Project Structure

Understanding how Alfa Commerce is organized is essential before contributing or extending it.

Directory Overview

Alfa-Commerce/
├── administrator/              # Backend admin panel
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── Extension/          # Component bootstrap (AlfaComponent.php)
│   │   ├── Controller/         # Admin controllers (Form + List)
│   │   ├── Model/              # Admin models (CRUD, queries)
│   │   ├── View/               # Admin views
│   │   ├── Table/              # Database table classes
│   │   ├── Field/              # Custom form field types
│   │   ├── Helper/             # Business logic helpers
│   │   ├── Service/            # Services (PriceIndexSyncService)
│   │   ├── Event/              # Event classes
│   │   └── Plugin/             # Base plugin classes
│   ├── forms/                  # XML form definitions
│   ├── tmpl/                   # Admin HTML templates
│   ├── sql/                    # Database schemas & migrations
│   │   ├── install.mysql.utf8.sql
│   │   ├── uninstall.mysql.utf8.sql
│   │   └── updates/mysql/      # Version migration scripts (e.g. 1.0.9.sql)
│   ├── services/               # DI container (provider.php)
│   ├── layouts/                # Reusable template layouts
│   ├── languages/              # Localization (en-GB)
│   ├── config.xml              # Component configuration form
│   └── access.xml              # ACL permissions
│
├── site/                       # Frontend customer-facing
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── Controller/         # Frontend controllers
│   │   ├── Model/              # Frontend models
│   │   ├── View/               # Frontend views
│   │   ├── Service/            # Pricing engine
│   │   │   └── Pricing/        # Money, PriceResult, PriceContext, etc.
│   │   ├── Helper/             # CartHelper, OrderPlaceHelper, PriceSettings
│   │   └── Dispatcher/         # Request dispatcher
│   ├── forms/                  # Frontend forms
│   ├── tmpl/                   # Frontend templates
│   └── languages/              # Frontend localization
│
├── api/                        # REST JSON-API
│   └── src/
│       ├── Controller/         # REST API controllers
│       └── View/               # JSON response views
│
├── plugins/                    # Core ships only the `standard` reference plugins;
│   │                           # real gateways/carriers are premium (distributed separately)
│   ├── alfa-payments/
│   │   └── standard/           # Offline payment (bank transfer / cash on delivery)
│   ├── alfa-shipments/
│   │   └── standard/           # Standard shipping (flat / zone rates)
│   ├── alfa-form-fields/            # Form field type plugins
│   │   ├── text/
│   │   ├── textarea/
│   │   ├── tel/
│   │   └── choice/
│   ├── webservices/alfa/       # API route registration
│   └── system/alfasync/        # Post-install integrity & per-language schema sync
│
├── modules/
│   ├── mod_alfa_cart/           # Shopping cart widget module
│   └── mod_alfa_search/         # Product search module
│
├── media/com_alfa/              # Static assets
│   ├── css/                     # Stylesheets (admin + site)
│   ├── js/                      # JavaScript (admin + site)
│   ├── images/                  # Component images
│   └── joomla.asset.json        # Joomla asset registry
│
├── alfa.xml                     # Package manifest
├── script.php                   # Install/update/uninstall script
├── .php-cs-fixer.php            # Code style configuration
├── phpstan.neon                 # Static analysis configuration
├── CONTRIBUTING.md              # Contribution guide
└── .github/workflows/           # CI/CD automation

Namespaces

Alfa Commerce follows PSR-4 autoloading with Joomla 6/7 namespace conventions:

Component	Namespace
Admin	Alfa\Component\Alfa\Administrator\{Controller,Model,View,...}
Site	Alfa\Component\Alfa\Site\{Controller,Model,View,...}
API	Alfa\Component\Alfa\Api\{Controller,View}
Payment Plugins	Alfa\Plugin\AlfaPayments\{PluginName}\Extension
Shipment Plugins	Alfa\Plugin\AlfaShipments\{PluginName}\Extension
Field Plugins	Alfa\Plugin\AlfaFormFields\{PluginName}\Extension
Cart Module	Alfa\Module\AlfaCart
Search Module	Alfa\Module\AlfaSearch

Naming Conventions

Pattern	Example
Controllers	ItemController, ItemsController
Models	ItemModel, CategoriesModel
Views	Items\HtmlView, Items\JsonapiView
Tables	ItemTable
Events	AdminOrderViewEvent, PaymentResponseEvent
Helpers	CartHelper, OrderPaymentHelper

Key Files to Know

File	Purpose
administrator/services/provider.php	DI container — registers all component services
administrator/src/Extension/AlfaComponent.php	Component bootstrap class
site/src/Helper/CartHelper.php	Shopping cart logic
site/src/Helper/OrderPlaceHelper.php	Order placement flow
site/src/Service/Pricing/	Complete pricing engine
administrator/src/Event/	All event classes
administrator/src/Plugin/	Base plugin classes (Plugin, PaymentsPlugin, ShipmentsPlugin)
administrator/sql/install.mysql.utf8.sql	Complete database schema