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Zend Framework - Resources

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:57 am
by Luke
I have been sort of keeping an eye on the Zend Framework for a while, but never really done anything with it yet. Well, among the million other things I have on my plate, I have decided to start learning the ins and outs of this framework, as I feel it is going to be a major player in the PHP world soon. As such, I have been attempting to locate good resources for those trying to get familiar with the framework and it has proved quite difficult. That is where this thread comes in... I will post the few resources I am already aware of, and anybody else who knows of some, please post them as well.

Here's an obvious one:
http://framework.zend.com/manual

The IBM website is currently hosting an "Understanding the Zend Framework" series of articles. I believe they are up to part 7 at the moment.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/o ... php-zend1/

PHPDeveloper.org (which is built with the framework I think) has a decent intro to the basic MVC with Zend Framework:
http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/6056

PHP|Architect's Tutorial (I haven't read this one yet, but it looks good)
http://hades.phparch.com/ceres/public/a ... torial?p=0

That's all I have for now. I will edit the list as I find more. :D

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:10 pm
by Jenk
why do all the large IT companies have the worst sites in regards to navigation and searching? :\

phparch.com is unreachable for me at the moment too.

I'm also just trying to use ZF and just getting frustrated to hell.. is it actually just pap or is it me?

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:24 pm
by alex.barylski
Jenk wrote:why do all the large IT companies have the worst sites in regards to navigation and searching? :\

phparch.com is unreachable for me at the moment too.

I'm also just trying to use ZF and just getting frustrated to hell.. is it actually just pap or is it me?
What is pap?

It seems well structured and organized and the docs are there at least, but for what I'm trying to do...it's not very helpful... :P

Could use better documentation...

p.s-The source code is awesome...just the way I like...probably a 1:4 comment to line ratio...well organized and good spacing, etc...

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:57 pm
by Jenk
pap = bad/awful.

I just can't seem to like it..

The first thing that gets me is it just isn't very.. quick to pick up. The documentation isn't brilliant either.. when the "how to get up and going" tutorial/document has lines like :

Code: Select all

$db = Zend_Db::factory( [...] );
in it's examples has for some reason pressed the wrong buttons with me..

and I'm more frustrated at my self for finding all the above frustrating.. plus the word 'preview' has me twigged.. will we have to purchase a license after release?

And underscores.. yeuch :P

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:07 pm
by alex.barylski
Lately I've been the code convention complainer of the month...so believe me I know what your feeling...

There are somethings I would change, but I can't...and I've accepted no one will join me in writing another document so I've decided to just bite the bullet and use the Zend coding convention...

The docs are not the best, but their light years ahead of most others (PEAR, phpClasses, etc)

It's not really a framework though, as there is little class hierarchy and very little automation, which is good for PHP apps I guess. It's more of a library IMHO.

Although that could be just because I don't understand how the whole thing interacts...

A true framework, like MFC/OWL, etc...would be more analogous to CMS frameworks where much of what you do GUI side (application interaction, etc) is automated and inorder to change anything you need to dig deep into the framework code...

Other than that complaint and a few others...I'm fairly impressed with the codebase so far...they did a good job...just not quite how I would do it sometimes...

To each to their own I guess... :P

Cheers :)

p.s-I've never heard the expression pap before and never bothered to dictionary.com it because I thought it was an acronym :P

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:16 pm
by Jenk
pap is just slang for poo :)

I've grit my teeth and started to dig in.. I'm passed worrying about the underscores, but some of the naming and process flow I'm not familiar with. I've chosen that phrase rather than "I HATE IT!!" because I'm admitting the people at Zend know better than me :P

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:24 pm
by alex.barylski
Also...

I'm pretty sure this framework will be perpetual freeness...

As they require any code contributions, etc to be under BSD2 license...or something to that effect...and they advocate open source and free quite a bit in their docs, etc...

I wouldnt' worry about that one :)

It's to my understanding that BSD, means you can basically use it however you like just keep the copyright notices intact...no credit is due, you can use only select files if space is an issue, you can hack it and not have to contribute changes back to the community, etc...

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:28 pm
by Jenk
oh well.. the Zend dream is over for me, for now at least..
Note
At this time, we are presently investigating solutions will not require mod_rewrite installation. We intend to suggest a configuration for systems both with and without mod_rewrite capabilities. Also, please note this system is not bound to Apache or mod_rewrite specifically, any webserver with similar redirection capabilities should be sufficient.
Can't use it, soley because of that.

Also another gripe - why does it demand you must have the Zend libraries in include_path? Curious as to why they didn't just code their includes relatively, or 'hardcoded' with the use of realpath and __FILE__ etc.

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:39 pm
by Luke
I love it so far... no complaints from me (after all, it's not complete)

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:44 pm
by alex.barylski
Jenk wrote:oh well.. the Zend dream is over for me, for now at least..
Note
At this time, we are presently investigating solutions will not require mod_rewrite installation. We intend to suggest a configuration for systems both with and without mod_rewrite capabilities. Also, please note this system is not bound to Apache or mod_rewrite specifically, any webserver with similar redirection capabilities should be sufficient.
Can't use it, soley because of that.

Also another gripe - why does it demand you must have the Zend libraries in include_path? Curious as to why they didn't just code their includes relatively, or 'hardcoded' with the use of realpath and __FILE__ etc.
Yea that caught me with my pants down yesterday too :P

Likely because the work around is easy and using dynamic anything when you don't need to is just a waste...using hardcoded includes also makes it easier to traverse a code base, follow code execution at design time, etc...

Perhaps their building tools such as a source browser, in which case, dynamic includes wouldn't work...this is what I'm thinking is most likely :)

Here is what I do to circumvent the issue...

Code: Select all

//
// Include application configuration settings
include('../core/conf.system.php');

chdir('../libs/'); 
include('Zend/Http/Client.php');
not as pretty, but simple...and it allows tools to properly scan source trees...

Cheers :)

p.s-What is it with the mod_rewrite that has you so up in arms??? I'm missing something...

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:46 pm
by Jenk
I don't have mod_rewrite at my disposal, thus I can't use it. :)

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:53 pm
by Luke
I like that they aren't trying to do everything FOR you like cakePHP and friends do.

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:53 pm
by feyd
Zend is currently using the "new" BSD license. 1.0 apparently will use a different license however. Granted, it's a minor edit of the BSD one, but it's still different.

Thankfully, the former is GPL compatible. It would seem the latter is too, but I can't say for sure. The original Zend and PHP licenses weren't GPL compatible though.

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:54 pm
by alex.barylski
Ok, but using the framework doesn't require mod_rewrite...at least that isn't the impression i'm getting...

I think their hinting at looking into alternatives (likley native PHP) to mod_rewrite to include in the framework...not sure what or how, but...likely making the framework support something of a mod_rewrite feature *without* mod_rewrite... :)

Again this is my impression...

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:55 pm
by Jenk
this is a bit of an insight into my crazy world.. I really, really want to use it now.. but I can't because of no mod_rewrite means I can't use most of ZF... this leads to yet more frustration.. argh!

Doesn't help that my depression has me in a state of: "eomotional trainwreck" at the moment, which is probably 90% of the cause of my current frustrations. :\

I'm waffling..