Creating custom attributes

ATK Howto: Creating custom attributes Complexity: Advanced Author: Ivo Jansch <ivo@achievo.org>

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There are many ways in which attributes can be extended. Below are a few examples of attributes that extend other attributes, but add some logic.

Custom attributes can be placed in the attributes/ subdirectory of your modules, and then used by putting

useattrib("yourmodule.yourattrib");

in the node file. If you do that, in the node constructor it's only a matter of:

$this->add(new yourCustomAttribute(.......));

Display override

class boldAttribute extends atkAttribute
{
  function display($record, $mode="")
  {
    $org = parent::display($record, $mode);
    return '<b>'.$org.'</b>';
  }
}

Custom label

class clickableLabelAttribute extends atkAttribute
{
  function getLabel()
  {
     $label = parent::getLabel();
     $url = "http://www.achievo.org/atk";
     return href($url, $label);
  }
}

Edit override

todo..

Data conversion

Converting data right before it goes in the db, or right after it's loaded from the db:

class encryptedAttribute extends atkAttribute
{
  function value2db($record)
  {
    $value = parent::value2db($record);
    $value = someEncryptionMethod($value);
    return $value;
  }

  function db2value($record)
  {
    $value = parent::db2value($record);
    $value = someDescryptionMethod($value);
     return $value;
  } 
}

Custom load/save

todo..