Tag: zend framework

Dojo 1.1.0 Released

Dojo announced today the availability of 1.1.0.

I've been toying with Dojo off-and-on for almost a year now. It's the most framework-y of the various JS toolkits I've tried, and I particularly appreciate its modularity. (That said, it can lead to a lot of HTTP requests to your site if you don't create a targetted bundle with the modules you need.)

The 1.1.0 release has me pretty excited, as it finally is doing something most other JS frameworks have been doing for some time: its XHR requests now send the X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest header, which allows it to conform to the isXmlHttpRequest() method in Zend Framework's request object. This makes it much easier to provide a standard mechanism in your server-side code for detecting AJAX requests, allowing context switching to be automated.

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Login and Authentication with Zend Framework

Update: this article is now available in French, courtesy of Frédéric Blanc.

I've fielded a number of questions from people wanting to know how to handle authentication and identity persistence in Zend Framework. The typical issue is that they're unsure how to combine:

  • An authentication adapter
  • A login form
  • A controller for login/logout actions
  • Checking for an authenticated user in subsequent requests

It's not terribly difficult, but it does require knowing how the various pieces of the MVC fit together, and how to use Zend_Auth. Let's take a look.

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Using Zend_View Placeholders to Your Advantage

Somebody asked for some examples of how I use the headLink(), headScript(), and other placeholder helpers, so I thought I'd take a crack at that today.

First off, let's look at what these helpers do. Each are concrete instances of a placeholder. In Zend Framework, placeholders are used for a number of purposes:

  • Doctype awareness
  • Aggregation and formatting of aggregated content
  • Capturing content
  • Persistence of content between view scripts and layout scripts

Let's look at these in detail.

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Zend Framework 1.5 is on its way!

As many know, Zend Framework 1.5.0 is almost ready for release… heck, it might even be released by the time you read this. There are a ton of new features worth looking into, but I'll list some of my own favorites here - the ones I've been either working on or using.

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Zend_Form Webinar Wednesday

Just an FYI for anyone interested: I'll be performing a webinar for this week's Zend Wednesday Webinar series on Zend_Form. You can get details on the webinar and how to register for it at the Zend_Form webinar information page.

I'll be covering the design of Zend_Form, the basic usage and various classes and plugins available, and internationalization of your forms. Please join me Wednesday at noon EST!

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Zend_Form Advanced Features

I've been working on Zend_Form for the past few weeks, and it's nearing release readiness. There are a number of features that Cal didn't cover in his DevZone coverage (in part because some of them weren't yet complete) that I'd like to showcase, including:

  • Internationalization
  • Element grouping for display and logistical purposes
  • Array support

This post will serve primarily as a high-level overview of some of these features; if you're looking for more in-depth coverage, please review the unit tests. :-)

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Backwards Compatibility

Ivo already pointed this out, but I want to point it out again: Boy Baukema writes a very nice entry regarding backwards compatibility on the ibuildings.nl corporate blog.

Backwards compatibility (BC) is a tricky thing to support, even when you strive hard to, as Boy puts it, "think hard about your API" prior to release. Somebody will always come along and point out ways it could have been done better or ways it could be improved. I've had to wrestle with these issues a ton since joining the Zend Framework team, and while it often feels like the wrong thing to do to tell somebody, "too little, too late" when they have genuinely good feedback for you, its often in the best interest of the many users already using a component.

I had the pleasure of meeting Boy last year when visiting the ibuildings.nl offices, and he's got a good head on his shoulders. He does a nice job outlining the issues and a number of approaches to BC; if you develop a project for public consumption, you should definitely head over and read what he has to say.

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Burlington PHP Tonight

The Burlington PHP User Group is having another meeting tonight at 5:30pm at Brown & Jenkins Coffee Roasters. From the announcement:

Bradley Holt will be giving a presentation on developing a web application using Zend Framework. Bradley Holt is founder and web developer for Found Line, a local design and development studio which has used Zend Framework in several recent projects. He also works as a software developer for a local non-profit. Before starting Found Line he worked as computer trainer teaching a variety of subjects including Java/JSP, ASP.NET, and PHP

Visit the meeting page for details on location and RSVPs. If you're in the Burlington, VT, area, we'd love to see you there!

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2007 Retrospective

2007 was a busy year, both personally and professionally. I won't go into the personal too much, because, well, it's personal, and some of the details are simply inappropriate for blogging material.

Here's the short version:

  • One trip to Belgium and The Netherlands.
  • Two trips to Israel.
  • Two trips to Atlanta, GA (not counting the return trip from Europe, when I was stranded for a day due to storms in the Northeast).
  • Three different user groups attended, with three presentations.
  • One major Zend Framework release
  • One PEAR release.
  • One podcast.
  • One webinar.
  • One book published.
  • One conference attended.

What follows is my month-by-month breakdown:

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Burlington PHP Users Group, December

I've been considering for a good six months trying to organize a PHP Users Group for the Burlington, VT, area. When we first moved to Vermont, I was surprised (and excited) by the number of PHP shops (which at the time I saw as job potential, as I was looking for work), and actually walked my resume around to a half-dozen or so. The area has a ton of PHP developers, and it only makes sense to have a UG where we can exchange tips and tricks of the trade.

Then, about six weeks ago, I mentioned this to my friend Rob. He did what I should have done all along, and googled for an existing group — and found one!

The Burlington, VT PHP Users Group has been around since November of 2005 on Google Groups, but we're having our inaugural meeting this coming Wednesday, 5 December 2007. I'll be speaking at this first meeting on Zend Framework's MVC components

If you're in the Burlington area this Wednesday, you should stop by. For more details, visit the event page, and don't forget to RSVP.

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