Remi Woler: The 10 rules to get support through IRC

Remi Woler has posted a useful article on getting support via IRC. Zend Framework has the #zftalk irc channel and I strongly recommend going through his points. I especially liked point 4: Ask a complete question, directed to anyone willing to answer (that is: don't direct it to any person or group in particular). If someone knows and has time, they will respond. Why rule out people in advance, without even telling what your question… continue reading.

Posted on 19 September 2011 in Around the web

Day Camp 4 Developers #3: Project Management

I'm delighted to be able to announce that I'm speaking at the next Day Camp 4 Developers on 1st October. Day Camp 4 Developers is a one-day online conference run by our friend Cal Evans and is now onto its 3rd outing. An online conference is one that you attend in your own home (or office!) which keeps the costs down considerably, so you have no excuse not to buy a ticket: just $40! Day… continue reading.

Posted on 31 August 2011 in Conferences

Bradley Holt: The Case For Rapid Release Cycles

Bradley Holt has posted an interesting article on why rapid release cycles are a good idea for Zend Framework major versions. For a framework (and maybe for other software), I think the following rules are necessary in order for a rapid release cycle to work: Minimize backwards compatibility changes between major releases. Targeted and strategic refactoring, rather than major overhauls, are preferable if you are releasing often. Small backwards compatibility changes makes migrating from one… continue reading.

Posted on 9 August 2011 in Around the web, Zend Framework 1

Setting up PHP & MySQL on OS X 10.7 Lion

With OS X 10.7, Apple continues to ship PHP 5.3 with PEAR, GD and PDO_MYSQL out of the box. This is how to set it up from a clean install of 10.7. /usr/local Ensure that the following directories exist: sudo mkdir /usr/local/include sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/man/man1 MySQL Download the 64bit DMG version of MySQL 5.1.x (or 5.5.x) for OS X 10.6 from mysql.com and install the pkg, the startup… continue reading.

Posted on 25 July 2011 in PHP

Robert Basic: Grouping Zend Framework controllers in subdirectories

A few months ago, Robert Basic wrote about this handy organisational tip: Thanks to a discussion on the Zend Framework mailing list I learned about a new feature, a feature that allows for grouping action controllers in subdirectories! He then goes on to explain how he can now group controllers related to admin within a subdirectory of controllers which makes organisation easier: Best part is that this feature requires no additional configuration. Create a subdirectory… continue reading.

Posted on 9 July 2011 in Around the web, Zend Framework 1

Zend_Config_Ini and a string

One thing that is different between Zend_Config_Xml and Zend_Config_Ini is that with Zend_Config_Xml you can pass in an XML string as the first parameter of the constructor and it will work. This doesn't work with Zend_Config_Ini as we use parse_ini_file() under the hood. With PHP 5.3 however there is is a new function called parse_ini_string() which will allow us to load arbitrary ini string into Zend_Config objects. This can't go into Zend Framework 1 though… continue reading.

Posted on 20 June 2011 in Zend Framework 1

tek11 photos

Following on from the previous post, these are some of my favourites from php|tek 11. On the day before tek started, playing mini-golf with Helgi, Ian,Kathy, Rafael & Lorna was fun It wouldn't be a trip to Chicago without pizza! I loved Liz's hat Lig had a two-hands-one-mouth problem… The social events at tek are great. You can usually find Liz enjoying the party! It was always fun to see groups showing off some cool… continue reading.

Posted on 16 June 2011 in Conferences

DPC 11 photos

A few weeks ago, I managed to visit two conferences back to back: DPC and php|tek. I managed to take some photos and these are some of my favourites from DPC. I finally managed to snag a good picture of Juozas! Harrie was an excellent DPC host. Aral gave an excellent keynote and was around for the conference. He had us in stitches when trying to tweet from an Android phone! On the hallway track,… continue reading.

Posted on 13 June 2011 in Conferences

ZF2 Training at PHPNW 2011!

The fabulous PHPNW conference is back again this year on October 8th and 9th and tickets are now for sale for a mere £72. Buy now! as you only have a few days left at that price. There's no need to wait for the schedule as we know from the past 3 years, that it's going to be a great selection of relevant topics. More importantly, this year there's a tutorial day on Friday 7th… continue reading.

Posted on 10 June 2011 in Conferences

Exploring Zend_Paginator

One area of displaying lists on web pages that I've generally disliked doing is pagination as it's a bit of a faff. Recently, I needed to do just this though as I couldn't delegate it as my colleague was too busy on other work. As a result, I thought that I should look into Zend_Paginator this time. Turns out that it's really easy to use and the documentation is great too. The really useful thing… continue reading.

Posted on 4 May 2011 in Zend Framework 1