Creating a Module in Zend Framework

Zend Framework is modular by design, which means your application can be organized into multiple self-contained modules, each with its own controllers, views, models, and configuration.

What is a Module?

A Module in Zend is like a mini-application. It can contain:

• Configuration
• Controllers
• Views
• Models
• Services
• Event Listeners

Modules make your app scalable, maintainable, and reusable.

Module Folder Structure

Each module should follow a consistent folder structure. Example:

module/
└── Blog/
  ├── config/
  │  └── module.config.php
  ├── src/
  │  └── Module.php
  │  └── Controller/
  │    └── IndexController.php
  ├── view/
  │  └── blog/
  │    └── index/
  │      └── index.phtml

Steps to Create a Module

1. Create Folder

Create a new folder under /module:

mkdir module\Blog\src\Controller
mkdir module\Blog\view\blog\index
mkdir module\Blog\config

 2. Create Module.php in (module\Blog\src\Module.php)

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace Blog;

use Laminas\ModuleManager\Feature\ConfigProviderInterface;

class Module implements ConfigProviderInterface
{
    public function getConfig()
    {
        return include __DIR__ . '/../config/module.config.php';
    }
}

3. Create module.config.php in (module\Blog\config\module.config.php)

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace Blog;

use Laminas\Router\Http\Literal;
use Laminas\ServiceManager\Factory\InvokableFactory;

return [
    'router' => [
        'routes' => [
            'blog' => [
                'type' => Literal::class,
                'options' => [
                    'route' => '/blog',
                    'defaults' => [
                        'controller' => Controller\IndexController::class,
                        'action'     => 'index',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],
    'controllers' => [
        'factories' => [
            Controller\IndexController::class => InvokableFactory::class,
        ],
    ],
    'view_manager' => [
        'template_path_stack' => [
            'blog' => __DIR__ . '/../view',
        ],
    ],
];

4. Create IndexController.php in (module\Blog\src\Controller\IndexController.php)

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace Blog\Controller;

use Laminas\Mvc\Controller\AbstractActionController;
use Laminas\View\Model\ViewModel;

class IndexController extends AbstractActionController
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        return new ViewModel(['message' => 'Welcome to Blog Module!']);
    }
}

5. Create View File in (module/Blog/view/blog/index/index.phtml)

<h2><?= $this->escapeHtml($message) ?></h2>

6. Enable the Module

Add Blog to the config/modules.config.php file:

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

7. Add Blog in composer.json

"autoload": {
    "psr-4": {
        "Application\\": "module/Application/src/",
        "Blog\\": "module/Blog/src/"
    }
},

8.Run composer dump

composer dump-autoload 

Test

Visit: http://localhost/blog

<h2>Welcome to Blog Module!</h2>