Introduction | Zend_Application Programmer's Reference Guide | Theory of Operation

# Zend_Application Quick Start

There are two paths to getting started with Zend_Application, and they depend on how you start your project. In each case, you always start with creating a Bootstrap class, and a related configuration file.

If you plan on using Zend_Tool to create your project, continue reading below. If you will be adding Zend_Application to an existing project, you'll want to skip ahead.

# Using Zend_Tool

The quickest way to start using Zend_Application is to use Zend_Tool to generate your project. This will also create your Bootstrap class and file.

To create a project, execute the zf command (on *nix systems):

1. % zf create project newproject

Or the Windows zf.bat command:

1. C:> zf.bat create project newproject

Both will create a project structure that looks like the following:

1. newproject
2. |-- application
3. | |-- Bootstrap.php
4. | |-- configs
5. | | `-- application.ini
6. | |-- controllers
7. | | |-- ErrorController.php
8. | | `-- IndexController.php
9. | |-- models
10. | `-- views
11. | |-- helpers
12. | `-- scripts
13. | |-- error
14. | | `-- error.phtml
15. | `-- index
16. | `-- index.phtml
17. |-- library
18. |-- public
19. | `-- index.php
20. `-- tests
21. |-- application
22. | `-- bootstrap.php
23. |-- library
24. | `-- bootstrap.php
25. `-- phpunit.xml

In the above diagram, your bootstrap is in newproject/application/Bootstrap.php, and looks like the following at first:

1. class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
2. {
3. }

You'll also note that a configuration file, newproject/application/configs/application.ini, is created. It has the following contents:

1. [production]
2. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
3. phpSettings.display_errors = 0
4. includePaths.library = APPLICATION_PATH "/../library"
5. bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
6. bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
7. resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"
9. [staging : production]
11. [testing : production]
12. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
13. phpSettings.display_errors = 1
15. [development : production]
16. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
17. phpSettings.display_errors = 1

All settings in this configuration file are for use with Zend_Application and your bootstrap.

Another file of interest is the newproject/public/index.php file, which invokes Zend_Application and dispatches it.

1. // Define path to application directory
2. defined('APPLICATION_PATH')
3. || define('APPLICATION_PATH',
4. realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application'));
6. // Define application environment
7. defined('APPLICATION_ENV')
8. || define('APPLICATION_ENV',
9. (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV')
10. : 'production'));
12. /** Zend_Application */
13. require_once 'Zend/Application.php';
15. // Create application, bootstrap, and run
16. $application = new Zend_Application(
17. APPLICATION_ENV,
18. APPLICATION_PATH . '/configs/application.ini'
19. );
20. $application->bootstrap()
21. ->run();

To continue the quick start, please skip to the Resources section.

# Adding Zend_Application to your application

The basics of Zend_Application are fairly simple:

- Create an application/Bootstrap.php file, with the class Bootstrap.

- Create an application/configs/application.ini configuration file with the base configuration necessary for Zend_Application.

- Modify your public/index.php to utilize Zend_Application.

First, create your Bootstrap class. Create a file, application/Bootstrap.php, with the following contents:

1. class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
2. {
3. }

Now, create your configuration. For this tutorial, we will use an INI style configuration; you may, of course, use an XML or PHP configuration file as well. Create the file application/configs/application.ini, and provide the following contents:

1. [production]
2. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
3. phpSettings.display_errors = 0
4. includePaths.library = APPLICATION_PATH "/../library"
5. bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
6. bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
7. resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"
9. [staging : production]
11. [testing : production]
12. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
13. phpSettings.display_errors = 1
15. [development : production]
16. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
17. phpSettings.display_errors = 1

Now, let's modify your gateway script, public/index.php. If the file does not exist, create it; otherwise, replace it with the following contents:

1. // Define path to application directory
2. defined('APPLICATION_PATH')
3. || define('APPLICATION_PATH',
4. realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application'));
6. // Define application environment
7. defined('APPLICATION_ENV')
8. || define('APPLICATION_ENV',
9. (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV')
10. : 'production'));
12. // Typically, you will also want to add your library/ directory
13. // to the include_path, particularly if it contains your ZF installed
14. set_include_path(implode(PATH_SEPARATOR, array(
15. dirname(dirname(__FILE__)) . '/library',
16. get_include_path(),
17. )));
19. /** Zend_Application */
20. require_once 'Zend/Application.php';
22. // Create application, bootstrap, and run
23. $application = new Zend_Application(
24. APPLICATION_ENV,
25. APPLICATION_PATH . '/configs/application.ini'
26. );
27. $application->bootstrap()
28. ->run();

You may note that the application environment constant value looks for an environment variable "APPLICATION_ENV". We recommend setting this in your web server environment. In Apache, you can set this either in your vhost definition, or in your .htaccess file. We recommend the following contents for your public/.htaccess file:

1. SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV development
3. RewriteEngine On
4. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
5. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
6. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
7. RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
8. RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L]

> Note: Learn about mod_rewrite
> The above rewrite rules allow access to any file under your virtual host's document root. If there are files you do not want exposed in this way, you may want to be more restrictive in your rules. Go to the Apache website to » learn more about mod_rewrite.

At this point, you're all set to start taking advantage of Zend_Application.

# Adding and creating resources

If you followed the directions above, then your bootstrap class will be utilizing a front controller, and when it is run, it will dispatch the front controller. However, in all likelihood, you'll need a little more configuration than this.

In this section, we'll look at adding two resources to your application. First, we'll set up your layouts, and then we'll customize your view object.

One of the standard resources provided with Zend_Application is the "layout" resource. This resource expects you to define configuration values which it will then use to configure your Zend_Layout instance.

To use it, all we need to do is update the configuration file.

1. [production]
2. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
3. phpSettings.display_errors = 0
4. bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
5. bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
6. resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"
7. ; ADD THE FOLLOWING LINES
8. resources.layout.layout = "layout"
9. resources.layout.layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH "/layouts/scripts"
11. [staging : production]
13. [testing : production]
14. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
15. phpSettings.display_errors = 1
17. [development : production]
18. phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
19. phpSettings.display_errors = 1

If you haven't already, create the directory application/layouts/scripts/, and the file layout.phtml within that directory. A good starting layout is as follows (and ties in with the view resource covered next):

1. <?php echo $this->doctype() ?>
2. <html>
3. <head>
4. <?php echo $this->headTitle() ?>
5. <?php echo $this->headLink() ?>
6. <?php echo $this->headStyle() ?>
7. <?php echo $this->headScript() ?>
8. </head>
9. <body>
10. <?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>
11. </body>
12. </html>

At this point, you will now have a working layout.

Now, we'll add a custom view resource. When initializing the view, we'll want to set the HTML DocType and a default value for the title to use in the HTML head. This can be accomplished by editing your Bootstrap class to add a method:

1. class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
2. {
3. protected function _initView()
4. {
5. // Initialize view
6. $view = new Zend_View();
7. $view->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT');
8. $view->headTitle('My First Zend Framework Application');
10. // Add it to the ViewRenderer
11. $viewRenderer = Zend_Controller_Action_HelperBroker::getStaticHelper(
12. 'ViewRenderer'
13. );
14. $viewRenderer->setView($view);
16. // Return it, so that it can be stored by the bootstrap
17. return $view;
18. }
19. }

This method will be automatically executed when you bootstrap the application, and will ensure your view is initialized according to your application needs.

# Next steps with Zend_Application

The above should get you started with Zend_Application and creating your application bootstrap. From here, you should start creating resource methods, or, for maximum re-usability, resource plugin classes. Continue reading to learn more!

Introduction | Zend_Application Programmer's Reference Guide | Theory of Operation