[Shenlug] PHP, MySQL and CMS platforms

[Steve Connelly]

As I was reading and digging today, it occurs to me that I may have
misstated part of what I am looking for. When I said that we want to be able
to use our CMS with multiple databases, I did not mean that we need to do
that on the back-end, though that may be desirable for another part of the
project.

We have a bunch of "stuff" that currently resides in spreadsheets, access
DBs etc, that we would like to move to database format (separate project)
and then access them from the CMS. If any of you have used Lotus Notes, you
know what I mean. 

Would this be referred to as I did before, connecting to multiple DB? Or
would it be something more along the line of embedded applications? As the
CMS wouldn't be using the DB, rather the DB would be accessed by users via
the CMS.

Clear as mud?
Steve



-----Original Message-----
From: shenlug-bounces at calypso.tux.org
[mailto:shenlug-bounces at calypso.tux.org] On Behalf Of David Clymer
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:47 PM
To: shenlug at calypso.tux.org
Subject: Re: [Shenlug] PHP, MySQL and CMS platforms

On Thu, 2007-10-18 at 11:33 -0400, Steve Connelly wrote:
> Good morning all, 
> 
> I have a new project I am working on at work and could you any
> guidance you can offer. We will be developing an Intranet (or Content
> Management System or CMS if you prefer) and I have gotten permission
> to see if I can find an open source solution. We have a Windows-based
> LAN and this is the major project I have gotten permission to pursue
> via open source tools.

Great! Welcome to the wide (and wild) world of Free software.

>  
> 
> So, I am starting at ground zero here, but fortunately I have time to
> read, study and research. I need some suggestions for the following:
> 
>       * I want to use PHP based tools and products but I do not know
>         PHP so I need the following:
>               * A good starter book(s) on PHP. I am sure that there is
>                 a "PHP for Dummies" but that may not be the best place
>                 to start. I learn fast so while I need to start at the
>                 bottom, I will need to move quickly to more
>                 intermediate level stuff. (I have some knowledge of
>                 HTML)

Perhaps I am strange, but I have not found books to be any good for
learning programming languages. The best way to learn, is in my opinion
to get a little basic knowledge, and then wing it. Implementing your own
ideas is much more interesting and motivating than completing someone
else's pointless, academic assignments. So, read a few basic tutorials
to get some idea of the language syntax, and how things work, then
strike out on your own (while keeping a language and/or framework API
reference site open in your browser, and consulting it heavily).

PHP Tutorial: http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627
PHP Language reference: http://www.php.net/manual/en/

>               * Any appropriate development tools that are ported to
>                 Windows; WAMP has been recommended to me, is that a
>                 good way to go?
>               * Any appropriate websites/links

I personally prefer LAPP (Linux Apache Postgres Python), but WAMP is
fine. From the point of view of the programmer, unless this is a high
performance, data critical project, defining the "P" is the only part
that makes much difference. You've chosen P="PHP". The rest can be
whatever is easiest.

>       * I am not familiar with MySQL so I need the following:
>               * A good starter book(s) on MySQL (same as above) (I
>                 have some Access and MS SQL Express experience)
>               * Again, appropriate development tools ported to Windows
>               * Any appropriate websites/links

If you know SQL, who needs a book? If you don't, then choose a framework
that hides it all from you (see framework opinions below).

MYSQL Reference manual: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/

>       * We are looking for development platforms for a CMS (Intranet)
>         with as much of the following as we can get:
>               * Ported to Windows (looking at Joomla, Drupal and some
>                 others so far)
>               * Capable of connecting to multiple databases. We would
>                 like an environment similar to the Domino database
>                 structure used in Lotus Notes. We will then 
>               * As fully developed set of tools and features as I can
>                 get
> 

If you are looking for a PHP _development_ framework, I would recommend
something like symfony (http://www.symfony-project.com/), or cakePHP
(http://www.cakephp.org/).

If you want a proper web development framework, but are not stuck on
PHP, I highly recommend that you take at least a quick look at django,
ruby on rails, or turbo-gears.

The drawback of all of these is that most of them do _not_ support
multiple databases as a primary use case. I think that's rather
unfortunate, in situations where one wants to integrate legacy databases
with a new application. All of them do allow you to support such things
in at least a kludgy way. However, if you are starting from scratch, it
shouldn't matter too much.

The 2nd drawback is that they don't give you a bunch of pre-built
goodies to start off with. However, what they provide is a huge leg up
in developing something from scratch. It doesn't sound like that's quite
what you're after, so this is all for what it's worth.

-davidc

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