References and Cloning examples

A very interesting example of the subtleties of cloning and referencing variables. Particularly noteworthy is the manner in which the references can be exploited to show ambiguous behavior. See the following example from php.net.

Object cloning with php5

CakePHP / Eclipse Project Integration

Creating projects in Eclipse that work with CakeBake is a multi-step process consisting of:

1. Initiate a new PHP Project in Eclipse, e.g. php_project
• enable JavaScript code checkbox
2. Create your initial database so you can input the settings in step 3.
3. In Terminal, run cake bake /path/to/php_project
• add database settings if you have them
• heed this info if you are using MAMP and the database does not resolve
4. Use eGit or SVN in Eclipse to bring in any plugins you may need
5. Configure Run > External Tools > External Tools Configurations to run further operation such as
• cake bake model
• cake bake view
• cake bake controller
6. You can also simply use Terminal to invoke interactive cake commands. Refresh Eclipse to see subsequent filesystem changes.

See this earlier integration post for more background.

CakePHP Cake Bake is Awesome

After taking CakePHP's Cake Bake CLI for a spin, I find myself exclaiming aloud:

This is good cake.

Following loads of exploration in IDEs and PHP MVC options, I have CakePHP running on Eclipse, served by MAMP Apache and MySQL, and debug enabled by PDT. Incidentally, this how-to on CakePHP/Eclipse integration from power-user rynop is invaulable.

View along with me as I run through a friendly interactive prompt called Cake Bake from within the Eclipse console. This will summarily build out the underpinnings of my entire site structure - model, view and controller - along with push-button validation (!!):

Note: working CakePHP install in Eclipse. Menu is Run > External Tools > Cake bake

Says the interactive shell script:

---------------------------------------------------------------
Interactive Bake Shell
---------------------------------------------------------------
[D]atabase Configuration
[M]odel
[V]iew
[C]ontroller
[P]roject
[F]ixture
[T]est case
[Q]uit
What would you like to Bake? (D/M/V/C/P/F/T/Q)

I can has cake - so simple!

Select validation options from the list

Look okay? *nods and pops open a beer*

So good! I will detail further on this. Gotta drink my beer now...

MVC PHP CakePHP vs Symfony

Yet more to consider:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1242060/symfony-vs-cakephp

Symfony is another contender.

MVC PHP Frameworks Evaluated

PHP frameworks are my current focus, particularly CodeIgniter. I have extensive experience with AS MVC frameworks, e.g. Cairngorm, RobotLegs, and Mate. Following a recent project, my thoughts on PHP frameworks are starting to crystallize. Here incidentally is IMO one of the best summaries on CI from the community at large, reposted courtesy of Action on this stackoverflow post :

CodeIgniter is, without a doubt, the most well-documented and approachable PHP MVC framework out there. CakePHP's documentation is also very good, but the learning curve is slightly higher.

• CodeIgniter's models are optional and serve no function other than code separation. There's no integrated CRUD and its "Active Record" class is really just an alternative SQL syntax. It also doesn't support table associations. So, you will be building many large queries essentially from scratch. CakePHP's models are far more advanced and similar to those in Ruby on Rails. It supports table associations, has integrated CRUD, and behaviors. In addition, CakePHP has command line tools (Bake) that allow you to generate all the code for basic CRUD operations. Tweak a few things here and there and you've got a working prototype in minutes.
• CodeIgniter lacks some essential libraries that are needed in most applications (i.e. Authentication and ACL). You will need to rely on 3rd party libraries in many of your applications. CakePHP has integrated Auth and ACL, but both frameworks integrate with 3rd party libraries easily.
• Since CodeIgniter lacks much of the automation that CakePHP brings, there are no strict conventions to follow (this can be viewed as good or bad). This makes CodeIgniter a more flexible framework. Furthermore, its lack of features and automation do give it an advantage when it comes to speed. CodeIgniter is one of the fastest PHP MVC frameworks out there. That said, the framework is rarely the bottleneck in your in application...and you should be choosing a framework based on productivity, not its execution speed.
• Both frameworks have large and helpful communities. CodeIgniter has their official forums and an IRC channel. CakePHP has a google group and an active IRC channel. CakePHP is currently the most popular PHP MVC framework with the largest community behind it.

In conclusion, if you want a fast, flexible, well-documented framework, and don't mind writing extra code and relying on 3rd party libraries, go with CodeIgniter. If you want a powerful, feature-rich framework that does most of the heavy lifting through automation, and you don't mind having to follow strict conventions, go with CakePHP.

As you can see, it is a comparison of CI with another framework, CakePHP, which is now on my shortlist to test out. Here is a Google Trends search of the relative trendiness of these two open-source frameworks (update: now three OS frameworks with symfony).

http://www.google.com/trends?q=codeigniter%2C+cakephp%2C+symfony&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

CakePHP has an earlier footprint. Next, I will examine CakePHP support of php5. I'm curious to know of any more advanced, more OO and generally more hurricane-nestled-in-a-typhoon-wrapped-in-a-tornado PHP frameworks out there. I would prefer a stricter MVC pattern with a higher degree of decoupling.

Flexcairngorm extensions considered

Tracing the evolution of the Cairngorm framework reveals a great effort to isolate business logic. A coup of the framework has been to shift event flow from exclusively the display list towards a simple, efficient non-UIComponent propagation within an application architecture.

Specifically, the native event flow in Flex works hierarchically within the display list. Since display objects are by definition hierarchical, events flow through them from impetus to the bottom node and, if so configured, back again. This ensures full propagation of the event. A reasonable supposition on behalf of Cairngorm engineers is the difficulty of performing business logic apropos of a display hierarchy. Business logic requires a unique non-display set of delegates, services and model managers. The Cairngorm framework places events at the behest of these classes.

How then to bridge the new events and the old? This is where flexcairngorm takes the reins.

There is a very handy explanation of this, supplemental graphics and all, by Thomas Burleson on Gridlinked.info. He describes the process by which notification returns to the view following the propagation to business logic and the response back. It involves IResponders and a callback parameter. Browse gridlinked.info to learn all about it.

Once you've read it, the next step is coordinating flexcairngorm with Mate dependency injectors, using Mate EventMaps.

Flex MVC options

The set of instructions in rich applications tends to get quite complex. Thus, RIA code needs to be divided up into smaller components to manage complexity. Design patterns such as MVC are loose methodologies for doing this, with limitless implementations in practice. In Flex, MVC are often referred to as microarchitectures. They manage business logic for a client application, allowing decoupling between logic and UI.

The prominent first generation of mature MVC framework for Flash and Flex is called Cairngorm. It is now up to 2.2 with version 3 hovering indefinitely in beta. Cairngorm introduces a new system of event management called the CairngormEvent. It is more analog than extension of a Flex Event, since it has unique dispatch and propagation attributes.

The pros and cons of isolated event management, MVC and FlexEvent, have been largely considered in the developer community, resulting in some rethinking of Cairngorm event methodology. A prominent advance is UniversalMind's UM Cairngorm Extensions. This represents first and foremost an enrichment of the Cairngorm framework. If you plan on going down this path, UM Extensions may allow you to do more with it.

Otherwise, Flex is reaching the second iteration of third party frameworks, as Cairngorm gets more competitors. Mate and Swiz lead the pack, with retooled and reconsidered architectures for events and business logic structures. In some cases, microarchitectures are fully MXML in the second iteration.

By no means is the solution one-sided, as many groups have invested heavily in their extant codebase. In any case, all the options deserve a thorough look see. Some orientation will allow you to consider the best for your project.

Django MVC Basics Pt 1: URLconf

The URLconf - mapping between URLs and view functions that should be called for those URLs.

from django.conf.urls.defaults import *

# Uncomment the next two lines to enable the admin:
# from django.contrib import admin
# admin.autodiscover()

urlpatterns = patterns('',
# Example:
# (r'^mysite/', include('mysite.foo.urls')),

# Uncomment the admin/doc line below and add 'django.contrib.admindocs'
# to INSTALLED_APPS to enable admin documentation:
# (r'^admin/doc/', include('django.contrib.admindocs.urls')),

# Uncomment the next line to enable the admin:
# (r'^admin/', include(admin.site.urls)),
)

Important to note are:
r - Python indication that the string is a "raw string", i.e. do not interpret characters.
' ' - string enclosed in single quotes
^ - caret, a regular expression meaning "require that the pattern matches the start of the string"
$ - dollar sign, regex meaning "require the pattern match the end of the string".

e.g. ensures this works: www.url.com/hello/
and this does not: www.url.com/hello/there (thanks to $)
and this does not:www.url.com/there/hello (thanks to ^)

See table of basic Regular Expressions - from the Django Book.

The second parameter in the 2-tuple sometimes begins with include(... and sometimes does not. It is the function to be associated with the specified URL. The function's first parameter is always the HttpRequest object. Always. Here's documentation on the HttpRequest object's API.

ASP.NET MVC is the last gasp

I started web development with open source as long as 10 years ago. Then it was PHP on an Apache server and I've continued through PHP 5 creating everything from mySQL databases to custom frameworks and CMS. Not too long ago, a new client project required ASP.NET technology, so I learned how to use .NET too. Here are some pros and cons.

Pros: Lots of documentation. Large developer community. Many adopters in the corporate realm.

Cons: Several. One particular blog I found nailed the issue. It's a matter that parallels the PC vs Mac debate. In more abstract terms, it's a question of

Goal-Oriented vs Process-Oriented

Stripping away the layers of good arguments on all sides, I have found Microsoft solutions tend to favor process over goal orientation. That's not good for independence and it's not good for speed.

A specific example.
You're a developer intent on deploying a web application quickly using whatever tools are best.
With Apache and PHP, the process is contained discretely within the server environment.
With Windows and .NET, there is a ripple effect requiring the expertise of the IT department. You need to know all about system permissions, a great deal about SQL management. Really, lots of peripheral management issues come to drag your process to a crawl.

That aside, there are a lot of smart people using .NET, and I'm interested in learning more about quick ramp-ups for .NET solutions. I'm a fan of Visual Studio's GUI and the xml DataSet system in .NET. I only wish they were quicker to adopt the DRY principles of RoR in their framework.

Since most of my clients fall into the small to medium category, unless they are running 100% enterprise solutions, I recommend a PHP or RoR orientation.

I will still be looking at .NET MVC resources to see what they've done to address quicker CRUD deployment. It begs the question, what open-source solution will Microsoft roll out years after the competition next? That is why edgy developers tend toward Apple and Open Source.

ToolTips in Flex 3

Tooltips. They pop up to provide contextual expansion. They enhance your workspace. They gratify you with sleek utility. They're an integral Flex component. You will probably be customizing them.

Flex Docs is a good starter on custom and standard tooltips:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/quickstart/using_tooltips/

Adobe docs are not so great when it comes to positioning custom tooltips, but fear not, it's simple once you know how :).

Just be sure to utilize both the toolTipCreate AND toolTipShow methods of the mx.events.ToolTipEvent class and you'll be golden.

Another plus, tooltips are a great use of MVC and you can encapsulate calls to events via event.toolTip.

Another good tutorial resource:
http://blog.flexmonkeypatches.com/2008/09/10/flex-custom-tooltip-speech-bubble/

Happy tooltipping.