Pragmatism in the real world
I've started playing with the development versions of ZF 2.0 and one of the first things I thought I'd do was to port Akrabat_Db_Schema_Manager. It turned out to be reasonably easy. All I needed to do was rework my use of ZF components to use the new ZF2 ones. Whilst I was at it, I also converted it to use namespaces. I also had to reorganise the http://github.com/akrabat/Akrabat library so that I could have ZF1… continue reading.
Note: this article does not refer to the released version of Zend Framework 2!. If you want to play with the development versions of Zend Framework 2.0, then it's handy to be able to create ZF2 projects using the ZendTool command line tool. Rather unhelpfully, ZF2's ZendTool uses the same ini file (~/.zf.ini) as ZF1's Zend_Tool and the same zf.sh script filename, so you can't just put zf2 on to your path and it'll all… continue reading.
TweetGT is a simple application that talks to Twitter. I wrote it as I couldn't find another way to send a geotagged tweet sent from an arbitrary location. Also, my friend Cal Evans says that writing a Twitter app is the new Hello World, so I thought I'd better find out how to do it! Obviously, I used Zend Framework :) The source is up on github so you can have a look at the… continue reading.
I've been reading the Proposal for Exceptions in ZF2 and like it. One thing that caught my attention was that it suggests that you can catch an interface. I hadn't heard of that ability before, so I pulled out my trusty text editor to have a play. Consider this code: <?php namespace My; interface ExceptionInterface {} class SplExceptionClass extends InvalidArgumentException implements ExceptionInterface {} class ExceptionClass extends Exception implements ExceptionInterface {} class A { static function… continue reading.
Testing controllers has traditionally been a hassle due to the requirements of setting up the bootstrap, the front controller and initiating the dispatch cycle. In June, Matthew addressed this with the release of Zend_Test_PHPUnit_ControllerTestCase way back in 2008. Later, Matthew helpfully wrote an article on how to use it and I have used that as a starting point for the information here. (Thanks Matthew!) The project I'm using is TodoIt, which is a simple ZF… continue reading.
My friend Cal Evans is putting on a virtual conference called Day Camp 4 Developers. The most interesting thing about this conference is that it is about the "soft skills" that you need as a developer. There are many conferences that deal withe the technical skills improvements that you need, but less that handle the rest of your job, so this piqued my interest. It's a one day tech-agnostic conference containing 5 sessions and all… continue reading.
Following on from the discussion on the FlashMessenger action helper, I thought I'd also cover another supplied helper: Redirector. Redirector does what it says on the tin and redirects the user to another page. I mostly use this when coming back from filling a form in, so that the user is then redirected to another page. In admin systems, this is usually a list page. On front end websites, this is usually a thank you… continue reading.
I've talked about Zend Framework's action helpers before, but haven't covered any of the action helpers that are supplied with Zend Framework. FlashMessenger is a helper that allows you to store messages between requests. The most common use I have for it is for a "saved" message after doing an edit of an item that then redirects back to a list. This is how it's used: Storing a message Storing to the FlashMessenger is easy.… continue reading.
The PHPNW conference is coming to Manchester again this year on the 9th October 2010 and I'm going to be speaking! With a nod to the future, I'm going to be talking about Zend Framework 2.0. I'll be talking about why there will be a ZF2 and what's going to be coming up with the release. PHPNW is a great conference and this year has expanded to three tracks! It's only £58 too if you… continue reading.
Matthew Weier O'Phinney has just published an article on how to create reusable widgets with action helpers. I had a twitter/IRC exchange yesterday with Andries Seutens and Nick Belhomme regarding applications that include widgets within their layout. During the exchange, I told Andriess not to use the action() view helper, and both Andriess and Nick then asked how to implement widgets if they shouldn't use that helper. While I ended up having an IRC exchange… continue reading.
