PHPDeveloper.org

Marco Tabini's Blog: 5 PHP 5 features you can't afford to ignore

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:06:45 -0500

Marco Tabini has posted his list of what he considers five features of PHP5 that you "can't afford to ignore" when doing your development work:

Despite the fact that you may not have a choice in the matter, upgrading comes with a number of bonus new features that can help you write better code and gain access to new functionality that required a fair amount of hacking in previous version. Here's a quick list of 5 personal favourites.

The feature to make his list are SimpleXML, JSON/SOAP, PDO, the Standard PHP Library and SQLite. Each has their own bonus feature(s) included too for a little extra incentive to check them out.

John Coggeshall's Blog: Compiling extensions for Zend Core

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:32:00 -0600

John Coggeshall has blogged about a method he's worked up for compiling extensions into the Zend Core software.

While Core does ship with a large list of extensions (which are all QA'd and supported by Zend) there are times when you would like to include non-official extensions from PECL for various reasons.

He breaks it down into a few simple steps - download, "phpize" the extension, compile it and add the extension to the php.ini. He details the second step of the process (the phpize) because of some of the differences there are between doing it for a normal PHP install and a Zend Core install.

He also provides directions for an exception to the rule - compiling a PDO driver for your ZC install. You'll have to trick the Zend Core installation into using the right files, though. Full instructions are included.

Developer.com: SQLite: The Sensible Database Solution

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:07:00 -0500

On Developer.com today, Jason Gilmore has written up a tutorial that introduces one of the handy features that came with upgrading to PHP5 - SQLite support:

One such solution is SQLite, a fully-featured relational database that, at just 250KB, is by itself able to easily fit on a floppy disk yet is capable of managing terabyte-sized databases. [...] In this tutorial, I'll introduce SQLite, showing you how this database can offer you maximum return with minimal investment.

He introduces the library by showing how it can be used from the command line (along with an example database) and how to turn on support for it in PHP and make queries in the normal SQL syntax.

Richard Davey's Blog: PDO SQLite support just doesn't work fully?

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:03:00 -0500

Richard Davey, after spending many an hour working on a PDO SQLite bit of functionality for his latest application, has come to one conclusion - "the PDO SQLite blob support is totally borked".

I really don't know why, or what is going on, but after spending hours trying various code permutations I'm just not getting anywhere. I tried asking on php_general to no avail, so I consider this blog entry my last ditch attempt to get someone to shed some light on this issue before I give-in and ditch PDO for good.

His mission was to store an image in the database, but everything he tried just didn't seem to work out. After partial image storage and parameters being ignored, he's still at a loss as to how to get his (seemingly) simple quest solved. The only comment so far, though, hasn't seemed to help much - he's even opened a bug report upon Wez Furlong's request.

DevShed: Abstracting Database Access Using Polymorphism with Objects in PHP 5

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:21:00 -0500

In a new article from DevShed, they walk you through a method of using abstraction and objects along with polymorphism to work with databases.

I'll be explaining how to implement Polymorphism to achieve a high level of abstraction when accessing different database systems. Subsequent articles will cover the use of polymorphic objects to build dynamic web documents and validate user-supplied input.

They start out with a bad example of a database link in a PHP script, a database handler that, based on what type of database you tell it you're using, handles the requests appropriately. This is good, but poor design - their alternative is using objects (created from classes of one type for each kind of database). These are pulled together in a factory class and the correct one is built - out into a generic database object that's smart enough to know what it's supposed to do.

Windows Skills Blog: Using SQLite as a database backend for a lightweight server

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:10:00 -0600

On the Windows Skills blog, there's a new post that talks about the use of a SQLite database (via PHP) to handle the assault that Digg.com can dish out to a popular webiste.

Physical memory was limited and Apache and MySQL soon started to fight for every remaining byte and eventually the page was unavailable. After this experience I started to look for a alternative for the database storage and I found an interesting one: SQLite.

He mentions some of the features the database has including zero-configuration, a simple API, and the portability of having a single database in a single file. The next step was getting it to work with his Apache/PHP5 installation and to run some statistics on it. The results show SQLite pulling ahead of MySQL (INNODB) by a bit and MySQL (MYISAM) by a good bit.

Vexxhost.com: Top 5 new (and cool!) features in PHP5 that you probably haven't heard of

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 10:42:00 -0600

From the Vexxhost.com blog today comes a quick overview of some of the "new and cool features" of PHP 5 that you might not have heard of - a top five list.

PHP5 has brought so much new features but because of its big syntax changes, a big percentage of the PHP developing base has not made the change. Here are the top new features that could change your mind.

The list they've created includes:

Better error handling with exceptions
Completely rewritten MySQL extension
A heck of a lot more useful functions
Finally! SQLite database support!
The best damn OOP support period
with each having a bit of a explanatory paragraph...

DevShed: Additional Methods for Using SQLite with PHP 5

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:12:00 -0600

DevShed continues their series covering SQLite in PHP5 today with the final tutorial - "Additional Methods for Using SQLite with PHP 5":

The list of additional features offered by SQLite is really impressive. Therefore, in this last article of the series, I'll be taking an in-depth look at them. This will complete our analysis of this excellent RDBMS integrated with PHP 5.

First up is a look at the usage of the seek and lastInsertRowid functions followed by the changes and queryExec methods. They show how to use the createFunction method and show one of the more advanced features of SQLite - creating a database that only exists in the server's memory.

DevShed: Using Unbuffered Queries and More with SQLite with PHP 5

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:46:00 -0600

Continuing with their look at PHP5 and SQLite, DevShed has posted part two of the series - "Using Unbuffered Queries and More with SQLite with PHP 5".

Taking into account the group of characteristics that I mentioned [a few lines above], in this second tutorial of the series, I'll be taking a look at some of them. This will give you a clearer idea of how to use them as part of your existing and -- why not? -- future PHP applications.

They take a look at the hows and whys of working with the unbuffered queries and well as some examples - counting rows and fields in a database table and looking at the use of more "row-processing methods" to get different sorts of data out.

DevShed: Introduction to Using SQLite with PHP 5

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:59:32 -0600

DevShed has started a small series today that seeks to guide you through the world of SQLite as is interfaced through PHP5.

If you use PHP 5 to build web-based applications that access a database, you might want to consider SQLite. A "lighter" option than MySQL, this database may still suit your purposes if you don't need all of MySQL's bells and whistles. This three-part series covers many of SQLite's most useful features.

Their post today, part one talks about the basics of the protocol and how to get started with it in PHP5. Since it's enabled by default, the chances of it being on your installation are great. They only really look at grabbing data from the database in this part, saving pushing data back in for another time.