For some time now I'm playing with ZF2 and Doctrine 2 and I find them great.
I don't have much experience with either of them, but I've been looking into multiple tutorials and sample apps. They gave me some idea about the libraries, but I'm not feeling comfortable with things like DQL and flushing the EM in the controller. I realize ZF2 is still a beta, but I hope there is some piece of code that shows a scalable structure that can be the skeleton of a real life app.
Please share your experience and if possible provide sample source code.
Regards
Valentin
http://www.jasongrimes.org/2012/01/using-doctrine-2-in-zend-framework-2/ - nice tutorial all what you need to setup ZF2-D2
The skeleton is a skeleton of a real life app, that's what it is there for. If you want to hook up zf2 with doctrine, just install the DoctrineModule, and DoctrineORMModule (or ODM if that is what you want.)
DQL shouldn't really be in your controller, put it in a repository instead.
The EM can be flushed in your controller, but it can sometimes be better to set up an event listener, and then flush the EM once at the end of each request.
Related
I've recently started work at a new company, and was initially assigned to help the web development team.
To my horror, their template application they use to set up every single one of the projects they do, is completely procedural.
I am very eager to swap it over to OOP, but before I do that I need to actually understand how to create a project.
The initial work is there - there's an index.php that swallows all calls made to the site/web application.
What I need is a tutorial on how to set up proper routing so that I can look at a URL and go "call this function in this controller" instead of including a bunch of PHP files to get the job done.
Could someone please point me in the right direction?
I was in the same situation and this course helps me a lot to learn more about MVC and Routing in PHP. As #Armin said you can use Slim Framework or phroute .In the other hand, you can use Laravel framework to take care not only routing but also all the other challenges as a PHP developer you might have in the future
It sounds like they don't use any well known framework. They probably also don't want to use one. I think the best solution in this case would be some routing library. You could use the Slim Framework. You will understand everything you need to understand in about 30 minutes. It's very easy to setup and easy to extend.
You should not try to write your own routing library, it'll become quickly a quite complex thing. You will just reinvent the wheel and loose time.
I also would recommend the Slim Framework. I've spent way too much time trying to roll my own framework with routing but the maintenance and updating on my own framework got it the way of actual projects.
Slim is extremely easy to understand and offers a lot of flexibility to mold your own type of application. Between the routing, middleware, containers, and using the Eloquent DB ORM it has plenty to offer.
As others mentioned before, don't reinvent the wheel. There are plenty of tools out there you can lean on that allows you to focus on the actual project.
I think that Create your own PHP Framework from Symfony documentation is the thing you are looking for. You shouldn't be worried about the title, it's not only about creating frameworks. It shows you how to start using Symfony components in plain PHP application and eventually create your own framework.
But creating framework part is not the most important one. Understanding how to use object-oriented components in your code is the key part.
Of course, one of the components is routing. It's use is described in first chapters: Introduction, The HttpFoundation Component, The Front Controller, The Routing Component, Templating (don't skip this one!). But I recommend continuing to the end, it's easy to read and very interesting article. Even if you don't want to use Symfony (or it's components) this article will help you understand how to use any modern PHP components.
I've got a huge site that has been written (in a very bad way) in symfony 1.4
now, I've been asked to make some substantial changes to the navigation flow, add some features and so on..
considering the effort, I was wondering if it would be better to take the radical decision to port the entire website to symfony 2.0, but I'm not sure how hard that it could be.
Has anybody ever done this before?
Do you have any suggestion to make for patterns to follow, or tutorials or doc or whatever?
You may wrap your legacy project in a brand new sf2 project, by using this bundle. This way, you'll be able to migrate your project one piece at a time, and new functionalities may be developed with sf2 as soon as you get the wrapper to work.
You may be interested by this post about migrating
Here's how I would go about it:
You need to learn and study some things first:
HTTP fundamentals
PHP namespaces, which are heavily used
Symfony2 documentation
Symfony2 documentation
Symfony2 documentation
PHPUnit documentation
Then when you get the hang of Symfony2, you need to find out what to reuse from your old project:
Models, business logic?
Did you use Doctrine in symfony? If yes, look at how to port your entities to Doctrine2, and learn about the differences. If you used Propel, I would look at switching to Doctrine2 and not use the PropelBundle, atleast until you get used to Symfony2. You can find better documentation and sample code out there for Doctrine2.
You also need to convert your old helpers classes to Symfony2 services.
Views?
Symfony2 uses Twig as templating engine, but you could go with pure PHP.
Controllers?
This should feel somewhat similar to symfony. The flow of Symfony2 matches the HTTP flow, meaning you get a Request object and must reurn a Response object.
It really depends on how well structured our old project is. Symfony2 is an entirely different beast than 1.0-1.4. I would probably not call it a port, but a rewrite - however, if your old project is well structured you could probably reuse quite a bit.
Without actually seeing your code, it's impossible to give a good answer on how hard it would be. It's very much doable, but there is no easy route. Symfony2 is, IMHO, the way of the future for PHP projects and in the end you will get a project that is much easier to maintain and support.
I've got a huge site that has been written (in a very bad way) in symfony 1.4
now, I've been asked to make some substantial changes to the navigation flow, add some features and so on..
considering the effort, I was wondering if it would be better to take the radical decision to port the entire website to symfony 2.0, but I'm not sure how hard that it could be.
Has anybody ever done this before?
Do you have any suggestion to make for patterns to follow, or tutorials or doc or whatever?
You may wrap your legacy project in a brand new sf2 project, by using this bundle. This way, you'll be able to migrate your project one piece at a time, and new functionalities may be developed with sf2 as soon as you get the wrapper to work.
You may be interested by this post about migrating
Here's how I would go about it:
You need to learn and study some things first:
HTTP fundamentals
PHP namespaces, which are heavily used
Symfony2 documentation
Symfony2 documentation
Symfony2 documentation
PHPUnit documentation
Then when you get the hang of Symfony2, you need to find out what to reuse from your old project:
Models, business logic?
Did you use Doctrine in symfony? If yes, look at how to port your entities to Doctrine2, and learn about the differences. If you used Propel, I would look at switching to Doctrine2 and not use the PropelBundle, atleast until you get used to Symfony2. You can find better documentation and sample code out there for Doctrine2.
You also need to convert your old helpers classes to Symfony2 services.
Views?
Symfony2 uses Twig as templating engine, but you could go with pure PHP.
Controllers?
This should feel somewhat similar to symfony. The flow of Symfony2 matches the HTTP flow, meaning you get a Request object and must reurn a Response object.
It really depends on how well structured our old project is. Symfony2 is an entirely different beast than 1.0-1.4. I would probably not call it a port, but a rewrite - however, if your old project is well structured you could probably reuse quite a bit.
Without actually seeing your code, it's impossible to give a good answer on how hard it would be. It's very much doable, but there is no easy route. Symfony2 is, IMHO, the way of the future for PHP projects and in the end you will get a project that is much easier to maintain and support.
I am a newbie in PHP Frameworks and would like to share/discuss some experience with you guys. Getting straight to the point, what I understand till now (from a newby stand of point is this):
CodeIgniter + Doctrine + Twigg = Symfony:
Zend + Doctrine + Twigg = Symfony
Symfony 2, uses php5.3 (I realy like namespace stuff remind me .Net)
but it lucks of tutorials right now (only partial jobeet translation to ver2)
I enjoy CI community and noumerous tutorials, plus using Doctrine + Twigg I could achive the same with Symfony.
Zend is more enterprise with lots of tutorials, but more difficult to grasp than CI.
So the question is should I start with CI + Doctrine or learn directly Symfony2?
Am I correct with the above assumptions?
Start with CodeIgniter if you are new to frameworks. Both Symfony and ZF have a greater learning curve and if you're not familiar with some concepts you might get fustrated in the beginning with the more complex frameworks .
I would suggest you to go with Symfony 2 since it has got lots of good stuff built around it. Take a look at this article http://www.phparch.com/2010/02/symfony-2-benchmarks/.
Hope this link is very useful on learning Symfony 2. It's a tutorials based on days (21) teaching you how to create a calendar website. Good luck.
http://symfony.com/blog/do-you-know-jobeet
More:
http://symfony2easy.blogspot.com/
http://www.dobervich.com/2011/03/03/symfony2-blog-application-tutorial-part-i-project-setup/, http://www.dobervich.com/2011/03/05/symfony2-blog-application-tutorial-part-ii-the-data-model/, http://www.dobervich.com/2011/03/09/symfony2-blog-application-tutorial-part-iii-routing-controllers-and-templates/
it really adds up to what your requirements are.
Symfony is great, though my only bash on it is that it requires PHP 5.3, which is great, but make sure your host has 5.3 support. Also the issue of using CLI bugs me.
CodeIgniter 2 on the other hand requires 5.1.6, which is good for me as my host is still on 5.2; I also like how small CI was compared to Zend or Symfony. Now like you i like some of symfony's components and i use 2 of them (swift mailer & twig) on my CI install. doesnt mean you should just junk ci and go symfony. CI is built to be a stepping stone framework that you can build on. Symfony to me is a full-fledged framework with everything and the kitchen sink.
having said all that, not all frameworks are created equal. I use CI for one project and Kohana for another. Kohana offered me something i liked that CI didnt do and thats fine.
I think you should look at the different frameworks out there, some are full featured, some are bare-bones and allow you to grow with your needs.
You may quick start with Cygnite PHP Framework. Simple yet powerful tool to build your next project. It gives you exceptional performance. Check benchmark results:
Performance benchmark results
I'm using Zend Framework and I feel that I need a good ORM to work with. I don't know much of Zend Framework, I just know how to do the basics. I expect to work together with both Doctrine and Zend Framework
But to sget started, I'm going to try a simple Doctrine project (no ZF) to get used to the application. Then I'll try to integrate it in ZF
Which version of Doctrine do I start learning? Does Doctrine have a good integration with ZF?
Besides,
Is there any recent site for Doctrine learning? I just can't find the sandbox version to follow the Doctrine documentation. If anyone knows of any tutorial on how to get started with doctrine only first, please let me know
I've done projects with zend framework and doctrine. They play pretty nice together.
I followed this tutorial and it worked well.
But honestly I don't use doctrine on anything but the largest sites. I've switched over to RedBean. Zero configuration autodiscovery, and the ability to freeze data models when you are done for maximum performance.
You should really try it out, it is so simple its stupid. It is really one of the best ORM's ive ever used. EVER. Try it.
I am personally using Doctrine 1.2
and i followed the Zendcasts.com "more than 5 casts about doctrine" & same Byron's tuts
both of them is good
Update :
1- http://www.zendcasts.com/deep-integration-between-zend-and-doctrine-1-2/2010/01/ has the sample code
2- http://www.doctrine-project.org/projects/orm/1.2/download/1.2.3 has the doctrine framework if you need to download it alone
I've found Doctrine2 reasonable stable, although it's still in beta. It seems most of the other PHP 'ORM' libraries (Doctrine 1.2 included) are Active Record, while Doctrine2 is a Data Mapper. In my opinion, you can put together a relatively simple Active Record using Zend's native Db_Table, so that makes Doctrine 1.2 less appealing (at least to me).
I've used this answer about integrating Doctrine2 and Zend Framework.
I agree with Byron, and have only used Doctrine2 on select projects.
[As an aside, I've noticed RedBean in the past, and have wanted to try it - from what I've seen it's certainly worth taking a look.]
Doctrine 2 is in beta and requires PHP5.3 as it fully utilizes Namespaces. If you cannot use PHP5.3 in your project, you cannot use Doctrine 2.
Apart from that, there has been a number of architectural changes in Doctrine 2 that make it much more attractive than Doctrine < 2, mainly
using DataMapper instead of ActiveRecord
promotes DI over static calls
faster and less memory-intensive
revolves around Entities and DDD
uses "Annotations"
See
http://architects.dzone.com/articles/doctrine-1-doctrine-2
http://www.slideshare.net/jwage/doctrine-2-not-the-same-old-php-orm