Building Ria Applications In Php - Php Quebec 2009

Building RIA Applications in PHP John Coggeshall

Introductions •  Welcome! •  About me •  CTO of Automotive

Computer Services (ACS) •  Core PHP 5 Dev •  Author, Speaker

Presentation Title

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John Coggeshall

Agenda •  Building RIA Applications! (Duh) •  Specifically… •  A bit of history of the project •  Building RIA applications using Adobe Flex/AIR with

Zend Framework •  Challenges in creating RIA applications that reflect

client-side applications •  Demos, Technical Discussions, etc.

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History •  ACS has a single product

called a DMS (Dealer Management System) •  Originally Built in DOS-

based Foxpro (1992) •  Migrated to Visual Foxpro

(2004)

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History •  Software runs off of

a Samba share on a slackware server •  Every modifies the

same “local” database file •  Cross-location

interaction via Remote Desktop

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We’re Doomed! •  Besides the obvious technical limitations of

the system, our product had problems that hold up our business: •  No data sharing •  No ability to sell to large mega-dealerships that

require data sharing •  No data analytics •  Data… Data… data… data…. problems

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Our Solution.. •  The solution: An internet-based DMS •  PHP / Zend Framework to the rescue!

•  One problem: Our Customers •  Very fickle about technology •  Were largely very happy with DOS applications •  Our solution needs to really feel like a desktop

application, without being one

•  We’re still doomed! 7

We’re Saved! •  Adobe AIR / Flex to the

Rescue! •  With Flex / AIR for the user-

interface and PHP/ZF on the backend we are able to accomplish all of our goals •  Flex/AIR provides the user-

experience demanded by our users •  PHP / ZF provide the server-side

magic 8

Our Development Stack •  Zend Studio for Eclipse •  PHP / ZF development

•  Adobe FlexBuilder 3 plugin for Eclipse •  Front-end Development

•  VMWare development server •  To host PHP application – when VMware behaves

•  Compile/Run Flex Front-end Locally 9

Server Setup •  MySQL Database •  Some stored procedures for complex

manipulations

•  Multi-Protocol architecture •  Supports RPC calls via “REST-ish” XML services as

well as the Adobe AMF format via the Zend_Amf component of Zend Framework

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Frontend Setup •  Adobe Flex and AIR runtime (duh) •  Fundamentally a PureMVC-based architecture •  (slowly moving away from that) •  A fair amount of custom code for data-transfer

over the AMF protocol •  We can’t use the standard Flex RemoteObject

facilities (only works with something like BlazeDS)

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Code!

Not without problems •  Flex and AIR work pretty well with PHP,

but there are a lot of problems •  Lack of Server-push technology available on the

PHP side makes saving data pretty painful •  Have to devise your own saving mechanisms and

keep them consistent •  Lack of Server-push makes collaboration painful

across clients

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Hardware == Painful •  As powerful as AIR is a platform, it has a

serious flaw •  NO support for hardware on any level means all of

those bar-code scanners, driver’s license scanners, custom printers we use suddenly can’t be used •  … Okay, now we’re really doomed.

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PHP^H^H^HJava!! •  Of all things, Java comes to the rescue! •  The Merapi project •  http://www.merapiproject.net •  Provides a Java “server” that runs alongside the

AIR application •  AIR can communicate with Merapi through a

socket, serializing objects back and forth and making RPC calls •  Merapi can communicate with hardware for us 15

Deployment •  New Problem: Deployment •  AIR has great facilities for this •  ANT-based build system builds AIR packages,

deploys codebase on server(s) •  Future: CruiseControl for CI / Testing

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Final Thoughts.. •  Flex/AIR is the right tool for our job •  Even though it’s NOT the right tool for our job

(yet) •  Offers a much more compelling user experience

than we could produce with JS/HTML/CSS •  Definitely not the right tool for every job

•  Of course, the PHP side just works™ for

the most part •  Questions? 17

We’re Hiring! •  Thank you! •  Interested in

working on a project like this? We’re hiring! •  See our full-page ad

in the conference program and visit us at the Job Fair!

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