How to create default sample data for dev env in Symfony? - php

Context
I'm working with several people on a Symfony application.
Problem
We would like to have a database filled automatically with sample data, to avoid creating it manually on each developer environment.
Question
Is there an official way to do it or do we need to use .sql files we pass to each other to create sample data?
I've seen that's possible with the .net framework, that's why I ask for Symfony.

Take a look at the DoctrineFixturesBundle.
Also there is another bundle called AliceBundle, which makes it very easy to generate different sets of data.

Related

How to bootstrap/setup Angular2 in an existing Laravel project?

I am looking to implement Angular2 inside my current Laravel project. I've read about many setups including AngularClass's version with Webpack, but I feel like it's all over-complicated.
What I wish to make:
A simple single page app inside my Laravel app.
It needs to have something like Grunt/Gulp or even Webpack to compile upon changes.
Does not need NodeJs to run in production, no lite-server, just like AngularJS it can be injected and that's it.
I need to understand the implementation files to achieve this, so no starterpack or angular-cli, unless if you can supply good arguments.
Looking for a "how to"-like example on creating the above.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: More information
As ANKH pointed out, i needed a more detailed and coursed question. So here we go:
- Looking for a example implementation of a Angular2 based SPA inside an existing PHP application (Laravel).
- I've tried many different tutorials, going from the heroes tour, to Sitepoint and AngularCLI based tutorials, but they all assume a SPA on it's own. Ergo, they are compiled and served through NodeJS, which I don't need.
Turns out that I've actually been looking at this entirely wrong. I've gone with using Angular-cli and found that I could generate the output files and include these inside my Laravel project. No need to integrate them further.

Use Laravel without a database

I was wondering if the use of a database is necessary on Laravel or I can build an app without database.
I have researched throughout but there is no clear indication of these nor on the Laravel documentation website or other places, it is just vague.
Thanks
Of course you can use Laravel without a database. You can read and save data using remote RESTful API, files etc or you can do not use any data layer at all. Laravel will work just fine.
Also, you can use pretty cool SQLite library which allows you to save all info to a single file. Laravel supports it out of box.

Using Symfony doctrine models in a REST framework

I have a web application which has been developed with symfony 1.4. I have a pretty large code base (and growing). Circa 80,000 lines of code (actions, forms, models, templates etc.)
I'm using the default doctrine version which ships with symfony 1.4.
I've just started developing a mobile version using Sencha touch. I don't wish to use symfony for the REST web services because:
REST services in Symfony 1.4 is not great. For example, If i want a PUT request I have to pass a 'sf_method' parameter specifiying that the request method is PUT. This isn't true REST and it's not ideal for Sencha touch.
I don't need all of the unnecessary symfony functionality(for example the plugins that are autoloaded in the ProjectConfiguration file, the form framework etc.) that you'd use to develop a standard web app. All I need is to define my REST routes and return the specified JSON (as everything that needs to be returned for Sencha touch will be JSON)
I want to keep my mobile app as bloated-free, efficient and quick as possible. And unfortunately for this task, Symfony 1.4 would not be the best choice for using as the backend architecture for my mobile app. If I had chosen symfony2 (it was in it's beta phase, alas) it would be a different story as symfony2 supports true REST functionality. What I do need, however, is the ability to use my current doctrine models (I have circa 90 models) in a chosen REST framework.
Basically, in a nutshell what I need is as simple as this:
Call a rest route->Query my doctrine models->return the JSON without using symfony.
So my question, what would be your advice? I don't want this to be a question of which is the best PHP rest framework, however, what I would like to know is what would be a good REST framework which i can develop efficiently and quickly REST service, make use of my doctrine models and is easily extendable.
Here at my employer, I've created a rather big application with a ExtJS frontend, and Symfony 1.4 backend. And two be honest, I don't feel limited by Symfony 1.4 in any way?
First of: I created my own base controller class (which extends sfActions). This controller can handle (render) different types of data. It has generic handling for Doctrine_Query, Doctrine_Collection, Doctrine_Model and array types.
Also the plugins make me help organize the code, and in some cases plugins are shared between differend projects, so that's also a big plus.
And the extra functionality like forms: it's only prepared for you in the autoloader, you don't have to use it. And I don't think it causes any real performance issues (at least not for me). But I like to use the extra sfValidator framework, to make sure data are correct.
The only real "problem" is indeed the HTTP REST-ful commands, especially PUT and DELETE. I just worked around this problem by generating a controller for each 'manageable' model, and implement specific get, list, create, update and delete actions. So when I would like to manage an Object, I call the objects controller, which has executeCreate, executeUpdate and executeDelete actions.
The reason I read, was that Symfony didn't and couldn't implement this feature because PHP has really bad support this. I don't know if this is true, but if this is your only 'real' issue, you could try to fix this in the Symfony core.
So my advice:
If the raw performance is your problem: try profiling your code, install a opcode (APC) cache, and profile your code (yes, that's double).
If the HTTP PUT command is your problem: I would either work around this (that's the way I solved it), or try to fix it in the core.

Building a REST API quickly from a Database model

I've designed my database diagram(11 entites) for my prototype application. I need to have an REST API on top of this that will allow me to build a prototype android tablet application that talks to it.
Considering this is only for prototype purposes. What would be the quickest way to get a API up and running that would allow me to get, put, delete etc..
Security at this point isn't an issue so even if all add edit delete were open that would be fine.
My initial idea is to build this with PHP and MySQL maybe using the Yii framework to help but I feel there might be something that might be faster for my purpose.
Any thoughts or recommendations or advice?
It is worth looking into API rapid-prototyping tools like Apify (tutorial) since you're starting from scratch. If you're planning to have both an API and a Web site accessing the same data, consider using one framework for both as it helps prevent duplicating logic. CakePHP and Yii are good examples of multipurpose frameworks that are suited for this type of development.
If Python is an option, it is trivial to use a light-weight http framework to build a REST API that accesses a database.
Here's a snippet for a fully functioning http server using the itty framework: https://github.com/toastdriven/itty/blob/master/examples/web_service.py and https://github.com/toastdriven/itty/blob/master/examples/posting_data.py
Look at this project which allows you to create an API REST in seconds.
https://github.com/GeekyTheory/Automatic-API-REST
Features
Creation a powerful API REST of your MySQL Data Base in Seconds.
Management of the API in situ, it is not neccesary an extra data base.
Private tables and fields.
Custom queries.
Installation
Clone the repo.
git clone https://github.com/GeekyTheory/Automatic-API-REST/
Place it in your web folder /var/www/YourWebPage/
Open the file config.php and complete all the fields with the server credencials.
Go to domain.com/AutomaticaApiRest

CakePHP Development of frontend/backend application

I have to develop frontend/backend application using cakephp.
can you give me advice how should i develop them, using same cakephp library?
or I have to develop them using separate cakephp libraries?
I am confused - cakePHP would be used to implement both.
PHP would be used to implement the server-side backend. The same "project" would also contain HTML, JS, CSS, etc that will be used to render the front-end within the browser. Any PHP "views" will also execute code on the back-end, although any HTML output will be rendered on the frontend.
Does that help at all? Or am I missing something?
If by frontend/backend, you mean an application with a user interface (frontend) and an administration interface (backend), then you want to refer to the Prefix Routing section of the manual. This will allow you to have separate flow and interfaces (controller/view) for each type of user while sharing the same data (models).
If by frontend/backend, you mean an application (frontend) that communicates with another server application (backend) using web services, then you want to look at the Additional Class Paths section of the manual. This will allow you to share common classes with two (or more) separate applications.
Note: the above links are for CakePHP 3.x, though these features have existed in one form or another since v1.2.
Not quite sure if I understood you correct, but if I did:
You can set up multiple projects using the same cake-core files. The core files don't even need to be placed in the webroot folder..
http://book.cakephp.org/view/35/Advanced-Installation
For your own sanity, you should regard the backend management as part of the same project as the frontend.
The systems I have built generally use view-type methods for the public view and crud-type methods for the admin view. How you lock down the admin is your choice. Personally I don't like the default admin prefix way. I use login and ACL - Mark Story's tutorial on http://book.cakephp.org/ is superb. With that you can password protect methods.
CakePHP is very flexible and extensible and you can make the administration as simple or as flexible as you like.

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