Chris Hartjes has posted his method for creating a development setup that lets you use multiple environments with your code.
In anticipation of my talk at PHP Quebec 2009 I've been going over my slides and thinking about what I'm going to update for it. One little nugget I'd thought I'd share is one way of handling having multiple environments your code must run in.
It uses a PHP variable in the $_SERVER superglobal - a custom one, APP_ENV - set by the application and checked to ensure global options are correctly set.
In a new blog postCal Evans shares a solution he's come up with to help simplify his PHP development - using the Sun VirtualBox software to create a self-contained, controlled environment to run his scripts.
The more I thought about it though, the more I realized there had to be a better way. My current setup doesn't allow me to do things like test PHP 5.3 without setting up a whole new server just for that purpose, or maintain an environment like my production server.
He was looking for something that would work on a laptop, allow for easy environment switching and let him work on multiple projects at once. He came across the VirtualBox software and adapted it to his own needs (including shares folders between instances and multiple instances running Ubuntu) on his local machine.
A recent post from Francois Zaninotto has been getting a lot of attention recently. It's his look at what would be needed to design a complete CMS and the full architecture behind it.
When faced with the alternative between an off-the-shelf CMS or a custom development, many companies pick solutions like ezPublish or Drupal. In addition to being free, these CMS seem to fulfill all possible requirements. But while choosing an open-source solution is a great idea, going for a full-featured CMS may prove more expensive than designing and developing your own Custom Management System.
He breaks it up into sections that look at the hidden costs behind custom development, what components it takes, the environment to build in and some of the fundamental questions you need to ask before even getting started.
Matthew Weier O'Phinney has another post full of Dojo/Zend Framework goodness today - this time he looks at making proper layer files by combining the two.
During my Dojo and ZF webinar on Wednesday, Pete Higgins of Dojo fame noted that I could do something different and better on one of my slides. This particular item had to do with how I was consuming custom Dojo build layers within my code. I contacted him afterwards to find out what he suggested, and did a little playing of my own, and discovered some more Dojo and javascript beauty in the process.
The improvement replaced the need for a manual commenting/uncommenting of an addLayer call with a bit of namespaced layers that, based on the environment, adds a dependency for the right file. One less manual process, one less thing to go wrong on deployment.
This recent post from the Mind Tree blog shares a few methods for testing your web application (not unit test, just general things).
Because the Web "environment" is so diverse and contains so many forms of programmatic content, input validation and sanity checking is the key to Web applications security. This involves both identifying and enforcing the valid domain of every user-definable data element, as well as a sufficient understanding of the source of all data elements to determine what is potentially user definable.
They note that the root of most problems is input validation - most applications either just don't do it or do it poorly. They include a few tips on first security the environment the application is running in (like checking the HEAD/OPTIONS values and ensuring you're only allowing known file extensions and directories). They also mention the insecurity behind HIDDEN form elements and some issues surrounding user authentication.
In a new post today Dhiraj Patra shares some tips on making your PHP applications as scalable as they need to be.
The first part of this article, "Real-World PHP Security", appeared in the April 2004 issue of Linux Journal and covered the subject of secure PHP development. This article takes you, the professional PHP developer, one step further, by providing detailed explanations and reliable source code that illustrate the steps to follow in order to develop successful PHP applications.
He mentions some key issues - like keeping a clean environment and correctly using database connectivity - that can keep your application running smoothly.
On the Developer Tutorials blog today, Akash Mehta has posted the second part of his look at the "ultimate web development environment", a continuation from this previous part.
Today I'm going to look at a local development server and its PHP configuration, as well as some of the IDEs/editors available for Linux, especially the cross-platform options.
Tools mentioned this time include things like a local development server (invaluable) some PHP configuration tips and the editors they mentioned, things like Aptana, Eclipse and Zend Studio.
On the Tiger Heron blog, there's a continuation of the series that Tony Freixas has been writing to following the beginning steps of working with PHP. First there was the download/install, then setting up a development environment. This time, he actually gets around to writing a bit of basic code.
Specifically, I will describe how I boot my PHP scripts and why I boot them the way I do. Part 1 shows how my requirements for code portability and maintainability influence the boot process. Part 2 will go into more detail about the specific steps executed by the boot code.
His basic task for the first example is to make a templating sort of system, calling a Navigation class to output links in list items. He outlines the goals of the project, what he's found for his current solution and some alternatives he's discovered along the way.
On the O'Reilly PHP blog (ONLamp.com), there's a new post by Michael Ross with an overview of the popular PHP IDE from Zend, their Zend Studio for Eclipse:
Zend Studio for Eclipse is the company's latest update of its PHP IDE, and carries a version number of 6.0. As a foundation, it uses Eclipse, an extensible open source platform for software development that is growing in functionality and widespread usage every year. It also utilizes the PHP Development Tools (PDT) framework.
He looks at the product from all sides - the releases of the products, requirements, pricing, installation and an overview of the interface (complete with screenshots). He also mentions other features that come bundled with the editor like testing integration, file/version management and a built in debugger (as well as special support for the Zend Framework).
The Zend Developer Zone has posted episode 8 of their ZendCon Sessions series podcast today - Shahar Evron's talk on methods for creating scalable development environments:
Welcome to The ZendCon Sessions. This episode of The ZendCon Sessions was recorded live at ZendCon 2007 in Burlingame, CA. We hope you enjoy today's session as we listen to Shahar Evron present "Building Scalable Development Environments".
