Year: 2011

PHP

Using Zend Models (Zend_Db_Table) with non ZF php apps

Post author By masnun
Post date October 22, 2011

The scenario is simple: You’re building an awesome php application but for some reasons you can’t use Zend Framework. You’re a ZF fan and used to depending on Zend_Db_Table variants for your ZF models. Now, thanks to the ZF’s loosely coupled nature, you can load and use ZF components in other apps quite easily. Long ago, I wrote a blog post on how to couple ZF components with Code Igniter. Today, I am going to demonstrate the use of a simple autloader to load and use Zend_Db_Table in a vanilla php app.

Here’s the source code:

<?php 

function load_class($name) 
{
    $name = str_replace("_","/",$name);
    require_once $name.".php";
} 

spl_autoload_register("load_class");

$db = new Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql(array(
        'host'     => '127.0.0.1',
        'username' => 'root',
        'password' => 'xxxxxx',
        'dbname'   => 'worker_db'
    ));

Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::setDefaultAdapter($db); 

class workers extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract
{
   public function getAll() 
   {
      return $this->fetchAll();
   }
}


$workers = new workers();

foreach($workers->getAll() as $worker) 
{
  echo $worker['name']."\n";
}

<?php

function load_class($name)

{

$name = str_replace("_","/",$name);

require_once $name.".php";

}

spl_autoload_register("load_class");

$db = new Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql(array(

'host' => '127.0.0.1',

'username' => 'root',

'password' => 'xxxxxx',

'dbname' => 'worker_db'

));

Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::setDefaultAdapter($db);

class workers extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract

{

public function getAll()

{

return $this->fetchAll();

}

$workers = new workers();

foreach($workers->getAll() as $worker)

{

echo $worker['name']."\n";

}

First make sure, Zend Framework is in your PHP include path. You can add the location of ZF library to php.ini or use the ini_set() function to set the appropriate value for “include_path”. This is pretty simple, so I am not going to elaborate.

Now we define a simple “load_class” function. And then register it as the autoloading handler. When the script tries to interact with a class, the class name is passed to the function. The function then includes appropriate file. Zend components follow the PEAR convention of naming. So, Zend_Foo_Bar class lives in “Zend/Foo/Bar.php”. Depending on the file name passed, we convert the name to PEAR standard and include the file. Done that, we are now free to use any class from the Zend library and it’ll be automatically loaded.

Before we can define our model, we have to instantiate a database adapter. We used Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql which is based on the PDO driver for MySQL. The configuration is pretty simple.

Now, we extend Zend_Db_Table_Abstract to form our “worker” class which is actually a Zend_Db_Table object. We can use all the methods and features Zend_Db_Table provides in “worker”.

The rest of the code is just self explaining. I just love how flexible and extensible Zend Framework is! 🙂

Links to ZF APIs:
— Database Adapter
— Zend_Db_Table

Linux

Installing Flash Player in Kubuntu 11.04 amd64

Post author By masnun
Post date October 6, 2011

I installed Kubuntu 11.04 64bit on my notebook PC about an hour ago. It has so far impressed me. The only issue I was having is the installation of Flash Player. I tried a few workouts I found on the internet but none but the following worked. I found the solution on Ask Ubuntu. Save the following codes and run it as a shell script. It installs Flash Player 10 though. If you’re bash savvy, you can of course tweak it to install the version you desire! Happy flashing (!?) 😀 😛

# Preparation #
sudo killall -9 firefox
sudo apt-get remove -y --purge flashplugin-nonfree gnash gnash-common mozilla-plugin-gnash swfdec-mozilla libflashsupport nspluginwrapper
sudo rm -f /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/*flash*
sudo rm -f ~/.mozilla/plugins/*flash*
sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/*flash*
sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/*flash*
sudo rm -rfd /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper

# Download and Extract Flash #
cd ~
wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz
tar xzvf flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz


# Install #
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual
sudo mv libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/
# Firefox
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
# Note that I didn't need to do the next two commands, but I left them in anyway.
# Firefox is not my main browser, so I'm not sure what the purpose of those two commands are 
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so  /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins/
# Chrome
sudo mkdir -p /opt/google/chrome/plugins
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /opt/google/chrome/plugins/libflashplayer.so

# Cleanup #
rm flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz

# Preparation #

sudo killall -9 firefox

sudo apt-get remove -y --purge flashplugin-nonfree gnash gnash-common mozilla-plugin-gnash swfdec-mozilla libflashsupport nspluginwrapper

sudo rm -f /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/*flash*

sudo rm -f ~/.mozilla/plugins/*flash*

sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/*flash*

sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/*flash*

sudo rm -rfd /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper

# Download and Extract Flash #

cd ~

wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz

tar xzvf flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz

# Install #

sudo mkdir /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual

sudo mv libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/

# Firefox

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

# Note that I didn't need to do the next two commands, but I left them in anyway.

# Firefox is not my main browser, so I'm not sure what the purpose of those two commands are

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins/

# Chrome

sudo mkdir -p /opt/google/chrome/plugins

sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/flashplugin-manual/libflashplayer.so /opt/google/chrome/plugins/libflashplayer.so

# Cleanup #

rm flashplayer10_2_p3_64bit_linux_111710.tar.gz

PHP

Installing and Getting Started with Gearman

Post author By masnun
Post date September 30, 2011
7 Comments on Installing and Getting Started with Gearman

In my last post on Gearman, I have discussed why I love this tool. In this post, I am going to share some commands and codes to get you started with Gearman.

Install Gearman:

sudo apt-get install gearman

1	sudo apt-get install gearman

Install Gearman PHP Extension:

# Enable PEAR and PECL
sudo apt-get install php-pear

1 2	# Enable PEAR and PECL sudo apt-get install php-pear

Now, let’s install gearman pecl extension:

sudo pecl install gearman

1	sudo pecl install gearman

Did that work? NO! Why? Because Gearman PECL extension is still in beta mode. Unless a PECL package is “stable”, you have to mention the full channel name to force the beta installation:

sudo pecl install channel://pecl.php.net/gearman-0.8.0

1	sudo pecl install channel://pecl.php.net/gearman-0.8.0

Did it work? NO! Why? It asks for “libgearman”. Hell no! I can’t find that package! 🙁

Ok, don’t panick! It happens that libgearman was initially released as libgearman1 and afterwards came libgearman2 and libgearman3.

Are you on Ubuntu? Use this:

sudo apt-get install libgearman-dev

1	sudo apt-get install libgearman-dev

No, I am on Debian! Okay, try this:

sudo apt-get install libgearman2

1	sudo apt-get install libgearman2

Still no results? Use aptitude to find libgearman.

Now run the command again:

sudo pecl install channel://pecl.php.net/gearman-0.8.0

1	sudo pecl install channel://pecl.php.net/gearman-0.8.0

Works, right? If you get an error message regarding “autoconf” or something, Google is your best friend. If everything is okay, go ahead!

Run Gearman Daemon:
Gearman Daemon runs in the background. It matches the client request to the specific worker process. It registers worker processes and distributes the workload among them. To run it:

sudo gearmand -d -u root

1	sudo gearmand -d -u root

If you want the daemon to go verbose and help you in debugging with detailed data, use the “-vvv” switch like this:

sudo gearmand -d -vvv -u root

1	sudo gearmand -d -vvv -u root

You can change the startup parameters by editing the file: /etc/default/gearman-job-server. Don’t forget to play with the configuration a bit 🙂

Get a PHP Worker:
Let’s code a handy string processor:

<?php
// Create a GearmanWorker object
$worker= new GearmanWorker();
// Add the default server
$worker->addServer();
// Register the processing function
$worker->addFunction("process_string", "processString");
// Trigger the infinite loop
while ($worker->work());

// The main function that processes the job
function processString($job)
{
  // get the workload - it's a string. use serialization to pass objects
  $param = $job->workload();
  return "You passed the string: {$param} \n It had: ".strlen($param)." chars \n";
}
?>

<?php

// Create a GearmanWorker object

$worker= new GearmanWorker();

// Add the default server

$worker->addServer();

// Register the processing function

$worker->addFunction("process_string", "processString");

// Trigger the infinite loop

while ($worker->work());

// The main function that processes the job

function processString($job)

{

// get the workload - it's a string. use serialization to pass objects

$param = $job->workload();

return "You passed the string: {$param} \n It had: ".strlen($param)." chars \n";

}

So you see, I built a super useful string processor. With it’s high level of intelligence, it can echo back the string and tell you how many characters were there. When invoked, Gearman shall call the function with the $job parameter as a gearman job. The workload() method will extract parameter passed from the client.

We just defined a function, created a GearmanWorker object, connected to the default server and registered the function.

Now, how do we invoke the job? With a client:

<?php
// construct a client object
$client= new GearmanClient();
// add the default server
$client->addServer();
// print the output of the job. first parameter is the job name, second one is the parameter
print $client->do("process_string", "Hello Gearman!");
?>

<?php

// construct a client object

$client= new GearmanClient();

// add the default server

$client->addServer();

// print the output of the job. first parameter is the job name, second one is the parameter

print $client->do("process_string", "Hello Gearman!");

So, what are the output? I had three terminal tabs open. One for the main gearmand with verbose mode, another for worker.php and other one for the client output. Here’s the output sequentially:

masnun@lighthouse:~$ sudo gearmand -d -vvv -u root
 INFO Starting up
masnun@lighthouse:~$  INFO Listening on 0.0.0.0:4730 (7)
 INFO Creating wakeup pipe
 INFO Creating IO thread wakeup pipe
 INFO Adding event for listening socket (7)
 INFO Adding event for wakeup pipe
 INFO Entering main event loop
 INFO Accepted connection from 127.0.0.1:45305
 INFO [   0]       127.0.0.1:45305 Connected
 INFO Accepted connection from 127.0.0.1:45306
 INFO [   0]       127.0.0.1:45306 Connected
 INFO [   0]       127.0.0.1:45306 Disconnected

masnun@lighthouse:~$ sudo gearmand -d -vvv -u root

INFO Starting up

masnun@lighthouse:~$ INFO Listening on 0.0.0.0:4730 (7)

INFO Creating wakeup pipe

INFO Creating IO thread wakeup pipe

INFO Adding event for listening socket (7)

INFO Adding event for wakeup pipe

INFO Entering main event loop

INFO Accepted connection from 127.0.0.1:45305

INFO [ 0] 127.0.0.1:45305 Connected

INFO Accepted connection from 127.0.0.1:45306

INFO [ 0] 127.0.0.1:45306 Connected

INFO [ 0] 127.0.0.1:45306 Disconnected

masnun@lighthouse:~/gearman$ php worker.php

1	masnun@lighthouse:~/gearman$ php worker.php

masnun@lighthouse:~/gearman$ php client.php
You passed the string: Hello Gearman! 
 It had: 14 chars 
masnun@lighthouse:~/gearman$

masnun@lighthouse:~/gearman$ php client.php

You passed the string: Hello Gearman!

It had: 14 chars

masnun@lighthouse:~/gearman$

NOTES:
— For ease of demonstration, I have executed the client from a command line script, in actual live environment, you shall be calling it from a web app.

— On a remote SSH connection, you may not be able to have 3 terminal tabs open. Put an “&” after the commands to send them to background 🙂

— Use the same command to spawn as many workers as you need

Happy Gearing with PHP!

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