Paul M. Jones

Today, Michelangelo van Dam posted this narrative relating his experience with Zend Framework models:

http://www.dragonbe.com/2010/01/zend-framework-data-models.html

I read the article, and wondered how hard it would be to replicate his narrative using the Solar Framework model system. Turns out it's pretty easy: there's a lot of work that Solar does for you.

1. Download a Solar system, move it to your localhost directory and make sure that the tmp and sqlite directories are accessible to the web server.

   $ wget http://svn.solarphp.com/system/download/solar-system-1.0.0beta2.tgz
   $ tar -zxf solar-system-1.0.0beta2.tgz
   $ cp -r solar/* /var/www/htdocs # or your localhost directory
   $ cd /var/www/htdocs         # or your localhost directory
   $ chmod -R 777 tmp sqlite
   

2. Create tables and data in sqlite/example.sq3. There are two changes from Michelangelo's code: the table names are plural, and rename the column type_id to address_type_id. (These are easy enough to change in the model class definitions, but I'd like to minimize the amount of customization for this example.)

   CREATE TABLE "users" (
       "id" integer primary key autoincrement,
       "username" varchar(255) not null,
       "password" varchar(255) not null
   );
   
   
   CREATE TABLE "contacts" (
       "id" integer primary key autoincrement,
       "user_id" integer not null,
       "email" varchar(255) not null,
       "phone" varchar(255) null,
       "fax" varchar(255) null
   );
   
   
   CREATE TABLE "addresses" (
       "id" integer primary key autoincrement,
       "address_type_id" integer not null default 1,
       "user_id" integer not null,
       "address1" varchar(255) not null,
       "address2" varchar(255) null,
       "city" varchar(255) not null,
       "state" varchar(255) null,
       "zip" varchar(255) not null,
       "country" varchar(255) not null
   );
   
   
   CREATE TABLE "address_types" (
       "id" integer primary key autoincrement,
       "type" varchar(255) not null
   );
   
   
   -- Data for users table --
   INSERT INTO "users"
       VALUES (1, 'testuser1', 'test123');
   INSERT INTO "users"
       VALUES (2, 'testuser2', 'test234');
   
   
   -- Data for contacts table --
   INSERT INTO "contacts"
       VALUES (1, 1, 'test1@example.com', '1-800-555-1234', '1-800-555-1230');
   INSERT INTO "contacts"
       VALUES (2, 2, 'test2@example.com', '1-800-555-2234', '1-800-555-2230');
   
   
   -- Data for addresses table --
   INSERT INTO "addresses"
       VALUES (1, 1, 1, '1 Test Home', '', 'Testtown', 'ZF', '1234', 'PHP');
   INSERT INTO "addresses"
       VALUES (2, 1, 2, '2 Test Home', '', 'Testtown', 'ZF', '1234', 'PHP');
   INSERT INTO "addresses"
       VALUES (3, 2, 2, 'Test Corp, LTD', '4 Test Ave', 'Testtown', 'ZF', '1234', 'PHP');
   
   
   -- Data for address_types table --
   INSERT INTO "address_types"
       VALUES (1, 'Home address');
   INSERT INTO "address_types"
       VALUES (2, 'Billing address');
   

3. Make sure the SQLite database is accessible to the web server.

   $ chmod 777 sqlite/example.sq3
   

4. Make a vendor space for the controllers, models, suppory libraries, etc. For this example the vendor will be named Example.

   $ ./script/solar make-vendor Example
   

5. Edit the system configuration in config.php. Change the front-controller class prefixes and model catalog class prefixes, and tell the SQLite adapter which file name to use.

   // front controller
   $config['Solar_Controller_Front'] = array(
       'classes' = array('Example_App'),
       // ... the rest of the front-controller array ...
   );
   
   
   // model catalog
   $config['Solar_Sql_Model_Catalog']['classes'] = 'Example_Model';
   
   
   // add sqlite config
   $config['Solar_Sql_Adapter_Sqlite'] = array(
       'name' => "$system/sqlite/example.sq3",
   );
   

6. Make the model classes. Note that this avoids a ton of effort that Zend Framework requires: Michelangelo had to hand-create table, model, and mapper classes for each of the following single-line commands.

   $ ./script/solar make-model Example_Model_Users
   $ ./script/solar make-model Example_Model_Contacts
   $ ./script/solar make-model Example_Model_Addresses
   $ ./script/solar make-model Example_Model_AddressTypes
   

7. Edit the model classes to express what the related models are:

   /** source/example/Example/Model/Users.php */
   protected function _setup()
   {
       // chain to parent
       parent::_setup();
   
   
       // relateds
       $this->_hasOne('contact');
       $this->_hasMany('addresses');
   }
   
   
   /** source/example/Example/Model/Contacts.php */
   protected function _setup()
   {
       // chain to parent
       parent::_setup();
   
   
       // relateds
       $this->_belongsTo('user');
   }
   
   
   /** source/example/Example/Model/AddressTypes.php */
   protected function _setup()
   {
       // chain to parent
       parent::_setup();
   
   
       // relateds
       $this->_hasMany('addresses');
   }
   
   
   /** source/example/Example/Model/Addresses.php */
   protected function _setup()
   {
       // chain to parent
       parent::_setup();
   
   
       // relateds
       $this->_belongsTo('address_type');
       $this->_belongsTo('user');
   }
   
   

8. Make a skeleton app (i.e., a controller with its associated actions and views):

   $ ./script/solar make-app Example_App_Accounts
   

9. Edit the controller action to fetch user account data:

   /** source/example/Example/App/Accounts.php */
   public $list;
   public function actionIndex()
   {
       // get a model catalog
       $model = Solar_Registry::get('model_catalog');
   
   
       // populate $this->list with all users.
       // eager-fetch the contact record and addresses collection.
       $this->list = $model->users->fetchAll(array(
           'eager' => array(
               'contact',
               'addresses',
           ),
       ));
   }
   

10. Edit the view for the index action. This could be a view and a partial, but let's keep it straightforward for now.

    /** source/example/Example/App/Accounts/View/index.php */
    <table>
        <tr>
            <th>Username</th>
            <th>E-Mail</th>
            <th>Phone</th>
            <th>Fax</th>
            <th># addresses</th>
        </tr>
    
    
        <?php foreach ($this->list as $user): ?>
    
    
        <tr>
            <td><?php echo $this->escape($user->username); ?></td>
            <td><?php echo $this->escape($user->contact->email); ?></td>
            <td><?php echo $this->escape($user->contact->phone); ?></td>
            <td><?php echo $this->escape($user->contact->fax); ?></td>
            <td><?php echo count($user->addresses); ?></td>
        </tr>
    
    
        <?php endforeach; ?>
    
    
    </table>
    
    

You're done. Browse to http://localhost/index.php/accounts/index to see the results of your handiwork.

Total elapsed time from when I read Michelangelo's article to come up with the Solar conversion and write this article: under two hours.

Solar makes model creation and interaction very easy and very powerful. Maybe your next project should use Solar instead of Zend Framework?