Chapter 2: Understanding Modules in Zend Framework 3

✅ What is a Module?

In Zend Framework 3, the entire application is divided into modules.
Each module is like a small application that contains everything needed for one feature:

• Controllers → contain the logic
• Views → templates for output
• Config → routes and setup
• Models/Services → business logic

👉 Example:

• Application module → default app code
• Blog module → blog posts
• User module → authentication

✅ Default Project Structure

When you install the Skeleton Application, you will see one module called Application:

/module
  /Application
    /config
      module.config.php
    /src
      /Controller
      /Service
    /view
 

• config/module.config.php → routes, controllers, view settings
• src/ → PHP classes (controllers, services, models)
• view/ → view templates (.phtml files)

✅ The module.config.php File

The module.config.php file stores all configuration for that module:

<?php use Laminas\Router\Http\Literal; 
use Laminas\Router\Http\Segment; 
use Laminas\ServiceManager\Factory\InvokableFactory;
 return [ 'router' => [
        'routes' => [
            'home' => [
                'type'    => Literal::class,
                'options' => [
                    'route'    => '/',
                    'defaults' => [
                        'controller' => Controller\IndexController::class,
                        'action'     => 'index',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
            'blog' => [
                'type'    => Segment::class,
                'options' => [
                    'route'    => '/blog[/:action]',
                    'defaults' => [
                        'controller' => Controller\IndexController::class,
                        'action'     => 'index',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],

    'controllers' => [
        'factories' => [
            Controller\IndexController::class => InvokableFactory::class,
        ],
    ],

    'view_manager' => [
        'display_not_found_reason' => true,
        'display_exceptions'       => true,
        'doctype'                  => 'HTML5',
        'not_found_template'       => 'error/404',
        'exception_template'       => 'error/index',
        'template_map' => [
            'layout/layout'     => __DIR__ . '/../view/layout/layout.phtml',
            'blog/index/index'  => __DIR__ . '/../view/blog/index/index.phtml',
            'error/404'         => __DIR__ . '/../view/error/404.phtml',
            'error/index'       => __DIR__ . '/../view/error/index.phtml',
        ],
        'template_path_stack' => [
            __DIR__ . '/../view',
        ],
    ],
];

✅ Creating a New Module (Example: Blog)

Follow these steps to create a new Blog module:

Step 1: Create folder structure

cd module
mkdir Blog
cd Blog
mkdir config src view

Step 2: module.config.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Blog;  
 use Laminas\Router\Http\Literal; 
use Laminas\Router\Http\Segment;
use Laminas\ServiceManager\Factory\InvokableFactory; 
return [ 'router' => [
        'routes' => [
            'home' => [
                'type'    => Literal::class,
                'options' => [
                    'route'    => '/',
                    'defaults' => [
                        'controller' => Controller\IndexController::class,
                        'action'     => 'index',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
            'blog' => [   // <- changed route key 'type' => Segment::class,
                'options' => [
                    'route'    => '/blog[/:action]',  // <- changed route 'defaults' => [
                        'controller' => Controller\IndexController::class,
                        'action'     => 'index',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],
    'controllers' => [
        'factories' => [
            Controller\IndexController::class => InvokableFactory::class,
        ],
    ],
    'view_manager' => [
        'display_not_found_reason' => true,
        'display_exceptions'       => true,
        'doctype'                  => 'HTML5',
        'not_found_template'       => 'error/404',
        'exception_template'       => 'error/index',
        'template_map' => [
            'layout/layout'           => __DIR__ . '/../view/layout/layout.phtml',
            'blog/index/index'        => __DIR__ . '/../view/blog/index/index.phtml',  // <- changed 'error/404' => __DIR__ . '/../view/error/404.phtml',
            'error/index'             => __DIR__ . '/../view/error/index.phtml',
        ],
        'template_path_stack' => [
            __DIR__ . '/../view',
        ],
    ],
];

blog/src/module.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Blog;

class Module
{
    public function getConfig(): array
    {
        /** @var array $config */
        $config = include __DIR__ . '/../config/module.config.php';
        return $config;
    }
}

Step 4: Controller

Blog/src/controller/IndexController.php

use Laminas\View\Model\ViewModel;

class IndexController extends AbstractActionController
{
public function indexAction()
{
return new ViewModel();
}
}

Layout

Step 4: Register the Module

Add it inside config/modules.config.php:

return [
    'Laminas\Router',
    'Laminas\Validator',
    'Application',
    'Blog',   // ✅ add this line
];

✅ Best Practices

• Keep related functionality inside a single module.
• Re-use modules in multiple projects.
• Use meaningful names (e.g., Blog, User, Admin).
• Always separate concerns.

✅ Exercises

• Create a new User module with its own Module.php and module.config.php.
• Register it in modules.config.php.
• Create a simple controller inside User module and test by adding a route.