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Dustin WhittleSocial Search Group

Diving into symfony

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Introduction

This session will cover rapid applicationdevelopment using the symfony platform.

Learn what symfony is, how symfonyworks, and why it will simultaneously

speed up your development and producesecure maintainable code.The focus willbe on how to build, test, and deploy yourweb 2.0 applications using symfony and

an assortment of integrated tools.

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What is the symfony project?

• Full stack web application framework built forrapid application development

• Written in PHP5• A growing community since 2005• Open source and free• Licensed under the MIT license

symfony is a web application framework,which automates most of the tedious tasks

of a developer

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Why a framework?

• Another software layer (symfony, php, apache, linux/bsd)• Factors out common patterns

– Code Layout– Configuration– URL Routing– Authentication / Security– Form Validation / Repopulation– Internationalization / Localization

• Encourages good design• Abstraction > Consistency > Maintainability

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Why symfony?

• Agile Development– Built on best practices using proven design patterns– Built to factor out common patterns and allow

developers to focus on application logic

• Performance / Stability– Proven to scale on very active web sites - Y!– Tested code base (4000+ unit and functional test)

• Maintainability– Enforces consistency among developers

• Support– Great documentation and very active community

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How is symfony different?

• symfony is an integrated developmentenvironment that encourage bestpractices and agile development

• Integrated tools– Project administration– Code generation

• CRUD, Admin Generators, Data Access Objects

– Unit and functional testing– Deployment

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Built to adapt = Flexibility

• Minimal Dependencies– Included

• Directory structure can be adapted to fityour current environment

• All major components are factories– Built to be extended and customized for your

application (user, controller, request,response)

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Clean Design

• Built using proven design patterns– Model-View-Controller

• Separation / Encapsulation– Model Logic (data access/manipulation)– Presentation logic (view/template)– Business logic (action/executor)

• Built to embrace agile development principles– Allows developers to easily follow

• Extreme Programming Philosophy• DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself)• KISS (Keep it simple)

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Requirements

• A web server that is capable of serving PHP5• Database server supported by Creole/PDO

– MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, MSSQL,

• Recommended Configuration– Apache

• mod_rewrite

– PHP 5.2.x• APC (xCache or eAccellerator are also supported)• Syck• xDebug

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Installation

• PEARpear channel-discover pear.symfony-project.compear install symfony/symfony

• symfony sandboxhttp://www.symfony-project.com/get/sf_sandbox.tgz

• Subversionsvn export http://svn.symfony-project.com/branches/1.0/

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Integrated PHP Libraries

• Creole– Database Abstraction– Support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MSSQL

• Propel– Object Relationship Mapping

• PAKE– Library for easy command line tasks

• LIME– Library for easy unit and functional testing

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Integrated Javascript Libraries

• Symfony makes it easy to build rich internetapplications– Prototype

• Javascript framework

– script.aculo.us• AJAX interactions• Visual Effects

– TinyMCE• Rich Text Editor (WYSIWYG)

– DynArch.com Rich Calendar

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`symfony` command

• Creating projects/applications/modules• Managing your model• Code Generation (CRUD and Administration)• Executing Unit/Functional Tests• Deploying your project with rsync• Rotating and Purging logs• Installing/Removing Plugins• Upgrading symfony

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Creating a project

1. mkdir -p ~/projects/sfproject2. cd ~/projects/sfproject3. symfony init-project sfproject4. symfony init-app frontend5. symfony init-module frontend content6. symfony init-app backend

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Configuration System

• Convention over configuration– Establish conventions to eliminate the need to

configure• Allows a developer to only configure the unconventional

• YAML– Readable– Short syntax– Hierarchy Support

• Three levels of cascading configuration– project, application, module

• framework provides defaults

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Environments

• Three default environments– Production

• caching enabled, logging disabled, clean URLs

– Development• Caching disabled, logging enabled, debug toolbar enabled

– Testing• Similar to production without caching

• Environment determined by front controller• Add as many environments as you require

– staging

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Debug Environment

• Debug Toolbar– Browser access to relevant information

• Request Parameters / Sessions / Cookies• Configuration

– Logs & Debug Messages• xDebug Integration

– SQL Query Monitor• Raw SQL + Query Time

– Performance Monitor• Memory Consumption• Timers

– Cache Monitor

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Configure your project

• Setup your database– databases.yml, propel.ini

• Configure your symfony settings– settings.yml

• Configure your default view– view.yml

• Configure your application settings– app.yml

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Configure your databases

all: propel: class: sfPropelDatabase param: phptype: mysql hostspec: localhost username: sfshowcase password: password database: sfshowcase persistent: true encoding: utf8 compat_assoc_lower: true

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Configure you symfony settings

use_database: on use_security: on use_flash: on i18n: on check_symfony_version: off use_process_cache: on compressed: off suffix: . no_script_name: off

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Configure your default view

default: http_metas: content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8 content-language: en metas: robots: noindex, nofollow description: symfony showcase project. keywords: symfony, showcase, project stylesheets: - /assets/css/common javascripts: - /assets/js/common

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Configure your app settings

all: ui: theme: v1

flickr: api_key: 4bb8629b535921fa13abd7cbd32ad8fb max: 10

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The Model Layer

• By default based on Propel– Built in tools for pagination, sorting, and filters– Can be replaced with Doctrine or ezPDO– Support for behaviors

• Object model built via schema.yml– Can be reverse engineered from existing db– Support for indexes, references, constraints, and db

specific properties

• schema -> model generation -> sql -> insert

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Create an object model

propel: _attributes: { noXsd: false, defaultIdMethod: native }

contents: _attributes: { phpName: Content } id: { type: integer, required: true, primaryKey: true, autoIncrement:

true } title: { type: varchar, size: 255 } permalink: { type: varchar, size: 255, index: true } content: { type: longvarchar } created_at: { type: timestamp }

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Build your object model

symfony propel-build-all

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Add stub data (fixtures)

Content: Homepage: title: home content: <h1>Welcome to the site!</h1> About: title: about content: <h1>About</h1><p>about the site...</p> Contact: title: contact content: <h1>Contact</h1><p>contact the owner of the site...</p>

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Customizing the object model

class Content extends BaseContent{ public function __toString() { return $this->getTitle(); } public function setTitle($title) { $this->setPermalink(TextTools::normalize($title)); return parent::setTitle($title); }}

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Rebuild the object model w/ data

symfony propel-build-all-load frontend

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Customize the object model peer

class ContentPeer extends BaseContentPeer{ public static function retrieveByPermalink($permalink) { $c = new Criteria(); $c->add(self::PERMALINK, $permalink);

return self::doSelectOne($c); }}

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The Controller Layer

• Contains all business logic• Based on modules and actions

– Determined by route /:module/:action– A module is a group of related actions (user)

• Represented by a class containing actions

– An action is the business logic of any view• Represented by methods of the module class

• Actions can have multiple views– Returning views

• Success/Error/Custom

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Create a content action

public function executeRender() { $permalink = $this->getRequestParameter('permalink',

false); $this->forward404If(empty($permalink)); $this->content =

ContentPeer::retrieveByPermalink($permalink); $this->forward404Unless($this->content instanceof Content);

return sfView::SUCCESS; }

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The View Layer

• PHP as a template language• View configuration managed via view.yml

– Meta tags, title, javascript, css, component slots

• Layout• Partials + Slots

– Template fragment without business logic

• Components– Template fragment with business logic

• Component Slots– Slot in layout for contextual content

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Create a view

<?php echo $content->getContent(); ?>

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The Routing System

• Front controller• Converts url into appropriate module/action• Application specific

– Configurable– Support for requirements via regex matching

• Clean URL generation– link_to() helper

content_render: url: /:permalink param: { module: content, action: render }

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Add a route for clean urls

# content rulescontent_render_permalink: url: /:permalink param: { module: content, action: render }

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Easy rich interactions in PHP

• Template Helpers inspired from Rails– Based on prototype/script.aculo.us

• Easy implementations in one line of php– AJAX Interactions -> link_to_remote– Visual Effects -> visual_effect– Auto Complete -> input_autocomplete_tag– Inline Editing -> input_inline_editor_tag– Drag and Drop -> draggable_element– Rich Text Editing -> textarea_tag w/ rich=tinymce|fck– Rich Calendar -> input_date_tag

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Easy AJAX

<?php use_helper(’Javascript') ?>

<?php echo link_to_remote(’about (ajax)', array('update'=> ’content', 'url' => ’content/render?permalink=about'));?>

<div id=“content”></div>

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AJAX Toolkit Integration

• Prototype/script.aculo.us built-in• Plugins available:

– sfUJSPlugin -> helpers for UJS via jQuery– sfYUIPlugin -> helpers for YUI– sfDojoPlugin -> helpers for Dojo

• Build your own helpers

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A better AJAX (unobtrusive)

• Uses sfUJSPlugin to add unobtrusivelyadd behaviors to a page

<?php echo link_to('about', 'content/render?permalink=about','id=about'); ?>

<?php UJS_ajaxify_link('#about', array('update' => '#content', 'url' =>'content/render?permalink=about')); ?>

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Integrate your own PHP libraries

• Autoloading hooks for easy integration of– Zend Framework– EZ Components– PEAR– Custom

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Integrating the Zend framework

• Download Zend and install in lib/vendor/zf• Modify your settings.yml

autoloading_functions: [[sfZendFrameworkBridge, autoload]]zend_lib_dir: <?php echo sfConfig::get('sf_root_dir'); ?>

• Clear the symfony cache (symfony cc)

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Create a homepage

• Create a homepage action– actions/actions.class.php public function executeHomepage() {

$this->content = ContentPeer::retrieveByPermalink('home');return sfView::SUCCESS;

}

• Create a homepage view– templates/homepageSuccess.php

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Create a del.icio.us component

• Create actions/components.class.php public function executeDelicious()

{ $delicious = new

Zend_Service_Delicious(sfConfig::get('app_delicious_username'),sfConfig::get('app_delicious_password'));

$this->posts = $delicious->getRecentPosts(sfConfig::get('app_delicious_tag'),sfConfig::get('app_delicious_max', 10));

}

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Create a del.icio.us partial

• templates/_delicious.php

<ul> <?php foreach($posts as $post): ?> <li><?php echo link_to($post->getTitle(), $post->getUrl()); ?></li> <?php endforeach; ?></ul>

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Customize the homepage view

• templates/homepageSuccess.php

<?php echo $content->getContent(); ?>

<?php include_component('content', 'delicious'); ?>

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Change the default homepage

• Modify the route (routing.yml)# default ruleshomepage: url: / param: { module: content, action: homepage }

• Modify the default settingsall: .actions: default_module: content

default_action: homepage

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The Caching System

• Caching– Actions with or without the layout– Components– Template fragments

• cache/cache_save helpers

• ETag headers• Configurable per action/component• File based or SQLite• sfSuperCache

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Cache our homepage + delicious

• Enable in settings.yml• Configure cache.yml

delicious: enabled: on

homepageSuccess: enabled: true with_layout: true lifetime: 9600

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Create a content administration

• symfony propel-init-module backendcontent Content

• Modify generator.yml

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Generator.yml

fields: title: { name: Title, help: This is the title of the content. } content: { name: Body, help: This is the body of this content. } list: display: [=title, created_at] filters: [title, created_at] sort: title fields: created_at: { parmas: disabled=true, type: plain } title: { type: plain } content: { type: textarea_tag, params: rich=true size=60x60}

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Input Filtering & Output Escaping

• Input filtering– Transformations applied via converters in

form handling– Configurable via validate/:action.yml

• Output escaping– XSS prevention

• Automatically escapes all variables accessible tothe template

• Configurable via settings.yml

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The Plugin System

• Plugins are packages– Configuration, Object Model, Libraries,

Helpers, Modules, Tasks, Tests, Assets

• Easy to install via PEAR– symfony plugin-install or pear install

• Plugins can be overridden/extended– Configuration, Object Model, Actions,

Templates

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Available Plugins

• sfGuard– Basic auth/user/group/permission system

• sfFeed2– RSS/Atom Feed Generation/Aggregation

• sfShoppingCart– Basics of a shopping cart

• sfSuperCache– Extremely fast full page caching

• sfErrorLogger– Error logging for 404 and 500 errors

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Install sfGuardPlugin

• Install sfGuardPlugin from pear– symfony plugin-install

http://plugins.symfony-project.com/sfGuardPlugin

• Rebuild object model– symfony propel-build-all

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Install sfGuardPlugin

• Enable in frontend (settings.yml) .settings: enabled_modules: [sfGuardAuth]

• Enable in backend (settings.yml) .settings: enabled_modules: [sfGuardGroup, sfGuardUser,

sfGuardPermission]

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Install sfGuardPlugin

• Add remember me filter (filters.yml) security_filter: class: sfGuardBasicSecurityFilter

• Activate security actions login_module: sfGuardAuth login_action: signin secure_module: sfGuardAuth secure_action: secure

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Secure your administration area

• Confirm frontend application is unsecure default:

is_secure: off

• Modify backend applications security.yml default:

is_secure: on credentials: [admin]

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I18n & L10n

• Inspired by PRADO• Flexible Configuration

– Dictionaries can be XLIFF, gettext, or database

• Caching• Template Helpers

– Dealing with text = __()• Works with complex strings, enforces separation

– Easy date, time, currency formatting

• Support for internationalization in database tables

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LIME - Unit and Functional Testing

• Based on Test::More Perl library• Supports

– Unit Testing• Given specific input validate specific output

– Functional Testing• Does this work in context, a complete feature

• TAP compliant output• Zero Dependencies

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Write functional test for our app

$browser = new sfTestBrowser();$browser->initialize();

$browser-> get('/')-> isStatusCode(200)-> isRequestParameter('module', 'content')-> isRequestParameter('action', 'homepage')-> checkResponseElement('body', '/Welcome/');

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Real World Performance

• Hello World in 10-15ms– APC / Syck

• symfony can provide many features– disable the ones you will not use

• Build intelligently, cache effectively• sfOptimizerPlugin / sfSuperCache• Yahoo! Bookmarks

– User base of ~20 Million– Full dynamic page in ~100ms

• symfony-project.com– digg, slashdot, techcrunch, ajaxian

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Where to go from here?

• Read Documentation• Work through the Askeet advent• Step by step tutorials• Finding example code• Finding help

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Documentation

• The Definitive Guide to symfony– http://symfony-project.com/book/trunk– Released open source 1/29/2007– Licensed under GFDL

• API Documentation– Good coverage

• Wiki– Many useful guides and how to– Many user contributed tips

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Askeet Advent

• Askeet.com– http://symfony-project.com/askeet

• 24 Day Tutorial on• How to build a real web 2.0 application• In-depth coverage of all aspects of symfony

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Tutorials

• Askeet• My first project• Building an ajaxified drag and drop

shopping cart• Sortable lists using ajax• Degradable ajax pagination

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Example Code

• Askeet– http://trac.askeet.com

• Snippets– http://symfony-project.com/snippets/

• Snipeet– http://trac.snipeet.com

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Finding Help

• Forums– http://www.symfony-project.com/forum

• IRC– irc.freenode.net/#symfony

• Mailing List (Google Groups)– symfony-users@googlegroups.com– archived & searchable

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Questions?

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Are you good with AJAX, PHP,DHTML/XHTML, Javascript, CSS,

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Then we have a job for you!

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Enjoy the rest of the conference!