00007 Overriding View Files in Humhub

Our Example is based on Clean Theme and we like to use our new abccore Module as the "hub" for our overall overriden files that we use in multiple modules.

Let's start:

Below is how the Clean Theme is wiring up its view overrides, and then a pattern you can borrow in your abccore module so that all of your future overrides live in one place under modules/abccore/views/overrides and never get stomped by a core update.

1. How Clean-Theme does it

DynamicConfig rewrite When you enable the Clean Theme module, it calls

ThemeHelper::getThemeByName('Clean')->activate();
DynamicConfig::rewrite();

That writes into your protected/config/web.php something like:

'components' => [
 'view' => [
   'theme' => [
     'basePath' => '@app/themes/Clean',
     'baseUrl'  => '@web/themes/Clean',
     'pathMap'   => [
       '@humhub/modules' => '@app/themes/Clean/modules',
       '@humhub/widgets' => '@app/themes/Clean/widgets',
       '@humhub/views'   => '@app/themes/Clean/views',
     ],
   ],
 ],
],

Mirror the folder structure Inside themes/Clean you see directories like

themes/
 Clean/
   modules/
     space/
       views/
         spaces/
           index.php        ← your override here
   widgets/
     topNavigation.php    ← override HumHub widget views
   views/
     humhub/
       layouts/
         main.php         ← override core layouts

Yii’s theme pathMap will look for the original view under @humhub/modules/space/views/spaces/index.php and, if it finds the file in your theme folder, load that instead.

2. A single “override root” in abccore

Rather than scatter overrides across multiple modules (and fight path aliases), you can make abccore supply an “override root” that covers all HumHub view paths:

Create an override folder In your module add:
```
protected/modules/abccore/views/overrides/humhub/
 modules/
 widgets/
 views/
```
Inside each of those sub‐folders you mirror only the directories you actually override. For example, to override the Spaces index:
```
views/overrides/humhub/modules/space/views/spaces/index.php
```
And for the SpaceDirectoryCard widget:
```
views/overrides/humhub/modules/space/widgets/views/spaceDirectoryCard.php
```

Wire up the pathMap In protected/modules/abccore/Module.php implement bootstrap() and merge in a single mapping from @humhub → your override root. For example:

namespace abc\modules\abccore;

use Yii;
use yii\base\Module as BaseModule;
use yii\base\BootstrapInterface;
use yii\base\Theme;

class Module extends BaseModule implements BootstrapInterface
{
   public function bootstrap($app)
   {
       parent::bootstrap($app);

       $view = $app->getView();
       if (!$view->theme) {
           $view->theme = new Theme();
       }

       // Grab whatever was already there, then inject our override root
       $pathMap = $view->theme->pathMap ?: [];
       $pathMap['@humhub'] = [
           __DIR__ . '/views/overrides/humhub'
       ];
       $view->theme->pathMap = $pathMap;
   }
}

This says “for any view under @humhub/..., look first in modules/abccore/views/overrides/humhub/... using the identical sub-path.”

Flush the cache After deploying, run:
```
./yii cache/flush-all
```
or use Admin → Settings → Cache.
Verify Drop a  comment at the top of one of your override files (e.g. the Spaces index) to confirm it’s being picked up.

Why this works for all future overrides

You only ever maintain one override root (views/overrides/humhub) in your abccore module.
Whenever HumHub adds or changes views, you can copy the new file into that same mirrored path.
Your module’s bootstrap takes care of pointing every @humhub lookup at your folder first, so core updates won’t touch your overrides.

We can now retire the piecemeal “space-overrides” hack in our other modules and consolidate every view override into abccore/views/overrides/humhub, exactly the same way Clean-Theme centralizes its work under themes/Clean.