Codelgniter for Rapid PHP Application Development

Transcription

1 Codelgniter for Rapid PHP Application Development Improve your PHP coding productivity with the free compact open-source MVC Codelgniter framework! David Upton PUBLISHING BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

2 Preface 1 Chapter 1: Introduction to Codelgniter Z What can Codelgniter Do for You? 7 Save Time 8 Make Your Site More Robust 9 Keep Your Links Up-To-Date Automatically 9 Save Database Crashes: 'prep' Your Data Entry Forms 10 Make Your Code Bolder 11 Send Attachments without Hassles 11 Save Bandwidth by Zipping Files That Users Need to Download 12 Yes, But...What is Codelgniter? What are Frameworks? 12 And Who is That Man? 14 The'Open Source'Business Model 15 What CI Doesn't Do 16 License 18 Summary 19 Chapter 2: Two Minutes' Work: Setting up a Codelgniter Site 21 Prerequisites 21 Installing Codelgniter 22 Exploring the File Structure 23 The Configuration File 24 Does it Work? 25 Summary 25 Chapter 3: Navigating Your Site 27 MVC Just Another Acronym? 28 The Structure of a CI Site: Controllers and Views 29 The Welcome Controller 31 Working with Views 32

3 The Default Controller 33 Codelgniter Syntax Rules 33 Controller 34 View 34 Types of Files or Classes on a CI Site 34 What are All Those Folders For? 37 Designing a Better View 37 Designing a Better Controller 39 Getting Parameters to a Function 40 Passing Data to a View 41 How CI Classes Pass Information and Control to Each Other 43 Calling Views 43 Calling Functions Directly 43 Interacting with Controllers 44 It's Just Like an Egg-Cup 45 An Example of a CI Helper: the URL Helper 46 A Simple Library Example: Creating a Menu 48 Summary 49 Chapter 4: Using CI to Simplify Databases 51 Configuration Settings 51 Designing the Database for Our Site 52 Active Record 53 Advantages of Using the Active Record Class 54 Saving Time 54 Automatic Functionality 54 Read Queries 56 Displaying Query Results 58 Create and Update Queries 59 Delete Queries 61 Mixing Active Record and 'Classic' Styles 61 Summary 62 Chapter Appendix: MYSQL Query to Set Up 'websites' Database 63 Chapter 5: Simplifying HTML Pages and Forms 67 Writing a View 67 Long and Short PHP Syntax 69 Nesting Views 70 Practical Issues of Site Architecture 73 CI's Form Helper: Entering Data 74 Form Helper Advantage One: Clarity 74 Form Helper Advantage Two: Automation 77

4 My 'Display' Model 78 Cl's Validation Class: Checking Data Easily 79 Set Up Validation 80 Set Up the Controller 81 Set Up the Forms 81 Summary 83 Chapter 6: Simplifying Sessions and Security 85 Starting to Design a Practical Site with CI 85 Moving Around the Site 86 Security/Sessions: Using Another CI Library Class 91 Turning Sessions into Security 94 Security 96 Summary 98 Chapter 7: Codelgniter and Objects 99 Object-Oriented Programming 99 Working of the CI 'Super-Object' 100 Copying by Reference 103 Adding Your own Code to the CI 'Super-Object' 105 Problems with the CI 'Super-Object' 106 Summary 109 Chapter 8: Using CI to Test Code HI Why Test, and What For? 111 CI's Error Handling Class 113 Cl's Unit Test Class 115 When to Use Unit Tests 117 Example of a Unit Test 118 Cl's Benchmarking Class 121 Cl's Profiler Class 122 Testing with Mock Databases 123 Control and Timing 124 Summary 125 Chapter 9: Using CI to Communicate 127 Using the FTP Class to Test Remote Files 127 Machines Talking to Machines Again XML-RPC 129 Getting the XML-RPC Server and Client in Touch with Each Other 131 Formatting XML-RPC Exchanges 132 Debugging 134 Issues with XML-RPC? 135 Talking to Humans for a Change: the Class 136 Summary 139 [Mi]

5 Chapter 10: How CI Helps to Provide Dynamic Information 141 The Date Helper: Converting and Localizing Dates 142 Working with Text: the Text Helper and Inf lector Helper 145 Going International: the Language Class 146 Making HTML Tables the Easy Way: the Table Class 150 Caching Pages 152 Summary 154 Chapter 11: Using CI to Handle Files and Images 155 The File Helper 156 The Download Helper 158 The File Upload Class 160 CI's Image Class 165 Easy File Compression with the CI Zip Class 169 Summary 169 Chapter 12: Production Versions, Updates, and Big Decisions 171 Connections: Check the Config Files 172 URLs 172 Databases 172 Other config Files 173 Look Out for PHP 4/5 and Operating System Differences 173 Diagnostic Tools 174 Coping with Changes in New CI Versions 177 How to Load Models, and What to Call Them 178 How to Initialize Your Own 'library' Classes 179 So Should I Update If a New CI Version Comes Out? 179 How to Add On to CI's Basic Classes 181 Summary 183 Chapter 13: Instant CRUD or Putting it All Together 185 The CRUD Model: Design Philosophy 186 The Standard Controller Format 187 The Database Tables 189 The Heart of the Model: the Array, 189 Function by Function: the CRUD Model 192 Showall 192 Reading the Data 195 Delete and Trydelete 196 Insert 201 Insert2 208 The Test Suite 209 Summary 214 [iv]

6 Chapter 14: The Verdict on CI Some Code: the 'do_test' Model A Balance Sheet Where CI Helped: Structure Where CI Helped: Simplicity Where CI Helped: Extra Functionality Problems with CI Completeness Ease of Use Summary Chapter 15: Resources and Extensions CI's User Forums Video Tutorials Available Plug-ins and Libraries AJAX/Javascript Authentication External Sites Comparisons: Which Charting Library to Use? CRUD: the Final Frontier Resources for Other Programmes, e.g. Xampplite, MySQL, PHP Summary Index [v]