Zend Framework-First Database driven application

Zend Framework is an open source, object-oriented web application framework implemented in PHP 5 designed to eliminate the tedious details of coding and let you focus on the big picture. One of its strengths is the highly modular Model-View-Controller (MVC) design, making your code more reusable and easier to maintain.

The requirements as under :

• Latest version of PHP, MySql Database and Apache Web Server(httpd) are installed on your system.

•  mod_rewrite extension of Apache must be enabled. To enable, do the following (only for Debian based distros, like Ubuntu) :

sudo a2enmod rewrite

•   Don’t forget to restart Apache.

sudo service apache2 restart

• Make a directory structure like this, project/ must be placed inside the /var/www/ Directory :

  project/
  ——-application/
  ——————controllers/
  ——————forms/
  ——————models/
  ——————views/
  ————————-scripts/
  ———————————-error/
  ———————————-index/

• Directory “project/” is main working directory of the our application.
• Download Zend Framework minimal package from http://framework.zend.com/download/latest. Then Extract the Library folder inside the archive to our project/ directory, graphically or use following commands.
• Now Log in to root. Run the following commands:

sudo -s

cd  /home/username/Downloads/

cd  zend-minimal

cp  library /var/www/project

• Directory name: Zend-minimal.tar.gz can vary according to the version of Zend, you downloaded.
• Create index.php file inside the project/ directory and write the following code:

<?php
 define(‘ROOT_DIR’, dirname(__FILE__));
//including the MVC (Model-View-Controller) directories and Zend library
set_include_path('.'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . ROOT_DIR . '/library'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . ROOT_DIR . '/application/models'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . ROOT_DIR . '/application/forms'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path()
 );
//Autoloading the zend
require_once "Zend/Loader/Autoloader.php";
 $autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
 $autoloader->setFallbackAutoloader(true)
$frontController = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$frontController->throwExceptions(true);
$frontController->setControllerDirectory(ROOT_DIR.'/application/controllers');
 $frontController->dispatch();
 ?>

• When we will open this file, Zend will lookout for IndexController.php inside the controllers/ directory which we have defined in the index.php file, therefore create the IndexController.php inside project/application/controllers/ and write the following code in it:

// setting up the controller here..
 <?php
class IndexController extends Zend_Controller_Action
 {
 public function indexAction()
 {
 }}
?>

• Now the inside the IndexController.php we created the class with the same name, and indexAction() is created. indexAction() will look for index.phtml inside the project/application/views/scripts/index/ so just create it, whatever you will write in this file, directly comes to your view. Similarly create error.phtml in project/application/views/scripts/error/ and write anything that will identify you, whenever you faced the error.
• Create .htacess file in project/ folder and write following code in it

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L]

• This is the file where mod_rewrite extension of Apache Web Server(httpd) is used to rewrite the URLs, as I will not discuss this now.
• Create a Database and note down the name you created. Create table by executing the following query :
  


  CREATE TABLE users (id int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  name varchar(75),pname varchar(75),address varchar(100),
  contact varchar(15),hobbies text,PRIMARY KEY (id));

• Now configure the database settings. Create a file config.ini inside the /project/application/ directory, write the following code, fill in your details and save the file.

[general]
db.adapter = "PDO_MYSQL"
db.params.host = "localhost"
db.params.username = "root"
db.params.password = ""
db.params.dbname = "project"

• We have created the Database configuration file, now add the following lines to index.php

$config = new Zend_Config_Ini(ROOT_DIR.'/application/config.ini', 'general');
 $db = Zend_Db::factory($config->db);
 Zend_Db_Table::setDefaultAdapter($db);

• It should look like :

<?php
 define('ROOT_DIR', dirname(__FILE__));
set_include_path('.'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . ROOT_DIR . '/library'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . ROOT_DIR . '/application/models'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . ROOT_DIR . '/application/forms'
 . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path()
 );
require_once "Zend/Loader/Autoloader.php";
 $autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
 $autoloader->setFallbackAutoloader(true);
//database configs initialized
$config = new Zend_Config_Ini(ROOT_DIR.'/application/config.ini', 'general');
 $db = Zend_Db::factory($config->db);
 Zend_Db_Table::setDefaultAdapter($db);
$frontController = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
$frontController->throwExceptions(true);
$frontController->setControllerDirectory(ROOT_DIR.'/application/controllers');
 $frontController->dispatch();
 ?>

• Also added a form to view the data in specific defined order as desired by the viewer, So create a file named SortForm.php inside /project/application/forms directory and write following code:

<?php
 class SortForm extends Zend_Form
 {
 public function init()
 {
$this->setMethod('post');
 $this->addElement('radio', 'sortby', array(
 'label' => 'Sort by Column:',
 'multioptions' => array(
 'name' => 'Name',
 'pname' => 'Parent\'s Name',
 'address' => 'Address',
 'contact' => 'Contact',
 'hobbies' => 'hobbies'
 ),));
$this->addElement(‘radio’, ‘sorttype’, array(
 'label' => 'Sort Type:',
 'multioptions' => array(
 'ASC' => 'Aescending',
 'DESC' => 'Descending'
 ),));
 $this->addElement('text','search',array(
 'label'=>'search name'));
 $this->addElement('submit','sortdata',array(
 'label'=>'Sort Data'));
}
 }
 ?>

• Update IndexController.php

<?php
 class IndexController extends Zend_Controller_Action
 {
 public function indexAction()
 {
//loading Users model, ans SortForm
 $users = new Users();
 $form = new SortForm();
 $this->view->form = $form;
//searching and sorting logic
 if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
 $sortData = $this->_request->getPost();
}
 if((empty($sortData['search'])==0)){
if(isset($sortData['sortby']) && isset($sortData['sorttype']))
 {
$data=$users->fetchAll($users->select()->order($sortData['sortby']." ".$sortData['sorttype'])->where('name = ?', $sortData['search']));
 }
 else
 {
$data=$users->fetchAll($users->select()->where('name = ?', $sortData['search']));
 }}
elseif(isset($sortData['sortby']) && isset($sortData['sorttype'])){
$data=$users->fetchAll($users->select()->order($sortData['sortby']." ".$sortData['sorttype']));
 }
else {
$data = $users->fetchAll($users->select());
}
$this->view->data = $data;
 }
}
?>

• Also update index.phtml

<h3>All Added Entries</h4>
<?php
echo $this->form;
 ?>
<table border="1">
<tr>
 <th>Name</th>
 <th>Father's Name</th>
 <th>Address</th>
 <th>Contact</th>
 <th>Hobbies</th>
 </tr>
<?php foreach ($this->data as $d) {?>
 <tr>
 <td><?php echo $d['name'];?></td>
 <td><?php echo $d['pname'];?></td>
 <td><?php echo $d['address'];?></td>
 <td><?php echo $d['contact'];?></td>
 <td><?php echo $d['hobbies'];?></td>
 </tr>
 <?php }?>
</table>

• We have to setup a model for the Database table which we are using, which is also used in indexAction() of IndexController.php file so, create a file Users.php which resides in /project/application/models/ directory and write the corresponding code.

<?php 
class Users extends Zend_Db_Table 
{    protected $_name = "users"; }
 ?>

• Create ErrorController.php inside project/application/controllers/ and write the code, which we are using to display errors if any occurs.

<?php
class ErrorController extends Zend_Controller_Action {
public function errorAction() {
 $errors = $this->_getParam('error_handler');
 $exception = $errors->exception;
echo $exception->getMessage();
 echo "<br /><pre>";
 echo $exception->getTraceAsString();
 }
 }
 ?>

• Next is the Data Entry form for user, create a form named CustomForm.php inside project/application/forms/ directory and write the following code to create a form for Data Entry.

<?php
 class CustomForm extends Zend_Form
 {
 public function init()
 {
 $this->setMethod('post');
$id = $this->createElement('hidden','id');
 $name = $this->createElement('text','name');
 $name->setLabel('Name:')
 ->setAttrib('maxlength',75);
 $pname = $this->createElement('text','pname');
 $pname->setLabel('Father's Name')
 ->setAttrib('maxlength',75);
 $address = $this->createElement('text','address');
 $address->setLabel('Address:')
 ->setAttrib('maxlength',100)
 ->setAttrib('size',75);
 $contact = $this->createElement('text','contact');
 $contact->setLabel('Contact:')
 ->setAttrib('maxlength',15)
 ->setAttrib('size',15);
$hobbies = $this->createElement('textarea','hobbies');
 $hobbies->setLabel('Hobbies (seprate with coma(,)):')
 ->setAttrib('size',255)
 ->setAttrib('rows',10)
 ->setAttrib('cols',40);
 $addentry = $this->createElement('submit','addentry');
 $addentry->setLabel("Add Entry")
 ->setIgnore(true);
$this->addElements(array(
 $name,
 $pname,
 $address,
 $contact,
 $hobbies,
 $id,
 $addentry
 ));
 }
 }
 ?>

• Updates version of IndexController.php is following, please make corresponding changes:

<?php
 class IndexController extends Zend_Controller_Action
 {
 public function indexAction()
 {
 $users = new Users();
 $form = new SortForm();
 $this->view->form = $form;
 if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
 $sortData = $this->_request->getPost();
}
 if((empty($sortData['search'])==0)){
if(isset($sortData['sortby']) && isset($sortData['sorttype']))
 {
$data=$users->fetchAll($users->select()->order($sortData['sortby']." ".$sortData['sorttype'])->where('name = ?', $sortData['search']));
 }
 else
 {
$data=$users->fetchAll($users->select()->where('name = ?', $sortData['search']));
 }
}
elseif(isset($sortData['sortby']) && isset($sortData['sorttype'])){
$data=$users->fetchAll($users->select()->order($sortData['sortby']." ".$sortData['sorttype']));
 }
else {
$data = $users->fetchAll($users->select());
}
$this->view->data = $data;
 }
//add action
public function addAction()
 {
 $users = new Users();
 $form = new CustomForm();
 $this->view->form = $form;
if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
 $formData = $this->_request->getPost();
 if ($form->isValid($formData)) {
 unset($formData['addentry']);
 $users->insert($formData);
 echo "Data Successfully stored";
 }
 }
 }
}
 ?>

• Create add.phtml file in project/application/views/scripts/index/ and write the following code in it.

<h3>Add User</h3>
 <?php
 if ($this->errorMsg) {
 echo $this->errorMsg;
 }
 ?>
 <?php echo $this->form;
 ?>

• For Viewing the Entries :http://localhost/project/index
• For Adding Entries :http://localhost/project/index/add