Model – Using Full Class Names in Magento’s Factory Methods

factoryhelpermodel

In Magento 1, if I use the full Magento class name in a factory method, I'm able to instantiate an object

//trying full class name instead of catalog/product
$object = Mage::getModel('Mage_Catalog_Model_Product');

However, the same thing won't work for helpers. If you try

Mage::helper('Mage_Core_Helper_Url');

You get

Warning: include(Mage/Mage/Core/Helper/Url/Helper/Data.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory  in /path/to/magentolib/Varien/Autoload.php on line 93

#0 /path/to/magentolib/Varien/Autoload.php(93): mageCoreErrorHandler(2, 'include(Mage/Ma...', '/path/to/magent...', 93, Array)
#1 /path/to/magentolib/Varien/Autoload.php(93): Varien_Autoload::autoload()
#2 [internal function]: Varien_Autoload->autoload('Mage_Mage_Core_...')
#3 /path/to/magentoapp/Mage.php(547): spl_autoload_call('Mage_Mage_Core_...')
#4 /path/to/magentoapp/code/local/Sebastianjuffar/Commercebug/controllers/IndexController.php(11): Mage::helper('Mage_Core_Helpe...')
#5 /path/to/magentoapp/code/core/Mage/Core/Controller/Varien/Action.php(418): Sebastianjuffar_Commercebug_IndexController->indexAction()
#6 /path/to/magentoapp/code/core/Mage/Core/Controller/Varien/Router/Standard.php(250): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Action->dispatch('index')
#7 /path/to/magentoapp/code/core/Mage/Core/Controller/Varien/Front.php(172): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Router_Standard->match(Object(Mage_Core_Controller_Request_Http))
#8 /path/to/magentoapp/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/App.php(354): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Front->dispatch()
#9 /path/to/magentoapp/Mage.php(684): Mage_Core_Model_App->run(Array)
#10 /path/to/magentoindex.php(87): Mage::run('', 'store')
#11 {main}

What's going on?

Best Answer

From a purely coding perspective, if you take a look at the getModelClassName method (a few calls down the stack from Mage::getModel)

public function getModelClassName($modelClass)
{
    $modelClass = trim($modelClass);
    if (strpos($modelClass, '/')===false) {
        return $modelClass;
    }
    return $this->getGroupedClassName('model', $modelClass);
}

you'll see that if Magento doesn't see a / in the class alias, it assumes it's a full class name. However, if the getHelperClassName function

public function getHelperClassName($helperName)
{
    if (strpos($helperName, '/') === false) {
        $helperName .= '/data';
    }
    return $this->getGroupedClassName('helper', $helperName);
}

If Magento doesn't see a / in the class alias, it assumes you're using the short form of 

Mage::helper('catalog')

and adds a data to the end of the alias so the class resolves properly (catalog/data to Mage_Catalog_Model_Data).

This enables the short form helpers, but makes it impossible for Magento to tell the difference between a short form helper alias and a long form class name.

The ultimate "why" of this is probably hard to pin down — that the full class name instantiation works like that at all may just be a side effect of protective coding practices from one developer that were incompatible with another developer's desire for each module to have a "main" helper class. It also might be a single overworked developer making quick decisions as they go. There's probably lesson in project management and systems development in there somewhere.

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