4. PHP Web Application Servers

The following are available for PHP:

• PHP Lens http://phplens.com is a rapid application development component which allows PHP developers to dynamically and quickly create web applications that retrieve information from databases. With phpLens, data can be presented as html tables with facilities to create, edit, paginate, search and delete records. PHPLens uses ADODB.

• ADODB (Active Data Objects Data Base) http://php.weblogs.com/ADODB : PHP's database access functions are not standardised. Every database extension uses a different and incompatibile API. This creates a need for a database class library to hide the differences between the different databases (encapsulate the differences) so we can easily switch databases. ADODB currently support MySQL, PostgreSQL, Interbase, Oracle, MS SQL 7, Foxpro, Access, ADO, Sybase and generic ODBC. See also ADODB-manual.

• Binary Cloud http://www.binarycloud.com is an opensource, enterprise class web application platform It provides a complete set of core services such as authentication, permissions, database abstraction, and error handling - and a rich set of advanced tools built on that foundation. The system is deployed in a number of commercial installations and has proven to be robust, scaleable, and secure. Binarycloud is suitable for large-scale commerce and publishing projects, or anything of similar complexity. It offers some unique security features - such as selective encryption of database I/O - which make it a particularly good choice for web applications that require a high level of data security. And it's free.

• PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) is a code repository for PHP extensions and PHP library code similar to Perl's CPAN and is at http://lxr.html.net/source/php4/pear and pear-tutorials.

• Midgard is Content management system is based on Apache and uses the PHP scripting language The main site of Midgard is at http://www.midgard-project.org PHP can be compiled with Zend compiler and optimizer http://www.zend.com. PHP runs very fast and is about 5 to 10 times faster than Java. See Midgard Installation

• Ariadne http://www.muze.nl/software/ariadne is a web application system. It consists of a complete framework for the easy development and management of web applications, using PHP. The system uses a modular approach, using abstract interfaces for all transactions. This results in maximum freedom to change parts of the systems workings or add new functionality without needing to reprogram other parts

• Group IT Engine http://groupit.org is a turnkey group collaboration and content management engine. It presently runs on Unix machines using PHP and Apache. Using GroupIT you can "Categorize your content", "Organize your contents into sections", "Control access to your content" and many more additional features.

4.1 PHP Template Engines

• Smarty Template Engine - is a template engine for PHP. One of the unique aspects about Smarty that sets it apart from other templating solutions is that it compiles the templates into native PHP scripts upon the first invocation. After that, it merely executes the compiled PHP scripts. Therefore, there is no costly template file parsing for each request. See Smarty QuickStart and docs about Smarty are at http://www.htmlinsider.com/php/code/Smarty/docs. Get it from download-smarty.

• Fast Template http://curtisonline.net/theme/phpfast-templates-HOWTO.html and main-site

• PHP template Layout classes commercial, VH Layout http://www.vhconsultants.com and see this-article