Is WordPress MVC compliant?

Question

Some people consider WordPress a blogging platform, some think of it as a CMS, some refer to WordPress as a development framework. Whichever it is, the question still remains. Is WordPress MVC compliant?

I've read the forums and somebody asked about MVC about three years ago. There were some positive answers, and some negative ones. While nobody knows exactly what MVC is and everybody thinks of it in their own way, there's still a general concept that's present in all the discussions.

I have little experience with MVC frameworks and there doesn't seem to be anything about the framework itself. Most of the MVC is done by the programmer, am I right? Now, going back to WordPress, could we consider the core rewrite engine (WP_Rewrite) the controller? Queries & plugin logic as the model? And themes as the view? Or am I getting it all wrong?

Thanks ;)

Answer 1

Wordpress itself is not architected in MVC, but one can build very MVC oriented themes and plugins within the framework. There are several tools which can help:

WordPress MVC solutions:

• Churro: @ wordpress.org/extend/plugins/churro
• Tina-MVC: @ wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tina-mvc
• Plugin Factory: @ wordpress.org/extend/plugins/plugin-factory
• MVCPress: http://mozey.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/mvcpress-screenshots/#comment-3634 (abandoned, but interesting ideas)

MVC threads on WordPress.org Ideas and Trac:

• http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/mvc-plugin-framework
• http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/complete-reestructuring
• http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/rewrite-wordpress-using-mvc
• http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/wordpress-theme-revamp (more on XSL than MVC)
• http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12354 (on MVC in widgets)