[php] Best framework

[ZeroHour]

Hi

I was just wondering if anyone was using any PHP frameworks and if so what were they and how did you find them?

 

Cheers

[danbuntu]

I've used cakephp for a couple of projects now. The original learning curve was a beast (but I was also still a php novice when I started). the Apress book and the cakephp online documentation were essential.

 

Then that I've got my head around it though I can knockout database type web apps pretty damm fast and concentrate my efforts on advanced features, make them look etc.

 

I found that the access control (user logins) in CakePhp are pretty rubbish though so I use apache security instead and tie it into my active directory

[ZeroHour]

I've used cakephp for a couple of projects now. The original learning curve was a beast (but I was also still a php novice when I started). the Apress book and the cakephp online documentation were essential.

 

Then that I've got my head around it though I can knockout database type web apps pretty damm fast and concentrate my efforts on advanced features, make them look etc.

 

I found that the access control (user logins) in CakePhp are pretty rubbish though so I use apache security instead and tie it into my active directory

 

Cheers for that, I had seen cake a few years ago but never got around to giving it a go. I have been doing php for years which actually makes frameworks more pain for me as I know all the shortcuts I could use.

Tbh a nice input/database class would be good too.

[danbuntu]

One of the reasons I started to use was to avoid shortcuts. In theory because everything is down in the cakephp way another developer could pick up my code and start to run with pretty fast. This is good for the college if I leave and also gives me a good starting point to open source projects at a latter stage (cake is under an MIT license).

 

One of the best features I found if that if you spend time getting your database right then you can just hit go and full CRUD application is spat out the other end.

[Hightower]

@ZeroHour - I've used CodeIgniter a couple of times for some PHP/MySQL projects and it did fine by me. It wasn't too bad to get to know, and has a really good reference online to quickly find the solution to a problem.

 

The worst part was getting used to MVC, but it all made sense after a while. Now, if I have another PHP project I'll be downloading the latest CodeIgniter - it takes the boring stuff out of setting up, and allows you to jump straight in and start coding straight away.

[ZeroHour]

Yeh MVC takes a bit to get your head around, I am still trying to fully get to grips tbh

Out of interest what dev ide's you guys using for any/all of this?

I am old school with Edit Pad Pro right now although its basically a notepad app with colour formatting. I did use Zend PHP Studio years ago which was nice but I have never got back into an ide for php for a bit. I believe eclipse is good but its also a bit of a beast.

[Hightower]

I believe eclipse is good but its also a bit of a beast.

 

Yeah, it's a bit heavy but this is my tool of choice. The features of it are fantastic, but one of the main reasons I use it is I dabble in a few areas (like Android development) so having one tool to do most of my coding work is a big bonus.

[ZeroHour]

Yeah, it's a bit heavy but this is my tool of choice. The features of it are fantastic, but one of the main reasons I use it is I dabble in a few areas (like Android development) so having one tool to do most of my coding work is a big bonus.

 

Yeh I think I may have to make to jump over to it, I do use it for some droid work but I have never really got into it as such or learned the nice features it may have. Zend Studio was pretty cool, back in the day you told it the base path for your project and it would autofill any custom functions you had used in your code.

[webman]

I use CodeIgniter and Flourish. I recently discovered kirby which looks good for small stuff.

 

CodeIgniter is MVC-oriented with a nice Active Record database library, and lots of other useful libraries included, with some great documentation.

Flourish is more of an "un-framework" (as described by its author) but is still a great collection of classes for accomplishing common tasks.

 

The "best" framework will be the one you are most comfortable with for use on the project you're working on; I don't think there's a single one that is a one-size-fits-all.

 

As for code editor/environment, I like plain old text editors that don't get in the way; preferably with an integrated file browser on the left. I've used and liked PSPad and Notepad++ in the past, and currently using Intype.

Edited May 12, 2011 by webman

[cloder]

I like Drupal and Codelobster PHP Edition as a free IDE for it.