Author Archive for: Alan Seiden

Entries by Alan Seiden

Differences Between Zend Core and Zend Server on IBM i

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UPDATE: As of 2020, we recommend using Seiden PHP on IBM i and LINUX for reliability, speed, and ease of maintenance. Zend Core Zend Server Installation folder /usr/local/zend/core /usr/local/zendsvr PHP.INI /usr/local/zend/core/etc /usr/local/zendsvr/etc Web server root(s) /www/zendcore, /usr/local/zend/apache2 /www/zendsvr Document root /www/zendcore/htdocs /www/zendsvr/htdocs Zend Framework /usr/local/Zend/ZendFramework /usr/local/zendsvr/share/ZendFramework PHP binaries folder * * where php and php-cli reside /usr/local/zend/core/bin /usr/local/zendsvr/bin PHP Log files /usr/local/zend/core/logs /usr/local/zendsvr/ var/log Web user profile (assign authority to it) NOBODY QTMHHTTP Default HTTP Port :89 :10088 Admin Interface URL http://yourIBMi:89/ZendCore/ http://yourIBMi:10088/ZendServer/ Menu (5250) GO ZENDCORE/ZCMENU GO ZENDSVR/ZSMENU If the new HTTP port of 10088 seems hard to remember,…

Zend Server for IBM i Is Here

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UPDATE: As of 2020, we recommend using Seiden PHP on IBM i and LINUX for reliability, speed, and ease of maintenance. Zend and IBM have announced an updated, streamlined version of their PHP package for IBM i, called Zend Server. I’ve been using the beta for a while but last week read an announcement showing it’s ready for general use. It combines the best of Zend Core and Zend Platform in one package. To get Zend Server, go to the Zend Server for IBM i page and click the green “Free Download” button. This will give you the “Community Edition…

PHP for Batch Tasks on IBM i

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Last night I gave a talk at the FASUG user group about how to use PHP as a powerful general utility language that can be called from CL programs on the IBM i. I also showed how Zend Server’s new Job Queue feature can accomplish similar goals–scheduling and automating PHP scripts–using a pure PHP interface rather than CL. I also discussed the IBM i’s latest PHP package: Zend Server for IBM i. I explained its similarities to and differences from Zend Core. Here are the PowerPoint slides.

Class ‘Zend_Db_Table’ not found

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An up-to-date PHP installation is critical for security and performance. Request your complimentary PHP Upgrade Assessment with Alan. New developers sometimes struggle with putting all of Zend Framework’s pieces together. This week someone asked me how to resolve the error: Fatal error: Class ‘Zend_Db_Table’ not found. The answer: he needs to “require” the file containing the Zend_Db_Table class, like so:

or (my preference) use the autoloader:

ZF isn’t complicated if you know the few things you MUST use. The autoloader is one of them. If you need help getting started with Zend Framework, contact me about Zend Framework…

Zend Server beta for PHP on IBM i: I like it

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UPDATE: As of 2020, we recommend using Seiden PHP on IBM i and LINUX for reliability, speed, and ease of maintenance. I’m recommending that people try Zend Server beta for IBM i if they’re using PHP on the IBM i. Even though it’s in beta, Zend Server brings improvements over its predecessors, Zend Core and Zend Platform. Improvements include: Easy new user interface combining the best of Core and Platform Better interface makes it easier for people to discover and use features such as code tracing and debugging Elimination of mandatory proxy server (always a thorn in my side!) Use…

PHP on IBM i (and me) at ZendCon 2009

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This year’s ZendCon (Oct. 20-22, 2009, in San Jose, Calif.), the premier PHP conference, features several presentations about developing with PHP on the IBM i, including one by me! Come hear me speak about “Zend Framework for Enterprise PHP on IBM i” on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, at 4pm. For details, go to http://www.zendcon.com.

Our Zend Framework-based Site Honored by IBM/COMMON

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UPDATE: As of 2020, we recommend using Seiden PHP on IBM i and LINUX for reliability, speed, and ease of maintenance. We won! IBM has recognized my use of PHP and Zend Framework, and our entire team’s RPG/DB2 and design work, by naming our web solution the IBM i’s most innovative of 2009. At IBM’s 2009 COMMON conference, IBM awarded the Power Systems Innovation Award for Best Web Solution for eBiz@ABG. The site, developed with my colleagues at  Strategic Business Systems, Inc., was created for New Jersey’s largest wine and spirits wholesaler, Allied Beverage Group. The system offers product ordering,…

Why Use a PHP Framework?

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At last night’s NY-PHP gathering, a fellow PHP’er and I discussed PHP frameworks. I told her I was developing an e-commerce site using Zend Framework. She replied that she’d been considering frameworks, especially Cake and Symfony, “but I’m not sure I need a framework at all. I write my own SQL; my apps work fine. What would a framework do for me?” Setting aside the differences between PHP frameworks, I’m aware of at least 4 reasons to use them: Modular design: A home-grown application, with its ad hoc growth, can become a tangled mess that’s hard to change or enhance….

My first open-source project: Mantis/400

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Mantis/400 adds DB2 support to Mantis, the popular PHP-based bug tracking application. I programmed the upgrade with Ira Chandler of Curbstone Corporation, personnel from IBM and Zend, and Mantis’s Victor Boctor. Mantis/400 runs on IBM System i (formerly AS/400), using Zend Core for i5. Even before we got involved, Mantis supported several databases, thanks to the ADOdb Database Abstraction Library for PHP (and Python). ADOdb’s support of DB2 needed help, though, so we improved it, particularly for System i’s version of DB2. I recommend the open-source process to anyone who enjoys learning a lot and meeting good people. Our team…

Brand your site with a favicon

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Favicons are those eye-catching little pictures that appear in your web browser’s address bar, favorites list (hence the name favicon, short for “favorites icon”), and, with modern tabbed browsers, on tabs. Instantly recognizable when designed well, favicons represent the brand identity of sites that use them. Examples Wikipedia uses the “W” from its logo: Digg’s favicon represents a person holding a shovel, an image that seems to have been created especially for the favicon: Usability in a tabbed, multitasking world Tabbed browsers, such as Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, can show many page-tabs at once, squishing a site’s descriptive text….