On CodeIgniter.com there's a new post looking at Sparks, reusable code components/packages for the CodeIgniter framework.

On the back of a CIConf in London last month, I would like to delve a little into a common theme amongst CodeIgniter developers. Speeding up development through simple automation. To do that we’re going to take a look at the CodeIgniter Sparks project and how it can drastically speed up your development. To demonstrate, I will walk through building a little portfolio that leeches off the GitHub API.

They show you how to install it from the Getsparks website, finding Sparks to add to your application, the code to load in the component and configuring it on load. They include an example of loading in a REST client Spark and how to use it to make a request to Github and pull down a Markdown file.

Kenny Katzgrau has a new post with the top ten Sparks (CodeIgniter packages) for the year of 2011:

It’s a moderately simple app that provides a vehicle for quickly dropping other developers’ code in your codebase. Many of the packages on GetSparks are very well maintained. I am continually impressed by the amount of effort spark developers pour into their submissions when I peruse the site and try new packages out. [...] GetSparks has almost clocked 50,000 package downloads at this point, but there are handful of sparks that have really stood out in terms of popularity.

Packages in the top ten list by popularity include (in no particular order) php-activerecord, template, gravatar_helper and markdown. He also thanks a few of the folks that have made the GetSparks.org site what it is.

On NetTuts.com today there's a new tutorial showing off a package management system for the CodeIgniter framework, Sparks, that makes installing and using packages similar to Ruby's gems.

Sparks is a new package-management system for CodeIgniter that extends the core with support for gem-like sparks. This tutorial interweaves an entry-level overview of the architecture and usage of the sparks system with the creation of dovecote—a simple spark for managing RSS data.

The tutorial introduces you to the Sparks system and helps you get it installed and configured to work with a first basic package - a dovecote example. He helps organize and write the first spark as well as set up any dependencies and autoloading it might need. He follows this by adding some functionality to the package to make pushing output to the view simpler.

You can download the source for the complete tutorial's code.