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web based app project

Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 11:38 pm
by pinkcham
I'm doing some research to write a mac-compatible, web based workflow app for our company's internal use. I keep hearing a lot about php, and I'm wondering what the thoughts were on using this for this project? Does anyone have any suggestions on where I should go from there?

Re: web based app project

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 5:24 am
by Christopher
Since you say 'web based' then I assume the requirement is that it is Safari compatible. That has noting to do with PHP. PHP can generate any kind of output you like. If you want the HTML to be Safari compatible then make it compatible.

As far as running PHP on a Mac server, PHP will run wherever Apache or many other webservers run.

Re: web based app project

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:14 am
by boon4376
its definitely possible...

I assume you'll be wanting up have it upload documents and then send them on their way to certain people based on certain criteria... But unless you will be implementing some type of zone-OCR (which I'm not sure would be easy to do with php), its automation will probably be pretty low.

Re: web based app project

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:37 am
by pinkcham
Actually, we were going for Firefox, but no matter on that. Basically, I'm trying to create a "checklist for dummies" to get started on this project, to make sure I have the tools I need, or get them before I get started. We have a server, have PHP installed. What should our next steps be?

Total newbie here, never started on PHP project from scratch before, so apologies in advance for "dumb questions" but thank you!

Re: web based app project

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 1:30 pm
by Christopher
Well, the short answer is build the site's HTML and then use PHP to fill in the checklist data and track the checklist settings. Think of it like a wordprocessors mail merge feature where you are taking data from somewhere and customizing your checklist template with data for a specific checklist. You can then have the user update the setting of the checklist and submit them back to you to save. Probably a PHP book would be a good thing to get. Or find a checklist app that someone has already written.

Re: web based app project

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 4:23 pm
by Weirdan
arborint wrote:Well, the short answer is build the site's HTML and then use PHP to fill in the checklist data and track the checklist settings.
I think you misunderstood what pinkcham said... from what I read he's not trying to build a checklist application, but rather want a checklist on what he need to build an application (without going into the application's nature at all).

Re: web based app project

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 5:12 pm
by Weirdan
pinkcham, here's what I would consider tools required to get project started:
  • Source repository to track source code changes. SVN seems to be most common choice now, but other alternatives are compelling too (like git or bzr).
  • IDE/Editor. Personally I use customized vim, but if you never used it it would be wrong choice probably. People use a lot of different IDEs like Eclipse PDT, Netbeens, even MS Visual Studio. Take a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=81100. You can start with any editor you're familiar with, but IDE could make your life easier (or harder in some cases).
  • Local development webserver. I mean webserver installed on every machine used by developers, so they (or you, if you're undertaking this alone) can test your changes before commiting them to source repository.
  • Local database server if your project use a database. Some tool to access database directly is beneficial as well. It should be able to run arbitrary queries and display table contents.
  • Local mail server if your application is going to send emails. It could be as simple as Fakemail
  • Some kind of framework so you can immediately have something to start with. Zend Framework seems to be ok in this regard, especially since recent versions provide you with a command-line tool to create project, controllers, etc. Frameworks tend to force some conventions on you, but I would prefer it over starting from scratch anytime.
  • Usually having several virtual machines with different browsers installed is beneficial, but since you're building an internal application for limited audience it's not strictly required. Just make sure you have those browsers your users is going to use to access your application. HTML/CSS can be quirky sometimes (even in standards mode :D ).

Re: web based app project

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:49 pm
by pinkcham
both suggestions are really helpful, thanks! I was looking for a checklist of stuff I'd need to get started, but the recommendation of a checklist code is helpful for the workflow aspect of what I need too.