Scott Switzer

Smallunch Framework - Features to Work On

As I wrote before, I discovered Smallunch, which is a structured framework built on top of Zend Framework.  As many people have commented in the past, Zend Framwork is more like a library (e.g. PEAR) than a framework with a designed structure for building web applications.

I am keenly interested in Zend Framework, because there are a lot of people working on it and creating projects on top of it, and because it is not backwards compatible with PHP 4, and thus a much more streamlined implementation than some similar offerings.

In general, I am hoping that over 75% of the code that I write for my next project will be already written, debugged, and tested by Zend Framework, Doctrine, and Smallunch.

Zend Framework needs Smallunch to guide the developer into a simplified, structured environment where functionality can be generated and created quickly.  Therefore, Smallunch needs to provide the structure on top of Zend Framework that is currently lacking.

I created a list below of the features I hope Smallunch works on for near term future releases:

Vision / Goal

• Become the best ‘packager’ for Zend Framework and related libraries, like Ubuntu is for Linux
• Make the casual developer the ‘core user’ of Smallunch.  E.g. someone who can understand code, but does not need to be an expert in PHP, Zend Framework, or Smallunch in order to use Smallunch

Directory Structure

• Use ZF best practices, to make a single proposed directory structure that is incredibly simple to understand
• Create a single directory which a user can add a plugin folder

Plugin Framework

• Move the existing Google Analytics functionality from Smallunch core to a plugin.  Allow the user to enter their GA ID from a form field, and select this functionality from an Admin menu item
• Add FB Connect and OAuth as a plugins for user registration and authentication

Install/Upgrade

• Auto ping a central system to check for the ‘latest’ version
• Auto download and install from a central system
• Install should walk you through the entire process of installing, including coaching on changing ini settings

Database Changes

• Allow multiple email addresses per user account
• Allow multiple addresses per user account
• Allow multiple phone numbers per user account
• Create a model for the database in MySQL Workbench, and add the model to SVN (not to the download, but to SVN)

API

• Start a framework for accessing information from an API in addition to the UI

Website

• Add a Git repository in Github or similar
• Create the start of a documentation website, that allows for moderated user feedback.
• Create a step-by-step tutorial to create a custom module
• Start some community efforts so that Smallunch developers can easily connect with each other

Summary

Let me know if you have additional ideas for Smallunch, or feedback on any of my ideas above.  I am hopeful that with these features, Smallunch can provide the structure Zend Framework is lacking, and that more developers can create PHP projects more efficiently.