VS 2008 and PHP

Want a free version of Visual Studio 2008 that not only runs PHP, but also allows you to build win form applications using PHP?

Well then check the following link out-

http://www.php-compiler.net/doku.php?id=core%3aphp-in-vs2008

Have fun!

Three PHP Frameworks Worth Checking Out

I think php is kind of in a crisis right now (and I'm sort of talking through my rear, as I'm working on my first PHP project now). It seems like PHP is really simple. But a lot of folks talked down to PHP because it wasn't "object oriented" enough. So now PHP is trying to become what maybe it shouldn't be, a first class object oriented language. Or let me put it this way, hopefully it won't become a first class object oriented language at the expense of loosing its easy to use/easy to understand roots.

Anyway, I digress...

For those of you who just can't stand the fact that you don't have all the OOP and other "modern" features of other languages in PHP, check out the following PHP frameworks that extend PHP to support things like MVC, better OOP, and Active Record, to name a few. Here they are.

CakePHP http://cakephp.org/
The Zend Framework http://framework.zend.com/
Code Igniter http://codeigniter.com/

If you have any opinions on which is better, I'd be interested. I will take one out for a spin on my second or third project.

Abyss and Sql Server 2008

You might be wondering how hard it is to get php and SQL Server 2008 talking to each other on an abyss web server. Turns out it is pretty easy. Here are the basics (which is pretty much exactly how you think you would do it). Below assumes you already have Abyss, php, and sql server up and running.

1. Download and "install" (unpack into a folder) the latest php/SQL Server driver (it says 2005, works wth 2008, but you have to get funky if you want to use some of the new 2008 data types...update in the works).

http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?FamilyID=61bf87e0-d031-466b-b09a-6597c21a2e2a&displaylang=en

2) Copy the php_sqlsrv_ts.dll from your driver's install folder into your php folder.

3) (Optional: Back up your php.ini file in your php folder, then...) Add the following line into the extensions section of your php.ini file-

extension=php_sqlsrv_ts.dll

4) Restart Abyss, and you should be done. You can check for a sqlsvr section in php_info.

I haven't done to much testing with this, but it says it has installed, so for now I will assume good. Also if you have sql server running on a different box, you may have to tweak your php interpreter settings in abyss from named pipes local to named pipes tcp/ip. Not sure as I'm just using a local version of sql express.

Aptana for PHP and the Aptana Cloud

I just downloaded the Aptana IDE and then sebsequently installed the php plugin.

www.aptana.com

One thing I noticed is that for under 30 bucks, you can deploy a php/mysql app to the Aptana cloud! There is a free one month trial, I will check it out.

The cloud supports SVN, state and production servers out of the box, if it works that is a pretty nice turn key solution to for getting apps out there.

I think I get cloud computing now...

Mod_Rewrite

Here is a quick and dirty guide to using apache's mod_rewrite module

http://www.workingwith.me.uk/articles/scripting/mod_rewrite

php.net?

php.net? Well, kind of-

http://www.codeplex.com/Phalanger

For more info to get what Phalanger can do in perspective, try here-

http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com/2006/12/aspnet-20-vs-php-etc.html

PHP Sql Server 2005 Native Driver

Yep, its here.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=61BF87E0-D031-466B-B09A-6597C21A2E2A&displaylang=en

Referrenced from -

http://www.misfitgeek.com/