Macronimous Web Design

Last weekend, we have upgraded this Blog system to WordPress 3. It went well without any troubles, as expected. Our team shares few simple steps to do it yourself.

1. Download WordPress 3.0 from the URL wordpress.org/download. And before you install make sure you have access to the FTP client and mysql database

2. Create a subfolder in your domain root folder and upload unzipped wordpress 3.0 files to the subfolder. Create a database for new WordPress version on your web server. Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php. Open wp-config.php in a text editor and fill in your database details and upload to the desired folder. Run the WordPress installation script by accessing yourdomain.com/subfolder/wp-admin/install.php.

3. Now you should have done with the installation. Next step is to copy your theme files and paste it to the wp-content folder were you could see the default theme.

4. From now on you need to be very careful, copy you DB tables scripts from your existing blog database and paste it to a notepad. Here you see the links with the original URL yourdomain.com and you need to replace with demo URL yourdomain.com/subfolder/ since you are installing a demo test version in a subfolder. Now you can copy the DB table’s script and execute in your new database that has been created for demo version.

5. Now you are 50% done with wordpress 3.0. All the remaining is plugins and you need to note that all plugins are not compactable for new wordpress 3.0 so do not place all plugin in the wp-content plugin folder if happens then there would be problem in access wp-admin. Through your FTP client you need to create a folder can be named “backup” and place all your existing plugins in the “backup” folder. Then move on your desired plugin one by one to check compatibility by logging into wp-admin. There would be less or more plugins you would have located that are not compactable.

6.  Now you are done with your wordpress 3.0 in your demo version. You should be able to access your demo blog with all the post and as well you would be able to access blog wp-admin.

7. At this instant, you can move your live blog files to a different folder or can move to your local machine just for a support. Through FTP client go to your subfolder were you have wordpress 3.0 file and upload all the files in your root folder were you had the files of your previous word press version. Now download your wp-config.php and open in a text editor and fill in your live database details.

8. Now you need to access your mysql demo database and copy the table’s scripts to a notepad and change the URL from yourdomain.com/subfolder/ to yourdomain.com/ and execute it to your live database.

That’s it, now you can enjoy using wordpress 3.0 for your live blog.

When we launched our business/technical blog system under this domain/url, it was done with WordPress version 2.7 and later we upgraded it to 2.9 (Carmen McRae release) last year. Now WordPress announced its version 3, with major revisions.  WordPress community announced that 1217 bugs were fixed (which means our present blog system has 1217 bugs) which is not a small number. It has 4 digits.

WordPress 3

Next week, we will be upgrading to the new WP 3.0 and we when have started planning now few things come to my mind.

• The first thing would be Database backup.
• The only major task involved in WP upgrades is theme and plug-in compatibility checking. We may need to change our present theme and sacrifice some plug-is if they do not work with the new version. The directory of plug-ins for 3.0 is yet to be displayed, we are waiting for that.
• We are preparing a list of plug-ins, I have asked team to give up some of the plug-ins like ‘Listen Now’, i do not see any use in it. We will also remove the video comment plug-in even if it is compatible with 3.0.
• WordPress has detailed guide for version upgrades, simply following up http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress helped us before.
• Finally we will check the site for validations, in a previous blog we discussed this too. 4 site design validations you should do before you deliver

Now why would we want to upgrade while the present 2.9 is working fine. Not just for the terrible figure 1217, But I like the following list of features which I see in WP3.

1. Create multiple blogs/sites with single control panel. This would be a boon for company like us, who run more than 4 business sites and blogs. But we need to find how easy it would be.
2. Contextual help in the same page. You get what is what within that section. I am sure this will help our customers who use WordPress or any blogging/CMS for the first time.
3. Custom Menu management: We so far used third party plug-ins for Menu based navigations. Some plug-ins works well with some WordPress versions, and some are not. This is the graceful feature which I welcome.
4. Support for short URLs: We need to check is the short URLs are automatically created or we need to use a service like bit.ly

Before we recommend the upgrade to our customers, we want to try and practice it in our system first. Can’t wait!

WordPress control panel has Auto upgrade at : http://blog.macronimous.com/wp-admin/update-core.php , we will try it and post it soon.

Codeigniter is an open source web application framework for building dynamic websites with programming language PHP. Its main aim is to facilitate the developers to develop projects much faster than writing code from the scratch. If you are a developer who want to meet the clients’ deadline and tired of tediously large and painstakingly undocumented frameworks, Codeigniter is the way to go. When compared to other PHP frameworks, Codeigniter is often distinguished for its speed.

CodeIgniter

Now is the real time to know about the power of Codeigniter. So ignite yourself and initiate reading to know why you want to choose Codeigniter. It will suit if:

• You require a framework which can be set up very quickly and efficiently.
• You need an outstanding performance.
• You are a developer who needs methodical and clear documentation.
• You need a framework that does not call for sticking on to restrictive coding rules.
• You want a framework that needs nearly zero configuration.
• You need a framework which is compatible with many environments

Some of our developers always prefer to use  CodeIgniter, write me if you want to see some samples and know why they used CodeIgniter. If you want to start using CodeIgniter start right here at: http://codeigniter.com/

3. Frameworks we like: 2. CakePHP and why?

2. PHP Frameworks we like 1. Zend and why?

1. PHP Frameworks we like

Months back, I made a post similar to this, But I believe another post emphasizing on the best practices is not considered bad.

Working with PHP is something you enjoy everyday!. You always wanted to do your best to your clients. But when the deadlines are pressing and when the clients are on your shoulders people start doing messy codings, and the standards got ignored. But you practice the best ways of programming everyday, it becomes your style and you have no alternate choice of doing quick and dirty work. Here are some simple best practices discussed by Matthew Weier of Zend technologies. Use them when you get an opportunity, and they will become your style of programming.

Netbeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is an open source integrated development for software developers. You can run the Netbeans IDE on various platforms which include Linux, Windows, Solaris and MacOs. It is aimed at providing a comfortable environment for the developer during each stage of development. This is accomplished by integrating precise features required for PHP development into the Netbeans IDE.

As most PHP projects characteristically connect to MySQL databases, Netbeans has made a concentrated effort to offer to this configuration. By means of the Netbeans IDE 6.5 Beta, web developers can now benefit from the standard features like the syntax highlighting, refactoring, code templates, pop-up documentation, easy code navigation, debugger and lots more.

I have been currently using Netbeans IDE and I have penned down few features and positives that I came across in writing PHP based web application.

• It comes free.
• Netbeans will go along with PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Java and lots more.
• Indentation format is out of the top draw in Netbeans. You select a block of code which contains css, html or php code, Netbeans will make sure it formats the code evidently and placed indentation adequately.
• Common functions of PHP are shown automatically or you can use ctrl + space.
• While writing HTML, Netbeans ensures it checks the div id properly and it indicates if there is any hitch so that you can easily fix the bug.

I can stiff my neck out and say it’s the most popular IDE and also the most popular. So I would give an overall score of 8 out of 10 for Netbeans IDE.

Symfony a web application written in PHP as per the Model-View-Controller (MVC) standards launched by Sensio Labs during 2005. It is aimed to give developers full authority over the configuration. Symfony also looks to up the tempo of creation and maintenance of web applications and to reduce the recurring coding tasks. More or less a whole lot from the directory structure to foreign libraries could be customized.

The symfony templating component is a flexible layer on top of PHP which provides you simple yet influential features that covers most familiar templating needs. One of the objectives of symfony templating component is to be as fast as possible. It comes as a tool which is very easy to use with just a single archive to download and that’s it, you are ready to be on the go.

You might ask me the next question, what is the exact need for any framework in PHP? PHP was supposed to be meant as a fast web based programming language. The ever escalating popularity of Open Source Technology today has given away to the position of PHP in web community.

Given this condition why do you need a Symfony? Why a framework in the first place? Let us see how the Symfony framework is going to benefit the customer and as well as the developer.

Benefits of Symfony Framework for Customers

• Released under MIT open source license, the Symfony framework comes as free software and you can use it for any commercial purposes.
• Symfony Framework is independent of database due to the ORM layer “Propel” or “Doctrine”.
• Use of tested code and also less lines of code which always results in less chance of bugs and also it will minimize your cost.
• Web applications are very easy to modify later on because of the clear Model View Controller (MVC) structure that separates application into separated layers.
• Swift developments of a custom-made website build on proven methods and principles.

Benefits of Symfony Framework for Developers

• All codes are object oriented and entirely in PHP5.
• You will gain plenty of time in the overall development process and get improved maintainable and testable code.
• Very appropriate for development methodologies like XP.
• Advanced cache system which includes file cache, apc cache, mem cache and few others.
• Offers tools to make use of every useful best-practice accessible on the web today.

Initially when I came across this Symfony software, found it really overwhelming and appeared a big step. But the structure of the framework and also because of the consistency of Application Programming Interface (API), the documentation provided was really wonderful.

I must admit that ever since we started using Symfony, we haven’t looked back.

3. Frameworks we like: 2. CakePHP and why?

2. PHP Frameworks we like 1. Zend and why?

1. PHP Frameworks we like

Our developers first choice was Zend, reasons?  Zend Framework is an uncomplicated, straight forward, open source software framework for PHP 5. Its flexible design allows you to build interactive web applications and services with ease. One of the major highlight is the Model-View-Controller (MVC), which makes the code reusable and trouble-free to maintain.

MVC is nothing but an architectural blueprint used by software engineering. As a developer you would wish to separate data and user interface. This enables you as a developer to make changes to user interface without disturbing data handling and rearrange data without making any changes to the UI.

There were few positives which I came across and would like to share it with you:

• Easy to deploy and simple maintenance.
• You don’t have to make use of the entire package, instead pick and choose bits, and plug it together to get a complete product to suit your requirements.
• It supports your higher yet simple solutions in developing PHP 5 web applications for an international audience.
• Zend Framework is completely object oriented and very easy to enlarge and improve.
• Configuration files are not essential for up and running.

All in all, if you’re looking for a “face-lift” to PHP, Zend Framework provides you with powerful solutions for building a safe and robust website.

Next: Frameworks we like: 2. CakePHP>>

Doing Unit testing is helps a team to produce quality application with in time by allowing the developer to test the code as soon as they write it. By developing a test document, developers are forced to do rigorous testing before it reaches to QA team. This way the span of life cycle is reduced by avoiding it going back and forth between the developer and the tester. The following few Frameworks help teams to do unit testing efficiently. This way unit testing could become a fun to your developers too.

Four Frameworks to perform unit testing in PHP are

1. SimpleTest

2. PHPUnit

3. phpt

4. SnapTest

SimpleTest:

It’s a Open souce unit test framework created by Marcus Baker for PHP. The test structure in SimpleTest is similar to the Junit and PHPUnit.  It contains all of the typical functions in Junit and PHPunit and also includes Mock objects. Simplte Test helps to automate the web application’s regression testing. Regression testing on web applications can be done by parsing the HTML page by using scrpitable HTTP client for simulations like Form submission and clicking on Hyperlinks. Some of the JWebUnit functionalities like web page navigation, cookie testing and form submission are also incorporated in this.

Download and test your version of Simple test.

PHPUnit:

PHP Unit is a part of xUnit family, which has testing frameworks in it. It provides a framework that helps in creating the test scripts easily and also the functionality to execute the tests and then analyze the results. The tests are arranged into cases in PHPUnit, which is very similar to Simple Test. A case is essentially a class in which public methods are singular independent tests.  A test name starts with “test” if the test is a public method. Any test, which is not, a public method will not be taken into account unless interpreted as a test under PHPUnit.  Helper methods are very useful for recurring tasks. If used Helper methods to set up a test, the test will be considered as a separate test by the framework. Refrence to assert methods are present inside each and every test. An assertion is mainly taking an expected value and then comparing it with an actual value. If the expected value does not match the actual value, then the test fails. Mock Objects are hugely important component in maintaining a unit test’s segregation from all other classes and resources except the one under test.

The following link will assist you to get more idea on PHPUnit.

PHPT:

A phpt test is a small script, which used by the php internal and quality assurance teams for testing PHP’s functionalities. Writing phpt tests helps to make PHP more stable. For writing up a phpt test, we need a basic knowledge on PHP language, a text editor and a method to get the results of the code.  Phpt test is used in following scenario: The run-tests.php scripts call the test and it takes different parts of phpt file to name and to create a .php file. The newly created .php file is executed and the output of the same is compared with different sections of a phpt file. The Test pass only when the output of the script “matches” with the output provided in the phpt script.  Phpt test will do the following: It tries and breaks the PHP functions. PHPT test check the functions normal parameters as well as edge cases.

More on Phpt

SnapTest:

The most powerful unit-testing framework for PHP 5+ is SnapTest.  PHP’s runtime language is the only one of its kind that can be used to make the unit test process simpler without sacrificing the agility tests. The philosophy on which the Snap Test was build: Unit testing should be transparent in Snap Test. Complexity of test harness and coding out stub files should be avoided in Snap Test. The obstacle in writing tests should be very less so that it becomes easier to write the tests than writing the code.

Features of the SnapTest are:

• JUnit Compliant Test Harness

• TAP Compliant Test Output

• Runnable from Command Line via .sh or .php scripts

• Full support for mock objects at runtime (minimum parallel structures) as actors and critics

• Extensible add-on system for adapting SnapTest to just about any developer environment

Here you go for:  SnapTest

Let me know if you are familiar with other frameworks.

Here is another nice, well I think it is nice, since it’s pretty short and gives you an over view quickly. All PHP developers must find one Framework for them before your client forces you to learn one.

Thanks to Ryan and Team for this precise information.

Many of our customers who look for Ecommerce solutions find Opensource solutions to build it cost effectively and they like what we recommended, Cubecart!There are reasons:1. Easy to customize (skin based), and this keeps the cost low.
2. You can bring great look and feel with skins, you can make the site like complete custom design. No footsteps of Cubecart would be visible.
3. PHP programmers likes it. – Clean code structure, easy to manage. Our PHP programmers have a great feel about it.
4. Designers like it. Clean XHTML interface and CSS driven.
5. SEO guys like it. Search Engine Friendly URLs, Custom URLs, Meta Tags, Robots.txt & PHP Session Killer etc
6. Good support from Cubecart team apart from forum support (Like http://www.cubecartforums.org/)
7. Low cost, $180 only.
8. Good number of alternate payment solutions, Shipping modules (http://www.cubecart.com/modules)
9. Web2.0 interface, But I am yet to see any Mashups.We strongly recommend and teach the importance of SEO for customers who wants us to build Ecommerce sites, as any online business should consider SEO as their primary marketing channel – Not just news paper ads, for long term business through online. Cubecart is one good choice to build SEO friendly Ecommerce sites that supports online marketing.