PHP 5 CMS Framework Development

Expert insight and practical guidance to creating an efficient, flexible, and robust framework for a PHP 5-based content management system

Learn how to design, build, and implement a complete CMS framework for your custom requirementsImplement a solid architecture with object orientation, MVCBuild an infrastructure for custom menus, modules, components, sessions, user tracking, and moreWritten by a seasoned developer of CMS applications

In Detail
If you're developing a content management system in PHP 5, there are times when you simply have to roll-your-own, for whatever reason. In those situations, this book will be invaluable.

If you're looking for an inside guide to putting together the working framework of a flexible, robust content management system in PHP 5, this book is for you.

As a former development team leader on the renowned Mambo open-source content management system, author Martin Brampton offers unique insight and practical guidance into the problem of building an architecture for a content management system.

Following the scene-setting first chapter, each chapter in the book tackles a different aspect of developing the author's new Aliro PHP 5 CMS framework, with:

A concise statement of the problemDiscussion of the important design issues and problems facedCreation of the framework solution

The framework is built on a strongly object-oriented architecture throughout, including adherence to MVC principles, and you will learn how to create classes for handling such things as menus, modules, components, sessions, and user tracking.

Administration and security issues are discussed as an integral part of the design and implementation of framework features. The final chapter discusses the key issues that affect a wide range of specific content handlers and explores a practical example in detail.

What you will learn from this book

The general characteristics of systems to create websitesEffective coding and object architectures to fully exploit PHP 5 A foundation for database processing to ease further development Technical functions such as handling sessions, caches, errors, XML, mail, and files Management of website users Flexible, practical deployment of role based access control Internationalization Handling extensibility beyond the basic framework General concepts of menus without prior commitments to detail Delivery and presentation of different kinds of user-oriented content

Approach
The book includes extensive discussion of the design issues, and how to overcome them in the framework. Each chapter of the book focuses on a particular requirement of the framework. The book will not present the total code for the framework, showing only the parts that raise critical design or implementation issues. For these, detailed explanation is given, leaving the less problematic parts to the code download itself.

Who this book is written for
This book is for professional PHP developers who either already use an in-house developed CMS, or are developing one, and want a thorough explanation of solutions to the common issues faced in CMS development, or simply want a working framework on which to build.

The reader needs to be confident working with PHP 5 object-oriented programming.

User review
Well worth it.
Will this book expand your knowledge of advanced PHP programming? Absolutely.
A rich set of object-oriented features, combined with successful implementation makes scalable PHP5 programming highly effective, if not downright enjoyable! Software veteran Martin Brampton (former lead architect for the widely-acclaimed Mambo CMS, and significant contributor to Joomla) returns the open source favor, presenting his next-generation PHP concepts and methods in detail.

With a nimble and unassuming style, the author hosts an impressive exploration of state-of-the-art PHP design, while methodically deconstructing the CMS problem domain. Armed with the street-smarts of a hands-on, seasoned developer, Brampton explores best-practices and strategy with the precision of a Cambridge-schooled mathematician and a gift for the written word.

This trenchant and evolutionary CMS adventure represents a triumph of open craftsmanship; in addition to his own codebase, the architect has cherry-picked gems of the open source universe and folded their strengths into a slick and lightweight composition. While the subject is his own CMS project Aliro, the ambitious PHP developer will have no trouble re-using the multitude of well-considered ideas, classes, and methods within this work.


User review
should `Aliro` also have been in the title ?
Perhaps `Aliro` should have been in the title? It is the name of a CMS written by the author in PHP5. The entire book can be considered as a case study in how and why to use PHP5 for writing web applications. As opposed to perhaps using PHP4 or another server side scripting language.

The book delves into detailed aspects of Aliro and how it can be customised by you for your particular CMS needs.

En route, Brampton also offers good, general advice about programming, not necessarily even restricted to PHP5. Consider patterns as one example. This is now a dominant paradigm amongst many programmers. He does not argue against patterns or their merit, but cautions that an overdependence might ironically constrain your thinking and subsequent design in ways that avoid finding an optimal solution. I don't recall any recently published book that I have read which even goes so far as to circumspectly say this caveat about them.

Another item of good advice is to warn you against letting your PHP code run dynamically generated code (using `eval`). Dynamic code has a nice conceptual allure and is indeed powerful. But especially when such code might include user supplied input, and where, remember, the code is being run server-side, then there are huge security problems. Don't even think about using dynamic code.

Also, we see that Aliro uses Role Based Access Control. Mostly by partitioning off some key tasks into those only done by an adminstrator. Brampton claims (rightly I believe) that this enhances the security, given the realities of a CMS having multiple users of varying capabilities and intentions remotely accessing it.