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www.it-ebooks.infoCHAPTER 24 • INTRODUCING THE ZEND FRAMEWORKapplication development time. Users of symfony can also take advantage of automated forms validation,pagination, shopping cart management, and intuitive Ajax interaction using libraries such as jQuery.All of the aforementioned frameworks are extremely capable and are used by countless developersaround the globe. There is, however, another solution that, in my opinion, is particularly powerful, so itis given special attention in this chapter.The Zend FrameworkThe Zend Framework is an open source project fostered by the prominent PHP product and servicesprovider Zend Technologies (www.zend.com). Providing a variety of task-specific components capable ofcarrying out important tasks for today’s cutting-edge web applications, the Zend Framework canautomate CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete) database operations, perform data caching, and filterform input. But what makes the Zend Framework particularly intriguing is the assortment ofcomponents it offers for performing nonessential but increasingly commonplace tasks such as creatingPDFs, consuming RSS feeds, and interacting with the Amazon, Flickr, and Yahoo! APIs.The rest of this chapter is focused on a fast-paced introduction to the Zend Framework’s keyfeatures, serving to acquaint you with its usage as well as to excite you about the amazing boost inproductivity it and similar frameworks have to offer.Introducing the Zend FrameworkAlthough all of the frameworks presented in the previous section are very powerful and worthy of furtherconsideration, Zend’s unique approach to framework development makes it an ideal candidate forfurther exploration in this chapter. In this section, I’ll show you how to install the Zend Framework andthen create a Zend Framework-powered web application that interacts with Twitter. The first example isintended to show you just how easy it is to construct a web site skeleton using the framework, while thesecond offers a somewhat more practical twist, using the Yahoo! Web Services component to facilitatesales research.To begin, take a moment to review Table 24-1, which presents a partial list of the most interestingZend Framework components accompanied by a brief description. In the two examples found later inthis section, you’ll learn how to take advantage of several of these components.Table 24-1. Partial Listing of Zend Framework ComponentsComponentZend_CacheZend_ConfigZend_ControllerZend_DbZend_FeedPurposeCaches data into speedy backend adapters such as RAM, SQLite, and APC(Alternative PHP Cache).Facilitates the management of application configuration parameters.Manages the framework’s controller component.Drives the framework’s PDO-based database API abstraction layer.Consumes RSS and Atom feeds.461