This is part 3 of my article about writing a restful service server. If you haven't already, you might like to read part 1 (covering the core library and grabbing the information we need from the incoming request) and part 2 (covering the service handler itself) before reading this section. This part covers the Response object that I used to return the data to the user in the correct format.

She show how she created the object to push the response back out to the client with an output() method that displays the XML response in a manually generated format.

Array notation is fine, but it can look a bit clunky when you're working with complex structures. [...] Casting the array to an object allows us to use object notation (->) and makes the code more readable.

He includes examples of the casting, showing the difference between the array and object notations including a method for creating an object based on a simple array that has basic properties built in. This sort of transformation can be useful if you want consistency through out the application - just passing objects with their properties rather than arrays.

In this post I will look at SplObjectStorage: a container that allows to store objects uniquely without the need to compare them one by one.

He lets the code to most of the talking, showing how to do the standard operations for a data store - adding objects (both unique and the same), updating objects in the store, checking to see if an object is already added and removing an object from storage.

Here's his list:

• OO code is less performant than procedural code
• The backend is the most important part of development
• Graphical designers are good at user interface design
• The existence of a superior programming language
• XML is more economic than a DB

While the others touch on some topics that could be PHP related, he focuses on it in #1. He points out that sometimes making classes and objects and interfaces and...well, you get the idea...is just too much and that procedural code can be the quick hit you need.

Normally, creating an instance of a class is done by calling new, which calls the constructor. Static factory provides a static method that returns an instance of the class. So, you are using static factory instead of the constructor. Providing a static factory method instead of a public constructor has both advantages and disadvantages.

He includes some of the advantages of the factory method and others for the normal call to create an object. He also mentions some comments made by Dagfinn Reiersol in a blog post about public constructors.

Instead of direct database access, an ORM layer in a PHP framework can make "objects" stored in a database behave like actual objects from a programming perspective - for example, creating a new "car" stored in the database could involve a call to $car->new(). By abstracting actual database access, web development can be more productive and result in more reliable applications. Here's a quick intro to ORM in PHP.

They talk about ORM's role in how applications interface with data (abstracted out to objects) and some examples of it in current frameworks - CakePHP and Symfony.

Here is a free PHP script to convert the titles of a news feed to a PNG graphic for display in Google Lively. To display a news feed in Google Lively, go to the "Add object" button, search for "Picture Frame". Click on add to room and then edit properties. In Gadget Options place the url of the PHP script in the option box.

The script can then be hosted on a web server where it can pull down the latest stories and update the PNG image accordingly.

This is a demonstration of a very fast and easy way to build AJAX-type applications where communications between JavaScript on the client side and PHP5 on the server side is ideal. This library makes development of such systems fast and very simple.

In his example he shows how to create the PHP and Javascript functions that let the service talk back and forth. He defines a simple "Hello World" style application to show how it would be structured. He also includes a bit of more complex that has other functionality - getting a value out of an array and returning a property/private variable from the backend class.

The book does a decent job of covering the main OOP topics in PHP; as well as, touching upon some of the peripheral ones. Hayder devotes whole chapters to such topics as unit testing, design patterns, XML, SPL, and working with databases.

The review talks about the "Good", the "Bad" and the "Ugly" of the book ranging from the good code examples and the chapter on the SPL down to the flawed version of the Singleton used and the lack of commentary/explanations around the code.

PHP Vikinger is over again. With about 35 attendees, I would think it was a great success. After opening the event, we figured out which topics people were interested in. After voting for the topics, we came up with a nice couple of topics.

Topics included QA/Testing, web application deployment a look at PHP's document object model functionality and some presentations on Project Zero, the new PHP lexer, eZ Components and database abstraction.