-static public method, starting with the "hook
" keyword followed by either "display
" or "action
", and the name of the hook you want to use.
This method receives one (and only one) argument: an array of the contextual information sent to the hook.
public function hookDisplayNameOfHook($params) { // Your code. } |
In order for a module to respond to a hook call, the hook must be registered within PrestaShop. Hook registration is done using the registerHook()
method. Registration is usually done during the module's installation.
public function install() { return parent::install() && $this->registerHook('NameOfHook'); } |
It is easy to call a hook from within a template file (.tpl
): you simply have to use its name with the hook
function. You can add the name of a module that you want the hook execute.
For instance:
{hook h='displayLeftColumn' mod='blockcart'} |
You can create new PrestaShop hooks by adding a new record in the ps_hook
table in your MySQL database. You could do it the hard way:
INSERT INTO `ps_hook` (`name`, `title`, `description`) VALUES ('nameOfHook', 'The name of your hook', 'This is a custom hook!'); |
...but PrestaShop enables you to do it the easy way:
$this->registerHook('NameOfHook'); |
If the hook "NameOfHook" doesn't exist, PrestaShop will create it for you. No need to do the SQL query anymore.