Does this MVC controller code need to be refactored or not?

I am writing an CSV/Excel-->MySQL import manager for an MVC application (Kohana/PHP).

I have a controller named "ImportManager" which has an action named "index" (default) which displays in a grid all the valid .csv and .xls files that are in a specific directory and ready for import. The user can then choose the files he wants to import.

However, since .csv files import into one database table and .xls files import into multiple database tables, I needed to handle this abstraction. Hence I created a helper class called SmartImportFile to which I send each file be it .csv or .xls and then I get then ask this "smart" object to add the worksheets from that file (be they one or many) to my collection. Here is my action method in PHP code:

public function action_index()
{
    $view = new View('backend/application/importmanager');

    $smart_worksheets = array();
    $raw_files = glob('/data/import/*.*');
    if (count($raw_files) > 0)
    {
        foreach ($raw_files as $raw_file)
        {
            $smart_import_file = new Backend_Application_Smartimportfile($raw_file);
            $smart_worksheets = $smart_import_file->add_smart_worksheets_to($smart_worksheets); 
        }
    }
    $view->set('smart_worksheets', $smart_worksheets);

    $this->request->response = $view;
}

The SmartImportFile class looks like this:

class Backend_Application_Smartimportfile
{
    protected $file_name;
    protected $file_extension;
    protected $file_size;
    protected $when_file_copied;
    protected $file_name_without_extension;
    protected $path_info;
    protected $current_smart_worksheet = array();

    protected $smart_worksheets = array();

    public function __construct($file_name)
    {
        $this->file_name = $file_name;
        $this->file_name_without_extension = current(explode('.', basename($this->file_name)));

        $this->path_info = pathinfo($this->file_name);
        $this->when_file_copied = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', filectime($this->file_name));
        $this->file_extension = strtolower($this->path_info['extension']);
        $this->file_extension = strtolower(pathinfo($this->file_name, PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
        if(in_array($this->file_extension, array('csv','xls','xlsx')))
        {
            $this->current_smart_worksheet = array();
            $this->process_file();
        }
    }

    private function process_file()
    {
        $this->file_size = filesize($this->file_name);
        if(in_array($this->file_extension, array('xls','xlsx')))
        {
            if($this->file_size < 4000000)
            {
                $this->process_all_worksheets_of_excel_file();
            }
        }
        else if($this->file_extension == 'csv')
        {
            $this->process_csv_file();
        }

    }

    private function process_all_worksheets_of_excel_file()
    {
        $worksheet_names = Import_Driver_Excel::get_worksheet_names_as_array($this->file_name);
        if (count($worksheet_names) > 0)
        {
            foreach ($worksheet_names as $worksheet_name)
            {
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['name'] = basename($this->file_name).' ('.$worksheet_name.')';
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['kind'] = strtoupper($this->file_extension);
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['file_size'] = $this->file_size;
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['when_file_copied'] = $this->when_file_copied;
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['table_name'] = $this->file_name_without_extension.'__'.$worksheet_name;
                $this->assign_database_table_fields();
                $this->smart_worksheets[] = $this->current_smart_worksheet;
            }
        }
    }

    private function process_csv_file()
    {
        $this->current_smart_worksheet['name'] = basename($this->file_name);
        $this->current_smart_worksheet['kind'] = strtoupper($this->file_extension);
        $this->current_smart_workshee开发者_如何转开发t['file_size'] = $this->file_size;
        $this->current_smart_worksheet['when_file_copied'] = $this->when_file_copied;

        $this->current_smart_worksheet['table_name'] = $this->file_name_without_extension;
        $this->assign_database_table_fields();


        $this->smart_worksheets[] = $this->current_smart_worksheet;
    }

    private function assign_database_table_fields()
    {
        $db = Database::instance('import_excel');
        $sql = "SHOW TABLE STATUS WHERE name = '".$this->current_smart_worksheet['table_name']."'";
        $result = $db->query(Database::SELECT, $sql, FALSE)->as_array();
        if(count($result))
        {
            $when_table_created = $result[0]['Create_time'];
            $when_file_copied_as_date = strtotime($this->when_file_copied);
            $when_table_created_as_date = strtotime($when_table_created);
            if($when_file_copied_as_date > $when_table_created_as_date)
            {
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['status'] = 'backend.application.import.status.needtoreimport';
            }
            else
            {
                $this->current_smart_worksheet['status'] = 'backend.application.import.status.isuptodate';
            }
            $this->current_smart_worksheet['when_table_created'] = $when_table_created;
        }
        else
        {
            $this->current_smart_worksheet['when_table_created'] = 'backend.application.import.status.tabledoesnotexist';
            $this->current_smart_worksheet['status'] = 'backend.application.import.status.needtoimport';
        }
    }

    public function add_smart_worksheets_to(Array $smart_worksheets = array())
    {
        return array_merge($smart_worksheets, $this->get_smart_worksheets());
    }

    public function get_smart_worksheets()
    {
        if ( ! is_array($this->smart_worksheets))
        {
            return array();
        }

        return $this->smart_worksheets;
    }

}

In a code review I was told that it might be better not to have a helper class like this but to keep the bulk of the code in the controller action method itself. The argumentation was that you should be able to look at the code in a controller action and see what it does instead of having it call external helper classes outside of itself. I disagree. My argumentation is:

• you should create a helper class anytime it makes code clearer, as in this case, it abstracts away the fact that some files have one worksheet or many worksheets in them, and allows for easy future extension, if, say, we want to also import from sqlite files or even directories with files in them, this class abstraction would be able to handle this nicely.
• moving the bulk of the code from this helper class back into the controller would force me to create internal variables in the controller which make sense for this particular action, but may or may not make sense to other action methods within the controller.
• if I were programming this in C# I would make this helper class a nested class which would literally be an internal data structure that is inside of and only available to the controller class, but since PHP does not allow nested classes, I need to call a class "outside" the controller to help manage this abstraction in a way that makes the code clear and readable

Based on your experience of programming in the MVC pattern, should the above helper class be refactored back into the controller or not?

There are two approaches to controllers: make it thin or thick. When I started my adventure with MVC I made a mistake of creating thick controllers - now I prefer make it as thin as possible. Your solution is good in my opinion.

Here is how I would redesigned your code even further:

class Backend_Application_SmartImport {

    public function __construct( $raw_files ) {
    }

    public function process() {     
        foreach ($raw_files as $raw_file) {
            // (...)
            $oSmartImportFileInstance = $this->getSmartImportFileInstance( $smart_import_file_extension );
        }
    }   

    protected function getSmartImportFileInstance( $smart_import_file_extension ) {
        switch ( $smart_import_file_extension ) {
            case 'xml':
                return new Backend_Application_SmartImportFileXml();
            // (...)
        }
    }
}

abstract class Backend_Application_SmartImportFile {
    // common methods for importing from xml or cvs
    abstract function process();
}

class Backend_Application_SmartImportFileCVS extends Backend_Application_SmartImportFile {
    // methods specified for cvs importing
}

class Backend_Application_SmartImportFileXls extends Backend_Application_SmartImportFile {
    // methods specified for xls importing
}

The idea is to have two classes responsible for processing xml and cvs inheriting from a base class. The main class uses a special method to detect how the data should be processed (Strategy Pattern). The controller just passed a list of files to the instance of Backend_Application_SmartImport class and passes result of process method to the view.

The advantage of my solution is that code is more decoupled and you can easily and in a clean way add new types of processing like xml, pdf, etc.

I agree with you Edward.

Your ImportController does what a Controller is meant to do. It generates the list of files for the user to view and act on, it then passes that list to the View for it to display. I am presuming that you have a process action or similar which is handles the request when a user has selected a file, this file is then passed on to the Helper in question.

The Helper is a perfect example of abstraction and entirely justified in its usage and existence. It is not coupled with the Controller in anyway and doesn't need to be. The Helper could be easily used in other scenarios where the Controller is not present, for example a CRON task, a public API which users can call programmatically without your ImportController.

Your right on the ball with this one. Stick it to 'em!