Creating content using JTableContent

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Introduction

JTableContent is the preferred method to add content to the database rather than with direct queries. JTableContent has many benefits which include simplifying the methods to create, read, update and delete content.

The Object

Using JTableContent begins by creating a new instance

$article = JTable::getInstance('content');

We can now define the properties of this object that our new article will have.

Properties of the Object

Each property of the newly created object corresponds with a field in the database. For example, our article may be defined as

$article->title            = 'This is my super cool title!';
$article->alias            = JFilterOutput::stringURLSafe('This is my super cool title!');
$article->introtext        = '<p>This is my super cool article!</p>';
$article->catid            = 9;
$article->created          = JFactory::getDate()->toSQL();;
$article->created_by_alias = 'Super User';
$article->state            = 1;
$article->access           = 1;
$article->metadata         = '{"page_title":"","author":"","robots":""}';
$article->language         = '*';

To keep this example simple, we have used only 10 properties out of the 30. To explore other properties and their data types, look at the #__content table in your database.

Data Validation

JTableContent provides a data validation method, JTableContent::check. Using this method, we can validate our data or raise a notice if it fails.

if (!$article->check()) {
	JError::raiseNotice(500, $article->getError());

	return FALSE;
}

Saving the Article

Finally, we use JTableContent::store to save the article.

if (!$article->store(TRUE)) {
	JError::raiseNotice(500, $article->getError());

	return FALSE;
}

Version Note

JTableContent is not autoloaded prior to Joomla! version 3.0, so it needs to be included.

JTable::addIncludePath(JPATH_PLATFORM . 'joomla/database/table');

Complete Example

if (version_compare(JVERSION, '3.0', 'lt')) {
	JTable::addIncludePath(JPATH_PLATFORM . 'joomla/database/table');
}

$article = JTable::getInstance('content');

$article->title            = 'This is my super cool title!';
$article->alias            = JFilterOutput::stringURLSafe('This is my super cool title!');
$article->introtext        = '<p>This is my super cool article!</p>';
$article->catid            = 9;
$article->created          = JFactory::getDate()->toSQL();;
$article->created_by_alias = 'Super User';
$article->state            = 1;
$article->access           = 1;
$article->metadata         = '{"page_title":"","author":"","robots":""}';
$article->language         = '*';

// Check to make sure our data is valid; raise notice if it is not.
if (!$article->check()) {
	JError::raiseNotice(500, $article->getError());

	return FALSE;
}

// Now store the article; raise notice if it doesn't get stored.
if (!$article->store(TRUE)) {
	JError::raiseNotice(500, $article->getError());

	return FALSE;
}