This document summarizes Hans Lellelid's presentation on Phing, an open source build tool for PHP projects that is modeled after Apache Ant. The presentation covers Phing fundamentals like creating build files and tasks, as well as more advanced topics like customizing Phing through extensions. It provides examples of using Phing for tasks like file copying, database operations, documentation generation, and unit testing. The goal is to demonstrate how Phing can be used to automate common build, testing and deployment tasks.

1. Putting Phing to Work for You
Hans Lellelid
International PHP Conference
2007-11-05

2. Introduction
• My name is Hans Lellelid
• Developer & Manager at Applied Security,
Inc. (near Washington DC).
• PHP developer and OO evangelist.
• I ported Phing to PHP5 in 2004.
• I now manage the Phing project with
Michiel Rook.
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3. What is it?
• PHing Is Not Gnumake
• It is a project build tool.
• Original PHP4 version by Andreas Aderhold
• Written for PHP5
• Based on Apache Ant
• Cross-platform (i.e. Windows too)
• http://phing.info/
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4. Workshop Topics: Fundamentals
• Phing basics
• Creating a first build file
• Transforming directories and files
• Performing PDO tasks
• Gathering user input
• Building phpdoc
• Running unit tests
• Integrating with CI tools
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5. Workshop Topics: Extension
• Using PHP code in a build file
• Building a simple Task
• Writing more complex Task
• Creating a shared Type
• Custom filters
• Custom selectors
• Custom logger/listener
• Custom input handlers
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6. Getting Started
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7. Install Phing
• Install via PEAR
– pear channel-discover pear.phing.info
– pear install phing/phing
• Install “traditional” package
– Available on Download page
• Install from SVN
– svn co http://svn.phing.info/trunk phing
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8. Following Along
• Install via PEAR
– pear install phing/phing
– Install “traditional” package
• Available on Download page
– Install from SVN
• svn co http://svn.phing.info/trunk phing
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9. The phing script
• A wrapper shell script for phing.php script.
• Sets default logger to use (dependent on
system)
• Typical usage: phing [target]
• Other useful options:
– Help (-h)
– Specify properties (-Dpropname=value)
– List targets (-l)
– Get more output (-verbose or -debug)
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10. Buildfiles
• Build files are XML
• Build files are composed of:
– Tasks: a “build-in” piece of code that a
specific function. E.g. <mkdir>
– Types: data structures that are used
commonly by tasks. E.g. <path>
– Targets: grouping of Tasks that perform a
more general function. E.g. Copy files to a
new directory.
– A Project: the root node for the build file.
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11. A simple build file
<project name=quot;samplequot; default=quot;mainquot;>
<property name=quot;verquot; value=quot;1.0.1quot;/>
<property file=quot;build.propertiesquot;/>
<target name=quot;mainquot;>
<mkdir dir=quot;./build/${ver}quot;>
<copy todir=quot;./build/${ver}quot;>
<fileset dir=quot;.quot;
includes=quot;*.txtquot; />
</copy>
</target>
</project>
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12. Javaisms
• Properties
– Properties are variables for build scripts.
– Like php.ini, but more flexible:
• tgz = ${pkg}-${ver}.tgz
– Can be set in build script or imported from
files.
• Dot-path notation for class names:
– path.to.Class = path/to/Class.php
– Represents directory and class name in a
single string.
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13. Control Structures
• depends, if, and unless attributes provide
control over target execution condition and
sequence.
• <if> task provides a more familiar (to
developers) control structure that can be
used within a target.
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14. Reorganize, Transform
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15. Match a bunch of files
• The <fileset> type represents an
extremely powerful way to select a
group of files for processing
• Many built-in tasks support <fileset>
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16. Fileset Examples
<fileset dir=quot;./webappquot;
includes=quot;**/*.htmlquot;
excludes=quot;**/test-*quot;/>
<fileset dir=quot;./webappquot;>
<include name=quot;img/${theme}/*.jpgquot;/>
<include name=quot;tpl/${lang}/*.phtmlquot;/>
<exclude name=quot;**/*.bakquot;/>
<exclude name=quot;**/test/**quot;/>
</fileset>
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17. Fine-tuned Selection
• Selectors provide entirely new dimensions
for <fileset> file matching criteria.
• Some examples of selectors:
– Created before/after certain date
– Greater/less than specified size
– Type ('file' or 'dir')
– At specific depth in dir structure
– Having corresponding file in another dir.
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18. Selector examples
<fileset dir=quot;${htdocs.dir}quot;>
<includes name=”**/*.html”/>
<containsregexp
expression=quot;/prodd+.phpquot;/>
</fileset>
<fileset dir=quot;${dist}quot; includes=quot;**quot;>
<or>
<present targetdir=quot;${htdocs}quot;/>
<date datetime=quot;01/01/2007quot;
when=quot;beforequot;/>
</or>
</fileset>
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19. Filesystem Transformations
• The <mapper> element adds filesystem
transformation capabilities to supporting
tasks (e.g. <copy>, <move>).
• For example:
– Change all “.php” files to “.html”
– Remove dirs from filename
– Change all files to the same filename
• Custom mappers can be defined.
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20. Mapper examples
<copy todir=quot;/tmpquot;>
<mapper type=quot;globquot; from=quot;*.phpquot;
to=quot;*.php.bakquot; />
<fileset dir=quot;./appquot;
includes=quot;**/*.phpquot; />
</copy>
<copy todir=quot;${deploy.dir}quot;>
<mapper type=quot;regexpquot;
from=quot;^(.*)-(.*).conf.xmlquot;
to=quot;1.2.phpquot;/>
<fileset dir=quot;${config.src.dir}quot;
includes=quot;**/*.conf.xmlquot; />
</copy>
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21. Data Transformation
• The <filterchain> type adds data
filtering/transforming capabilities to
supporting tasks.
• Tasks that support <filterchain> include
<copy>, <move>, <append> + more
• For example:
– Strip comments from files
– Replace values in files (+ regexp)
– Perform XSLT transformation
• Easily add your own.
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22. Filtering examples
<copy todir=quot;${build}/htdocsquot;>
<fileset includes=quot;*.htmlquot;/>
<filterchain>
<replaceregexp>
<regexp pattern=quot;rnquot;
replace=quot;nquot;/>
</replaceregexp>
<tidyfilter encoding=quot;utf8quot;>
<config name=quot;indentquot;
value=quot;truequot;/>
</tidyfilter>
</filterchain>
</copy>
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23. Other Tasks
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24. PDO Task
• <pdo> task allows you to execute SQL
statements from
– The buildfile itself
– One or more files
• Transactions can be explicitly demarcated.
• Output can be formatted with a provided or
custom formatter.
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25. User Input
• The <propertyprompt> task provides an
basic, easy way to set a value from user
input.
• The <input> task provides a more feature
rich version.
– Special handling of yes/no, multiple choice
– Support for input validation
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26. Build API Docs
• The <phpdoc> task provides a wrapper for
the PhpDocumentor application.
• A few advantages over standalone phpdoc:
– Use properties from build script
– Use Phing features like filesets
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27. Unit Testing
• Phing has extensive support for PHPUnit
and SimpleTest unit testing frameworks
• PHPUnit tasks provide support for
– Batch testing using <fileset> to select all
the tests you wish to run.
– Output in XML (Junit-compatible) and Plain
text.
– Report generator creates XHTML reports
using XSLT
– Code coverage reports (requires Xdebug)
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28. Continuous Integration
• Code -> Commit -> Build -> Test ->
Report
• CI tools watch the repository and provide
automated building, testing, reporting.
• CruiseControl is probably the most well-
known.
• Xinc provides CI tool functionality written in
PHP.
• Xinc is built to use Phing
• CruiseControl also supports Phing
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29. Extending Phing
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30. Paths for Extension
• Embedding PHP in build file.
• Write your own class to provide any of the
functionality we have seen:
– Task
– Type
– Selector
– Filter
– Mapper
– Listener (logger)
– Input Handler
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31. Embedding PHP
• The <php> task allows you to evaluate a
PHP expression, function call, etc. and store
result in a property.
• The <adhoc> task allows you to embed
PHP directly. Useful for including setup
files.
<adhoc><![CDATA[
require_once 'propel/Propel.php';
Propel::init('bookstore-conf.php');
]]></adhoc>
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32. Writing a Task
• Extend Task
• Add setter methods for any params your
task accepts.
• Implement public function main()
• Abstract subclasses exist to make life
easier (e.g. MatchingTask)
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33. Sample Task
class SampleTask extends Task {
private $var;
public function setVar($v) {
$this->var = $v;
}
public function main() {
$this->log(quot;value: quot;.$this->var);
}
}
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34. More Complex Task
• Adding support for CDATA text.
• Adding support for Fileset, Filelist,
Filterchain child elements.
• Supporting nested arbitrary classes ...
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35. Data Types
• Classes that can be shared by different
tasks.
• Extend DataType
• Add setter methods for any params your
data type accepts/expects.
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36. Filters
• Extend BaseFilterReader or
BaseParamFilterReader and implement
ChainableReader.
• Implement read() and chain() methods.
– Read stream and return -1 when stream is
exhausted.
• If using params, you must initialize them
locally.
• Use <filterreader classname=”YourClass”>
in your build file.
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37. Selectors
• Extend BaseExtendSelector
• Implement isSelected()
• Use <custom> tag in your build file.
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38. Mappers
• Implement FileNameMapper
• Implement main(filename), setFrom(str),
setTo(str)
• Use <mapper classname=”...”> in your
build file.
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39. Build Listeners
• Implement BuildListener (or
BuildLogger which expects streams)
• Register on the commandline using
-listener (or -logger) option.
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40. Input Handlers
• Implement InputHandler interface
– Implement the handleInput(InputRequest)
method.
• Register on the commandline using
-listener (or -inputhandler) option.
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41. Where next?
• Visit http://phing.info for downloads,
documentation, and issue tracking.
• Ask questions on the mailing lists.
– users@phing.tigris.org
– dev@phing.tigris.org
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