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I've been mulling over the idea of caching html in variable. I'm using PHP, in my functions include I have declared a variable. In the site pages I test the variable to see if it is empty, if so I call a function and populate the variable, or dump it into the page.
In the testing I've carried out it works as expected. I guess my question is, is it a good idea? What are the potential problems with this as an approach?
Regards
The cons for this method are related to dynamic content that need to change based on the current user visiting. If you can identify portions of your Markup that are expensive to generate but are quite static regarding users visiting the site, you can do this.
But you need to put some thought into your page structure. And to cache Markup, you use output buffering :) obviously and database transients I presume, unless you want to do it in memory.
Also make sure it's worth caching markup and it's not easier caching data structures. Like arrays, objects that are generated from DB and are expensive to rebuild. Caching data structures makes your caching Markup agnostic and you can easily restyle your site without having to invalidate your entire cache.
PS: #Bart, I rolled my own framework and it's not an inferior product :) Stop being a user and start being a developer. Experiment, learn, build from scratch, get near the metal, see sparks flying, feel the burn.
Of course caching is a good idea. Lots of people use an in-memory store, like Memcached or APC cache.
The major drawback is it usually takes a good plan for invalidating caches when the information is no longer up-to-date. It's also a decent indicator you might be prematurely optimizing (or making up for poor-performing code without fixing it).
In your particular case, you might be better off using output buffering or loading views. Most people wouldn't consider this "caching."
No it is not a good idea. Read into MVC: model-view-controller. There are many decent frameworks out there. Get to know them and use them. Rolling your own will most probably create an inferior product.
Good luck!
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I've been playing around in the Web Development field for 2 years now and I am pretty proud when it comes to my progress as a programmer looking back at my humble beggining. This is not very relevant but I've wanted to back up my question with some background story. What it comes to my interest during a conversation with a friend was how to best structure your code when it comes to a website so it wil be very scalable for further modifications using an oop aproach. He suggested at the end of the discusion to use php classes to generate the html content. I personally use it like this only when the php helps me to retrieve something server-side related. I use HTML, CSS and JavaScript (in that order) as much as possible before calling in PHP. That's how it should work, in my opinion, especially when you have to work on a presentation website for example. What's intrigue me thinking about my friend proposal is that I structure my code that way using php clases to echo html content parts like header, menu, forms, slideshows, footer etc. will indeed scale my code way better and help my programming skills progress. I should end up with an index.php that returns objects of the respective classes creating that way the desired html content. This is how I image things working and I am asking you to help me reach a decision. I have some upcoming free time available and I want to invest it in becoming a better web developer.
It is generally a bad idea for all HTML to be generated this way.
In professional web development you often have front-end developers and designers whose only responsibility is the HTML/CSS/assets and/or JavaScript. The backend developers, (the ones writing PHP code), are usually responsible for the business logic of the application.
By having PHP generate HTML you are violating separation of concerns principles. Things will get messy. It's harder to scale up, and you will lose the benefits of being able to use a HTML editor.
Generating HTML serverside dynamically has uses in very specific circumstances. It can be done, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
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Recently, i heard alot of JavaScript being used sever-side. Node.js, express.js and similiar stuff are mentioned more and more, but i never had the muse or time to dig deeper into the topic.
Now, as the information flood would not decrease, i can not longer ignore those circumstances.
I wonder about two things:
Can i replace my complete, simple PHP backend, which is primary used only for database access, with server-side Javascript
and if yes:
are there any benefits of doing so?
and if not:
Why is there such a hype?
The topic seems to be quite complex and not too easy to learn, but as time goes by, i more and more get the feeling that this maybe will be the future of backend coding.
Yes you can.
If you are primarily serving data, a more contemporary approach would be to use node.js to implement a restful api . Node.js is particularly suited for this as it inherently works asynchronously - which means each request to the data source (ie the database) inherently does not block while the server is waiting to return, allowing it to punch well above it's weight in terms of being efficient when servicing many requests.
You could use the node modules express.js or restify.js to implement this.
A warning though - node.js is a single threaded application which means some work has to be carried out before is scale able. There are some good solutions for this, such as using Amazon Elastic beanstalk. But as node.js is a relative newcomer many other proposed solutions may need some coaxing to be production ready.
You may find it beneficial to read 'Javascript the good parts' by Douglas Crockford before you begin - something I needed to bring my knowledge of Javascript to a level where I could write quality maintainable code for node.js
Yes you can replace it.
Main concepts about Node you have to know is being async, second is being event-driven.
So if your PHP app just accesses db and serve responses back, node.js would be more efficient in such applications, as would not block idling for response from db, but can process with other requests and so on.
It is not complicated, if you do it. Just go and dive into. Don't ask - prototype. It is the best way to understand if you really need it or not.
I've replaced all my PHP need to node.js, except templating.
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I have read a lot about singletons, most people agree that they are bad practice and to avoid them, any way possible. Most people say this because it's hard to debug apps that use them.
Now, creating a simple CMS, I tried a few approaches and they seem to me the best choice.
Configuration data
That file is loaded on application start and I see no reason why I wouldn't use singleton pattern when calling config data throughout my application?
Request data
Request data should store all info from php server variables (POST, GET, COOKIE) so it can be used to read and write (e.g.cookies) data using singleton throughout the application.
Response buffer
I want to use response class (as singleton) that will hold all data that is rendered by my templates. So application can load all views render them one by one and store the echoed data in the response class, and at the end output entire document that is stored in response.
Questions for all examples:
A) Is that really bad practice, and why? I see no evil here.
B) Is there an alternative / better way?
Thanks!
Is that really bad practice, and why, as I see no evil here?
Design patterns are suggestions, not standards. You can use them, hate them, call them "anti-pattern" and do whatever you want but that will just be your opinion. The gang of four and any blogger out there express their opinion about it just like the way you do, and guess what? it doesn't really matter.
Instead of asking yourself if someone consider it a bad practice, ask yourself: "Do I consider it a bad practice?". If the answer is no then go for it.
I'd suggest you to read both sides (pro-singleton and against it) and make your own opinion about it, before taking this decision. But in the end there's no right answer, it's just a matter what you decide.
Is there an alternative(better) way?
Generally speaking I tend to use Dependency Injection more than Singleton where I can. But if there's no way I could use DI and Singleton is an option for me then I would surely go for it.
My suggestion is to learn the most important patterns and use whatever makes sense to you in that particular context.
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I'm writing a little website (webapp) in php+codeigniter, I'd really like to make it open source (to attract collaborators and to have a free VCS hosting).
Is that a good practice?
This mine security?
Which are the best tools to change important data before uploading? (like config files with db names and passwords used for testing etc..)
Is that a good practice? Will this mine security?
Yes, it can be a good practice. If your project is interesting and you think that is has potential for attracting contributors, and you are comfortable with your source code not being "your ownership", then this is a good move.
It has benefits, but of course it has its drawbacks. You'll get new ideas, you can learn much, you will have someone to talk to about the project and ideas, and with a bit of luck you can create a great team. You won't be alone doing the work. Your project may grow, and become important.
Any drawbacks? Well, the fact, as I mentioned, that your code is not your own property anymore. Then the fact that you will be forced to confrontation, and sometimes to arguments among the contributors: you will start a community, with all the related challenges. I think it is worth it, anyway. Then, for example, security. In the medium term, if you have contributors, your security will increase for sure, because more people will be looking at the code and can spot problems, and fix them. In the short term however, someone malicious may look into it and find a weak spot and use it. So you should have your code reviewed by some contributors first, with a private disclosure, before going fully open source.
Which are the best tools to change important data before uploading?
You should put all the important data into a single configuration file, which is client-dependent, and distribute a template for it. If this file is called "config.php", then EXCLUDE this file from the distribution, and distribute a "config-dist.php" file, with example values: at first installation, the user will fill the data, and they will stay there even if you update.
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When you get a description of some project that should be made with Drupal, and requires some extra-functionality (beyond core and most popular modules), how do you decide how're going to do it?
Do you spend a day or two (or week?) searching for all possible modules, narrowing down the list?
What is the cricial point to start writing own module?
What is the cricial point to start altering some more or less suitable module?
To be more precise, lets imagine I am going to do a time Booking system in Drupal 5, but there are no modules that do exactly what I want.
What are the most important pros and cons when it comes to selecting the ground to build the Drupal project upon?
I will use a pre-built module only if:
it is for UI purposes. For example, an image gallery.
it is really, really well consolideted (like the views module for example, or imagecache), is specialized in one task and does it well, and if it serves my purpose whithout any modification (because it just fits, because I can adapt the requirements to make them fit, or because it offers extension points like an api or such)
what I need to achieve is peripheral to the system, and there exists a module which will do something similar, and it is easy to modify it and then maintain it
I will make my own if:
the functionality is "core" to my system and there is not a module which fits
the modules I found are new, not actively maintained, messy coded, etc...
In fact I usually prefer coding my own modules, which I have total control over, than adopt foreing ones, with the risk of having more troubles with them than advantages...
I'd say it really depends on what it is you want to do. If what you want to do is not to complicated, and you can't find a module for it. Chances are that even if you do find one or one that is close, that you end up spending more time searching that would have spent making your own. Where that line is, depends on how skilled you are and how intimate you are with Drupal. After doing lots of small custom modules you end up with a lot of snippets you can reuse making writing new modules quite fast.
Sometimes you can even take a module and make your own to modify it, to make the origin fit your needs. For me, I usually never spend more than a few houres trying to find a module. If I can't find it by then, it's usually
Not maintained and way old.
Still in development
Even if you can get a bit of a head start you might end up struggling in the end, with bad database designs and the like. But it's hard to say where the breaking point of using others halfway there code is. It depends on how hard or how much time YOU have to spend, to make it, vs the struggles you get using it.