In our last PHP Ad Tracker lesson, we constructed the database tables for our ad banner application. Now we are ready to construct the data object that will hold the variables and functions that will display, add, edit and delete the data in those tables.

They cover each of the variables they'll be using with a summary of what they're used for as well as the various functions to be defined and what they'll return. Following this, they get into the actual development - creating an "ads" class and defining the methods to get the current ad count, get the number of clients and pull the actual client/ad data.

Banner ads for services related to the web site owner's industry allow customers to view products that tie into the site owner's core business. In exchange, the web site owner can charge the banner ad owner for every impression (banner ad appearance) or click-through (when a user clicks the banner ad). In order to build a banner ad management system, we must first create the database tables that will hold the ad information, the client data and the activity schedule for each ad.

He includes the SQL you'll need to create a few tables - the tracking table for the ads themselves (their metadata), the clients table to handle the groups wanting the ads and the activity table to track views and click-throughs.

We are excited to announce that the Zend Framework 1.7 Preview Release is now available from the Zend Framework download site! While 1.7PR is not a feature complete release in the 1.7 series, it nevertheless contains some very important features scheduled for the 1.7 production release.

Updates included in this release are things like the Zend_Amf component, an update of the Dojo toolkit, support for the dijit editor, some performance enhancements and other locale and internationalization changes.

You can download this latest release from the Zend Framework download page and be sure to log any problems you find into the issue tracker and help the ZF team make the framework even better.

In order to make the transistion for users upgrading to new minor (middle number increment) and major (leading number increment) version of PHP easier, the PHP project has recently begun adding a README with upgrade information with new releases. This guide steps through any issues that users are likely to be faced when upgrading their PHP installations.

Lukas also reminds developers that testing these releases is the only real way to find the bugs that are there and catch them before the final release for that version. Bug issues can be reported to the tracker and, if you'd like to see an example of this new README file for PHP 5.2, check out this example.

One of the great things about OSCON is how it brings people together, and this year's conference was no different. I had the privilege of meeting a number of people for the first time.

People on his list include Cal Evans, Andrew van der Stock, Kevin Yank, Jeremy Johnstone, and Ed Finkler. He also mentions a "cool idea" from Zak Greant - the use of a bug/issue tracker to deal with community issues.

Chris also briefly mentions the "PHP trading card game", the PHP Security Hoedown, and the OmniIT book signing.

The post also includes some screenshots from the application, showcasing each of its many pages of functionality - source browser, issue tracker, timeline, and the search function.

For direct access to the site, head over to the Zend Framework site and click on the Developer tab.