The web development company I began contracting with wanted to utilize Mambo Open Source software for the production of websites for their clients. I began to search for technical documentation that would assist with Mambo development. Although there are a few tutorials for component, template, and module building at MamboHut and some other sites, documentation for the current release (4.5) is rather sparse.

In an attempt to learn how Mambo acutally works, I followed the source files through all of the includes and classes. The resulting notes are found here. Developers comments have been quoted where those explanations are sufficient. It will probably be most helpful if you read this along with the corresponding core files. Corrections and clarifications are quite welcome. E-mail contact@jlleblanc.com.

Download a zip file containing the documentation for offline browsing.

I have also created a tutorial which steps through the creation of Daily Message, a simple component. A completed copy of Daily Message is available for download so you can follow along. Click here to get started.