Formerly titled My First Experiences with Kohana.

A new project at work had me and my business partner talking at length about which PHP framework to use. We had several discussions over it, and looked at lots of comparisons. It came down to Zend Framework 2, CakePHP, Symphony 2, and Kohana. We went with Kohana because of its easy learning curve, and the flexibility that it had in getting out of the way and letting us code what we needed. It seemed to provide all the functionality of a framework that we wanted, without forcing us to use strange nomenclature or paradigms.

I have now used Kohana for a week, and really do like it. There are some things that other frameworks did better (Zend Framework 1 and 2 being the ones I am most familiar) but so far it seems very capable.

One of the things that I like is that it provides a HMVC architecture. Many are familiar with MVC (Model-View-Controller), but HMVC (Hierarchal-Model-View- Controller) takes that a step further by allowing nested MVC pieces. I learned a lot about it at this post: Scaling Web Applications with HMVC which has a fantastic diagram that shows this well: 

Within my web-app this means that while working with one particular action I can call another action and insert it. Oddly enough I found the documentation on this a little sparse for Kohana 3 (seems to be a problem with any framework), and it took me some playing around with it to get it right.

Lets assume I have a controller class, Foo and inside that I have an action, bar:

Class Controller_Foo extends Controller {
    public function action_bar () {
        //perform some logic here 
    }
}

Normally all that would be passed to the view would be the results of that action. With HMVC I can call other actions within this one, and pass everything. For example:

Class Controller_Foo extends Controller {
    public function action_bar() {
        //preform some logic
        $other_foo = Request::factory('foo/otherfoo')->execute();
        $view = View::factory('foo/bar');
        $view->bind('other_foo', $other_foo);
        $this->response->body($view);
    }
 
    public function action_otherfoo() {
        //have some logic.
        $view = View::factory('foo/otherfoo');
        $this->response->body($view);
    }
}

In the previous code I have two actions, that are complete with their own views (and presumably model calls in the logic), and I can nest one inside the other. This will take the complete view from otherfoo, and place it in the response from the bar action under the variable $other_foo. All I have to do in the view is echo out the variable.

One caveat with this: if using templates the entire template is returned. I couldn't figure out for the longest time why my JS files, and page title were being repeated on the page. Then it hit me, I was pulling in the entire template with each internal call. I then put all the actions that I would want to call within the program itself into a different controller, that did not extend the template controller and Presto! I had both requests returned with only one call to the server.

Where I see this being handy is making truly reusable code. In my case, I am having the results of frequently used database calls (specifically listings by user or cemetery) so that I can call this same code and get the results in multiple places. Another is going to be a user dashboard to show several things, a login form that can be used in multiple places, or sidebars that may show various information depending on the user.

I am sure that I will post more about Kohana in the future. I have two big projects that will be using it.

My best, Will--

If any of you have been to the site before you will notice that the theme has changed. It has a new logo, thanks to supernovia. Also, it will have another something new: activity. I have a hard time believing that it has been nearly two years since my last post.

So, with little other adieu, let me update you on me. During the last two years, I have finished my bachelors degree in business management. I have also left my job as a funeral director (although I am still a licensed director and embalmer) and am now pursuing two startups.

Open By Design is a system admin business for small to medium sized businesses that don't want a full time IT staff but still need desktop support, server administration, etc. The reason for the name, is because I use open source software wherever I can. While I have a skill set that allows me to do a lot of things, my focus here is not web development.

Cemetek is a startup I was invited to join, and I am very excited that I did. We offer specialized software for cemeteries and funeral homes. Currently, we have one product that we are selling, mapmycemetery.com, which does online mapping of cemeteries, as well as providing record management for the funeral home. We also are developing a product, cemeteryclassifieds.com, that will be available very soon. These products are cloud solutions to an industry that I know and love. They will help the cemetery provide better service to their clients.

So, with that, as I do work and find stuff out I will probably write it down here so that I can share with others the things that I learn as well as keep notes on it myself.

Until then, my best, Will--