Magento Modules

Magento is a new and powerful eCommerce system offering rich customization possibilities by extensions and modules. Magento is built on a fully modular model that influences an unlimited scalability and flexibility for your store.

Let's find out what a module is before we start discussing Magento Modules. A module is a self-contained component of a system, which has a well-defined interface to the other components; something is modular if it includes or uses modules which can be interchanged as units without disassembly of the module. Design, manufacture, repair, etc. of the modules may be complex, but this is not relevant; once the module exists, it can easily be connected to or disconnected from the system.

So it's time to understand what Magento Modules are about. Magento module is an extension which extends the features and functionality of Magento. If to speak about concrete examples of modules we should mention additional payment gateway integrations, a featured items promotional tool, and etc.

With Magento's fully object-oriented programming, all modules are immediately accessible via templates tags from any template files. Considering the fact that Magento comes feature-rich right out of the box, you won't have to be dependent on a programmer in a case you need to finish the simplest tasks for you.

If you want to have a visual impression of Magento Modules we recommend you to read an Introduction to Magento.

If you want to know more about Magento application you can visit Design4magento.com.

Magento open source shopping cart is a quite new eCommerce solution. Magento developers and Magento enthusiasts go on working on this application. So new Magento Modules regularly appear on the stage. In order to track all Magento Modules and make them available for the largest number of Magento users a special article called Modules Wanted was created. This article lists existing Magento Modules and gives links where you can find them.

Note all Magento Modules represented in this article are well-categorized according to type/functionality that they provide. Currently the article includes such Magento Modules as:

- Email Marketing;
- Customer "Give feedback/review on products
you just bought" email;
- Discount Memberships/Customer Groups;
- Loyalty Program;
- IP based pricing;
- Multi Pricing;
- Product Uploads;
- ShipWire;
- Call Centers and Custom Invoicing;
- Tokens/Credits

Each Magento module is well described. So you can explore its advantages before adding this module to your Magento online store.

Seems this article is very useful for Magento developers. It allows them discover already existing Magento Modules or add their own ones. This article is a time-saving solution. You can read one article instead of searching the web for various Magento Modules.

Part of customizing Magento is, of course, creating custom Modules. These allow you to inject functionality anywhere, whether in a "static" block fashion that's more than static, or a shipping/payment module, or large module to do something as large as integrating a 3rd party system (or multiple systems).

There are many things custom Modules can do, from editing your Database, to handling module upgrades to overriding classes (Blocks, Controllers, Models) ... and more!

Magento is an open source solution. So you can write new modules for Magento by yourself. If you feel like developing or designing custom modules and interfaces for Magento you should read Chapter 12: Designing and Developing for Magento.

It's important to mention that Magento has a friendly community. So you can always get help from knowledgeable community members. You simply have to get registered at different Magento forums in order to meet such helpful people. No doubt official Magento Team strives to be helpful as well.

Magento is a new application. So you have a lot to learn before you know it perfectly. A recent release of php|architect's Guide to Programming with Magento could help you master this application. This book has been written by Mark Kimsal.

Note at least one chapter of this book is dedicated to Magento Modules. This chapter is called Handling Magento modules.

Here is a reader's comment on this book, "I have found it to be very helpful in understanding magento...When it came to step by step instructions on how to create custom modules, he was amazing at giving instructions. Never did I find myself saying 'Wheres that at?' or 'Its not working!!!' But however I did find myself saying 'Great it worked!!!!"

Seems php|architect's Guide to Programming with Magento is a great for anyone dealing with or curious about the Magento software and Magento Modules as well.