php|architect — August 2010

Get On the Bus with PHP

In some enterprise environments, Enterprise Service Buses enable large systems to remain distributed, loosely-coupled, and friendly to legacy systems. Here we delve into integrating your PHP application with Apache’s ActiveMQ message broker.
–by Eric Jennings

Being the CEO of a PHP Consulting Company

Some criticize a CEO as a “jack of all trades, master of none”, but as the global economy resets and the knowledge industry undergoes a phase of consolidation, the role of CEO in a company is critical in terms of leading the team in a difficult period and of preparing the company to meet future challenges. Moreover, creating products with PHP and doing business around this open source technology has always been an interesting journey. In this article, I share my experience, and discuss my efforts to enable my company to meet those goals – the human side of the process.
–by Ashwini Rath

Version Control != Dependency Management

Are you using svn:externals, git-submodules or something similar with your Version Control System (VCS) of choice for connecting third-party libraries to your PHP projects? This article explores ways to handle dependencies in PHP projects, just like projects in other programming languages have done for ages.
–by Patrick van Dissel

Test-Driven Development with CakePHP

Dive in to test-driven development with one of the most popular frameworks out there, CakePHP. Even if you’ve never done test-driven development before, you’ll learn the ins and outs of how this programming methodology works and how you can use test-driven development to make your life much easier than before!
–by Carl Anderson

Download this feature article for free: PHPA August 10 – Test-Driven Development with CakePHP

Prevent Conflicts in Distributed Agile PHP Projects

Parallel programming in a distributed team is a tricky and risky process, especially if you want your project to be successful and delivered on time. Subversion helps isolate programmers in their branches, but when they start to reintegrate into trunk, conflicts may effectively ruin hours or days of work. In this article, I will share a few best practices that help our team manage conflicts and streamline our development process. –by Yegor Bugayenko

Drupal Corner: Creating Integrated Modules for Drupal – Part 2

In part 2 of our tutorial on creating integrated Drupal modules, we will create a module that implements a Content Construction Kit (CCK) field, widget, and formatter. These will become the core of a larger path visibility system, which was introduced in the last column. –by Adrian Webb

Security Corner: Doing It Right

When dealing with a security flaw, make sure you research everything from beginning to end to make sure there are no loopholes in your solution. See how a common CSRF solution is often mismanaged, leaving sites vulnerable. –by Arne Blankerts

exit(0): It’s all the Greengrocer’s Fault

In coding, as in writing, it’s essential to get your point across, but beyond that, the real necessity is in the function, not the beauty of the code.–by Marco Tabini

Editorial: Entering the Enterprise

PHP is taking the enterprise world by storm.–by Elizabeth Tucker Long

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Special in this issue

“SQL PDO and Microsoft SQL Server” Do you work with PHP and Microsoft SQL Server? If so, you know that Microsoft has recently released new native drivers for PHP. This 25 page guide will help you get the drivers installed, show you how to connect, and help you get up and running quickly. There are also sections on migrating from MySQL and migrating to SQL Azure. This special PDF is available first to readers of php|architect and is included in this month’s code package.