I found the custom edit handler useful in the case where newly registered users should have their own content folders somewhere in the content structure. The process is very simple: when the publish action is invoked, the custom edit handler creates a new contentobject as an instance of the folder class under the root node (when the owner of this folder is a newly registered user). No custom workflow events are needed for this.

First we need to create a new extension. The handler must be placed in: <extensions>/<extension-name>/content/<extension-name>handler.php. In our example this will be: extension/customedit/content/customedithandler.php

The file must contain a class called <extension-name>Handler, which extends the eZContentObjectEditHandler class (kernel/classes/ezcontentobjectedithandler.php) with the function fetchInput. Here is complete example of an extension/customedit/content/customedithandler.php file

<?php
class CustomEditHandler extends eZContentObjectEditHandler
{
    function fetchInput( &$http, &$module, &$class, &$object, &$version, &$contentObjectAttributes, $editVersion, $editLanguage, $fromLanguage )
    {
 
    }
 
    function storeActionList()
    {
    }
 
    function publish( $contentObjectID, $contentObjectVersion )
    {
 
    }
}
?>

Next we need to tell eZ publish that our custom edit handler is available. Add:

[EditSettings]
ExtensionDirectories[]=customedit

into settings/override/content.ini.append.php. If the file does not exist, create it.

The class definition also implements the optional functions ?publish? and ?storeActionList?. The first does content object publish operations, and the second returns a list of HTTP post parameters that should trigger the store action.

In our example we will focus on the ?publish? function and implement the code that will create a folder when a new user is registered in the system.

Here is the complete class definition for the custom edit handler:

<?php
class CustomEditHandler extends eZContentObjectEditHandler
{
    function fetchInput( &$http, &$module, &$class, &$object, &$version, &$contentObjectAttributes, $editVersion, $editLanguage, $fromLanguage )
    {
        // Do some action here
    }
 
    function storeActionList()
    {
    }
 
    function publish( $contentObjectID, $contentObjectVersion )
    {
        // fetch object
        $object =& eZContentObject::fetch( $contentObjectID );
        // get content class object
        $contentClass =& $object->attribute('content_class');
 
        // check if currently published object is USER
        if ( $contentClass->attribute( 'id' ) == 4 )
        {
            include_once( 'lib/ezutils/classes/ezoperationhandler.php' );
 
            // prepare new object data
            $parentNodeID = 2;
            $userID = $object->attribute( 'id' );
            $class = eZContentClass::fetchByIdentifier( 'folder' );
            $parentContentObjectTreeNode = eZContentObjectTreeNode::fetch( $parentNodeID );
            $parentContentObject = $parentContentObjectTreeNode->attribute( 'object' );
            $sectionID = $parentContentObject->attribute( 'section_id' );
 
            $contentObject = $class->instantiate( $userID, $sectionID );
            $contentObjectID = $contentObject->attribute( 'id' );
 
            $nodeAssignment = eZNodeAssignment::create( array( 'contentobject_id' => $contentObject->attribute( 'id' ),
            'contentobject_version' => $contentObject->attribute( 'current_version' ),
            'parent_node' => $parentContentObjectTreeNode->attribute( 'node_id' ),
            'is_main' => 1 ) );
            $nodeAssignment->store();
 
            $contentObjectAttributes =& $contentObject->contentObjectAttributes();
 
            $loopLenght = count( $contentObjectAttributes );
 
            // Fill up content object name attribute with user object name
            for( $i = 0; $i < $loopLenght; $i++ )
            {
                switch( $contentObjectAttributes[$i]->attribute( 'contentclass_attribute_identifier' ) )
                {
                    case 'name':
                        $contentObjectAttributes[$i]->setAttribute( 'data_text', $object->attribute( 'name' ) );
                        $contentObjectAttributes[$i]->store();
                        break;
                }
            }
 
            $contentObject->setAttribute( 'status', EZ_VERSION_STATUS_DRAFT );
            $contentObject->store();
 
            // publish new object
            $operationResult = eZOperationHandler::execute( 'content', 'publish', array( 'object_id' => $contentObjectID, 'version' => 1 ) );
        }
 
    }
}
?>

Now for every newly registered user, the system will create a new folder (owned by the new user). This code must be extended, of course, for additional checking, but it gives a practical example of how to use eZ publish 3.8's new custom edit handler.