PHP Frameworks...

[dbo]

I'm sure this topic has popped up time and time again, but here it is again

 

Make your best case for your framework of choice. I'm open to hearing any thoughts on the topic but primarily interested in some of the big boys:

 

CakePHP

Code Igniter

Seagull

Other

Custom/Home grown

 

 

[Liquid Fire]

Me, my own custom framework is for me.

 

I built it for a learning experience but after I was down, it really pretty good and just add to it when I need a feature that is not there.

[Trooper]

I've been using Zend Framework for my blog. I like it...its great how fast I can build it now.

[dbo]

I've been digging through the code of Seagull/CodeIgniter/CakePHP, so far I'm not really all that impressed. Seagull seems to be a CMS as much as anything... CI/Cake seem to have pretty big footprints and they force MVC on you.... which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't look like you get much say how it's implemented. I'll keep hunting as I await your replies

[dbo]

CodeIgniter seems the most promising of the bunch, but it's still not what I was expecting. I probably will end up back at the custom approach. Anymore thoughts?

[ziv]

Zend Framework!

[trq]

Yeah, Zend allows you alot more faxability than most others. You can use whatever bits you need and forget the rest if you like.

 

Another I like but completely the oppisite apprough to zend is symphony. Its pretty much php on rails. (ie: similar approuch to ruby on rails.)

[dbo]

I'll definitely check them out. Zend seems more along the lines of what I was thinking... mostly a library/API for you to do with as you please.

 

Symphony huh... interesting. How does it compare to PHP on Trax which was what I read was supposed to be the PHP equiv to RoR.

[gizmola]

Your list is missing one of the biggest players right now: Symfony.

 

http://www.symfony-project.org/

[redbullmarky]

re PHP on Trax

 

When a framework is written, I believe that to be good, it needs to take advantage of a languages best bits and build on them. Certain syntax that is native to a language just make parts of a framework so much better. Now - as PHP and Ruby are very different (notably in the way objects are handled, and even down to what is actually considered an object), its pretty hard to emulate one languages framework on another with decent results.

 

My opinion of PHP on Trax is that it's overblown, quite tricky to use, and doesn't try and stand on its own two feet as a decent framework in its own right. I chose Cake as the better of the two, mainly cos it's based loosely on Rails but it does its own thing.

 

I'd only recommend rolling your own framework if you have a fairly advanced grasp of things, as it can get very messy very quickly without proper planning. Using some of the others are great to get a good idea of how they work as well as which one(s) you feel most comfortable working with.

[cowfish]

The really good thing about frameworks is that they tend to force you into programming well-structured applications. But there are disadvantages. I've looked at CakePHP and CodeIgniter.

 

My experience with CakePHP is that while it's excellent for the more standard applications (e.g. common websites and CMS applications), the going might get a little tough if you want to implement a more unusual application. I was working on an application with CakePHP, but had to revert to custom mysql queries and a few other hacks. But that may just be that I didn't know how to do it in Cake. Which leads to the issue of documentation.

 

If you're using a framework there is a learning curve. Unlike coding your own mini-framework, you don't know the mechanics of how things work. If the documentation is lacking then you have a big problem. While CakePHP may be more powerful than CI straight out of the box, CI's documentation is far more thorough.

 

I really like CakePHP but it's sad because the documentation let's it down so much.

[Daniel0]

I don't think CakePHP is really good. You do for instance always need a model, a controller and a view present for each thing, but you might not always need all three of those. E.g. a page which handles a login and then immediately redirects you somewhere else doesn't need a view as it does not present anything to the user. A page which doesn't need access to any data doesn't need a model. I always recommend Zend Framework as it gives the kind of flexibility that others don't.