The idea behind it is pretty simple: Often you have two Models that are associated with each other where setting the associations themself via hasAndBelongsToMany isn't quite enough for what you try to to.

He gives an example of the code, a method to get around the typical CRUD pattern without breaking it. His example involves users and groups and storing information surrounding them. Storing the data about the groups and which users belong to which groups is easy - it's when you start including some meta-data into the mix that things get a little complex.

He provides the sample code to make it all work - three models and three controllers - and the database structure to work behind the scenes.

If you've got spare cycles and want to help a brother out, read on. I received this from Leonard Rapoport of the International Press Association, (Disclaimer: Zend is a member of the IPA) The IPA is looking for some help. As you can see from the email below, they need a PHP programmer to help them out on some small projects and know of some larger projects they could turn you on it.

Any interested parties should contact Leonard via email and get things started.

Yesterday, Zend won Israel Venture Association (IVA) and Red Herring's Best Software Startup award for the year 2006. Those of you who know the Israeli hitech landscape can understand what an amazing feat this is; For those who don't, Zend (and two other startups in other hitech areas) won out of a list of 400 nominees, which in turn are only a small fraction of the startups in the country. Israel has the highest concentration of startups in the world, second only to the Silicon Valley. So, the fact Zend won is pretty amazing and a great honor for all of the team.

Zeev shares his own thoughts on the occasion, noting that he believes it's really the testament of PHP's success, it's growth, and powerful features that pushed Zend over the top to win.

Many congratulations to all of those at Zend!