Basic Joomla Component File Structure

DEFINE TOOLBARS
administrator/components/com_componentname/toolbar.componentname.html.php

DECIDE WHICH TOOLBAR TO DISPLAY
administrator/components/com_componentname/toolbar.componentname.php

BACKEND DISPLAY
administrator/components/com_componentname/controller.php
Contains component functions like public, show entries, edit, publish, save and delete

BACKEND DISPLAY
administrator/components/com_componentname/admin.componentname.php
-puts the files together
-includes files like the html file (admin.componentname.html), adds tables, instantiates the controller object and displays

default task

BACKEND DISPLAY
administrator/components/com_componentname/admin.componentname.html.php
-contains HTML_componentname class and html code for functions like editReview, showReviews, etc

FRONTEND

START
components/componentname/componentname.php
-loads tables, includes controller and instantiates the controller object, dislays default task like view all

components/componentname/controller.php
-uses display() function
-displays requested view and corresponding model
-Normally, one var is all entries and the other is a single entry with one id. Code is below to display desired view.
Jrequest::getVar(‘view’, ‘all’);

router.php
-used to give adequate views and ids

VIEWS FOLDER
-contains folders for views; such as all or a single view. The folder must not use the name view or an error will trigger.
– view files within subfolders are named view.html

All Entries
class ComponentnameViewSubfoldername extends JView {

Single Entries
class ComponentnameViewSubfoldername extends JView {

MODELS FOLDER
-contains models for a single revue or all the revues
-class name is class ModelComponentnameFilename extends JModel
-Model and and view will have matching names