Blog module

The Blog module allows you to easily manage and display blog posts on your website. It provides features for creating, editing, and organizing posts by categories. This module also supports templates for displaying posts, managing metadata, and customizing layouts, making it a flexible solution for adding a blog to any website.

Available methods

// Returns the name of the post.
$post->getName(); 

// Returns the introduction text of the post.
$post->getIntroduction(); 

// Returns the full text of the post.
$post->getFull(); 

// Returns the timestamp of the post's creation date.
$post->getTimestamp(); 

// Returns the URL of the post.
$post->getUrl(); 

// Returns view count
$post->getViewsCount();

// Returns TRUE if post has a cover
$post->hasCover();

// Return path to uploaded cover image
$post->getImageUrl('dimension'); 

Templates

Category template

The category template should be named blog-category.phtml and stored in the current theme's directory.

In this template, you'll automatically have access to an array of post entities, called $posts:

<?php if (!empty($posts)): ?>
<div class="row">
    <?php foreach ($posts as $post): ?>
    <div class="col-lg-4">
	    <h2 class="mb-3"><?p= $post->getName(); ?></h2>
	    <div><?= $post->getIntroduction(); ?></div>
	    <a href="<?= $post->getUrl(); ?>">Learn more</a>
    </div>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
<?php else: ?>
<p>Sorry, no posts at the moment</p>
<?php endif; ?>

Post template

The post template should be named blog-post.phtml and stored in the current theme's directory.

Basic example:

<article>
	<h1><?= $post->getName(); ?></h1>
    <?= $post->getFull(); ?>
</artcle>

Basic example with post gallery:

<article>
	<h1><?= $post->getName(); ?></h1>
    <?= $post->getFull(); ?>
</artcle>

<?php if ($post->getGallery()): ?>
<div class="row">
    <?php foreach ($post->getGallery() as $image): ?>
    <div class="col-lg-4">
        <img src="<?= $image->getImageUrl('dimension'); ?>" class="img-fluid">
    </div>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

Getting attached posts

You can attach multiple posts to a single post without limitation. Retrieving available posts is handled exclusively within the post template file, which returns post entities with the same accessible methods.

<?php if ($post->hasAttachedPosts()): ?>
<h3 class="mb-3">You may also like</h3>

<div class="row">
    <?php foreach ($post->getAttachedPosts() as $attached): ?>
    <div class="col-lg-4">
        <h3><?= $attached->getName(); ?></h3>
        <div class="py-3">
            <?= $attached->getIntroduction(); ?>
        </div>
        <a href="<?= $attached->getUrl(); ?>">Learn more</a>
    </div>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

Recent posts on home page

In case you want to showcase recent posts on your home page, you need to override default controller. To do so, open a file at root foder located at /config/app.php

Then find paramBag key and override home_controller to Blog:Home@indexAction

Comments

Most websites today integrate social plugins (such as Facebook, Disqus, etc.) for comments instead of implementing their own comment systems. As a result, there is currently no built-in comment system.

URL Generation

You can generate URLs for a specific category or post by passing the corresponding ID and content type to the createUrl() method.

For categories:

$cms->createUrl(1, 'Blog (Categories)'); // 1 - Assuming category ID

For posts:

$cms->createUrl(2, 'Blog (Posts)'); // 2 - Assuming post ID

Global methods

Additionally, you can use predefined global methods to display blog-related data anywhere within your template.

Getting random posts

$blog->getRandom(int $limit): array

Returns a list of random blog posts.

Parameters: int $limit – The number of posts to retrieve.
Returns: An array of random blog posts.

Getting recent blog posts

$blog->getRecent(int $limit, ?int $categoryId = null): array

Returns the most recent blog posts, optionally filtered by category.

Parameters:

• int $limit – The number of posts to retrieve.

• int|null $categoryId – (Optional) A category ID to filter the posts.

Returns: An array of recent blog posts.

Getting mostly viewed posts

$blog->getMostlyViewed(int $limit): array

Returns blog posts with the highest view counts.

Parameters:

• int $limit – The number of top-viewed posts to retrieve.

Returns: An array of blog posts sorted by view count.

Getting top categories

$blog->getTopCategories(): array

Returns top-level blog categories (i.e., categories with no parent).

Parameters:

• None

Returns: An array of top-level categories.