Tonight I started working on a set of classes that will build forms for Propel objects. While Propel already has implementations of PatForms and HTML_QuickForm, they are both not up-to-date in svn. They both also require Creole for gathering metadata, and I am not at all interested in integrating another library into this project – especially one labeled “dead” on its own site.
Quick PHP Debugging with FirePHP
Recently when browsing past issues of php|architect magazine, I came across mention of a Firefox add-on called FirePHP. For those who have not heard of it, FirePHP is both a Firefox add-on and a PHP library used to send messages to the Firebug console.
MySQL Views to the Rescue!
I was recently presented with the challenge of aggregating database hits for content that is e-mailed and commented on. My gut reaction was to think of a PHP script, or perhaps set of scripts to filter & count the database rows. Script processing of data sets with proper ORM can yield very meaningful information to both the programmer and the end-user. However this can be memory-intensive, and creating an ORM layer for such a simple task *could* be considered overkill. This is when MySQL views can help you.
Get Propelled!
About two years ago I read of an emerging ORM-solution called Propel. Having just finished my first full readthrough of PHP 5 Object, Patterns, and Practice by Matt Zandstra, I was eager to research object relational mappers that differed from the one used in that book. My experience was one of major disappointment. After spending hours of frustration installing the library, and more hours configuring and running my first propel build, I ran a measly script to add an author to a bookstore database. And it was slow…much slower than one file of PHP. I dropped Propel, deeming it too unstable and unpredictable to run in any redistributable software. Continue reading
Joomla! Applications: The Basics
As I posted in a previous blog, the Gentle Beginnings site that I left over a half a year ago was 90% done, but was missing one core feature – the ability to post and read birthing stories. Recently I revisited this site to add the birthing story component, and learned a couple of hard lessons about Joomla! application development. Hopefully by posting this I can shed some light on the less documented portions of Joomla!, and perhaps save someone else precious time. Continue reading
Application Caching with Cache_Lite
When developing a web application using PHP, it is important to follow best practices for optimizing memory usage, database access, and file sizes. All these thing taken into account for, you will likely still find parts of an application to be bulky, or you may find repeated data calls an unnecessary overhead. When you need it, you should use Cache_Lite.
Product Highlight: Nu-Coder by NuSphere
With PHP becoming a bigger player in the realm of enterprise web application design, there are several questions that the PHP developer must ask his/herself. One such question is licensing, and whether or not an application should be open or closed source.
Since PHP itself is an open source project, the vast majority of products released using PHP are open source as well. However, there may be a need to license out software-as-a-service, or the need to secure your source. Enter Nu-Coder. Continue reading
