Slides for the php|tek '09 conference comparing CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Solar and Zend Framework

1. NO REALLY, IT’S ALL ABOUT
YOU
Chris Cornutt
php|tek 2009 - Chicago, IL
ccornutt@phpdeveloper.org
http://joind.in/207
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

2. GETTING TO KNOW YOU
(GETTING TO KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU...)
@enygma
phpdeveloper.org
joind.in
atmosenergy.com
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

3. GOOGLE TRENDS
PHP5: July 2004 Last PHP4: Aug 2008
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

4. DEVELOPERS,
LET’S
MEET
OUR FRAMEWORKS!
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

5. CAKEPHP
WHO LOVES YA, BABY?
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

6. CAKEPHP
INTRODUCTION
• “Simple is Good”
• Mental “point and click” in applications
• Lays out an example structure for you
• Works for you on two levels - websites and cli
• bake puts the “rapid” in RAD
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

7. CAKEPHP
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
• Access control • Cookie Handling
• Ajax integration (Prototype) • Email Support
• HTML generation • Request Handling
• XML handling (including RSS feeds) • Javascript Integration
• Caching • Data Pagination
• Session Handling • Text Manipulation
• Security (request filtering) • Date/Time Support
• Command-line functionality (build • Inflection
scaffolding/models/etc)
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

8. CAKEPHP
RESOURCES
• Manual at CakePHP.org (aka The Cookbook)
• The Forge - project management for CakePHP applications
• The Bakery - all things CakePHP (Tutorials/Behaviors/Case Studies/Plugins/
Helpers/Snippets)
• Extensions for other software like Komodo, Selenium, Firefox
• #cakephp on Freenode (irc)
• The Show - http://live.cakephp.org
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9. CAKEPHP
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
• Wrappers around simple data types
• Claims of bad markup in HTML helpers
• It’s not “Enterprise Capable”
• Poor/confusing documentation
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10. CODEIGNITER
SIMPLE AND SPEEDY
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11. CODEIGNITER
INTRODUCTION
• Focuses on simplicity (doesn’t get in the way)
• Small, light and easy
• “Install and Go”
• Product of EllisLabs
• Originally for PHP4, changes have been made for PHP5
• Kohana is a PHP5-based fork
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12. CODEIGNITER
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
• Database integration • FTP Support
• Encryption • Pagination
• Form validation • Image Manipulation
• HTML rendering • Calendars
• Session handling • Input/Output Filtering
• Locale support • Trackbacks
• Templating • Text Formatting (Typography)
• XML-RPC • Custom Configuration
• Zip/Compression • Language/Locale Support
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13. CODEIGNITER
RESOURCES
• User Guide at the main site: CodeIgniter.com
• CodeIgniter Forums: CodeIgniter.com/forums
• Community Wiki: CodeIgniter.com/wiki
• Extension for Firefox (user guide)
• TextMate bundle
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14. CODEIGNITER
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
• Difficult to have any sort of “sub applications” in your code
• Lazy loading could cause overhead as libraries grow larger
• Simple included libraries lose some advanced features
• Fewer bundled libraries (no repository like the Bakery to get
more)
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15. This one’s for you, Ed
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16. SOLAR
STRONG AND CONSISTENT
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17. SOLAR
INTRODUCTION
• PHP5-only from the start
• Fully-namespaced
• Focus on structure and elegance
• Uses several enterprise development patterns
Data Mapper, ServiceLocator, Query Object, Registry, Lazy Load
• Smaller user base, close-knit development community
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18. SOLAR
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
• Access control • Documentation Generation
• Caching • Inflection
• JSON Support • MIME Support
• Logging • SMTP
• Markdown • Database Support
• Web Services • Request Handling
• Input/Output Filtering • Locale Support
• Unit testing • Registry
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

19. SOLAR
RESOURCES
• Main site at SolarPHP.com
• Community Blog at SolarPHP.com/blog
• Solar Wiki at SolarPHP.org
• Solar Manual at SolarPHP.org/manual
• #solarphp on the Freenode (irc)
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20. SOLAR
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
• Poor documentation
• Not enough unit testing coverage
• Different sort of structure (controller/view and model)
• Slower release cycle
• Much lower adoption
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21. ZEND FRAMEWORK
YOU WANT IT? WE GOT IT
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22. ZEND FRAMEWORK
INTRODUCTION
• Standards-oriented & strong
• Targets itself towards both the casual developer and
Enterprise level users
• Defined control over source (CLA)
• Only MVC by convention, really a set of components (with
MVC tendencies)
• Large community of developers and users
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23. ZEND FRAMEWORK
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
• Flex integration • Authentication • Infocard support
• Exception handling • Caching • MIME Handling
• Form Validation • Code Generation • PDF
• LDAP Interface • Date Handling • REST Interface
• OpenID • Feed Parsing • Akismet Integration
• Dojo Integration • Input/Output Filtering • Popular Web Service Interfaces
• Unit Testing • Google Apps Integration • XML-RPC
• Translation • Currency formatting • Progess Bar
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24. ZEND FRAMEWORK
RESOURCES
• Main site at framework.zend.com*
• Manual at framework.zend.com/manual/en
• Quickstart at framework.zend.com/docs/quickstart
• Contributor’s wiki at framework.zend.com/wiki
• #zftalk on Freenode (irc)
* Framework site also includes: case studies, video tutorials and bug tracker
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

25. ZEND FRAMEWORK
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
• Technically* not a framework
• Tries to do it all without focusing on certain strengths
• Too much object abstraction
• Loosely coupled components can force you to make links
* Don’t send the Zend Goon Squad for me
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26. THE FRAMEWORKS
AT A GLANCE
Framework Components Helpers
CakePHP 7 12
CodeIgniter 25 21
Solar 34 49
Zend Framework 75 22
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27. A CLOSER LOOK
INSTALL & DEVELOPMENT
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28. INSTALLATION
CAKEPHP
• Load & Go
• Change configuration options
In /app/config:
Database connections, routing, session handling, caching options, access control
• No need to make directories, it’s all included
• Bootstrap and front controller included
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29. INSTALLATION
CODEIGNITER
• Dead simple
Sets up controller, helper, model, view, etc directories for you
• Update configuration for your site
• Set up database connection information
• Change any autoloads you might want
Libraries/components loaded for every connection -
useful for things like validation or certain models
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

30. INSTALLATION
SOLAR
• Not quite as “beginner friendly” as CakePHP/CodeIgniter for
setup
• Requires some manual setup to get the ball rolling
has the “Solar System”
• Unpack the libraries in one place, make the site in another
• Create directories for site/vendor/controllers & related files
/www/htdocs/project/vendor/App
/www/htdocs/project/vendor/External
/www/htdocs/project/vendor/<Controller Name>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

31. INSTALLATION
SOLAR - BOOTSTRAP
<?php
session_start();
set_include_path('/www/htdocs/Solar:/www/htdocs/project:/www/htdocs/project/
Test:/www/htdocs/project/Test/External');
require_once('Solar.php');
Solar::start('/www/htdocs/Test.config.php');
$front=Solar::factory('Solar_Controller_Front');
$front->display();
Solar::stop();
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

32. INSTALLATION
SOLAR - CONFIG
<?php
$config=array();
$config['Solar_Uri_Action']['path']='/';
$config['Solar_Uri_Public']['path']='/Test/public';
$config['Solar_Controller_Front']['default']='index';
$config['Solar_Controller_Front']['classes']=array(
'Solar_App',
'Test_App'
);
$config['Solar_Sql']=array(
'adapter' => 'Solar_Sql_Adapter_Mysql',
'host' => 'localhost',
'user' => 'dbuser',
'pass' => 'dbpass',
'name' => 'testdb'
);
//Done!
return $config;
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

33. INSTALLATION
ZEND FRAMEWORK
• Similar in setup to Solar
• A “Do It Yourself ” Framework
• Unpack the framework
• Application can be built wherever
• Make a boostrap
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

34. INSTALLATION
ZEND FRAMEWORK - BOOTSTRAP
<?php
defined('APPLICATION_PATH') or define('APPLICATION_PATH', dirname(__FILE__));
defined('APPLICATION_ENVIRONMENT') or define('APPLICATION_ENVIRONMENT',
'development');
Zend_Layout::startMvc(APPLICATION_PATH . '/layouts/scripts');
$view = Zend_Layout::getMvcInstance()->getView();
$view->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT');
unset($view);
$frontController = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$frontController->setControllerDirectory(APPLICATION_PATH . '/controllers');
$frontController->setParam('env', APPLICATION_ENVIRONMENT);
unset($frontController);
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

35. MY FIRST PAGE
FROM ZERO TO “HELLO WORLD”
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

36. CAKEPHP
THE CONFIG
DB Config - /app/config/database.php
<?php
class DATABASE_CONFIG
{
var $default = array('driver' => 'mysql',
'connect' => 'mysql_pconnect',
'host' => 'localhost',
'login' => 'myuser',
'password' => 'mypassword',
'database' => 'mydb' );
}
Example Database Table
create table notes (
note_title VARCHAR(100),
note_detail VARCHAR(200),
note_owner VARCHAR(10)
);
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

37. CAKEPHP
THE CODE
Controller - /app/application/controllers/my_controller.php
<?php
class MyController extends AppController {
var $name = 'MyController';
function index(){
$allNotes=$this->Notes->find(‘all’,
array(‘conditions’=>array(
‘Notes.note_owner’=>‘ccornutt’
))
);
$this->set(array(
'title' => 'My First Controller',
‘notes’ => $allNotes
);
}
}
?>
View - /app/views/my_controller/index.ctp
<?php echo $title.”<br>n”;
foreach($notes as $v){
echo $v[‘note_title’]' '.$v[‘note_detail’];
}
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

38. CODEIGNITER
THE CONFIG
DB Config - /system/application/config/database.php
$db['default']['hostname'] = quot;localhostquot;;
$db['default']['username'] = quot;myuserquot;;
$db['default']['password'] = quot;mypassquot;;
$db['default']['database'] = quot;mydbquot;;
$db['default']['dbdriver'] = quot;mysqlquot;;
$db['default']['dbprefix'] = quot;quot;;
$db['default']['pconnect'] = TRUE;
$db['default']['db_debug'] = TRUE;
$db['default']['cache_on'] = FALSE;
$db['default']['cachedir'] = quot;quot;;
$db['default']['char_set'] = quot;utf8quot;;
$db['default']['dbcollat'] = quot;utf8_general_ciquot;;
Example Database Table
create table notes (
note_title VARCHAR(100),
note_detail VARCHAR(200),
note_owner VARCHAR(10)
);
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

39. CODEIGNITER
THE CODE
Controller - /system/application/controllers/FirstController.php
<?php
class First extends Controller {
function index(){
$this->library->load(‘database’);
$notes=$this->db->get_where(‘notes’,
array(‘note_owner’=>‘ccornutt’));
$to_view=array(
‘title’ => ’My First Controller’,
‘notes’ => $notes;
);
$this->load->view('first_page',$to_view);
}
}
?>
View - /system/application/views/first_page.php
<?php echo $title.”<br>n”;
foreach($notes as $v){
echo $v[‘note_title’]' '.$v[‘note_detail’];
}
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

40. SOLAR
THE CONFIG
DB Config - Appname.config.php
<?php
$config['Solar_Sql'][‘adapter’]=Solar_Sql_Adapter_Mysql';
$config['Solar_Sql_Adapter_Mysql'] = array(
'host' => 'localhost',
'user' => 'myuser',
'pass' => 'mypass',
'name' => 'mydb',
);
?>
Example Database Table
create table notes (
note_title VARCHAR(100),
note_detail VARCHAR(200),
note_owner VARCHAR(10)
);
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

41. SOLAR
THE CODE
Controller - source/example/MyApp/App/First.php
<?php
class MyApp_App_First Extends Solar_App_Base {
protected $_action_default = 'index';
function actionIndex(){
$db = Solar::factory('Solar_Sql');
$bind = array(‘owner’=>‘ccornutt’);
$notes= $db->query(‘select * from notes where note_owner
= :owner’,$bind);
$this->to_view=array(
‘title’ => ’My First Controller’,
‘notes’ => $notes;
);
}
}
?>
View - source/example/MyApp/First/View/index.php
<?php echo $this->title.”<br>n”;
foreach($this->notes as $v){
echo $v[‘note_title’]' '.$v[‘note_detail’];
}
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

42. ZEND FRAMEWORK
THE CONFIG
DB Config - /application/configs/application.ini
; Uses an ini file instead of a .php
[production]
database.adapter = PDO_MYSQL
database.params.dbname = quot;mydbquot;
database.params.username = quot;myuserquot;
database.params.password = quot;mypassquot;
database.params.hostname = quot;localhostquot;
Example Database Table
create table notes (
note_title VARCHAR(100),
note_detail VARCHAR(200),
note_owner VARCHAR(10)
);
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

43. ZEND FRAMEWORK
THE CODE
Controller - /application/controllers/indexController.php
<?php
class IndexController extends Zend_Controller_Action {
public function indexAction(){
$cfg=new Zend_Config_Ini(‘../application/
app.ini’,‘production’);
$db=Zend_Db::factory($cfg->database);
$result=$db->fetchAll(‘select * from notes’);
$this->view->to_view=array(
‘title’=>'My First Controller',
‘notes’=>$result
);
}
}
?>
View - /application/views/scripts/index/index.phtml
<?php echo $this->title.”<br>n”;
foreach($this->notes as $v){
echo $v[‘note_title’]' '.$v[‘note_detail’];
}
?>
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

44. COMPARING THE FIRST STEPS
Steps to Steps to
Framework Total Steps
Install* “First Page”
CakePHP 2 3 5
CodeIgniter 2 2 4
Solar 5 3 8
Zend
Framework 4 2 6
* Install can include: unpacking, creating directories and making changes to configuration files.
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45. HOW FRIENDLY IS YOUR
FRAMEWORK?
C’MON, SHOW US THE LOVE
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46. CAKEPHP
WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND
• Installation’s as easy as one, two....well, just two
• Code-based database relationships help keep things straight
hasMany, hasOne, belongsTo, hasAndBelongsToMany
• CLI app of schemas, db dumps and migrations
• Naming conventions keep you out of trouble
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47. CODEIGNITER
WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND
• Lazy loading lets you chose when & what
• Libraries = add, hooks = change, custom core = replacing
• Keeps you safe with URI restrictions and super-global resets
• Easy upgrading (over-write)
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

48. SOLAR
WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND
• Solar System (cli) gets you up and running fast
• Easy to develop on and for
• Friendly wiki manual keeps the community keep up-to-date
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49. ZEND FRAMEWORK
WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND
• It loves giving you just what you need
• Customizable everything
• Plays well with others
• It has plenty of other friends out there to help you out (over
10 million and counting)
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50. WANNA KNOW WHAT I
THINK?
DISCLAIMER: THESE SUGGESTIONS ARE BASED ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, ARTICLES, RANDOM PEOPLE ON THE
STREET AND A FEW OTHER BLOGS OUT THERE. THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN MAKING IT UP FOR ALL I KNOW, BUT THAT’S A
RISK I’M WILLING TO TAKE. AFTER ALL, OPINIONS ARE LIKE...WELL, YOU KNOW. THAT BEING SAID, ENJOY THE LIST!
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51. WANT A ROCK SOLID, WELL DEVELOPED
FRAMEWORK THAT ISN’T GOING
ANYWHERE? GO ZEND.
• Standards for the code (CLA)
• Emphasis on strong, well-planned, well-tested code
• Large component base
• Zend as a backer (corporate)
• Strong developer community/strong user community
• Grown exponentially in just a few years
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

52. NEW TO THE WHOLE MVC THING & WANT A
FRAMEWORK TO HOLD YOUR HAND?
CODEIGNITER’S THE WAY TO GO
• Does what you need without getting in the way
• User guide offers easy, complete documentation
• Pre-provided structure helps you get a handle on where each
part of MVC ends up
• Helpful, active community (forums/wiki)
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53. LOOKING FOR POWER WITHOUT A LOT OF
THE HASSLE? CAKEPHP’S YOUR GUY
• Friendly framework with helpful hints
• Pre-built structure let’s you hit the ground running
• Solid base components/tools
• Command-line rounds out feature set
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54. WANT SOMETHING TO APPEAL TO THE
PLANNER INSIDE THAT NEEDS BOTH POWER
& STRUCTURE? SHINE A LIGHT ON SOLAR
• Strong and standardized
• Similar interfaces found through out the code
• Uses well-practiced (enterprise) design patterns
• Command line builds project structures
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55. THAT’S ALL, GO HOME
JUST KIDDING, YOU CAN STAY FOR THE Q&A
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56. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Frameworks:
CakePHP - cakephp.org
CodeIgniter - codeigniter.org
Solar - solarphp.com
Zend Framework - framework.zend.com
Contact Information:
ccornutt@phpdeveloper.org
@enygma
Joind.in PHPDeveloper.org
http://joind.in/207 http://phpdeveloper.org
Atmos Energy
http://atmosenergy.com
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