In many instances, having a plugin system (even for closed-source applications) is a convenient and safe approach to adding functionality to a product. It minimizes risk by not having to modify the core of the source. In this article, I'll be discussing how we implemented a plugin system for our cart software to allow for plugins.

Its implemented a bit like the Observer design pattern - you "register" the listening event which can then be activated by a "trigger" method with the event's name. These events are stored in a registry (static) so they can be accessed across the application.

PHP Québec, Montréal-Python, Montreal.rb, W3Qc and OWASP Montréal are proud to announce the second edition of the ConFoo Conference. From March 9th to 11th 2011, international experts in Java, .Net, PHP, Python and Ruby will present solutions for developers and project managers the prestigious Hilton Bonaventure Hotel, located in downtown Montréal.

If you want to get in on the Early Bird pricing, you'll need to act fast - it ends in three days (January 30th)! There's also an optional training event happening before the conference (March 7th & 8th) with three sessions on advanced PHP Development, Symfony2 and web standards.

During Developer Week, learn about the Adobe Flash Platform, including Adobe Flex, Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash Player, and how it integrates with Adobe Creative Suite 5 technologies. This weeklong event features free, live webinars presented by Adobe technology experts. See live demos and have your questions answered by the experts during interactive Q&A sessions.

You can find out more information about the sessions offered and how to register for them on this page of the Adobe website.

The PHP Barcelona User Group is proud to announce that the PHP Barcelona Conference 2009 is here, and it is arriving bigger than ever! Two days, three parallel tracks of talks and workshops, and some of the biggest names and companies in the industry covering the hottest subjects to date. [...] Discover the newest evolution of the most popular scripting language and its intimate bonding with security, stability and scalability, and how its integration with cutting edge technology make it one of the most powerful and state of the art building blocks for robust applications.

The event will be happening October 30th and 31st at the Citilab and registration is still open. The price is 50 Euro for both days of the event and only 30 Euro for a single day pass. You can find out more on the conference website.

A few days ago, I managed to setup a project using the new command line tools. My project now had models, views and all the controllers that I needed. But then came the time when I had to setup my own custom plugins. [...] To register your own custom plugin in the new Zend Framework 1.8 release, go to you application.ini file found in the configs directory and add this [code to register the plugin on the front controller instance].

He includes an example of the settings needed for the application.ini, the location to put the plugin file in and a simple example of how the plugin would be coded.

We just introduced the final schedule for our upcoming php|tek 2009 conference, which will take place in Chicago between May 19 and 22. We have tons of great presentations planned from PHP luminaries like Andrei Zmievski, Sebastian Bergmann, Eli White, Sara Golemon, Terry Chay and many more.

php|tek 2009 will be held in Chicago May 19th through 22nd and there's still spots to signup if you want to attend. Pricing ranges from $400 USD (tutorials only) up to $1,100 USD for a full pass (conference and tutorials) with discounts for alumni of previous php|architect conferences, government employees, members of PHP/MySQL/Linux user groups and many more.

The SPL __autoload() method is one of the Magic Methods supplied in PHP. The __autoload method is called whenever a class is instantiated and will load the classs the the first time it is called. No longer is include(), require, include_once() or require_once needed as the SPL autoload takes care of this interally.

He looks at how you can use it to load a directory of classes, how to use multiple autoloads in a single script and how to use it with interfaces to register a loader and include it as needed.

A tutorial for the very beginners! No matter where you go on the internet, there's a staple that you find almost everywhere - user registration. Whether you need your users to register for security or just for an added feature, there is no reason not to do it with this simple tutorial. In this tutorial we will go over the basics of user management, ending up with a simple Member Area that you can implement on your own website.

They use a MySQL database to store the users' information, show how to create the login form to test the user's credentials and the registration form to make signup easy. They also thrown in a dash of CSS to help style the forms into something a bit more pleasing to the eye.

Any web site that is selective in the kind of users that it wants to grant access to will need some method of filtering. This filtering is usually done through a login system. This (and more) is what we will be building.

The site is made up of a few key components - login/logout pages, password management, a registration page and various configuration and settings files. They include everything you'll need, including the HTML and CSS to make things look exactly the same. The backend is driven off of a MySQL database to store the users and their account info.

Oracle is running a free workshop at its Headquarters on August 25th. This is a call for developers interested in developing applications in PHP, Ruby/Rails, Java, .Net or even wanting to use Oracle's free SQL Developer tool or learn web development with Oracle's APEX product.

They'll be providing lunch and the information, you just show up and soak it all in. You can find more information about the event here (and register to reserve your spot).