What is a Magento "Backend" model?

After building some frontend stuff, I'm now exploring the internals of the admin side of Magento. I read Alan Storm's article on creating a simple model (as opposed to an EAV model, something which I am not yet ready for).

My main goal is to create a module that enables the user t开发者_StackOverflow社区o upload and manage media to the Magento installation, so that it can be used in some templates I defined in the frontend. So I would create a model to keep track of the relations between certain media (pictures) and certain categories, pages, you name it. Just for the record: I don't like EAV models, they scare me, so unless it's absolutely necessary, don't push the conversation that way. Thank you :)

I've also skimmed through this article. It's about backend models, and my question is about that:

What IS a backend model?

Is it a model that's used only in the backend (admin)? I wouldn't know what that would be good for. If someone could tell me something about it, or give me a hint on what to read to know more about it, it'd be great.

The reason I'm telling what goal I want to reach is so that someone can tell me if these "backend models" are significant to what I want.

Thanks!

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Don't worry about EAV, don't worry about "backend models". You'll need some in the trenches programming experience before you can fully understand their significance. You can get a lot done with the plain-jane Magento model classes and SQL queries.

The light version: Backend models have nothing to do with the frontend-cart/backend-admin application split. A "backend model" handles loading, storing, and persisting information into a datastore (the database). A "frontend model" is PHP code that handles rendering a user interface element to display the attribute in the web browser. The terms are used in several different systems in Magento, including EAV and the System Configuration section.

The article you linked to is talking abou EAV backend models. Again, the light version: Each data property of an EAV model is, itself, an object. For example, in a simpler system you'd store the product's name as the string 'Bicycle'. In Magento you assign a product attribute object to the parent EAV model for name. This way, the code for saving "name" to the database can be kept separate from the other saving code.

Long story short, It's overkill for what you're after.

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In Magento backend attribute models is used to prepare data before placing it in the database. This preparation is done by beforeSave method. A good exampe is Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Attribute_Backend_Datetime