Newbie question for significantly large project - a 'mix' of Zend and my own coding?

[Rishi Daryanani]

Hi,

I have a pretty large online-store project ahead of
me. I have the next 2 months to develop it and am
starting now; I am confident I can finish this in time
with my 'old' coding style.

However, I have installed and gone through the
'getting started' tutorial of Zend, and can see how
useful and powerful the framework can be. However I
can also see that more complex tasks are (at the
moment) beyond me and I really need to spend a lot of
time working with the framework to understand how to
implement different functionalities. For example, I am
only trying to learn now how to build a basic form and
process the data (using the MVC logic), I can't
imagine when I will know how to connect to a database,
manage sessions and implement a complex Ajax-based
products detail page with shopping cart. So, from what
I can see, Zend sounds so useful, but I will probably
have a significant learning curve if I want to build
this particular project under a framework, since
frameworks in general are new to me.

Therefore, my question is this - can I "keep" Zend
installed on my server, and use its capabilities for
the simpler tasks (e.g. building a form).. but at the
same time, I will include my own class file from the
index.php file (this class file will be a php file
that has all the small functions that I've used over
the past few years and find useful for my projects).

Therefore, I will write some extra code in index.php
to call my own class file and generate an object,

include('../my_general_class_file.php');
$conn = new MyGeneralClassFile;

The $conn variable will therefore be available for my
scripts, whether these scripts will be developed in
the way I'm used to (i.e. using php include files that
will be included via index.php) or if necessary the
$conn variable will also be able to be accessed as a
global variable in the Zend class files that I build
in the future.

Does anyone have any comments on this or any
recommendations? The point is, I don't have the time
to fully work on Zend for this particular project, yet
I want to "keep" Zend installed and ready so that I
can use it for particular tasks for learning,
eventually using more and more of the framework as I
become more familiar with it.

Many thanks!


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
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[DASPRiD]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

In fact it is the idea of Zend Framework, that you must never use all
components of it, but instead you can use single components without the
others (as long as they don't dependend on eachother).

However, I would you suggest in any case that you use ZF's front
controller with it's MVC abilities as base, as it simplifies lots of
stuff without requiring you extensive learning.

Rishi Daryanani schrieb:

> Hi,
>
> I have a pretty large online-store project ahead of
> me. I have the next 2 months to develop it and am
> starting now; I am confident I can finish this in time
> with my 'old' coding style.
>
> However, I have installed and gone through the
> 'getting started' tutorial of Zend, and can see how
> useful and powerful the framework can be. However I
> can also see that more complex tasks are (at the
> moment) beyond me and I really need to spend a lot of
> time working with the framework to understand how to
> implement different functionalities. For example, I am
> only trying to learn now how to build a basic form and
> process the data (using the MVC logic), I can't
> imagine when I will know how to connect to a database,
> manage sessions and implement a complex Ajax-based
> products detail page with shopping cart. So, from what
> I can see, Zend sounds so useful, but I will probably
> have a significant learning curve if I want to build
> this particular project under a framework, since
> frameworks in general are new to me.
>
> Therefore, my question is this - can I "keep" Zend
> installed on my server, and use its capabilities for
> the simpler tasks (e.g. building a form).. but at the
> same time, I will include my own class file from the
> index.php file (this class file will be a php file
> that has all the small functions that I've used over
> the past few years and find useful for my projects).
>
> Therefore, I will write some extra code in index.php
> to call my own class file and generate an object,
>
> include('../my_general_class_file.php');
> $conn = new MyGeneralClassFile;
>
> The $conn variable will therefore be available for my
> scripts, whether these scripts will be developed in
> the way I'm used to (i.e. using php include files that
> will be included via index.php) or if necessary the
> $conn variable will also be able to be accessed as a
> global variable in the Zend class files that I build
> in the future.
>
> Does anyone have any comments on this or any
> recommendations? The point is, I don't have the time
> to fully work on Zend for this particular project, yet
> I want to "keep" Zend installed and ready so that I
> can use it for particular tasks for learning,
> eventually using more and more of the framework as I
> become more familiar with it.
>
> Many thanks!
>
>
>       ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Be a better friend, newshound, and
> know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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[Keith Pope-3]

 
Yeah you can use ZF as a component library with no problems, I currently use ZF it this fashion.

Also have you checked out Magento ( http://www.magentocommerce.com/ ), this is a ZF based ecommerce solution, its very good and beats any other open source ecommerce solution hands down in my opinion :)

Keith Pope
Web Developer

-----Original Message-----
From: Rishi Daryanani [mailto:rishijd@...]
Sent: 13 May 2008 07:48
To: fw-general@...
Subject: [fw-general] Newbie question for significantly large project - a 'mix' of Zend and my own coding?

Hi,

I have a pretty large online-store project ahead of me. I have the next 2 months to develop it and am starting now; I am confident I can finish this in time with my 'old' coding style.

However, I have installed and gone through the 'getting started' tutorial of Zend, and can see how useful and powerful the framework can be. However I can also see that more complex tasks are (at the
moment) beyond me and I really need to spend a lot of time working with the framework to understand how to implement different functionalities. For example, I am only trying to learn now how to build a basic form and process the data (using the MVC logic), I can't imagine when I will know how to connect to a database, manage sessions and implement a complex Ajax-based products detail page with shopping cart. So, from what I can see, Zend sounds so useful, but I will probably have a significant learning curve if I want to build this particular project under a framework, since frameworks in general are new to me.

Therefore, my question is this - can I "keep" Zend installed on my server, and use its capabilities for the simpler tasks (e.g. building a form).. but at the same time, I will include my own class file from the index.php file (this class file will be a php file that has all the small functions that I've used over the past few years and find useful for my projects).

Therefore, I will write some extra code in index.php to call my own class file and generate an object,

include('../my_general_class_file.php');
$conn = new MyGeneralClassFile;

The $conn variable will therefore be available for my scripts, whether these scripts will be developed in the way I'm used to (i.e. using php include files that will be included via index.php) or if necessary the $conn variable will also be able to be accessed as a global variable in the Zend class files that I build in the future.

Does anyone have any comments on this or any recommendations? The point is, I don't have the time to fully work on Zend for this particular project, yet I want to "keep" Zend installed and ready so that I can use it for particular tasks for learning, eventually using more and more of the framework as I become more familiar with it.

Many thanks!


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ


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[Rishi Daryanani]

Thanks so much for your replies Ben and Keith! In that
case, could someone guide me how to use ZF as a
component library as opposed to something the website
completely depends on? For example

- Since my .htaccess file is as follows,
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule !\.(js|ico|gif|jpg|png|css)$ index.php

..and the index.php file includes a "bootstrap.php"
file which is in the "application" folder, which
includes the Zend library. For the code of
bootstrap.php, please see see:
http://framework.zend.com/wiki/display/ZFDEV/Official+ZF+QuickStart
(the code is near the beginning of this tutorial)

What this does is try to use the MVC pattern for ALL
pages, which forces me to use the "views" and
"controller" folders to build files. Rather, what if I
had my own modules and scripts that I would like to
code myself, say in my separate "includes" folder...
it would really help if someone could email me their
bootstrap.php (or similar) file or guide me how to
write it so that I can simply use the Zend functions
as and when I need to (e.g. to build a form using
Zend_Form) but not necessarily rely on all this
automation which looks for scripts in the "controller"
and "views" folders depending on the URL.

Many thanks!
Rishi



--- Keith Pope <Keith.Pope@...> wrote:

>  
> Yeah you can use ZF as a component library with no
> problems, I currently use ZF it this fashion.
>
> Also have you checked out Magento (
> http://www.magentocommerce.com/ ), this is a ZF
> based ecommerce solution, its very good and beats
> any other open source ecommerce solution hands down
> in my opinion :)
>
> Keith Pope
> Web Developer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rishi Daryanani [mailto:rishijd@...]
> Sent: 13 May 2008 07:48
> To: fw-general@...
> Subject: [fw-general] Newbie question for
> significantly large project - a 'mix' of Zend and my
> own coding?
>
> Hi,
>
> I have a pretty large online-store project ahead of
> me. I have the next 2 months to develop it and am
> starting now; I am confident I can finish this in
> time with my 'old' coding style.
>
> However, I have installed and gone through the
> 'getting started' tutorial of Zend, and can see how
> useful and powerful the framework can be. However I
> can also see that more complex tasks are (at the
> moment) beyond me and I really need to spend a lot
> of time working with the framework to understand how
> to implement different functionalities. For example,
> I am only trying to learn now how to build a basic
> form and process the data (using the MVC logic), I
> can't imagine when I will know how to connect to a
> database, manage sessions and implement a complex
> Ajax-based products detail page with shopping cart.
> So, from what I can see, Zend sounds so useful, but
> I will probably have a significant learning curve if
> I want to build this particular project under a
> framework, since frameworks in general are new to
> me.
>
> Therefore, my question is this - can I "keep" Zend
> installed on my server, and use its capabilities for
> the simpler tasks (e.g. building a form).. but at
> the same time, I will include my own class file from
> the index.php file (this class file will be a php
> file that has all the small functions that I've used
> over the past few years and find useful for my
> projects).
>
> Therefore, I will write some extra code in index.php
> to call my own class file and generate an object,
>
> include('../my_general_class_file.php');
> $conn = new MyGeneralClassFile;
>
> The $conn variable will therefore be available for
> my scripts, whether these scripts will be developed
> in the way I'm used to (i.e. using php include files
> that will be included via index.php) or if necessary
> the $conn variable will also be able to be accessed
> as a global variable in the Zend class files that I
> build in the future.
>
> Does anyone have any comments on this or any
> recommendations? The point is, I don't have the time
> to fully work on Zend for this particular project,
> yet I want to "keep" Zend installed and ready so
> that I can use it for particular tasks for learning,
> eventually using more and more of the framework as I
> become more familiar with it.
>
> Many thanks!
>
>
>      
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
> Be a better friend, newshound, and
> know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.
>
http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

>
>
> --
> allpay.net Limited, Fortis et Fides, Whitestone
> Business Park, Whitestone, Hereford, HR1 3SE.
> Registered in England No. 02933191. UK VAT Reg. No.
> 666 9148 88.
>
> Telephone: [phone], Fax: [phone].
> Website: www.allpay.net
> Email: enquiries@...
>
> This email, and any files transmitted with it, is
> confidential and intended solely for the use of the
> individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you
> have received this email in error please notify the
> allpay.net Information Security Manager at the
> number above.
>

      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[David Mintz-3]

If you want to use ZF components without committing yourself to full-blown MVC (ie., with mod_rewrite routing requests to index.php), then just do what you usually do, make sure ZF is in your include path, and load the ZF classes as needed. (Same as you would something like PEAR, perhaps even easier).

However -- forgive me for psychologizing, but it sounds like you're a little intimidated about jumping in. Don't be. Go for it.

On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 4:13 AM, Rishi Daryanani <rishijd@...> wrote:

Thanks so much for your replies Ben and Keith! In that
case, could someone guide me how to use ZF as a
component library as opposed to something the website
completely depends on? For example

- Since my .htaccess file is as follows,
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule !\.(js|ico|gif|jpg|png|css)$ index.php

..and the index.php file includes a "bootstrap.php"
file which is in the "application" folder, which
includes the Zend library. For the code of
bootstrap.php, please see see:
http://framework.zend.com/wiki/display/ZFDEV/Official+ZF+QuickStart
(the code is near the beginning of this tutorial)

<snip/>

--
David Mintz
http://davidmintz.org/

The subtle source is clear and bright
The tributary streams flow through the darkness