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Overview

Magento is an application that is built of several different types of components: modules, themes, libraries, and language packages. The Magento Framework provides a set of core logic; PHP code, libraries, and the base concepts that will be inherited by the modules and other components.

Modules and themes are the units of customization in Magento, modules for business features and themes for user experience and look-and-feel. Both have a lifecycle allowing them to be installed, deleted, disabled, etc.

Modules encapsulate a particular business feature or set of features; a module is basically a package of code. Modules can relate to and depend on each other in a variety of ways, but should be as independent as possible to maximize flexibility when customizing a site. And while modules primarily define new business features, or customizations to existing ones, they also define a default user interface for those features, which can be customized by themes.

A Module is a logical group–that is, a directory containing blocks, controllers, helpers, models, and so on related to the specific feature or a widget. A module is designed to work independently and not to intervene with the work of other functionality. Using a modular approach implies that every module encapsulates a feature and has minimum dependencies on other modules.

Specifically, a module is a directory that contains PHP and XML files (blocks, controllers, helpers, models, etc.) related to a specific functionality.

The purpose of each module is to provide specific product features by implementing new functionality or extending the functionality of other modules. Each module is designed to function independently, so the inclusion or exclusion of a particular module does not impact the functionality of other modules.

Modules live in the /app/code directory of a Magento installation, in a directory with the following PSR-0 compliant format: /app/code/<Vendor>/<ModuleName>, e.g. the Customer module of Magento can be found at /app/code/Magento/Customer. Inside of this folder, you will find all of the code and configuration related to this module, including the etc/module.xml file, which contains the name and version of the module, as well as any dependencies.

Name and declare a module

A module declares itself (i.e. defines its name and existence) in the module.xml file, located in <your Magento install dir>/app/code/<Vendor>/<ModuleName>/etc/.

A module should be named according to the Vendor_ModuleName schema, where

  • Vendor is a name of a module’s vendor
  • ModuleName is a name assigned to a module by its vendor

To declare a module, the following information should be specified:

  • The fully qualified name of a module, according to the naming rules
  • Dependency of a module on other modules, if any

Minimal declaration sample:

<config>
    <module name="Namespace_Module" setup_version="2.0.0">
    </module>
</config>

To enable a module, use the following commands:


# Enable a module
php -f bin/magento module:enable Vendor_ModuleName 
# Update the database
php -f bin/magento setup:upgrade

For more information, see Enable or disable modules.

Working with modules

Magento developers, administrators, and anyone building a Magento web site will want to review all relevant topics surrounding their particular goals and use cases.

For ‘How To’ topics such as instructions for adding modules, extending modules, implementing themes and other components, refer to the Magento Documentation set at http://devdocs.magento.com for a list of all Magento Guides and Manuals. Additionally, see the Related Topics below.