By adding Java to their App Engine, Google has opened the door for a whole slew of languages that have been implemented on the JVM, now including PHP via Quercus.
This weekend I decided to give it a try and deploy a (very) old tutorial of mine - PHP Tutorial - on GAE.
I must admit that I was very pleasantly surprised by how effortless it was. OK, it’s a very rudimentary PHP application, the only PHP code used was to run the examples described on the code blocks and do some includes; nevertheless I didn’t feel the need to change a single line of code.
Also, deploying a Java application to GAE is simpler than a Python one. Not only because you have a very handy Eclipse plugin, but you will also find configuring the file appengine-web.xml a lot easier when compared to app.yaml.
All you need to do in order to deploy a PHP application, at least as simple as the one I’ve tried, is to follow these steps:
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Approximately 2 years ago I’ve written a set of tutorials that served as a guideline for a Beginner’s PHP Training Course. These tutorials were made with the WAMP solution stack in mind.
Since I’ve been working with Java EE Technologies and Servers recently, I’ve decided do add another one explaining how to install JBoss Web 1.0.1 GA with PHP support (PHP Handler Servlet).
This was based on a tutorial by Philippe Fievet that is now offline for some reason.
Web applications frameworks support the development of Java web applications for years. They aim to alleviate the overhead associated with common activities like internationalization, automated form validation, caching, Ajax, and more.
Only recently have they started playing an important role in PHP, more specifically since the release of the PHP 5.
There are already some awesome PHP frameworks out there like PRADO, CakePHP, and Zend Framework, but the one that seems the most stable, enjoyable, and most feature-packed is Symfony.
Symfony is fully documented and has a nice step-by-step tutorial covering all its features: Askeet - symfony Advent Calendar.
With the release of symfony 1.0, Francois Zaninotto has seized the opportunity to post a beginner’s symfony tutorial at Sitepoint.
Start now using it and make your applications faster, better, and Web 2.0 ready.
Actuate Corporation and Zend Technologies have teamed up to allow PHP developers to quickly add reporting capabilities to web applications using Actuate BIRT.
The collaboration between Zend and Actuate has resulted in new capabilities in the 3.0 version of the Zend Platform. Zend Platform 3.0 allows PHP developers to quickly integrate reporting capabilities, including charting, to web applications by calling Actuate BIRT reports via the Zend Java Bridge. Web application developers are often faced with strong end-user demands for reports that integrate and summarize application data. This new functionality will provide an efficient alternative to hand coding reports from scratch using PHP, and will ensure that more PHP applications are up and running quickly with the reporting capabilities that they need. Developers who have built reports using Actuate BIRT will now be able to easily distribute those reports via PHP applications.
Functionality that is now available to PHP developers includes:
- Flexible report output formats that deliver single or multi-page PDF or HTML reports in several viewing and printed formats using parameters, multiple sections, grouping levels, charts, and more. Report content can also easily be exported to CSV format.
- Reports built on top of any data source that enable report developers to access and generate reports from SQL databases, text files, or XML.
- Easy-to-use visual design environment that enables developers to create and deploy reports in minutes via a simple, robust, wizard-driven interface.
- Powerful integrated charting that enables charting reports to be built easily in a variety of types which include Line, Bar, Pie, Meters, Area, Scatter and Stock. The charts can be output in different formats including Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).
Alexander Netkachev has a nice set of articles in his site about Zend Framework (MVC-based framework written in PHP) and its features, how to integrate it with others frameworks like PRADO (component-based and event-driven framework written in PHP5) or Dojo library (Javascript/AJAX toolkit), and more.
Have a look at Alex @ Net.
Framework contributor Chris Shiflett has teamed up with php|architect magazine, another Zend Framework partner, to publish a great new tutorial on getting started with the MVC architecture of the framework.
