There are so many PHP frameworks that it can be hard to keep track of them all. Some are already very popular, while others are relatively new and unknown. [...] Of the seven criteria [of a good framework], this article will examine only the speed and performance.

They define their structure for testing - hardware and software - as well as some basic settings like number of connections, disabling of caching and these sample files for each of the frameworks. You'll have a see the rest of the post for their results, though.

If you're keen to start capitalizing upon the great framework-oriented features you've heard so much about but aren't yet ready to invest the significant time required to master one of the more involved solutions, consider investigating one of the lightweight solutions such as the PHP Fat-Free Framework. In this article I'll show you just how easy it is to get started building Web sites using this deceptively tiny (55kB) framework.

You'll need a PHP 5.3 install to get the framework working - several bits in its core use 5.3-only features. He shows how, at its simplest, the framework can be used to generate "clean URLs" even if it just routes to HTML files. Next is setting up dynamic routing then building page templates and MySQL integration. If you're looking for more detail on the framework and what it has to offer, visit the project's page on SourceForge.

Those of you who are deploying PHP applications to Windows Azure, are probably using the Windows Azure tooling for Eclipse or the fantastic command-line tools available. I will give you a third option that allows for a 100% customized setup and is much more lightweight than the above options. Of course, if you want to have the out-of-the box functionality of those tools, stick with them.

He's broken it out into five steps to keep things clean and simple:

Creating a baseline package template (three XML-based definition files)
• Creating a script to auto-install the PHP runtime for you on deployment
• Creating a startup task or two to populate some environment variables for you
• Creating a packaging script to handle the actions you might need to do over and over for deployment
• Test the created package

You can download and test out this sample template by grabbing this archive.

If you'd like to quickly build a simple dynamic website, adopting any of the many so-called lightweight PHP frameworks (10 of which I introduced in the article Top 10 Lightweight Frameworks for PHP Development) might make sense. In fact I've recently been experimenting with one of the frameworks introduced in the aforementioned article, namely DooPHP, and have been so impressed by its capabilities that I wanted to put together a short tutorial highlighting my favorite features.

He walks you through the setup of the framework and the process of creating a basic page - setting up routing, making a controller and adding an action. He also shows how to create a view, layout and how you can use the built-in model functionality to work with your tables.

Writing incredibly powerful web sites and web apps has never been this easy. Every line in Jackal was carefully engineered for speed and efficiency. Our goal was to create a PHP framework that helps you write bigger better applications without getting in your way. Writing for the web is a lot of work if you start from ground zero. Using Jackal, you can immediately start writing your application because we have already built the foundation.

They've just released v1.1.3, and 1.2 will be coming along shortly. You can get more information about the framework and its use from the tutorials and documentation on the jackalphp.com site. The framework currently includes components for query buildings, RSS handling, templating and working with cURL.

I'm currently looking for a good PHP framework to do a new project. I recently used Kohana 3 at on a project for a client but I needed something lighter and having used Sinatra and Padrino previously but needing it PHP based I did the next natural step - searched for PHP Sinatra clones.

There's four frameworks that made the list - all in varying states of development:

• Limonade
• Fat Free Framework
• Slim
• Fitzgerald

For much of the time, developers just want to check some data, alter a few records, or back up the database. The phpMyAdmin and MonoQL zipped distributions range from 2MB to 7MB, and they're overkill for most day-to-day administration. You're using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. Here are three lightweight MySQL administration alternatives you should consider. They're all PHP-based, open source, and great for quick database tasks.

The three that made their short list are:

• SQL Buddy
• Adminer
• PHP Mini Admin

Others suggested in the comments include Chive and DBKiss.

Kaddi needed to fix something in her employer's database today. Unfortunately she had FTP access only. So the database change had to be made through a PHP script. [...] I looked for a basic MySQL PHP interface but couldn't find one. So I quickly wrote it my self.

He has a screenshot of the app in action included and you can grab the code from his wiki.

I had planned on building some extra functionality into jQPie to fit certain needs but after playing with Ext and its jQuery support all my needs have been met. A basic example of the paging/data grid module running off php, works pretty nice. http://projects.cyberlot.net/jqpie/examples/paging.html

The jQPie project provides a lightweight interface to iQuery. Check out some examples of what it can do on its wiki page.

You may have heard about Agile Programming, eXtreme Programming and the like. I want to introduce to you Scrum, which is "an agile, lightweight process that can be used to manage and control software and product development using iterative, incremental practices.". Not only big companies are using this toolset, but also some smaller ones, including us at Mayflower GmbH.

He lists out some of the main attributes that Scrum is defined by, including:

• Scrum is a wrapper for existing engineering practices.
• Scrum is a process that controls the chaos of conflicting interests and needs.
• Scrum is a way to maximize productivity.
• Scrum is a way for everyone to feel good about their job, their contributions, and that they have done the very best they possibly could.

He's also given a workshop on the subject, and you can find the PDF slides here.]]> Fri, 03 Mar 2006 06:39:42 -0600