Zend Bootstrap class and Resource plugins

Question

I am new to zend framework and trying to understand how the bootstrapping works. So far I have understood that the Zend_Application loads PHP environment, sets include paths, configures autoloaders and then calls the bootstrap method of the Bootstrap class.

The Bootstrap method executes all the resource methods (_init*()) and then it executes resource plugins.

My question is what happens if I configure the same resource using the resource method and using the resource plugin? Example below:

//Bootstrap resource method
    protected function _initLayout(){
          $this->bootstrap('layout');
          $layout = $this->getResource('layout');
          $layout->setLayout('index');
    }

//Bootstrap resource plugin
resources.layout.layout = "main"

At present the resource plugin is called after the resource method so this should overwrite my layout and set it to "main" but this doesn't happen.

Shouldn't the plugin resources overwrite settings of our resource methods?

And what should I use for bootstrapping resource methods or resource plugins?

Thanks for your help.

Tim Fountain Tim Fountain · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-15T11:06:31

The bootstrap class won't bootstrap resources that have already been executed, so in your example the resource plugin won't be run because you created the 'layout' resource through a class method. If you change the name of the method it will work as you expect.

I would avoid creating _init methods that match plugin names, as it causes unpredictable problems.

what should I use for bootstrapping resource methods or resource plugins?

You can use either, so it's mainly down to personal preference. I'd suggest sticking to one approach, or perhaps have a convention like use resource plugins to configure standard ZF things and methods for custom application resources.

Zend Bootstrap class and Resource plugins

1 Answers