Name your component

You give a name to your component in its composer.json and module.xml files. These files also contain other required configuration parameters, such as the module’s schema version.

Prerequisites

Before you continue, make sure you have completed all of the following tasks:

• Create a file structure.
• Create the configuration files you’ll need.
• Register your component.

Add the component’s module.xml file

Declare the component itself by adding a module.xml file in the /etc folder of your component.

A component declares itself (that is, defines its name and existence) in the module.xml file, located in the Magento install directory at <ComponentName>/etc/.

The smallest working module.xml file would look something like this:

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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd">
        <module name="Vendor_ComponentName" setup_version="2.0.0"/>
</config>

Here name is the name of your component, and setup_version is your module’s database schema version. Both of these attributes are required.

Avoid using “Ui” for your custom module name because the %Vendor%_Ui notation, required when specifying paths, might cause issues.

Add the component’s composer.json file

composer.json provides a component name and also specifies component dependencies.

In addition, the Component Manager looks for a composer.json in a component’s root directory and can perform actions on the component and its dependencies:

• If a component has composer.json and the component was installed using Composer (including from packagist, the Magento Marketplace, or other source), the Component Manager can update, uninstall, enable, or disable the component.
• If the component has composer.json but was not installed using Composer (for example, custom code a developer wrote), Component Manager can still enable or disable the component.
• We strongly recommend you include composer.json in your component’s root directory whether or not you intend to distribute it to other Magento merchants.

Example composer.json file

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{
    "name": "your-name/module-Acme",
    "description": "Test component for Magento 2",
    "require": {
        "php": "~5.5.0|~5.6.0",
        "magento/module-store": "1.0.0-beta",
        "magento/module-catalog": "1.0.0-beta",
        "magento/module-catalog-inventory": "1.0.0-beta",
        "magento/module-ui": "self.version",
        "magento/magento-composer-installer": "*"
    },
    "suggest": {
      "magento/module-webapi": "1.0.0-beta"
    },
    "type": "magento2-module",
    "version": "1.0.0-beta",
    "license": [
        "OSL-3.0",
        "AFL-3.0"
    ],
    "autoload": {
        "files": [ "registration.php" ],
        "psr-4": {
            "Magento\\CatalogImportExport\\": ""
        }
    }
}

In this example:

• name is the name of your component.
• description is a concise explanation of your component’s purpose.
• require lists any components your component depends on.
• suggest lists soft dependencies. The component can operate without them, but if the components are active, this component might impact their functionality. Suggest does not affect component load order.
• type determines what the Magento component type. Choose from magento2-theme, magento2-language, or magento2-module.
• version lists the version of the component.
• license lists applicable licenses that apply to your component.
• autoload instructs Composer to load the specified files.

Magento does not currently support the path repository.

Next

Component load order