We are looking for individuals for following positions:

1. Magento/ZEND developer is a hard core programmer. You need to have great PHP/ZEND knowledge and good English skills. You need to have at least 2 years of web programming experience and a few projects behind you can show. You don’t need to know Magento for this position, but you should have ZEND knowledge or at least know some PHP framework. You’ll learn Magento in time.
2. Mobile Apps Developer needs to be an experienced programmer ready to learn new languages. iPhone SDK will be the first one since our team has the most demand for iPhone and iPad applications. You also need to speak English. If you also have project management experience, be sure to mention this. We like the people who have project management skills. You will learn in time how to use Mac and develop for iPhone and iPad.

Now, the tricky part for some of you who are reading this is: the position is in our office in Osijek, Croatia. If you are from our town, don’t hesitate to contact us. If you are not, don’t be discouraged. We might soften the policy to hire a local resource. In either case, send us your resume and portfolio to this address and we’ll get in touch with you.

I called my plugin “Example_Controller_Plugin_Param”, it means that I have created file (class) called “Param.php”
in “library/ Example/Controller/Plugin/”.
Then in “application/Bootstrap.php” class I created method “_initAutoload” in which we need to register nampspace.

< ?php
class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
{
	protected function _initAutoload()
    {
    	/*
    	 * If you don't register namespace
    	 * You will get error :
    	 * Fatal error: Class 'Example_Controller_Plugin_Param' not found in
    	 * ...\library\Zend\Application\Resource\Frontcontroller.php on line 92
    	 *
    	 */

    	$autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
        $autoloader->registerNamespace('Example_');
        $autoloader->suppressNotFoundWarnings(true);

        /*
         * also you will get Exception :
         * No entry is registered for key 'Zend_Request_Example'
         * called in helper ParamHelper.php
         *
         */

    }

}

Also in “application/configs/application.ini” file we need to prepare plugin ready for usage with line:
resources.frontController.plugins.param = “Example_Controller_Plugin_Param”

When you do this steps, check your application if you got some errors or warnings before you go to coding.
Now when we set up environment, we can start with coding our plugin.

I tried to simplyfie this example so our plugin will only create new custom request parameter,
which will appear when you debug

Zend_Debug::dump($this->_request->getParams()); 

in any Controller class.
And it will start the session, create session namespaces with simple logic which will check if the session params are set or not and it will throw an Exception.

< ?php
class Example_Controller_Plugin_Param extends Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
{
	protected $_param;

	private $_userID;

	public function routeShutdown(Zend_Controller_Request_Abstract $request)
	{
		/*
		 * we start session here
		 * so we do not need to start it in each action, controller or module
		 */
		Zend_Session::start();

		/*
		 * we create session with namespace 'login'
		 */
    	$namespace = new Zend_Session_Namespace('login'); 

    	/*
    	 *
    	 */
    	$this->_userID = $namespace->user; 

			/*
			 * create some simple logic, just to see application behaviour
			 */

    		if (!isset($this->_userID) or $this->_request->getParam("user") != null) {
				$this->_userID = $this->_request->getParam("user", null);

				if ($this->_userID == null) {
					throw new Exception("user id not found");
				}

				$namespace->user = $this->_userID;
			}

		/*
		 * Just for example we also create new custom request parameter
		 *  with name and value, cannot set this in helper
		 *
		 */
		$this->_param = $this->_request->setParam('param', 'custom');

		Zend_Registry::set('Zend_Request_Example', $this->_param->param);

	}

}

What is so special here?
Well, in this example you do not need to create session namespaces in any action, controller or module and this is something what spares our development time and lines of code.

Source code link: zf.plugin.example
Test your new plugin and enjoy in coding with Zend Framework.

We need to insert this line in application/config.ini to register path to helpers:

application/configs/application.ini
resources.view.helperPath = APPLICATION_PATH “/views/helpers”

First create model which will give you an array,
in my example it’s list of states, which you will call in you helper file:

application/models/DbTable/States.php

class Model_DbTable_States extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract
{
    protected $_name = 'state_list';

    public function getStates()
    {

        $row = $this->fetchAll();
        if (!$row) {
            throw new Exception("No States");
        }

        $row = $row->toArray();

        return $row;
    }
}

Class needs to begegins with “Zend_View_Helper_”
That is why it is “view helper” and it cannot be called in controller or model files,
if you do that you will get error that “method deoesn’t exists”.

application/view/helpers/State.php

class Zend_View_Helper_State
{
	protected $_list;

	public function state()
    {
    	$state = new Model_DbTable_States();
	return $this->_list->getStates();

    }
}

After that and make a list of states in:

application/layouts/sidebar.phtml

<ul>
	< ?php foreach ($this->state() as $item):?>

		<li>< ?php echo $item['state']?></li>

	< ?php endforeach;?>
</ul>

and call it in main layout file:

application/layouts/layout.phtml

< ?php
echo $this->partial('sidebar.phtml');
?>

In this case you will get content from your helper file in all views which will render main layout file from application/layouts/layout.phtml.
However, if you wish to call your helper in particular view all you need to do is to call the helper in view file:

< ?php
$this->state();
?>

$this->_helper->flashMessenger();

First you need to register your view variable in init() method if you want to have notifications in all view files of your controller.

public function init()
{

/* Initialize action controller here*/
$this->view->messages = $this->_helper->flashMessenger->getMessages();

}

Then you simply add messages in your action methods like this:

$this->_helper->flashMessenger->addMessage(array("ok_message" => 'record deleted'));
or
$this->_helper->flashMessenger->addMessage(array("err_message" => 'unable to comply'));

Why wasting you code when you got all in one place, right?

Once you register the message notification all you need is to choose where message should appear.That’s the easy part, just need to style your div ids and classes in view files.

< ?php if(isset($this->messages)):?>
<div class="grid_12">
< ?php foreach($this->messages as $message):?>
<div id="site_info">
<div class="box">
< ?php if(isset($message["error"])):?>
<p>< ?php echo $message["error"]?></p>
< ?php elseif(isset($message["ok"])):?>
<p>< ?php echo $message["ok"]?></p>
< ?php endif?>
</div>
</div>
< ?php endforeach?>
</div>
< ?php endif?>

One trick, if you want to show them on all view pages, edit your layout file and paste the code above at header,footer or wherever you want them to be shown
(there is no need to put them in you view files, unless you want to show same notifications twice ).

The easiest way to have notifications in other modules is to register it like session variable and unset them manually.

Check class Zend_Controller_Action_Helper_FlashMessenger for additional purposes.
Enjoy coding.

I used ZendFrameworkQuickstart application for you so you can easier test the code I provided.
You just need to download and setup latest ZendFrameworkQuickstart and replace default files with files I posted.
Here is the post:

In layout file (our case “layout.phtml” in application/layouts/scripts/)
we just need to call helper $this->partial and correct path to partial file

<div id="categories">
    < ?php echo $this->partial('partials/categories.phtml',
				            array('categories' => $this->data)); ?>
</div>

with correct “keys” and “values” (our case ‘categories’ and $this->data).
Key (‘categories’) will stand for entity which is iterrated in our partial file in foreach loop
(our case “categories.phtml” in application/layouts/scripts/partials)

<ul>
< ?php foreach($this->categories as $item) : ?>
	<li class="item">
	  <a href="<?php echo $this->url(
	  					array(
							"cat"=>$item['key'],
                                                        "action"=>"index",
	  						"controller"=>"index",
	  						"module"=>"default"
	  										))?>">
		< ?php echo $item['value']; ?></a>
    	</li>
< ?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

and value ($this->data) must be defined in our controller class file as a view helper ($this->view->data),
I defined it in init() method so it will be set for all actions in IndexController.

public function init()
	{
		$this->view->data =
				array(
					array('key' => 'key_1', 'value' => 'category_1'),
					array('key' => 'key_2', 'value' => 'category_2'),
					array('key' => 'key_3', 'value' => 'category_3'),
					array('key' => 'key_4', 'value' => 'category_4'),
				);
	}

I added demoAction so you can try to set different data set or you can try to play with the code and create some data set from query result.
Enjoy.

Link to code files.

Project is set for auto loading both Zend and Doctrine Frameworks so all you need to do is to instantiate -Also, below you can see few screenshots of the sample code I implemented. Also, I provide you with the .sql dump (doctrinesql) file that goes with this project. Note the use of InnoDB engine in database. Since Doctrine comes with this cool hasOne, hasMany relation mappings, you can use bunch of cool stuff to easily do various actions on database once you get familiar with Doctrine. Although MyISAM engine is somewhat faster than InnoDB, without second thoughts I choose InnoDB due to foreign keys features.

Download project files:
doctrinesql
doctrine_example_project (doctrine orm and zend framework)

I made a little screencast on topic of Zend_Auth database table authentication. Screencast is video only, plus some visual pointers, no audio. Hope some of you find it useful as starting point.

I had to slice video onto two parts since YouTube as limit on 10 minute per video.

Zend_Auth Database Table Authentication part 1

Zend_Auth Database Table Authentication part 2

Note: Please consult the official Zend Framework API documentation for detailed overview of Zend_Auth and all other componets.

It is a simplified installation of the full PHP application stack, including web server, databases, extensions and Zend Framework. This last is really interesting if you prefer Zend Framework for development.

Zend Core comes with 3 subscription models (levels): Silver, Gold and Platinum. With prices ranging from $250 – $750 per dual processor-core. Subscriptions provide support for bug fixes, security patches and maintenance releases for automatic and manual downloading & deployment via the Zend Network. All of this trough Web-based support & phone support.

Below are the screen shots of entire installation process and application overview. I screen shotted entire administration interface, so if you are considering going Zend Core you might find it useful.

And that’s it. Complete screen shot tour of Zend Core.

In order for this to work, you need to call the setStorage method on Zend_Auth prior to calling authenticate method. In my example, I placed following code inside the bootstrap.php file

// Setup database connection
$params = array(
'host' => 'server', // localhost
'dbname' => 'user',
'username' => 'root',
'password' => 'somedbpass',
);

$database = Zend_Db::factory('Mysqli', $params);

// Set new session storage mechanizam
$newStore = new AuthDbStorage($database, 'MyCookie', 'user', 'email', 20);
Zend_Auth::getInstance()->setStorage($newStore);

Notice the definition of AuthDbStorage method. It needs 4 parameters to work (5th is optional). First parameter is database adapter, second is cookie name (you need cookie on client side, this is the only info on client side), third parameter is the name of the Zend_Auth table name (the one you set via setTableName), fourth parameter is Zend_Auth identity column name (the one you set via setIdentityColumn), and fifth optional parameter is time to expire a session (in seconds).

If you look at the write method in the class below, you will see it uses two parameters. By default, whatever you write to Zend_Auth default storage (the Session one) it gets overwritten. Here we have somewhat different situation. Here it set it up to accept optional parameter to write some info to additional database column named “extra”.

For writting values to current identity, use expression like

if(Zend_Auth::getInstance()->hasIdentity())
{
Zend_Auth::getInstance()->getStorage()->write(
Zend_Auth::getInstance()->getStorage()->read(),
array('someKeyName' => 'Some val', 'someKeyName2' => 'Some val2')
);
}

And here is the full class for Zend_Auth database storage.

< ?php

class AuthDbStorage implements Zend_Auth_Storage_Interface
{
private static $_session = 'session';

private static $_requiredFieldUserId = 'uid';
private static $_requiredFieldSessionId = 'sid';
private static $_requiredFieldHostname = 'hostname';
private static $_requiredFieldAccessed = 'accessed';
// Extra field to store some info (use serialize)
private static $_requiredFieldExtra = 'extra';

// Zend_Auth Adapter fields
private static $_authAdapterIdentityColumn;
private static $_authAdapterTableName;
private static $_timeToExpire = 600; //in seconds

private static $_cookieName;

private $_db;

public function __construct(Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract $adapter, $cookieName, $authAdapterTableName, $authAdapterIdentityColumn, $timeToExpire = null)
{
$this->_db = $adapter;
self::$_cookieName = $cookieName;
self::$_authAdapterTableName = $authAdapterTableName;
self::$_authAdapterIdentityColumn = $authAdapterIdentityColumn;
self::$_timeToExpire = $timeToExpire;
}

/**
* Returns true if and only if storage is empty
*
* @throws Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception If it is impossible to determine whether storage is empty
* @return boolean
*/
public function isEmpty()
{
$result = $this->_db->fetchRow('SELECT * FROM '.self::$_session.' WHERE '.self::$_requiredFieldSessionId.' = ?', array($_COOKIE[self::$_cookieName]));

if(empty($result)) { return true; }
return false;
}

/**
* Returns the contents of storage
*
* Behavior is undefined when storage is empty.
*
* @throws Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception If reading contents from storage is impossible
* @return mixed
*/
public function read()
{
$result = $this->_db->fetchRow('SELECT * FROM '.self::$_session.' WHERE '.self::$_requiredFieldSessionId.' = ?', array($_COOKIE[self::$_cookieName]));

if(time() - $result[self::$_requiredFieldAccessed] > self::$_timeToExpire)
{
$this->clear();
return null;
}
//if (is_null($result)) { throw new Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception(); }
return $result;
}

/**
* Writes $contents to storage
*
* @param mixed $contents
* @throws Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception If writing $contents to storage is impossible
* @return void
*/
public function write($contents, $extraContents = array())
{
if(is_array($contents))
{
$userId = $contents[self::$_requiredFieldUserId];
}

else
{
$userId = $this->_db->fetchOne('SELECT * FROM '.self::$_authAdapterTableName.' WHERE '.self::$_authAdapterIdentityColumn.' = ?', array($contents));
}

$fields = array(
self::$_requiredFieldUserId => $userId,
self::$_requiredFieldSessionId => $_COOKIE[self::$_cookieName],
self::$_requiredFieldHostname => $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'],
self::$_requiredFieldAccessed => time()
);

if(!empty($extraContents))
{
$fields[self::$_requiredFieldExtra] = serialize($extraContents);
}

// Before write, delete all session info
$this->clear();

// Check to see if session has expired

// Now write new one
$result = $this->_db->insert(self::$_session, $fields);

if($result == 0) { throw new Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception(); }

}

/**
* Clears contents from storage
*
* @throws Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception If clearing contents from storage is impossible
* @return void
*/
public function clear()
{
try
{
$this->_db->query('DELETE FROM '.self::$_session.' WHERE '.self::$_requiredFieldSessionId.' = ?', array($_COOKIE[self::$_cookieName]));
}
catch (Exception $ex)
{
throw new Zend_Auth_Storage_Exception();
}
}
}

Basic example is really, really simple. Aren’t they always. Seriously, it’s not my intention to go into outermost details.

Creating a REST server in ZendFramework can be simple as 3 lines of code. For the sake of simplicity, let’s suppose we’ll place all of our code logic in one file, the IndexController.php. The basic building block of each and every Zend Framework application. Code for creating a REST server looks like

public function restAction()
{
$server = new Zend_Rest_Server();
$server->setClass(‘CustomTestClass’);
$server->handle();
exit;
}

Notice the CustomTestClass? This is the name of the class we wish to make availabe trough REST server. For the sake of simplicity, this class is placed in same file as our IndexController class. Below is the sample of class body

class CustomTestClass
{
/**
* Write to a file
*
* @param string $string
* @return string Some return message
*/
public function sayHello($name)
{
$message = ‘Hello ‘.$name;
return $message;
}
}

Now all that’s left is to make a call to our REST server using GET method. Since our REST server code is placed inside restAction function in IndexController, it can be accessed using url like

http://localhost/myzendapp/index.php/index/rest

And the result should look like

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<rest generator=”zend” version=”1.0″>
<response>
<message>No Method Specified.</message>
</response>
<status>failed</status>
</rest>

Although these are error messages, it’s ok, it means our REST server is working. Now if we were to enter url like

http://localhost/myzendapp/index.php/index/rest?method=sayHello

we would get response error message like
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<CustomTestClass generator=”zend” version=”1.0″>
<sayHello>
<response>
<message>Invalid Method Call to sayHello. Requires 1, 0 given.</message>
</response>
<status>failed</status>
</sayHello>
</CustomTestClass>

This too is ok. It simply means we omited the parametars we were supose to pass to function. Remember, our sayHello function has signature like

public function sayHello($name)

meaning we should pass it a parametar $name. Now if we were to type into our browser url like

http://localhost/myzendapp/index.php/index/rest?method=sayHello&name=Branko

We would get response like

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<CustomTestClass generator=”zend” version=”1.0″>
<sayHello>
<response>Hello Branko</response>
<status>success</status>
</sayHello>
</CustomTestClass>

As I said, simple example, more like proof of concept. Hope you find it usefull as a entry point to REST-full Zend development.

One of the best things about NetBeans is a excellent support for HTML code and added support for jQuery, Prototype, and general JavaScript. However, one thing I simply hate about NetBeans is its speed. Since most of my development is in Magento and WordPress platforms (and Magento itself comes with more than 7000 files), this can really slow down NetBeans. So I decided to look for another solutions, if any Today I decided to download and try out the latest Zend Studio release, Zend Studio for Eclipse Professional Edition.

You can download the trial version of Zend Studio for Eclipse from http://www.zend.com/en/products/studio/. Zend Studio is not free, it’s a commercial platform, and although the price might seem high at first, ask yourself what made you even look for Zend Studio as a development IDE solution—and how much time are you wasting right now?
I make my living with PHP and my everyday job evolves around Magento (which is based on Zend Framework platform). My question is: If buying $999 for Zend Studio can make my life a lot easier and speed up my development by some percent, wouldn’t it be worth the investment? My answer is: Yes, it would. Time saved means more time for new projects.
Enough blabbering, let’s checkout some Zend Studio features.

Now, if you click on the Creating a PHPDoc, you get something like the image below:

This might not seem like much to an experienced developer, but it sure helps.

If you go back to the Welcome page of Zend Studio, you will notice a few more useful things, like Create a Zend Framework Example Project and Watch a demo on Event debugging. I give them 5 out of 5 for this getting started section.

Then, on the right side of the screen there are few intro-level tutorials on essential development topics like Code Assist, Debugging, Profiler, Refactoring, PHPUnit testing, CVS, and SVN. (Unfortunately, most “wannabe” developers skip these topics, even though they are essential to healthy application life cycle.)

Now let’s create our first project. As you know, one of the most annoying things is the time required to manually configure when setting up Zend Framework project. Some of you might say, “So what, I only have to do it once and paste it every time after.” Well, this is exactly the scenario I dislike with PHP-related development, everyone seems to have his or her own solution to reinventing the wheel. I love standards; I adore them. This is why I like solutions like this and why I like frameworks—they make you stick to some standard.

Upon creating our new project via File > New > Zend Framework Project, we get a working Zend app that echoes simple Hello, world! to browser. Actually, we still need to copy/paste Zend Framework library to the /library directory and we are done. This is simply beautiful; I love it.

Below is the example of the bootsrap.php file it generated for us:

$this->use…

then you won’t get auto complete from Code Assistant. It does not seem to recognize this kind of connection.

Another problem with Code Assistant is that it behaves differently in .phtml files and html files when writing html code. It does not work very well in .phtml files in this case. However, despite these problems, Zend Studio is still a powerful and extremely useful developer tool.

One of the first features I looked for in Zend Studio was its ability to manage database connections. There is a nice little icon on the main toolbar called Create new SQL connection (Oracle, Postgre, MySQL, MS SQL, Derby, IBM DB2, their variations and addition of new ones).

Combined with a nice little feature called Scrapbook, we get simple but effective developer to database relation solutions. It’s so easy you may never look back at other solutions again!

Below is the screenshot of Zend Studio’s Database Development Perspective view:

This brings me to the next topic, Perspective view. This too might not look as cool or seem necessary, but I love it. In my opinion it’s a step in right direction towards smart applications. Zend Studio Eclipse uses this concept of Perspective views (the way of rearranging the application interface based on the technology you’re working on) from PHP to SQL.

Remote Systems monitor is another cool and extremely useful feature. Below are two screenshots for you to see it:

Everything mentioned so far is just a fraction of what Zend Studio Eclipse is made of and what it can enable you to do.

I recommend you try it out.