Controllers developed by end user

[eluser]mscahill[/eluser]
I have a conceptual question. I'm developing a reporting application where the end [power] user will develop their own controllers (in a subfolder) that will extend the functionality that the application provides. Usually I would call these modules, but I don't want to mix terminology with the MVC architecture. What can I call these controller extensions of the codebase?

For example, an end user could write a controller to interface with a document management system.

Whatever name I finally agree on would be the name of the folder within the controller folder, as well as the table in which metadata regarding the controller would be held. Any ideas?

[eluser]Colin Williams[/eluser]
I like the direction you are going with this. You might just focus on the purpose of the app and call them "Reports". I don't think it hurts to go outside of MVC terminology.

[eluser]John Fuller[/eluser]
If the end-users are developers then why not just call the controllers by the name of "controllers" and point them to the CodeIgniter docs?

Otherwise, you might take a look at the template system of ExpressionEngine. It works well and very powerful. Essentially, you can create your own controllers but you don't have to know anything about PHP.

[eluser]mscahill[/eluser]
They would be controllers by nature, but they would be a special set of controllers that would extend the core functionality of the main application, and would reside in their own folder. If we were selling this product, this would the "extra features" that you buy separately.

I'm really just looking for a semantic reference for this special set of controllers.

[eluser]mscahill[/eluser]
Also, the main feature of this special set of controllers apart from the Codeigniter core is the interface with the modules that come as a part of my application.

[eluser]Randy Casburn[/eluser]
And this is outside the realm of Business Intelligence so buzz terms like

- Cubes,
- Cube slices
- Transformations
- Strategies
- Localization
- Dimension
- Variant

Don't work for you?

I would tend toward Transformations from the list as a customer facing term. Something they could sink their teeth into, it would seem to synergize with what little you've presented as your thought piece here. If it were purely data, Dimension might work better, if numerical Variant would work with that audience. But you mentioned a reporting on a 'document management system' in your first post. So neither of the previous terms would likely work with that audience since (they) [edi] those terms are more analytical in nature.

I hope you find this list helpful.

Randy

[eluser]mscahill[/eluser]
These controllers will fall into several categories: reports with drilldown functionality, APIs, connectors, search engines, etc.

The more I think about it, I wonder if I should use a general terms like "extensions," as these controllers are an extension of the core code.

[eluser]John Fuller[/eluser]
Magento ecommerce might be a good model to look at. It's built off the Zend Framework but packaged as a working system. It's free though, they make their $ from support.