Choosing a PHP Framework for long-term deployment

Question

Duplicate Question: What PHP Framework Would You Choose for a New Application and Why?

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We are starting a new project and I am wondering which PHP framework we should use and if we should use a framework.

We decided to choose PHP instead of ASP.NET in part because we didn't want to get stucked in a unflexible paradigm (WebForms, everything-automatic-but-not-so-flexible), but I believe a PHP framework could put us in the same situation.

The application will be developed now and probably not maintained actively for years. We need something that will be time-resistant, since the next major re-development will not be before 10 years. We need something standard and easy to understand.

I am considering Zend Framework, and maybe ADODB as a database layer, but I am not sure. I also excluded PEAR from the list because of it's heavy dependency tree.

It would be preferable to separate display from logic, since the look may change in the next years. So a good template language should do.

What do you think?

Answer 1

I agree with you that Zend may be the way to go. I have been looking into numerous frameworks lately for the same reason, and Zend appears to stand out as the one with the most support, and the strongest base.

• StackOverflow: What PHP Framework Would You Choose for a New Application and Why?
• Framework Comparison Chart
• PHP Frameworks - Which one is Most Suitable for You?

Answer 2

Zend Framework seems to be the most popular framework for PHP currently, by a ratio of two to one, according to this recent poll:

"Which PHP framework holds a promise for the future?"

Disclaimer: I worked for Zend as the lead on the ZF project through its 1.0 release.

Answer 3

Have a loog at CodeIgniter. It's a pretty good compromise between simplicity, practicality and MVC framework development.

Answer 4

Zend Framework has worked fine for me though I've only used it on larger projects. I've used Code Igniter on smaller, simpler sites and that worked out fine as well.

As for the database layer, I've always just gone with what ZF offers (though 99% of what I do is pretty much exclusively MySQL). ADODB is safe... maybe consider Doctrine as well?

Answer 5

Of the frameworks I've tried, CakePHP and CodeIgniter, I prefer CakePHP. CakePHP is very similar to Ruby on Rails, and out of the box you get very sensible MVC functionality.

The consultancy I work for has successfully deployed many CakePHP applications for very large request heavy clients, to very small scale light use intranet applications.

We've recently favored building the front ends to many graphics and animation intensive applications in Flex and providing services to the front end using the AMF plugin and CakePHP

Answer 6

Symfony is really solid and very configurable.

http://www.symfony-project.org/

Bit slow, but you can really strip it down when you start understanding its "guts".

Answer 7

i like php faces mvc

use mvc\Controller;
use mvc\View;
class PF2 implements Controller
{
    public function Controller() {
        return new View("view",array("name"=>"bora"));
    }
}

http://www.webmahsulleri.com/category/php/php-faces/