[CompInaBox-discuss] CompInaBox -- Web rewrite update...

[Eric D N. <nie...@MI...>]

I've been making slow, but steady progress on my rewrite of the web components
of CIB.  I'm nearing the point of initial code check-in to the sf.net
repository for this code.  Once I have about 3 more web actions/views
established I should be able to post the code and invite others to help push
the development -- I want to at least show my envisioned way of handling the
common tasks associated with a web application -- list of foos, details on a
foo, updating a foo, and testing authorization.  Early/simple projects for
others can be porting/reimplementing the calendar system and the front page
announcements; slightly harder would be porting/reimplementing the result
tracker or SlidingDoors admin or stats pages.  Hardest would be assisting with
the reimplementation of SlidingDoors registration and Team Admin.

There has been some changes in the infrastructure requirements.  If you are
interesting in helping over the summer and beyond, here's the current list of
required, optional, and being explored dependencies:

Required:
  PHP5 (CIB was previously a PHP4 application)
     -- Reasons for change -- better object model and third-party dependencies
  PostGreSQL 8.1.x (CIB was previously based on the 7.4.x series)
     -- Reasons for change -- good time to update & savepoints are nice
  Smarty 2.6.13 (CIB previous used an inhouse code-generation/template system)
     -- Reasons for adoption -- its about time; its a good solution and helps
           maintain proper seperation of concerns

Optional (but highly recommended)  (both already in use)
  SimpleTest 1.0.1alpha3 -- Unit Testing framework
  PhpDocumentor 1.3.0rc6 -- Documentation Generator

Currently being explored, Currently looking favorable
  Creole (and Jargon) -- a PHP DB abstraction layer.  Unlike most other cross
database layers, this one seems to take a "greatest feature union" approach as
opposed to a "lowest common denominator"  It emulates where needed, but falls
back to native support where ever possible.  I've been working push SQL further
and further from the average coding tasks and I think that coupling my existing
PhraseBook class with Creole's prepared statement support will yield a very
type/quote-safe solution.  I'm not likely to change DB back-ends and I'm not
planning to comb over the schema looking to make it portable.

Currently being explored, neutal
  Phing -- a PHP build tool, similar to Ant, Propel (below) requires it; I want
to look to see if it (commandline) runs the Unit Test Suite more efficiently
than the normal web launcher, if it does, its likely to get upgarded to
favorable status.  It would also be useful for documentation updates, download
packaging, etc.

Currently being explored, looking unfavorable
  Propel -- a port of Java's Torque persistence engine (ORM).  This a
code-generation approach to ORM is is basically a Row Gateway/Table Gateway
hybrid solution.  The code generator creates base classes to act in Row/Table
Gateway forms for search, update, etc.  It takes the approach that objects will
have minimal logic (non-rich Domain Model) and it appears to practicalyl require
a 1:1 mapping of classes to database tables.  The latter is the primary reason
for my current unfavorable review of Propel.  It looks like a great product for
other uses, especially for simpler systems where the DB schema almost completely
determine the shape of the application.  (Single use databases).

I'm leaning towards a Data Mapper inspired solution (aka more like Java's
Hibernate than Torque).  I haven't seen any F/OSS PHP Hibernate inspired
solutions, so I'm coding one myself.  The solution I'm working on is different
from the CIB Version 1 system of StoredObjects (an Active Record style
solution).  The new domain knowledge will have no knowledge of the persistence
layer (so no more $db references being stored _everywhere_).  I'm aiming for
the persistence layer to be detachable from CIB for offering as a standalone
OSS project after it gets more fleshed out.  I plan to send more details about
this layer in a seperate email in the near future.

Eric