MVC in PHP

[F.Danials]

I'm not going to do your work for you.

I don't want you to. But, having something to base my code on, will assist/help me in the development of the other classes/functionalities.

A framework is a collection of classes, functions, plain code - anything really, that makes your site development faster.

But in my opinion classes would better though, as code can easily be re-used, saving processing power, and resulting in less loading time.

But again, as I emphasised twice in my last post, your set of tasks isn't something you really build an object around, because they are tasks not oop related.

So are you saying the "User" class isn't needed? - Why is this?

Now 2.30 here. I'm going to bed now - and I think you should do too if you haven't already.

I suppose I should , cheers for your help so far!
Greatly appreciated!

[oddz]

Frameworks simplify common tasks for the end user. That's really all a framework is. A Framework is not a class and a class is not a framework. A framework may be made up of several classes, but that is not what defines it as a framework. The classes are the mere medium of delivery or means to an end – nothing more.

[imaginethis]

I don't want you to. But, having something to base my code on, will assist/help me in the development of the other classes/functionalities.

There are plenty of frameworks out there that you can look at as examples try looking them up.

But in my opinion classes would better though, as code can easily be re-used, saving processing power, and resulting in less loading time.

Procedural programing tends be be faster than classes in PHP and requires less processing.

Frameworks simplify common tasks for the end user

I've never meet an end user that was smart enough to use a framework to develop something. Frameworks do simplify common tasks, but for developers.

F.Danials, I would suggest not attempting to create your own framework, or at least not yet. There are plenty of frameworks out there that would definitely serve your purposes while teaching you several programming practices that would help you grow as a programmer. The best way to grow as a programmer, is to read and apply "good" code. I developed my own framework after 2 years of learning PHP. The result was a hodge-podge of bloated code that got the job done but was hard to read, maintain and poorly commented.

[oddz]

The end user being the target for the framework. In many cases those targets are other developers.

[imaginethis]

I understood what you were attempting to say. However, end user refer to those who execute an application and typically the term is associated with non-programmers.

[oddz]

Under most circumstances frameworks directly support the developer intention not those viewing a site built on a framework – they could probably care less. So the target of the product is essentially the developer who chooses to implement the framework to achieve their goal.

[imaginethis]

Then you should probably say developer or programmer rather than end user.

[Jake Arkinstall]

Well, when you are building a framework, the developer IS the end-user (because its for them). Anyway, we know that he meant programmer so let's leave it at that .

F.Danials, whilst a framework does make your app slower, it's well worth it.

For example, in procedural code:

<?php
//verify login:
$username = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['username']);
$password = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['password']);
$query = mysql_query("SELECT id FROM users WHERE username = '{$username}' AND password = MD5('{$password}')");
if(mysql_num_rows($query) > 0){
    $_SESSION['user']['id'] = mysql_result($query, 0);
}

is faster than:

<?php
$user = User::CheckLogin($username, $password);
if($user !== false){
    $_SESSION['user'] = $user;
}

But the second is most certainly easier for the developer.

[ionix5891]

i dunno if he wants to develop a framework, why not

i learned alot while making one for myself and currently use it to great effect serving millions of people

they say best way of learning is getting your hands dirty


btw F.Danials, i highly recommend sitepoint's own PHP Anthology book
http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpant1/

read it few years back and i can say its well well writen

[Jake Arkinstall]

I second that.

It'd also be a good learning excersize to build a framework. You'll find yourself remaking it over and over again, and learning something new every time. The key step to writing a framework is to focus entirely on the guy using the framework first.

Make it as easy and straightforward as you can for him, and fill in the framework based on that.

For example, I'm currently building a framework for a series of sites. When making the templating system, I thought 'what would be the best way of inserting data?' and I first came up with an XML-based approach, a bit like ASP.NET, where the items with the 'insert=...' tag would have that code parsed then inserted into the tag. However, this really didn't have much benefit, and it would require a learning curve to use it, so I came up with this:
Views/Topic.tpl

<h3>~Name~</h3>
<ul>
#LOAD EACH GetArticles INTO InfoBox_Article#
</ul>

Views/InfoBox_Article.tpl:

<li>
    <h4>~Title~</h4>
    <p>~Description~</p>
    <p>#ShowRating#</p>
</li>

The # shows an object method, the ~ shows an object property. The #LOAD.... loads each element returned by the function call (GetArticles()) and outputs each in the template file InfoBox_Article.php.

When you know the desired abilities of the framework, you can THEN start on building it.

[ionix5891]

yes doing some .net is quite an experience as you can borrow alot of ideas and port them to php

you have to give it to microsoft .net and visual studio is quite an environment conductive to high productivity

manys of time do i curse at zend studio for being very lacking and slow

[Jake Arkinstall]

Meh, I do my apps in NotePad++

I used to use PHPDesigner, but I didn't bother continueing when asked to pay for the license because, although the code completion is handy, I am perfectly comfortable with the free NotePad++.

[imaginethis]

VI and Vim FTW

[Jake Arkinstall]

I have the feeling this is going to turn into one of those IDE convos. Let's not go down that route.

F.Danials - are you considering going through the framework route?

[F.Danials]

Blimey that's better - A good long sleep followed by a nice cup of coffee really hits the spot

are you considering going through the framework route?

Yes, as it will assist me in carrying out maintenance, additions, and deletions.

I'm aware that using a framework can slow down the whole system, but for this overhead, you do receive quite a lot as a reward. There wouldn't really be any noticeable speed difference, would there?

How come you used the '#' and '~' characters for inserting data into you templates, don't many systems use '{}'?

I still can't get my head around how the template files (Views) containing the '#', '~', or '{}' characters get linked to the processing files (Controllers). Would it be done using regular expressions ?

How would you create a simple application that displays Hello World in the title bar of the template the will probably look like the following, how what would you add to the "Controller"?

Template Example:

<html>
<head>
<title>{title}</title>
</head>

<body>
</body>
</html>

[Jake Arkinstall]

Well, it all depends on how you WANT to do it.

First of all I'd make a View class:

class View{
    public $Object, $File;
    function getVariable($matches){
        $match = $matches[1];
        return isset($this->Object->$match) ? $this->Object->$match : '';
    }
    function __toString(){
        $Content = file_get_contents('Views/'.$this->File.'.tpl');
        $Content = preg_replace_callback('/{([A-Za-z\s\d_\-]+)}/', array($this, 'getVariable'), $Content);
        return $Content;
    }
}
$View = new View;
$View->Object = new Article('SomeRandomTitle!');
$View->File = 'Main';
echo $View; 

Views/Main.tpl:

<html>
<head>
<title>{title}</title>
</head>

<body>
</body>
</html>

How come you used the '#' and '~' characters for inserting data into you templates, don't many systems use '{}'?

I use those characters because they have separate meanings. The # means a function call, and the ~ means a variable, i.e:

<p>My name is ~Name~, I am #CalculateAge#</p>

Plus the { and } is a bit to cliché for my liking, and when going through code, I find ~hello~ easier to spot than {hello} because of the protrusions on the ~.

There's method to my madness...

[F.Danials]

How the hell do you learn all this stuff? - Can you recommend any books/websites etc?
This style of coding is right up my street! (Just what I need.)

So I can see how it works, I attempted to execute the above code, but I received the following error. Why is this?

Fatal error: Class 'Article' not found in c:\apache\htdocs\class.php on line 28

Am I correct in saying that there is little if not any noticeable difference in speed between using a Framework/OOP and Procedural code?

<?php
class View{

    public $Object, $File;

    function getVariable($matches){

        $match = $matches[1];

        return isset($this->Object->$match) ? $this->Object->$match : '';

    }

    function __toString(){

        $Content = file_get_contents('Views/'.$this->File.'.tpl');

        $Content = preg_replace_callback('/{([A-Za-z\s\d_\-]+)}/', array($this, 'getVariable'), $Content);

        return $Content;

    }

}

$View = new View;

$View->Object = new Article('SomeRandomTitle!');

$View->File = 'Main';

echo $View;

?>

[oddz]

That would be because the class was not defined in the example. The error says it all: Class 'Article' not found.

[F.Danials]

Ah! Well spotted. I missed that
What would the "Article" class consist of?

[Jake Arkinstall]

Just a public property $title, and a construct method which sets the passed value to that.

How the hell do you learn all this stuff?

Theres a great site which I've learned almost everything I know about PHP on. You're looking at it

[XtrEM3]

Theres a great site which I've learned almost everything I know about PHP on. You're looking at it

haha you should be seeing some free books coming your way for that plug

[snajt]

While we're talking about templating, how would you make use of the composite view pattern? I've done some searching about this but could not come up with a solution.

[ionix5891]

While we're talking about templating, how would you make use of the composite view pattern? I've done some searching about this but could not come up with a solution.

my views allows for master templates, main view file + "codebehind" and several components

heres example from page controller i was working on this morning, and example how the view is created and parameters passed in

        //create item object
        $Item = new Item( 
            new ItemDatabase( $this->Registry->DB ),
            $this->Registry->Settings->items
        );
        
        
        
        
        //fetch the hotlist
        try {
            
            $hotlist     =    $Item->fetchHotlist( $this->Registry->Session->getUserId() );
        }
        catch ( ItemException $e){
            
            throw new Exception( $e->getMessage(), 500 );
        }
        
        
        
        //fetch the asset summary
        try {
            
            $register_summary     =    $Item->fetchSummary(  );
        }
        catch ( ItemException $e){
            
            throw new Exception( $e->getMessage(), 500 );
        }
        
        
        
        //create a view
        try{
            
            $View = new View( 
                $this->Registry,
                'normal', //normal master template
                'default__admin', //view file
                array( //components
                    'default',
                    'item'
                )
            );
            
            $View->setParams( $this->Registry->CommonView );
            
            $output    =    $View->render(array(
                'hotlist'            =>    $hotlist,
                'register_summary'    =>    $register_summary,
            ));
        }
        catch( Exception $e ){
            
            throw new Exception( $e->getMessage() );
        }
        
        
        
        //output
        $this->Registry->HttpResponse->appendNoCacheHeaders();
        $this->Registry->HttpResponse->appendHeader('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');
        $this->Registry->HttpResponse->setMessage( $output );
        $this->Registry->HttpResponse->output(); 

[World Wide Weird]

ionix5891 << Why is your HttpResponse a child node of the Registry?

[ionix5891]

so any post processing filters could be easily added as flow of control leaves the page controller snip above

oh and for testing purposes, can examine the registry and the results, since everything important is in one place its easier to run tests, not to mention not all output is sent as http response other, i have alot of cli output and few socket based deamons etc

the registry lets me avoid globals and helps simplify testing, which is well why people use them

tho i have to admit i hate the

Lack->Of->Proper->Autocomplete

in all PHP IDE's i tested