Paul Jones points out a new system for the Solar framework that will help those new to using it get started - a sample application that you can grab from Subversion in the traditional "hello world" style.

In the spirit of some other framework projects, the Solar Framework for PHP 5 now offers a ready-to-use Solar system to get new users off to a quick start. It's not prepared as a tarball just yet, but it is available for checkout or export using Subversion from http://svn.solarphp.com/system/trunk.

The sample installation creates a front controller, an authentication system and a "bookmarks" application to give you an idea of how everything fits together. You can get more information on each of these parts and how they all work on the Solar manual/wiki.

The Zend Developer Zone has posted a sample chapter from a new book Packt Publishing has put out called "Pro PHP, Patterns, Frameworks, Testing and more by Kevin McArthur.

So today you get a double bonus. You get to check out Pro PHP, Patterns, Frameworks, Testing and more by Kevin McArthur. You also get a great tutorial on SPL!

The sample chapter looks (obviously) at the SPL, the Standard PHP Library - functions included with PHP5 releases to accomplish some pretty cool things.

On his blog, Tomas Petricek shows how to create Silverlight applications inside of PHP using the Microsoft development tools.

Shortly Silverlight is a cross-browser platform that can be used for developing client-side components that run in the web browser and contain rich media, graphics and can interactively communicate with the user. The language that can be used for writing Silverlight code can be in general any .NET language, so our goal is to allow using PHP by making Phalanger compatible with Silverlight.

He has two demo applications - a simple car app and a helicopter game - he uses as examples. He focuses on the simpler of the two, the car demo, and gives the XAML source, the code for the PHPX file and talks some about the method of deployment that'd need to be used to get the app out to others.

You can download the complete source for the examples (including the Phalanger Silverlight runtime) as well.

On the IBM developerWorks website there's a new tutorial (part 2 of the series, here's part 1) about creating the DB2 Health Monitor sample app:

DB2 9 pureXML technology allows businesses to improve data integrity and avoid legacy data lock-in. It enables application developers to utilize the best storage medium for the task and eliminate the middle-tier application logic previously required to take advantage of Web services.

PHP's role in the creation is to generate the XML that the system needs to communicate between the application and the database.

Mike Potter points out that the code from the previous PHP/Flex e-seminar [zip] has been posted and is ready for download.

f you have any questions, or are new to Flex and PHP, you should download the Flex / PHP Test Drive from flex.org/php. That page also has a link to the PHP FlexCoders email list, where you can post questions about Flex and PHP. If you have any questions about the code in particular, you can post them to this blog entry, and I'll be happy to answer them.

Also included in his post are instructions on getting things compiled and working to be able to use the example code on your system.

The Zend Developer Zone has posted a sample chapter of one of the latest APress PHP-related releases, "The Definitive Guide to Symfony".

Continuing in their tradition of having their finger on the pulse of PHP, apress has recently released their latest title, The Definitive Guide to symfony. My friend, Julie Miller sent me over the first chapter to share with you.

The chapter [pdf] is the beginning of the book, the introduction to get you started on the road to using the framework.

For those looking at taking the Zend PHP Certification but aren't quite sure what will be on the test, Zend has a sample test you can take to get a glimpse into it. David Coallier has taken it one step further and has posted the answers to the exam on his blog.

Are you someone preparing for the Zend PHP5 Certification ? Have you tried the online self test ? Well here I am giving up the answers so you can help and correct yourself if you didn't get 100% (8/8)

He also recommends taking the test if you'd like to give your career that little extra boost. It helps separate you from the pack and give you something real to show you know a little something about the language.

With unit testing becoming more and more prevalent in development of online applications (especially PHP), it's good to see some of the frameworks giving their users as much information as possible. The symfony project has done just that as a part of a larger book on the framework.

You're probably curious to see if what we wrote in this book is really helpful and practical. So we decided to offer you a sample of the book, in PDF format, and that's precisely Chapter 15 about units and functional tests.

To check out this sample chapter from thei upcoming book (the chapter on unit testing), download it here or just grab 0 comments voice your opinion now!
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