modx as application framework?

Hello dear community

I'm a frontend developer with some good php knowledge. I was freelancing for some years now and my favourite approach for webapps and sass' was slim and paris.

I will start a new job this september in a very nice agency. They mainly use modx for their projects. Something I'm very happy with, since I have a very good feeling with it, although no experience.

And now it is time for my questions.

I used to work with a template system like Twig and edit the files directly with my favourite editor. And paris is pretty straigt forward to work with a database.

How big are the chances of getting the same lightweight development experience with modx? How could I use a different templating system with modx, like Twig? How can I edit template files directly and not via the modx interface. I found xPDO horrible complicated to use go comparison with Paris. Do I really need to make a shemata.xml?

I'm ready to drop my slim/paris approach. Especially since that doesn't include a cms.

xPDO is well worth the learning curve. If you prefer, you could use your Paris, then create the schema from your table structure. http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/Reverse+Engineer+xPDO+Classes+from+Existing+Database+Table

And MODx is basically a framework that comes with a CMS; the CMS part is built on the framework. The CMS manager is built using Smarty and ExtJS, but you can build anything you want on it.

As far as editing, everything can be defined as "static" with the path to the static file it is based on, so you can edit the file directly.

http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/Static+Resource

Having worked with many CMS and databases, I agree with sottwell. xPDO's learning curve is worth it. It streamlines readability and code logic immensely. It is also extremely flexible with how you define your queries.

With regard to templating, coming from other CMSes and even straight PHP, it took a little re-thinking to get comfortable with. I, too, am used to static templating. But having thrown myself fully into MODX's philosophy (and tweaking it substantially), the use of Templates within MODX is amazing.

With regard to what you can or cannot do in MODX... You can do anything in MODX. Most things you can do much more easily in MODX than any other CMS. Sometimes, it takes a little perception change, but often it results in less code, fewer lines, and streamlined logic. You just have to be willing to know how. As a developer who regularly pushes the lines of what MODX can and should do, I can tell you, honestly, there is not a circumstance that I have not been able to solve utilizing some combination of Resources, Templates, Chunks, Snippets and/or Plugins. What is more important to me is that you can always do it without modifying the MODX source!

Thanks @sottwell and @fuzzicallogic

You give me courage. I will try to rewrite a small existing sass with modx today (for which I would handwrite a cms).

The template logic of modx is not so much of a problem since I worked with Redaxo (a small open source cms from Germany), which uses kind of a similar approach.

The reverse engineering will do perfect.

Thanks alot again.