[Update Feb. 1, 2011]

A much easier way to install PECL packages:

CFLAGS="-arch i386" ./pecl install

To get pecl working properly, make sure you have Xcode installed on you machine. Next, you will need to get a copy of MAMP’s source and prepare it using 32-bit compile flags. You can download the MAMP source from the MAMP download page. Running the .dmg should extract the source. After extracting the source run the following:


mkdir /Applications/MAMP/Library/Include/
mv /path/to/extracted/mamp/source/ /Applications/MAMP/Library/Include/


Next you will want to extract the PHP package and do the following to prepare the package:


mv /Applications/MAMP/Library/Include/extracted_php_source/ /Applications/MAMP/bin/php5/include/php/
cd /Applications/MAMP/bin/php5/include/php/
MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.6 CFLAGS='-O3 -fno-common -arch i386 -arch x86_64' LDFLAGS='-O3 -arch i386 -arch x86_64' CXXFLAGS='-O3 -fno-common -arch i386 -arch x86_64' ./configure --with-php-config=/Applications/MAMP/bin/php5/bin/php-config


Finally, you now can install pecl extensions with the following command:

MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.6 CFLAGS='-O3 -fno-common -arch i386 -arch x86_64' LDFLAGS='-O3 -arch i386 -arch x86_64' CXXFLAGS='-O3 -fno-common -arch i386 -arch x86_64' /Applications/MAMP/bin/php5/bin/pecl install


And that’s it! Enjoy!

Edit #2: I don’t mean for this article to be followed verbatim, but rather, used as a guide to understanding Zend Framework’s routing process.

Now that I am using ZF for current projects at work, I have taken the opportunity to promote ZF with my colleagues. One colleague in particular, who has been using Code Igniter(CI), was somewhat perplexed by ZF’s seeming complexity, even after reading through the first few sections of the Reference Guide. In particular, he didn’t understand how ZF handled URIs as it is quite different from CI. So, I have put together the following, hopefully simple overview, explaining a bit about ZF’s routing and using it in conjunction with Zend_Config.

Out of the box, ZF routes URIs by turning the first segment into the controller and the second segment into the action, unless you have specified a module directory, in which case, the first segment becomes the module, the second segment the controller and the third segment the action. Any segments beyond that are converted into key-value pairs that are accessible through the front controller’s request object.

Therefore, something like http://www.vayanis.com/post/view/id/101/title/new-post is translated into a request for the ‘post’ controller, and ‘view’ action with two request parameters: ‘id’ with value ’101′ and ‘title with value ‘new-post’. Accessing these parameters is simple:

$id = $this->_request->getParam('id');
$title = $this->_request->getParam('title');

Unfortunately, this default behavior is bad for SEO because it adds unnecessary and useless information to the URI, but like many things in ZF, there is a solution and so I turn to the Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite.
As the documentation states:

Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite is designed to allow for mod_rewrite-like functionality using pure php structures. It is very loosely based on Ruby on Rails routing and does not require any prior knowledge of webserver URL rewriting.

So, to simplify this URI, I can create the following route:

// Get Front Controller Instance
$front = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
 
// Get Router
$router = $front->getRouter();
 
$route = new Zend_Controller_Router_Route(
    'post/:id/:title',
    array(
        'controller' => 'blog',
        'action'     => 'post'
    )
);
 
$router->addRoute('post', $route);

This will shorten the previous, lengthy URI from http://www.vayanis.com/post/view/id/101/title/new-post to http://www.vayanis.com/view/101/new-post

Finally, like most components, if you are not comfortable maintaining your configuration in pure php, you can instead use a INI config file. The equivalent of the previous example could be defined in an INI config file with the following code:

[production]
routes.post.route = "post/:id/:title"
routes.post.defaults.controller = blog
routes.post.defaults.action = post

To use the INI with a router, use the following:

// Get Front Controller Instance
$front = Zend_Controller_Front::getInstance();
 
// Get Router
$router = $front->getRouter();
 
$router->addConfig(new Zend_Config_Ini('path/to/route/config/file', 'production'), 'routes');

The only way I found to correct this problem is to add decorators to each element individually. This is highly redundant and hardly ideal, but it gives the control necessary to fix this problem. It also bloats the config file significantly; previously, the config was 31 lines long, but now it is 47 lines long:

[login]
; General Form Information
login.action = "login/submit"
login.method = "post"
login.id = "login"
 
; Form Decorators
login.decorators.elements.decorator = "FormElements"
login.decorators.table.decorator = "HtmlTag"
login.decorators.table.options.tag = "table"
login.decorators.form.decorator = "Form"
 
; Username Element
login.elements.username.type = "text"
login.elements.username.options.label = "Username:"
login.elements.username.options.required = true
login.elements.username.options.validators.alnum.validator = "alnum"
login.elements.username.options.validators.regex.validator = "regex"
login.elements.username.options.validators.regex.options.pattern = "/^[a-z]/i"
login.elements.username.options.validators.strlen.validator = "StringLength"
login.elements.username.options.validators.strlen.options.min = "5"
 
; Username Decorators
login.elements.username.options.decorators.helper = "ViewHelper"
login.elements.username.options.decorators.tableData.decorator.td = "HtmlTag"
login.elements.username.options.decorators.tableData.options.tag = "td"
login.elements.username.options.decorators.label.decorator = "Label"
login.elements.username.options.decorators.label.options.tag = "td"
login.elements.username.options.decorators.tableRow.decorator.tr = "HtmlTag"
login.elements.username.options.decorators.tableRow.options.tag = "tr"
 
; Password Element
login.elements.password.type = "password"
login.elements.password.options.label = "Password:"
login.elements.password.options.required = true
login.elements.password.options.validators.strlen.validator = "StringLength"
login.elements.password.options.validators.strlen.options.min = "6"
 
; Password Decorators
login.elements.password.options.decorators.helper = "ViewHelper"
login.elements.password.options.decorators.tableData.decorator.td = "HtmlTag"
login.elements.password.options.decorators.tableData.options.tag = "td"
login.elements.password.options.decorators.label.decorator = "Label"
login.elements.password.options.decorators.label.options.tag = "td"
login.elements.password.options.decorators.tableRow.decorator.tr = "HtmlTag"
login.elements.password.options.decorators.tableRow.options.tag = "tr"
 
; Submit Form Element
login.elements.submit.type = "submit"
login.elements.submit.options.label = "Submit"
 
; Submit Decorators
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.helper = "ViewHelper"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.tableData.decorator = "HtmlTag"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.tableData.options.tag = "td"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.label.decorator = "Label"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.label.options.tag = "td"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.label.options.class = "submit"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.tableRow.decorator.tr = "HtmlTag"
login.elements.submit.options.decorators.tableRow.options.tag = "tr"

Personally, I think this is poor design and feel it may even be a bug, but I will attempt to submit it to ZF’s issue tracker and see what they say. Otherwise though, I still feel as though Zend_Form is a great component, and will continue to publish any discoveries I come across.

login.elements.username.type = "text"

And turns it into:

Array
(
    [login] => Array
        (
            [elements] => Array
                (
                    [username] => Array
                        (
                            [type] => text
                        )
                )
        )
)

Now, back to Zend_Form. I think my biggest gripe with the documentation provided for Zend_Form is that it does not explain how anything is working behind the scenes. For instance, it does not explain that Zend_Form normalizes config statements by prepending ‘set’ when making calls to member methods. This is invaluable as it explains why

    $form->setElementDecorators(array('ViewHelper'));

in PHP becomes

    elementDecorators.helper = "ViewHelper"

in a Zend_Config_Ini. Internally, elementDecorators tells Zend_Form to call setElementDecorators(); This small example also shows why it is important to know how Zend_Config_Ini actually translates an INI to PHP…

Array
(
    [elementDecorators] => Array
        (
            [helper] => ViewHelper
        )
)

As we can see this declares an array of decorators to be passed into setElementDecorators(); The keys, in this case “helper”, do not necessarily matter as it is only needed to index the array, the values are what matter, as that is what is passed and used within Zend_Form. Similarly, it is important to know that almost all aspects of form and form elements, excluding form element type, are implemented internally as options. The following is an example INI file with comments explaining particular sections.

    ; A basic Form config
 
    ; First level attributes are automatically treated as options.
    action = "login/submit"
    method = "post"
    id = "login"
 
    ; Form Decorators
 
    ; Again these decorators are treated as options of the main form.
    decorators.elements.decorator = "FormElements"
    decorators.table.decorator = "HtmlTag"
    decorators.table.options.tag = "table"
    decorators.form.decorator = "Form"
 
    ; Username Element
 
    ; Form Element Type is specified explicityly, not as an option.
    elements.username.type = "text"
 
    ; Username attributes (Label, Required, and validators are all
    ; declared as options).
    elements.username.options.label = "Username:"
    elements.username.options.required = true
    elements.username.options.validators.alnum.validator = "alnum"
    elements.username.options.validators.regex.validator = "regex"
 
    ; Validator parameters such as pattern to regex are also
    ; declared as options. I have not looked into it, but I
    ; assume this is due to the way Zend_Validate handles its
    ; own constructors.
    elements.username.options.validators.regex.options.pattern = "/^[a-z]/i"
    elements.username.options.validators.strlen.validator = "StringLength"
    elements.username.options.validators.strlen.options.min = "5"

Bringing it all together, the following is the first version of my login form.

    [login]
    ; General Form Information
    login.action = "login/submit"
    login.method = "post"
    login.id = "login"
 
    ; Form Decorators
    login.decorators.elements.decorator = "FormElements"
    login.decorators.table.decorator = "HtmlTag"
    login.decorators.table.options.tag = "table"
    login.decorators.form.decorator = "Form"
 
    ; Username Element
    login.elements.username.type = "text"
    login.elements.username.options.label = "Username:"
    login.elements.username.options.required = true
    login.elements.username.options.validators.alnum.validator = "alnum"
    login.elements.username.options.validators.regex.validator = "regex"
    login.elements.username.options.validators.regex.options.pattern = "/^[a-z]/i"
    login.elements.username.options.validators.strlen.validator = "StringLength"
    login.elements.username.options.validators.strlen.options.min = "5"
 
    ; Password Element
    login.elements.password.type = "password"
    login.elements.password.options.label = "Password:"
    login.elements.password.options.required = true
    login.elements.password.options.validators.strlen.validator = "StringLength"
    login.elements.password.options.validators.strlen.options.min = "6"
 
    ; Submit Form Element
    login.elements.submit.type = "submit"
    login.elements.submit.options.label = "Submit"
 
    login.elementDecorators.viewHelper = "ViewHelper"
    login.elementDecorators.errors = "Errors"
 
    login.elementDecorators.tableData.decorator.td = "HtmlTag"
    login.elementDecorators.tableData.options.tag = "td"
    login.elementDecorators.tableData.options.class = "test2"
 
    login.elementDecorators.label.decorator = "Label"
    login.elementDecorators.label.options.tag = "td"
 
    login.elementDecorators.tableRow.decorator.tr = "HtmlTag"
    login.elementDecorators.tableRow.options.tag = "tr"

This creates a login form with a username and password field along with a submit button. However, instead of being wrapped in a definition list using definition titles for labels and definition data for input fields, I have wrapped the labels and input fields within a table similar to the google login form. Notice though, that I have sectioned this form using [login]. Tthis is so that I can define all my necessary forms in one forms.ini file and load each form by section. I have also prepended each declaration with login. as a way to keep my form definitions organized and easy to read (to me at least).

Concluding this guide, I would like to reiterate, how useful I think Zend_Form is as it solves one of the most tedious process for any PHP project; form creation and validation. I hope it continues to evolve and mature, and I hope others find it as handy as I have. Although, if anyone has an easier solution, please let me know.

$loginForm = new Zend_Form(new Zend_Config_Ini('/path/to/form/config', 'login'));

This will create a Zend_Form object by passing it a Zend_Config_Ini object.

Unfortunately, when you decide to build a custom form using Zend_Config, the documentation on how this actually works, is extremely sparse. There are three examples of using the Zend_Config, however, they are not commented and there is no explanation as to how it works, there is only a weak reference to PHP object oriented code from which to draw conclusions from. Maybe, I am too used to the Java API documentation.

Anyways, after a few days with ZF, it has become apparent to me, that ZF is a very well written, powerful, extensible, and versatile PHP framework. However, due to its incomplete documentation, I would argue that its’ learning curve is fairly high, much higher than Code Igniter’s. In time though, I am sure the ZF developers will realize this, and make the effort to provide better documentation. In the meantime though, I am going to continue to use ZF and hopefully, take it upon myself to provide some insight; a Zend_Form tutorial using Zend_Config is already in the works.

The following is a code snippet from the HTTP and HTTPS documentation that shows how to easily send data using HTTP POST:

$postdata = http_build_query(
    array(
        'var1' => 'some content',
        'var2' => 'doh'
    )
);
 
$opts = array('http' =>
    array(
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'header'  => 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
        'content' => $postdata
    )
);
 
$context  = stream_context_create($opts);
 
$result = file_get_contents('http://example.com/submit.php', false, $context);

Quick Explanation

1. http_build_query: Generates an URL-encoded string from an associative array. Example: array(‘key1′ => ‘value1′, ‘key2′ => ‘value2′) becomes “key1=value1&key2=value2″

   This properly encodes the data for the post transaction.

2. stream_context_create: Creates and returns a resource to a stream context from an associative array of arrays in the format $arr['wrapper']['option'] = $value

   This creates a linear output stream to be sent during the request transmission.

3. file_get_contents: Acts exactly like file(); except that it reads an entire file into a string.

   This requests a file resource and puts the result into a string.

'before_widget' => '<li id="%1$s" class="widget %2$s">',

This has the nasty effect of creating widget wrappers according to their widget name due to the “%1$s”, which isn’t a deal until you actually have multiple instances of the same widget; in my case, the links widget. Having figured out the problem, I began searching for solutions online and stumbled upon the actual WordPress bug report in trac. The proposed solution was to add the following line of code before the call to wp_list_bookmarks() in wp_widget_links():

$before_widget = preg_replace('/id="[^"]*"/','id="%id"', $before_widget);

Unfortunately, this solution wasn’t good enough for me because I didn’t want to have to remember this in case the next WordPress release didn’t fix the bug. So, after some quick thinking I came up with the following bit of code that can be added to any theme’s function.php file (I think, I am a bit new to WordPress widgets, in fact, this will be my first).

Edit: This code is actually the exact copy of the widget_links code that ships with wordpress in the widget.php file. All I did was add the previous fix and moved it into functions.php to create a custom widget.

function widget_my_links($args) {
    global $wp_db_version;
    extract($args, EXTR_SKIP);
    if ( $wp_db_version < 3582 ) {
        // This ONLY works with li/h2 sidebars.
        get_links_list();
    } else {
        $before_widget = preg_replace('/id="[^"]*"/','id="%id"', $before_widget);
        wp_list_bookmarks(array(
            'title_before' => $before_title, 'title_after' => $after_title,
            'category_before' => $before_widget, 'category_after' => $after_widget,
            'show_images' => true, 'class' => 'linkcat widget'
        ));
    }
}
 
if ( function_exists('register_sidebar_widget') )
    register_sidebar_widget(__('My Links'), 'widget_my_links');

This should add a custom widget called ‘My Links’ when you view the Presentation->Widgets menu. Replace your current Links Widget with this one, and you should be set to go. No more invalid markup, at least not from the links widget.