The Conventional Modular directory structure allows you to separate different MVC applications into self-contained units, and re-use them with different front controllers. To illustrate such a directory structure:

In this paradigm, the module name serves as a prefix to the controllers it contains. The above example contains three module controllers, 'Blog_IndexController', 'News_IndexController', and 'News_ListController'. Two global controllers, 'IndexController' and 'FooController' are also defined; neither of these will be namespaced. This directory structure will be used for examples in this chapter.

Note: No Namespacing in the Default Module
Note that in the default module, controllers do not need a namespace prefix. Thus, in the example above, the controllers in the default module do not need a prefix of 'Default_' -- they are simply dispatched according to their base controller name: 'IndexController' and 'FooController'. A namespace prefix is used in all other modules, however.

So, how do you implement such a directory layout using the Zend Framework MVC components?

The first step to making use of modules is to modify how you specify the controller directory list in the front controller. In the basic MVC series, you pass either an array or a string to setControllerDirectory(), or a path to addControllerDirectory(). When using modules, you need to alter your calls to these methods slightly.

With setControllerDirectory(), you will need to pass an associative array and specify key and value pairs of module name and directory paths. The special key default will be used for global controllers (those not needing a module namespace). All entries should contain a string key pointing to a single path, and the default key must be present. As an example:

addControllerDirectory() will take an optional second argument. When using modules, pass the module name as the second argument; if not specified, the path will be added to the default namespace. As an example:

Saving the best for last, the easiest way to specify module directories is to do so en masse, with all modules under a common directory and sharing the same structure. This can be done with addModuleDirectory():

The above example will define the default, foo, and bar modules, each pointing to the controllers/ subdirectory of their respective module.

You may customize the controller subdirectory to use within your modules by using setModuleControllerDirectoryName():

Note: You can indicate that no controller subdirectory be used for your modules by passing an empty value to setModuleControllerDirectoryName().

The default route in Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite is an object of type Zend_Controller_Router_Route_Module. This route expects one of the following routing schemas:

• :module/:controller/:action/*

• :controller/:action/*

In other words, it will match a controller and action by themselves or with a preceding module. The rules for matching specify that a module will only be matched if a key of the same name exists in the controller directory array passed to the front controller and dispatcher.

In the default router, if a controller was not specified in the URL, a default controller is used (IndexController, unless otherwise requested). With modular controllers, if a module has been specified but no controller, the dispatcher first looks for this default controller in the module path, and then falls back on the default controller found in the 'default', global, namespace.

If you wish to always default to the global namespace, set the $useDefaultControllerAlways parameter in the front controller: