Articles Quick List

Welcome to my blog

Part I of Installing MODX

Part two of Installing MODX

Part three of Installing MODX

The ins and outs of getting a good solution to your problem by asking a question in the MODX forums

Understanding isfolder and hasChildren() in MODX Revolution

How to keep users from editing the pages of other users in NewsPublisher

Select and display users based on the content of an extended field in the User Profile

How to create Top Menu items in the Manager that let you edit files directly

Make sure your MODX Articles Blog doesn't create a security risk for your site.

Why Articles blog posts disappear, and how to get them back

How to find and change Lexicon strings displayed in MODX Revolution.

Protecting pages with a simple snippet

I recount a frustrating bug hunt and give some tips on debugging CMPs

Create a simple snippet to show TV-based drop-down lists in the front end.

Making sense of the addPackage(), loadClass(), and getService() methods

Demystifying the MODX base classes: xPDOObject and xPDOSimpleObject

Many new MODX programmers stumble over the anomalies in the Names and Primary Keys of MODX Objects

Use a simple snippet to show the value of Context Settings from a Context other than the current one

Information on using the Articles blog templates

Everything you always wanted to know about instantiating MODX

Let users in specific user groups see only pages of a certain age.

Make selecting a parent more user-friendly in NewsPublisher

Make selecting the Template more user-friendly in NewsPublisher

A simple snippet to retrieve Resources in, or out of a Resource Group

Checking and unchecking checkboxes with JavaScript buttons

When a user re-visits a form, the checkboxes will be set as they were the last time the form was submitted.

A method to use MODX lexicon strings that will work inside or outside of MODX

Step-by-step instructions for creating an RSS feed for your MODX Articles blog.

Tips and techniques for displaying date fields in MODX

A client-friendly way to show selected teasers with getResources

Add Author Bio pages to your MODX Articles Blog

The safe way to set an element property

Hide specific menu items using a permission setting

Two ways to control the order in which your MODX blog articles are displayed

Two utility snippets that save and restore the structure of a customized MODX Top Menu

Handling the extended fields of the MODX user profile in code

Creating MODX Manager Top Menu Items in PHP

A look at how typical pre-2.2 MODX CMPs work

A utility snippet to help change your web site automatically with the seasons.

Techniques for getting into the Manager when you're locked out

A look at how JavaScript and PHP interact and how JavaScript is used in the MODX Manager

A simple snippet to get the pagetitle of the current resource's parent.

A look at the inner workings of an http request

A snippet to get any field from the parent of the current resource.

How to safely remove old versions of transport packages

Finding various bits of code in the MODX core

Recursively traverse directories and list or process every file found

Extending the DirWalker class to perform custom processing on files as they are found

Use DirWalker to produce a valuable report on MODX System Events

Add a navigation Jumplist to the DirWalker Output

Handling the problem of duplicate event invocation

Use a plugin to clear the cache for selected resources in MODX Revolution

A snippet to show the full name of the person who edited the current page and, optionally, the date of the last edit.

Understanding the process MODX uses to publish and unpublish resources automatically

Make content appear and disappear without the overhead of JQuery

An updated, best-practices, look at the architecture of a MODX Custom Manager Page (CMP) in MODX 2.2+.

A look at various methods for getting TV values in MODX

Getting the TV values for children of the current resource in MODX.

Things to check when your CSS fails to load

You might not want to say "Hello (anonymous)" on your pages. Here's how to change that.

Some advice on nesting MODX tags

A quick tip for checking on the existence of a database table in PHP code

Extending the modUser object for speed and efficiency

Realize amazing speed increases by extending the modResource object in MODX

Susan Ottwell's adaptation of my LogPageNotFound extra puts the page-not-found report in a Manager dashboard widget

A snippet to produce a link to the first child of the current resource, or any other resource

A look at System Events and Plugins from the inside.

A look at creating user groups in a MODX plugin.

Using a regular expression to validate and normalize the zip code field for our plugin

Using a plugin attached to OnDocFormSave to modify resource fields and TV values

Dramatically reduce page-load times by using a plugin to place formatted data in the introtext (summary) field.

A snippet to show the age of a resources using various time units

An inside look at the MODX getOption() method, with some things about it you almost certainly didn't know.

The ins and outs of how properties sent in a snippet tag arrive in the snippet.

Converting a slow conditional output modifier solution to a fast snippet

A very fast and efficient method for getting field values in MODX, from Jason Coward.

Getting and interpreting MODX boolean (Yes/No) fields in code

Retrieving and handling resource date fields like editedon and createdon in code the fast way with getValue()

Retrieving TV values fast with getValue()

Retrieving the main content field of resources and elements the fast way with getValue().

There are some advantages to putting your MODX sites in subdirectories

Building a new MODX site with old site still running

Launch a floating Git bash window inside PhpStorm with a single click

Some tips and tricks for using Git with MODX

A quick way to display multiple fields from the current resource's parent

A quick note on how to use straight MySQL statements in MODX

A very fast way to retrieve selected object fields without getting the whole object

A PDO method for bypassing the conversions made by the set() method.

How to write raw values to the database with the fromArray() method.

Using prepared statements is good, but calling prepare() over and over in a loop is bad. Here's how to avoid it.

Binding statement parameters to class variables so they can be used anywhere in the class

Using a small utility snippet to create complex search criteria for the &where property of getResources or pdoResources or any other snippet that uses a &where property.

A snippet that will create a report giving the number of pages that use each template, with separate data on published and unpublished resources.

Add pagetitles to the template report created in the previous Blog article.

A simple utility snippet to test user permissions

A look at various methods for adding MODX users to user groups in code

Make changes in user status take effect immediately

A more readable alternative to some complex if statements in PHP.

The first in a series of articles that will look at the stages of development for a simple MODX snippet, with some side trips into design principles and progressive enhancement

The second in a series of articles about MODX snippet development

The third in a series of articles about MODX snippet development best practices.

Fourth in a series of articles about MODX snippet design and development.

Fifth in a series of articles on MODX Snippet best practices

The sixth in a series of articles on MODX snippet best practices

The final article in a series on MODX snippet development best practices

How to use MODX language tags to internationalize a page without using a snippet

A plugin to log failed logins and brute-force hacking login attempts

Some thoughts about making your MODX site more secure

Show a list of upcoming articles to attract return visits

Modifying the Upcoming Teaser snippet to work on other resource types

Modifying the Upcoming Teaser snippet to work with multiple resource types

Get the results of a call to getResources in PHP code (and a useful trick for the &where property).

Remove selected words with a custom output modifier

Use "find and replace" pairs to modify resource content

Use an associative array to do multiple string-replace operations

Making sure that your extra package removes everything it installs

How to convert a comma-separated list in a snippet property to an array in your snippet

Creating an associative array with keys and values from a snippet property

Create a string from an array with implode()

Display formatted content from an associative array with implode()

More details about how the final argument to $modx->getOption() works

A nifty extra by Sergey Shlokov makes the MODX error log a pleasure use.

Using a plugin to set the Unpublish Date to a fixed interval from when it was published.

Don't make this disastrous error when getting a user's profile

The first in a series of articles on redirecting users when they log in

Redirecting users on login based on the time or season

Redirect users based on a User Setting

Redirect users on the basis of user-group membership using a user-group setting

Redirect users on login by checking group membership directly

Redirect users based on a User Group setting, but control the order in which group memberships are tested

Use group IDs to speed up the membership test

Redirect users to a Manager page on login

Finding the code that produced a line in the MODX error log

Getting error information when the screen goes blank

Searching for regex patterns across multiple lines

Using the user-related resource fields in code

A snippet to get the full name for any user-related resource field without modifying the snippet code.

Get user info for any user-related resource field

Using a Tpl Chunk to display user-related resource fields

Producing a report showing resources created by the current user

Use a snippet property to customize the user resource report

Sorting the results of the User Resource Report

Get all resources acted on by the user in a single query

Fixing the PHP error: Fatal Error Cannot Redeclare Function

Putting our function inside a class to avoid collisions

Fixing the "Cannot redeclare class" PHP error

Graceful handling of include files that don't exist

How autoloaders work and several example autoload.php files

PHP namespaces explained, with some examples

Letting your autoloader use your namespaces to locate class files

Use your own code, or an external service to authenticate users

Second in a series of articles about bypassing the Manager Login process

Using a single plugin to create and authenticate users

Exploring the MODX config file and MODX path issues

How to avoid and fix problems caused by making too big a jump in MODX versions.

Using the correct path and URL references to CSS, image, JS, PHP, and other files in code and in HTML

Send registration email to the admin (or anyone else) rather than the user

What to do if Gmail keeps warning you that the email from your site's contact form might not be from the email's user

Create a widget to toggle a Yes/No System Setting with the click of a button

Debugging an elusive 403 error for a single page

An easy way to make the user's email address serve as their MODX username

Recommended practices for giving different users different capabilities in the MODX Manager

Using CSS to hide the help button in the MODX Manager

Hiding the help button in the Manager with CSS

Hiding the help button in the Manager with CSS

Using CSS to hide other Manager Page Elements

Hiding the System Menu in the Manager using CSS

Hiding Resource Panel Elements in the Manager using CSS

Control which Manager pages a plugin will execute on

Hide the "Is Static" field for MODX Elements using CSS

How to create and use utility snippets in MODX Revolution

Perform search-and-replace operations on all resources with this utility snippet

Using a utility snippet for multiple search-and-replace operations

A brilliant plugin from Bruno Perner (Bruno17), to keep MODX Manager users from seeing anyone outside their primary group in the user grid.

Getting the value of a TV for a particular resource via the modTemplateVarResource object without touching the modTemplateVar (TV) object.

How to handle the modTemplateVarResource object when the value for a particular resource might be set to the default value of the TV.

Setting TV values with modTemplateVarResource based on user input from the Register form

Example code for using modTemplateVarResource to set a TV based the value of one or more other TVs

A trick that lets you put the user's full name in your Registration email

Fall back to the username if the fullname field is empty

First in a series of articles on MODX Weblinks.

Creating, setting, and saving a new modWebLink object in PHP code.

Setting the properties of a Weblink in code.

How to change the page that a Weblink points to

A look at the similarities and differences between Symlinks and Weblinks

Using PHP code to create a new Symlink

How to update an existing Symlink using PHP code

Advanced Symlink options using the forward_merge_excludes System Setting

Advanced symlink techniques using the forward_merge_excludes System Setting

A look at problems that can keep you from saving a resource

News features, improvements, and bug fixes in NewsPublisher 3.0

MODX settings -- types and usage

Understanding the order of precedence of different types of settings

How to create new System, Context, User Group, or User Settings in the Manager.

Displaying setting names, descriptions, and areas, in more than one language

Example showing the practical use of a setting

Using settings in the PHP code of a snippet or plugin

Naming files and objects in a way that makes using them easier and more efficient

Using PHP code to create MODX System Settings

Using PHP to create MODX Context Settings

Using PHP to create MODX User Group settings

Using PHP code to create MODX User Settings

How to update various kinds of MODX settings in PHP

Using a snippet to automate the process of updating multiple settings

Now there's a much easier way to change the username of the (anonymous) user

First in a series of articles on using a plugin to modify MODX Manager pages

Adding buttons to the Create/Edit Resource Manager page with JavaScript in a plugin attached to OnDocFormRender

Using onClick vs addEventListener to make screen buttons execute JavaScript functions

Making the Edit Draft and Edit Original buttons do what they're supposed to do

Creating a functional Delete Draft button

Adding a delete draft button that works.

Creating the Staged Resource only when appropriate

Reloading the Create/Edit Resource Panel when the Save button is clicked

Knowing whether it's time to update a resource with the staged version

Adding the code that actually updates the Original Resource when the stage date arrives

The final article in this series shows how to transfer TV values from one resource to another

Here's a trick for getting the TV values for a resource that's in another context

Putting MODX Manager Top Menu items where you want them

Show hidden resource fields like editedon, editedby, and createdby on the Create/Edit Resource panel

A tour de force of techniques for pulling information from the web and from various kinds of files

The skeleton code for the project to create documentation files for the MODX docs site

A generic cURL function for getting content or raw data from remote sites

Using the simple_html_dom class to extract data from a string of raw HTML code.

Extracting data from MODX repository pages

Using the GitHub API to extract information

Using James Brumond's Git class to get data from a local Git repository

Counting the number of files in a directory and its subdirectories with DirWalker

A general-purpose time formatting function, and parsing a Markup readme.md file to get the authors of an extra

Writing the finished documentation files

This final article in the series contains the full code, all in one place

How to control the order in which TVs are displayed on the Create/Edit Resource panel

A snippet to help find the code where placeholders are being set

Finding placeholders in included files

Handling included files that use MODX constants

Using a Media Source to show files in a moved and/or renamed core directory in the Manager's File tree

Make the MODX Manager's search function search by ID

A quick tip showing how to hide the Time field when editing MODX date TVs in the Manager

Select from a drop-down list of users and show the selected user's information on a page

Use an @SELECT TV to show only users from a single user group in a drop-down list.

The best way to change the message users see after entering the wrong credentials during Login

Methods for creating dynamic JavaScript in MODX

Creating JavaScript in PHP and injecting it into a page

Putting JavaScript in a chunk with placeholders

Asking MODX to generate the URL for our dynamic JavaScript

Fix a security vulnerability with target="_blank"

Using a plugin to add noopener noreferer to link tags.

A snippet to fix the links, then save them to the database

Improving the logic that updates the link tags

Fix link tags with target="_blank" in TVs

Final version of the code to correct link tags with target="_blank" in template variables

A plugin to correct link tags with target="_blank" as objects are saved to the database

An easier way to create Custom Manager Pages (CMPs) in MODX

Make our easy CMP do an actual search

Making our CMP do a real search and report the results

Adding the controller file

Using JavaScript with a real processor

A quick look at what an API is and does

How to Find Out if You Can Do a Fast-forward merge in Git *without actually merging*

A look at some Git techniques for comparing things

A look at comparing a file with previous versions in PhpStorm

Comparing two files and observing the differences in PhpStorm

Comparing entire directories in PhpStorm

Handling lexicon strings for System Settings in a transport package.

Removing pesky URLs containing typos from your browser's MRU list

Finding symlinks to a given resource

Displaying all symlinks on a MODX site

Provide links to edit each object in the Manager

What to do when a widget crashes the MODX Manager

Stop MODX from inserting type="text/javascript" when injecting scripts

Several methods for seeing the language you prefer in a MODX extra

Using $modx->runsnippet() to pass data between two snippets

Using a file to pass data between two snippets

Passing data between two snippets using a $_SESSION variable

Passing data between snippets using cookies

Pass data between two snippets using User Settings

Passing data between two snippets using a custom database table

How to get MODX to forward users to their own pages on login

Using a plugin to let users *edit* their own page on login

Maintaining structure and indentation when pasting code in PhpStorm

What causes the "Call to a member function get() on null" error

Preventing the "Error: Call to a member function get on null" with a sanity check.

More efficient code for the sanity check preventing the "Error call to member function get on null."

Put a message in the error log when the resource has an invalid parent

Preventing Chrome from caching your code

Prevent Chrome from caching anything with a convenient Chrome extension

Clear the MODX cache fully with the CacheClear extra

Keep multiple users from logging in with the same credentials

Introduction to htaccess rules and conditions

Understanding regular expressions used in htaccess files

Understanding .htaccess rewrite conditions

Understanding .htaccess rewrite rules

Some useful .htaccess rules and how they work

Useful .htaccess tricks that don't involve rewrite conditions and rules

New .htaccess rules in Apache 2.4.0

Making sure MODX can find your files in both development and live environments

Retrieving the paths from the namespace object

What to do about the assets URL

Three hundred and counting!

Creating a test to determine if a particular MODX System Event has fired

Firing MODX System Events in your own code

How to create custom System Events for use with your code

Making sure your code tests for equality properly

How to make your MODX plugin execute, or not execute in one or more specific contexts

Enable or disable plugins in the Manager based on Resource Context

Enable or disable plugins based on the values of specific resource fields

Enable or disable plugins based on the values of specific TVs

Code to get the path of a MODX Media Source

Code to get Relative Paths and URLs from a MODX Media Source

Changing the value of all TVs for resources under certain parent folders.

Getting the current year in code

Controlling page content based on the year

Creating links based on the year

Finding bugs in your code when the error message is not helpful or there is no error message

Forwarding users to a year-dependent page automatically

A case where MODX resources save with no errors but don't show up in the Resources Tree

Some tips on using back-ticks and displaying code in the MODX Forums

Why some TV values may not be shown by getResources or pdoResources

What to do if your extra requires the installation of other extras

Use a PHP script to create new blog Articles

Creating a blog Article using a MODX chunk for the content

Handling placeholders when creating Articles with PHP

Using the resource/create processor to create new Articles.

Using a plugin to create related pages after a new resource is created

A look at how to use built-in and custom hooks with the FormIt extra

How software testing can change your life

Defining the most common kinds of software tests.

Managing dependencies between PHP packages

Installing the Composer dependency manager

Installing available packages with the Composer dependency manager

Using the Composer dependency manager to install Codeception and PhpUnit

Organizing and configuring our testing system

Running unit tests from the command line

A HelloWorld unit test to make sure everything works

A unit test that actually tests something

Running Codeception unit tests inside the PhpStorm code editor

An example of a bad (and virtually untestable) constructor

Introducing better error handling and unit testing it with using stubs

Fixing some problems with the user class

Creating a test for a separate validator class using a data provider

Moving validation to a separate class

Adapting our User class to handle external validation

Updating the User class to pass the new tests

What's seriously wrong with the YouTube TV user interface

Using Inversion of Control (IOC) and Dependency Injection (DI), to improve your code

Adding Dependency Injection to the User class

Using mock objects to test how often a method is executed

A review and evaluation of the series on unit testing and a preview of code coverage

Introduction to code coverage and tips for installing code coverage tools

Interpreting code coverage methods and some advice about using them

Performing integration testing, with a more complex data provider

Creating a test version of MODX and using it as a fixture in testing

Using MODX as a fixture to do integration testing with the Codeception Db module

Using Codeception helper methods

Creating integration tests for MODX processors

Considering what a functional test would look like for MODX

Our first Acceptance test

Acceptance test for a simple contact form in MODX

Creating the contact form that our acceptance test will pass

Logging in to the MODX in an acceptance test

Creating a Codeception PageObject for the login page

More information on creating XPath Locators

Using Codeception to Test the MODX Manager

Creating page objects for the Manager Dashboard and for the Create/Edit Users panel

Final version of our user text for the MODX Manager

Using Codeception to test the MODX resource security system

Creating the step object for our resource protection acceptance test

Using data files to provide the user and resource data we'll need for our test.

Creating a new page object containing the CSS and XPath locators we'll need to navigate through the MODX manager.

A variety of instructive XPath examples

A basic skeleton for a test of the MODX security system for protecting resources

The finished version of our Resource Protection Test

Using Codeception environments to alter the way tests are run

Using separate environment files to control environments used in a test

Creating a separate bootstrap file for MODX 3

Creating separate page objects for MODX 2 and MODX 3

Making the code changes necessary for our test to run in MODX 3

A trick for running MODX 2 and MODX 3 tests with a single command