Php – Getting started with a project using Zend Framework

payment-gatewayPHPzend-framework

Ok, I've got Zend all set up and my hello world pages working.

Personally, I'd rather code this from scratch, but I'm trying to find out how to use Zend to save time when making similar projects over and over again.

I want to:

Admin:

Create multiple admin accounts
Have database-stored admin options that will be available on all php pages for both admin and public pages (like global on/off switch for the entire public site, homepage title, guest permissions, etc)

Public:

Have the user be able to create and sign in
User can fill out personal information
Recurring payment processing

My quesiton is, what Zend modules do I want to use? I want to use the zend framework to the best it can and not write any code that I don't have to.

Best Answer

With the exception of the payment processing your app is doing CRUD, so you will likely use the MVC and Db classes of ZF then. For authentication you'd use a Zend_Auth adapter. And thats it already. Of course ZF provides much more classes than that, but given from your description YAGNI.

Also, keep in mind, that ZF promotes a use-at-will architecture. You can take whatever you like from it. It is not a full stack framework though and there is very little automagic in it. ZF can do a lot with some additional work, but if you are looking for something like this out of the box, you are probably better off with Symfony or another full stack framework.

Well, as for the other ZF classes, why not RT*M ;)

Related Solutions

Php – Zend Framework – layout best practices for ‘includes’

Directory structure:

/application
  /layouts
    /scripts
      /layout.phtml
      /profile.phtml
      /admin.phtml
      /_header.phtml
      /_footer.phtml

layout.phtml:

<?php echo $this->doctype('HTML4_STRICT') ?>
<html> 
<head>  
  <title>Bah</title>
</head> 
<body>
  <?php echo $this->render('_header.phtml') ?>
  <?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>
  <?php echo $this->render('_footer.phtml') ?>
</body>
</html>

profile.phtml:

<?php echo $this->doctype('HTML4_STRICT') ?>
<html> 
<head>  
  <title>Profile</title>
</head> 
<body>
  <!-- profile header -->
  <?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>
  <!-- profile footer-->
</body>
</html>

FooController.php:

profileAction()
{
    // do stuff
    $this->_helper->layout->setLayout('profile');
}

This method allows you to change the entire page structure of different layouts (The admin suddenly needs a sidebar!). You trade off some code duplication for enhanced flexibility and maintainability.

If this is not important to you, a view helper would work also (query the Front Controller to find out if the request came from either the admin or profile actions, switch). For my tastes though, that type of logic is too involved to belong in the view.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Php – Zend Framework – layout best practices for ‘includes’

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