There is second part of Doctrine and Zend Framework integration screencasts series from ZendCasts.com .
This short podcast covers how you can easily build a form using Zend’s MVC model via Zend_Controller and using Doctrine for persistence.
This time Jon Lebensold looks at forms and creating new database entities using Doctrine.
If you have already developed any application using Zend Framework, you should be familiar with modules concept, part of MVC pattern. More experienced developers should notice Zend Framework’s modules lacking an important feature: self containment.
A Module is, in theory, a reusable collection of controllers, views and other classes which is packaged in its own directory for simpler copying or seperate treatment in a version control system like git or subversion. (…) Zend Framework modules do live in a module directory, using Zend_Application and some conventions their classes are autoloaded on demand and they are not required to contain controllers and views. (…) Modules currently don’t have on-access configuration unless we impose it through various means.
So are Zend Framework modules real modules or not, or at least can they be used as self-contained, reusable packages of software? Padraic Brady shows what with some effort it is possible. Read on his blog how to build Self-Contained Reusable Zend Framework Modules With Standardised Configurators.
In the new post on his blog, Pablo Viquez writes about exporting data to Excel spreadsheet using Zend Framework and Spreadcheet_Excel_Writer (PEAR component). Most interesting part of article, at least for me, is context switching.
Zend Framework offers a nice feature called “Context Switch”. This is an action helper that detects requested output and calls the specific view for the required format.
Presented layout and multi-context application and explanation of how to plug-in contexts not supported by default by Zend Framework is a must ready for everyone looking for clear solutions of presenting same data in different format.
