How to arrange business logic in a Kohana 3 project
- by Pekka
I'm looking for advice, tutorials and links at how to set up a mid-sized web application with Kohana 3. I have implemented MVC patterns in the past but never worked against a "formalized" MVC framework so I'm still getting my head around the terminology - toying around with basic examples, building views and templates, and so on.
I'm progressing fairly well but I want to set up a real-world web project (one of my own that I've been planning for quite some time now) as a learning object.
I learn best by example, but example-based documentation is a bit sparse for Kohana 3 right now - they say so themselves on the site. While I'm not worried about learning the framework as I go along, I want to make sure the code base is healthily structured from the start - i.e. controllers are split nicely, named well and according to standards, and most importantly the business logic is separated into appropriately sized models.
My application could, in its core, be described as a business directory with a range of search and listing functions, and a login area for each entry owner. The actual administrative database backend is already taken care of.
Supposing I have all the API worked out and in place already - list all businesses, edit business, list businesses by street name, create offer logged in as business, and so on, and I'm just looking for how to fit the functionality into a MVC pattern and into a Kohana application structure that can be easily extended.
Do you know real-life examples of "database-heavy" applications like directories, online communities... with a log-in area built on Kohana 3, preferably Open Source so I could take a peek how they do it?
Are there conventions or best practices on how to structure an extendable login area for end users in a Kohana project that is not only able to handle a business directory page, but further products on separate pages as well?
Do you know any good resources on building complex applications with Kohana?
Have you built something similar and could give me recommendations on a project structure?