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Zend Framework Quick Start

Create a Model and Database Table

Before we get started, let's consider something: where will these classes live, and how will we find them? The default project we created instantiates an autoloader. We can attach other autoloaders to it so that it knows where to find different classes. Typically, we want our various MVC classes grouped under the same tree -- in this case, application/ -- and most often using a common prefix.

Zend_Controller_Front has a notion of "modules", which are individual mini-applications. Modules mimic the directory structure that the zf tool sets up under application/, and all classes inside them are assumed to begin with a common prefix, the module name. application/ is itself a module -- the "default" module. As such, let's setup autoloading for resources within this directory, giving them a prefix of "Default". We can do this by creating another bootstrap resource.

Zend_Application_Module_Autoloader provides the functionality needed to map the various resources under a module to the appropriate directories, and provides a standard naming mechanism as well. In our bootstrap resource, we'll instantiate this, and be done. The method looks like this: 

// application/Bootstrap.php

// Add this method to the Bootstrap class:

    protected function _initAutoload()
    {
        $autoloader = new Zend_Application_Module_Autoloader(array(
            'namespace' => 'Default_',
            'basePath'  => dirname(__FILE__),
        ));
        return $autoloader;
    }

The final bootstrap class will look as follows: 

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
{
    protected function _initAutoload()
    {
        $autoloader = new Zend_Application_Module_Autoloader(array(
            'namespace' => 'Default',
            'basePath'  => dirname(__FILE__),
        ));
        return $autoloader;
    }

    protected function _initDoctype()
    {
        $this->bootstrap('view');
        $view = $this->getResource('view');
        $view->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT');
    }
}

Now, let's consider what makes up a guestbook. Typically, they are simply a list of entries with a comment, timestamp, and, often, email address. Assuming we store them in a database, we may also want a unique identifier for each entry. We'll likely want to be able to save an entry, fetch individual entries, and retrieve all entries. As such, a simple guestbook model API might look something like this: 

// application/models/Guestbook.php

class Default_Model_Guestbook
{
    protected $_comment;
    protected $_created;
    protected $_email;
    protected $_id;

    public function __set($name, $value);
    public function __get($name);

    public function setComment($text);
    public function getComment();

    public function setEmail($email);
    public function getEmail();

    public function setCreated($ts);
    public function getCreated();

    public function setId($id);
    public function getId();

    public function save();
    public function find($id);
    public function fetchAll();
}

__get() and __set() will provide a convenience mechanism for us to access the individual entry properties, and proxy to the other getters and setters. They also will help ensure that only properties we whitelist will be available in the object.

find() and fetchAll() provide the ability to fetch a single entry or all entries.

Now from here, we can start thinking about setting up our database.

First we need to initialize our Db resource. As with the Layout and View resource, we can provide configuration for the Db resource. In your application/configs/application.ini file, add the following lines in the appropriate sections. 

; application/configs/application.ini

; Add these lines to the appropriate sections:
[production]
resources.db.adapter       = "PDO_SQLITE"
resources.db.params.dbname = APPLICATION_PATH "/../data/db/guestbook.db"

[testing : production]
resources.db.params.dbname = APPLICATION_PATH "/../data/db/guestbook-testing.db"

[development : production]
resources.db.params.dbname = APPLICATION_PATH "/../data/db/guestbook-dev.db"

Your final configuration file should look like the following: 

; application/configs/application.ini

[production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
phpSettings.display_errors = 0
bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"
resources.layout.layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH "/layouts/scripts"
resources.view[] = 
resources.db.adapter = "PDO_SQLITE"
resources.db.params.dbname = APPLICATION_PATH "/../data/db/guestbook.db"

[staging : production]

[testing : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1
resources.db.params.dbname = APPLICATION_PATH "/../data/db/guestbook-testing.db"

[development : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1
resources.db.params.dbname = APPLICATION_PATH "/../data/db/guestbook-dev.db"

Note that the database(s) will be stored in data/db/. Create those directories, and make them world-writeable. On unix-like systems, you can do that as follows: 

% mkdir -p data/db; chmod -R a+rwX data

On Windows, you will need to create the directories in Explorer and set the permissions to allow anyone to write to the directory.

At this point we have a connection to a database; in our case, its a connection to a Sqlite database located inside our application/data/ directory. So, let's design a simple table that will hold our guestbook entries. 

-- scripts/schema.sqlite.sql
--
-- You will need load your database schema with this SQL.

CREATE TABLE guestbook (
    id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    email VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL DEFAULT 'noemail@test.com',
    comment TEXT NULL,
    created DATETIME NOT NULL
);

CREATE INDEX "id" ON "guestbook" ("id");

And, so that we can have some working data out of the box, lets create a few rows of information to make our application interesting. 

-- scripts/data.sqlite.sql
--
-- You can begin populating the database with the following SQL statements.

INSERT INTO guestbook (email, comment, created) VALUES 
    ('ralph.schindler@zend.com', 
    'Hello! Hope you enjoy this sample zf application!', 
    DATETIME('NOW'));
INSERT INTO guestbook (email, comment, created) VALUES 
    ('foo@bar.com', 
    'Baz baz baz, baz baz Baz baz baz - baz baz baz.', 
    DATETIME('NOW'));

Now that we have both the schema and some data defined. Lets get a script together that we can now execute to build this database. Naturally, this is not needed in production, but this script will help developers build out the database requirements locally so they can have the fully working application. Create the script as scripts/load.sqlite.php with the following contents: 

<?php
// scripts/load.sqlite.php

/**
 * Script for creating and loading database
 */

// If any parameter is passed after the script name (like 1 or --withdata)
// load the data file after the schema has loaded.
$withData = false;
if (isset($_SERVER['argv'][1])) {
    $withData = true;
} elseif (defined('APPLICATION_LOAD_TESTDATA')) {
    $withData = true;
}

// Initialize the application and bootstrap the database adapter
defined('APPLICATION_PATH')
    || define('APPLICATION_PATH', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application'));
defined('APPLICATION_ENV')
    || define('APPLICATION_ENV', 'development');
require_once 'Zend/Application.php';
$application = new Zend_Application(
    APPLICATION_ENV,
    APPLICATION_PATH . '/configs/application.ini'
);
$bootstrap = $application->getBootstrap();
$bootstrap->bootstrap('db');
$dbAdapter = $bootstrap->getResource('db');

// let the user know whats going on (we are actually creating a 
// database here)
if ('testing' != APPLICATION_ENV) {
    echo 'Writing Database Guestbook in (control-c to cancel): ' . PHP_EOL;
    for ($x = 5; $x > 0; $x--) {
        echo $x . "\r"; sleep(1);
    }
}

// Check to see if we have a database file already
$options = $bootstrap->getOption('resources');
$dbFile  = $options['db']['params']['dbname'];
if (file_exists($dbFile)) {
    unlink($dbFile);
}

// this block executes the actual statements that were loaded from 
// the schema file.
try {
    $schemaSql = file_get_contents(dirname(__FILE__) . '/schema.sqlite.sql');
    // use the connection directly to load sql in batches
    $dbAdapter->getConnection()->exec($schemaSql);

    if ('testing' != APPLICATION_ENV) {
        echo PHP_EOL;
        echo 'Database Created';
        echo PHP_EOL;
    }
    
    if ($withData) {
        $dataSql = file_get_contents(dirname(__FILE__) . '/data.sqlite.sql');
        // use the connection directly to load sql in batches
        $dbAdapter->getConnection()->exec($dataSql);
        if ('testing' != APPLICATION_ENV) {
            echo 'Data Loaded.';
            echo PHP_EOL;
        }
    }
    
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo 'AN ERROR HAS OCCURED:' . PHP_EOL;
    echo $e->getMessage() . PHP_EOL;
    return false;
}

// generally speaking, this script will be run from the command line
return true;

Now, let's execute this script. From a terminal or the DOS command line, do the following: 

% php scripts/load.sqlite.php

You should see output like the following: 

path/to/ZendFrameworkQuickstart/scripts$ php load.sqlite.php --withdata
Writing Database Guestbook in (control-c to cancel): 
1
Database Created

Now we have a fully working database and table for our guestbook application. Our next few steps are to build out our application code. This includes building a data source (in our case, we will use Zend_Db_Table), and a data mapper to connect that data source to our domain model. Finally we'll also create the controller that will interact with this model to both display existing entries and process new entries.

We'll use a Table Data Gateway to connect to our data source; Zend_Db_Table provides this functionality. To get started, lets create a Zend_Db_Table-based table class. First, create the directory application/models/DbTable/. Then create and edit a file Guestbook.php within it, and add the following contents: 

<?php
// application/models/DbTable/Guestbook.php

/**
 * This is the DbTable class for the guestbook table.
 */
class Default_Model_DbTable_Guestbook extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract
{
    /** Table name */
    protected $_name    = 'guestbook';
}

Note the class prefix: Default_Model_DbTable. The class prefix "Default" from our autoloader is the first segment, and then we have the component, "Model_DbTable"; the latter is mapped to the models/DbTable/ directory of the module.

All that is truly necessary when extending Zend_Db_Table is to provide a table name and optionally the primary key (if it is not "id").

Now let's create a Data Mapper. A Data Mapper maps a domain object to the database. In our case, it will map our model, Default_Model_Guestbook, to our data source, Default_Model_DbTable_Guestbook. A typical API for a data mapper is as follows: 

// application/models/GuestbookMapper.php

class Default_Model_GuestbookMapper
{
    public function save($model);
    public function find($id, $model);
    public function fetchAll();
}

In addition to these methods, we'll add methods for setting and retrieving the Table Data Gateway. The final class, located in application/models/GuestbookMapper.php, looks like this: 

// application/models/GuestbookMapper.php

class Default_Model_GuestbookMapper
{
    protected $_dbTable;

    public function setDbTable($dbTable)
    {
        if (is_string($dbTable)) {
            $dbTable = new $dbTable();
        }
        if (!$dbTable instanceof Zend_Db_Table_Abstract) {
            throw new Exception('Invalid table data gateway provided');
        }
        $this->_dbTable = $dbTable;
        return $this;
    }

    public function getDbTable()
    {
        if (null === $this->_dbTable) {
            $this->setDbTable('Default_Model_DbTable_Guestbook');
        }
        return $this->_dbTable;
    }

    public function save(Default_Model_Guestbook $guestbook)
    {
        $data = array(
            'email'   => $guestbook->getEmail(),
            'comment' => $guestbook->getComment(),
            'created' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
        );

        if (null === ($id = $guestbook->getId())) {
            unset($data['id']);
            $this->getDbTable()->insert($data);
        } else {
            $this->getDbTable()->update($data, array('id = ?' => $id));
        }
    }

    public function find($id, Default_Model_Guestbook $guestbook)
    {
        $result = $this->getDbTable()->find($id);
        if (0 == count($result)) {
            return;
        }
        $row = $result->current();
        $guestbook->setId($row->id)
                  ->setEmail($row->email)
                  ->setComment($row->comment)
                  ->setCreated($row->created);
    }

    public function fetchAll()
    {
        $resultSet = $this->getDbTable()->fetchAll();
        $entries   = array();
        foreach ($resultSet as $row) {
            $entry = new Default_Model_Guestbook();
            $entry->setId($row->id)
                  ->setEmail($row->email)
                  ->setComment($row->comment)
                  ->setCreated($row->created)
                  ->setMapper($this);
            $entries[] = $entry;
        }
        return $entries;
    }
}

Now it's time to update our model class slightly, to accomodate the data mapper. Just like the data mapper contains a reference to the data source, the model contains a reference to the data mapper. Additionally, we'll make it easy to populate the model by passing an array of data either to the constructor or a setOptions() method. The final model class, located in application/models/Guestbook.php, looks like this: 

// application/models/Guestbook.php

class Default_Model_Guestbook
{
    protected $_comment;
    protected $_created;
    protected $_email;
    protected $_id;
    protected $_mapper;

    public function __construct(array $options = null)
    {
        if (is_array($options)) {
            $this->setOptions($options);
        }
    }

    public function __set($name, $value)
    {
        $method = 'set' . $name;
        if (('mapper' == $name) || !method_exists($this, $method)) {
            throw new Exception('Invalid guestbook property');
        }
        $this->$method($value);
    }

    public function __get($name)
    {
        $method = 'get' . $name;
        if (('mapper' == $name) || !method_exists($this, $method)) {
            throw new Exception('Invalid guestbook property');
        }
        return $this->$method();
    }

    public function setOptions(array $options)
    {
        $methods = get_class_methods($this);
        foreach ($options as $key => $value) {
            $method = 'set' . ucfirst($key);
            if (in_array($method, $methods)) {
                $this->$method($value);
            }
        }
        return $this;
    }

    public function setComment($text)
    {
        $this->_comment = (string) $text;
        return $this;
    }

    public function getComment()
    {
        return $this->_comment;
    }

    public function setEmail($email)
    {
        $this->_email = (string) $email;
        return $this;
    }

    public function getEmail()
    {
        return $this->_email;
    }

    public function setCreated($ts)
    {
        $this->_created = $ts;
        return $this;
    }

    public function getCreated()
    {
        return $this->_created;
    }

    public function setId($id)
    {
        $this->_id = (int) $id;
        return $this;
    }

    public function getId()
    {
        return $this->_id;
    }

    public function setMapper($mapper)
    {
        $this->_mapper = $mapper;
        return $this;
    }

    public function getMapper()
    {
        if (null === $this->_mapper) {
            $this->setMapper(new Default_Model_GuestbookMapper());
        }
        return $this->_mapper;
    }

    public function save()
    {
        $this->getMapper()->save($this);
    }

    public function find($id)
    {
        $this->getMapper()->find($id, $this);
        return $this;
    }

    public function fetchAll()
    {
        return $this->getMapper()->fetchAll();
    }
}

Lastly, to connect these elements all together, lets create a guestbook controller that will both list the entries that are currently inside the database.

To create a new controller, open a terminal or DOS console, navigate to your project directory, and enter the following: 

# Unix-like systems:
% zf.sh create controller guestbook

# DOS/Windows:
C:> zf.bat create controller guestbook

This will create a new controller, GuestbookController, in application/controllers/GuestbookController.php, with a single action method, indexAction(). It will also create a view script directory for the controller, application/views/scripts/guestbook/, with a view script for the index action.

We'll use the "index" action as a landing page to view all guestbook entries.

Now, let's flesh out the basic application logic. On a hit to indexAction, we'll display all guestbook entries. This would look like the following: 

// application/controllers/GuestbookController.php

class GuestbookController extends Zend_Controller_Action 
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        $guestbook = new Default_Model_Guestbook();
        $this->view->entries = $guestbook->fetchAll();
    }
}

And, of course, we need a view script to go along with that. Edit application/views/scripts/guestbook/index.phtml to read as follows: 

<!-- application/views/scripts/guestbook/index.phtml -->

<p><a href="<?php echo $this->url(
    array(
        'controller' => 'guestbook',
        'action'     => 'sign'
    ), 
    'default', 
    true) ?>">Sign Our Guestbook</a></p>

Guestbook Entries: <br />
<dl>
    <?php foreach ($this->entries as $entry): ?>
    <dt><?php echo $this->escape($entry->email) ?></dt>
    <dd><?php echo $this->escape($entry->comment) ?></dd>
    <?php endforeach ?>
</dl>
Checkpoint
Now browse to http://localhost/guestbook. You should see the following in your browser:


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