Project Planning & PHP diagrams?

[UrbanDweller]

Hey,

I did a coding course for an OOP called Jade, we got taught to plan the layout of the code using UML diagrams and sequence diagrams. I checked Visio but doesn't seem to support PHP at a glance.

 

What i would like to know is there any kind of way to plan a PHP project using techniques like UML etc. Plus what kind of planning do you do before jumping head first into coding unless your into that

 

If you know of any useful sites or software for ways to plan a PHP project please post.

 

Thanks a lot

 

 

[Zane]

Usually I start by just drawing and writing.    Write a few variables name and draw lines from one to another... or draw a few boxes to represent pages.  Mainly, I think of my target data beforehand and draw out its path to my target goal.

 

When I was learning Java, we would simply write the object name in a box (or circle), draw a line coming down from the bottom of it, and attach the various methods and properties it contained, using different shapes for each type (circle for methods, block for properties)

[ignace]

Start out by identifying your pages and what they will do. What will the user see? Does it have a form, how does it different states look (submit error, submit success, ...)? Does it have AJAX, how will it communicate state changes (service unavailable, service hang, ..)?

 

It isn't rocket science, you know/can think of this stuff.

[UrbanDweller]

Thanks for the tips guys, I think i might start off by writing each page and what its functionallity, main variables it will use and what pages it passes variables to. Kind of like a sequence diagram.

 

I would just like to have a plan in front of me when starting probably my biggest project just to know where variable are used, variables that are passed to start other pages and a overall final idea to refer back to.

[trq]

UML isn't really tied to a particular language.