To be fair, PHP has built-in time zone functions to help with this, but these aren't particularly intuitive and require a fair amount of time to get used to. A quicker alternative is to use the PEAR Date class, which comes with built-in support for time zones and is, by far, the simplest way to perform these conversions.

This tutorial will teach you how to convert temporal values between time zones with the PEAR Date class. It assumes that you have a working Apache and PHP installation and that the PEAR Date class has been correctly installed.

They go with a few simple examples to introduce you to how things work:

• just taking in and echoing back out the date
• taking in the date and echoing it back out in a different format
• making a simple time zone conversion
• convert the timestamp to local time
• finding the offset for the time stamp from GMT
• adding and subtracting time stamps

Here's how this works: Scrape around in the closets of you mind and find that PHP tutorial you always wanted to write. The subject is wide open as long as it is PHP. Once you have your idea in your head, transfer it to an email and send it to me. No need to send over the entire article, just an outline. We'll look it over carefully and if it looks like something other DevZoners would like, we'll start you on your way down the road to fame.

Articles selected will recieve a DevZone t-shirt from Zend and be entered into the drawing for the free ride to the conference. There will also be one grand prize winner (as drawn September 4th) that will recieve:

• Air-fair from anywhere in the continental United States to the beautiful San Jose, CA.
• Hotel accommodations in The Doubletree Hotel; the conference hotel.
• Registration for the Zend/PHP Conference and Expo.

So, what are you waiting for? Head over to register and get started on those articles today!

You can head directly over to the tutorial via this link to read up on this great package.

Among the things mentioned this week there is:

• talk of the next release candidate for PHP 4.4.3 (to be found here)
• the seven PHP-related students that made it into Google's "Summer of Code"
• OmnitIT's acquisition of Brain Bulb
• mentions of several of the upcoming conferences
• php|architect's latest issue
• and several other various contributions from the rest of the community

Be sure to check out all of the details on each of these items (and a few more) in this edition.

There's mention of the default interactive shell (with the --with-readline) that comes with PHP5 installs, but it's just not as full-featured as many would like. Thankfully, there are three alternatives presented - php_shell, phpa, and phpinteractive. For each, there's a bit of a description and some of Cal's opinions on how well they work.

He uses the configuration class from the eZ Components framework to configure the application, and an __autoload to get it working. There's a bit on how to set up the configuration with the library, and how to use that config to remove the Smarty integration's dependence on the data being passed directly to the view. Now it can be defined dynamically and pulled in via the constructor they've created.

Among the items that happened from this past week, he includes:

• the four security holes found in PHP 5.1.3 that held back its release
• Zend's new consultancy services offered in Germany
• the upcoming release of a new preview version of the Zend Framework
• an agreement between MySQL and Oracle to allow them to still sell/support the InnoDB storage engine
• and several other conference, security, and community notes.

Be sure to check out the Zend Developer Zone each week to check up on the latest summaries each Monday!