Naming Conventions

To improve code readability and ensure compatibility between modules from different developers, we strongly recommend following these naming conventions.

File Names

Root scripts and HTML templates — lowercase, words separated by underscores:

index.php
page_catalog.php
main.htm
page_404.htm
item_product.htm

Module scripts follow a three-part naming scheme, separated by underscores:

{company}_{group}_{purpose}.php

• Company — your company name or abbreviation. Modules shipped with the platform use melbis. For your own projects, choose a unique identifier: it will distinguish your modules from the built-in ones and from third-party modules if you integrate external code.
• Group — the logical group the module belongs to. Groups related modules together and helps navigate large projects.
• Purpose — one or more words describing the module’s task.

Examples:

melbis_base_page.php       — base page router
melbis_store_card.php      — product card
melbis_cataloge.php        — catalog
melbis_inc_logic.php       — business logic library
melbis_block_slider.php    — slider
melbis_client_auth.php     — client authentication

Library names have four parts: the word inc takes the place of the group, and the library’s own group moves to the next part of the name — more on this below, in the “Module Groups” section.

In addition to the code itself, each module has parameters — cache, input data, table list, connected libraries. These are configured in the “Development Environment” window, in the right panel next to the code editor, and are stored together with the module. This is described in more detail in the “Module Scripts” section.

Module Groups

The group in a module’s name carries semantic meaning and determines how the module is displayed in the “Development Environment” tree. Only one group name is reserved — inc (also allowed: include or an empty value). Modules with this group are libraries: they cannot have HTML templates, and the parser does not call them directly — their functions are used by other modules.

All other group names (base, store, cataloge, basket, client, block, cron, and any others) are defined by you based on your project’s architecture. A group is simply a way to organize modules in the file tree.

melbis_base_page.php       — regular module (group base)
melbis_store_card.php      — regular module (group store)
melbis_block_slider.php    — regular module (group block)

Library Groups

For libraries, the word inc takes the place of the group, so the library’s own group moves to the next part of the name:

{company}_inc_{group}_{purpose}.php

In the “Development Environment” tree, libraries are organized by this group — alongside regular modules at the same level, but with their own icon. There is no longer a shared inc folder where all project libraries would be dumped:

melbis
    auth          melbis_inc_auth.php
    logic         melbis_inc_logic.php
    web           melbis_inc_web_callback.php
                  melbis_inc_web_topic.php
    base          melbis_base_footer.php
                  melbis_base_head.php
                  melbis_base_header.php
                  melbis_base_page.php
    basket        melbis_basket.php
    cataloge      melbis_cataloge.php
                  melbis_cataloge_sub.php

The purpose can be omitted if there is only one library in the group: melbis_inc_logic.php represents group logic with no purpose, while melbis_inc_web_callback.php represents group web with purpose callback.

The idea is to keep a library close to the modules that use it: melbis_inc_web_callback and melbis_inc_web_topic belong to the web part of the project and are grouped under web, rather than being scattered among all other libraries.

Functions in Module Scripts

Each regular module contains a main function — its name exactly matches the module’s filename written in uppercase. This is the function the parser calls:

// File: melbis_store_card.php
function MELBIS_STORE_CARD($mVars)
{
    ...
}

The exception is library modules in the inc group. The parser does not call them, so they have no main function. Instead, they contain a set of helper functions that are explicitly called from other modules.

Helper functions within the same module are named with the main function’s name as a prefix:

function MELBIS_STORE_CARD_price($mTpl, $mId)
{
    ...
}

function MELBIS_STORE_CARD_features($mTpl, $mId)
{
    ...
}

This approach guarantees unique function names in PHP’s global namespace and makes it immediately clear which module a given function belongs to.

Functions in library modules (inc) follow the same naming scheme — prefixed with the library name:

// File: melbis_inc_logic.php
function MELBIS_INC_LOGIC_order_create(...)  { ... }
function MELBIS_INC_LOGIC_order_calc(...)    { ... }
function MELBIS_INC_LOGIC_order_edit(...)    { ... }

Variables in PHP Scripts

In a module’s main function, the input parameter array is conventionally named $mVars.

Keys in HTML Templates

All template engine keys are written in uppercase, with words separated by underscores:

{TITLE}
{PAGE_NAME}
{PRODUCT:PRICE_OLD}
{#ITEMS}
    <a href="?id={ID}">{NAME|html}</a>
{ITEMS#}