Is this correct implementation of MVC pattern for PHP website?

Question

I'm currently developing a music website using OOP PHP and I'm trying to correctly implement the Model View Controller pattern.

I am creating this website from scratch so I would like to avoid answers suggesting I use frameworks such CakePHP etc please.

Here are simplified snippets of the files I'm using to generate a page on my site that displays an album release.

albumView.php (VIEW)

<?php
include_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/../app/config.php');
include('commonHead.php'); //shared site head
include('htmlHeader.php'); //shared website header
$album = new AlbumController(); //instantiate controller
?>
<div id="main">
    <article>
        <header>
            <h1><?php $album->echoArtist(); ?></h1>
        </header>
        <?php if($album->isTracklisting()) : ?>
            <section id="tracklisting">
                <header>
                    <h1>TRACK LISTING</h1>
                </header>
                <ol>
                    <?php $album->echoTracklisting() ?>
                </ol>
            </section>
        <?php endif ?>

...etc...

<?php
include('htmlFooter.php');
include('commonFoot.php');
?>

AlbumController.php (CONTROLLER)

//Inherits shared page display fields and functions
class AlbumController extends PageController
{
    private $albumModel;

    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
        //Instantiate new album model
        $this->albumModel = new AlbumModel($this->getDate, $this->getRelease);
    }

    public function echoArtist()
    {
        echo $albumModel->artist;
    }

    public function isTracklisting()
    {
        if(!$this->strEmpty($albumModel->tracklisting)) return true;
    }

    public function echoTracklisting()
    {
        $songArray = explode(',', $albumModel->tracklisting);
        foreach($songArray as $song) {
            ...various logic...
        $html = '<li class="'.$class.'" '.$mp3Data.'>'.$song.'</li>';
        echo $html;
        }
    }

    ...etc...

PageController.php (CONTROLLER SUPER CLASS)

abstract class PageController
{
    protected $getDate;
    protected $getRelease;

    function __construct()
    {
        if(isset($_GET['date'])) $this->getDate = $_GET['date'];
        if(isset($_GET['release'])) $this->getRelease = $_GET['release'];
    }

    ...etc...

AlbumModel.php (MODEL)

class AlbumModel
{
    //Album data variables
    public $artist;
    public $album;
    public $genre;
    public $releaseDate;
    public $tracklisting;

    private $db;
    private $getDate;
    private $getRelease;

    public function __construct($getDate, $getRelease)
    {
        $this->getDate = $getDate;
        $this->getRelease = $getRelease;

        //Create new db object
        $this->db = new Database();

        //Get album array from db
        $albumArray = $this->getAlbumArrayFromDB();

        //Assign variables
        $this->artist = $albumArray['artist'];
        $this->album = $albumArray['album'];
        $this->genre = $albumArray['genre'];
        $this->releaseDate = $albumArray['date'];
        $this->tracklisting = $albumArray['tracklisting'];
    }

    private function getAlbumArrayFromDB()
    {
        //Query DB
        $sql = 'SELECT * FROM releases WHERE date = '.$this->getDate.' AND release_number = '.$this->getRelease;
        $qId = $this->db->query($sql);
        $albumArray = $this->db->fetch_array_assoc($qId);
        return $albumArray;
    }

    ...etc...

And my config.php defines constants and imports all my classes

config.php

//Paths
define('ABS_PATH', dirname(__FILE__));

//Database
define('DB_NAME', 'myname');
define('DB_USER', 'myuser');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'mypass');
define('DB_HOST', 'myhost');

...etc...

//Import all classes
foreach(glob(dirname(__FILE__).'/classes/*.php') as $classPath) {
    require_once($classPath);
}

Am I understanding and implementing the MVC design pattern correctly?

I know strictly speaking it's not best practice to access instance variables directly (e.g. $albumModel->artist) but with dozens of additional variables it seems overkill/unnecessary to create getter functions for each one and then redefine them all again in the controller. I put these here because as I understand it the model defines the data, but I could just return an array to the controller and define these variables there?

Anything I'm missing or best practices I'm not adhering to?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Answer 1

albumView.php

Views are not glorified templates. They should be instances that acquire data from model layer and, based on that information, produce a response for the user.

Views do not:

• initialize controllers
• load configuration

What you currently have is not a view. It looks more like some variation on newbie's index.php file, that include everything ad outputs HTML.

AlbumController.php

The responsibility of controller in MVC design pattern is to alter the state of model layer and (sometimes) the current view instance, based on user's request.

Controllers do not:

• create instances from model layer
• route the request
• generate HTML
• extract data from model layer

AlbumModel.php

Model in MVC design pattern is a layer. Not a class or object. There are no "models". It is a singular layer that contains application, domain and storage logic.

_{P.S.: You obviously have no (or almost no) experience with OOP paradigm. You could start by watching/reading material that are listed here. This might provide you with a better grasp on the underlaying concepts.}