Phil Sturgeon (an expert in all things related to the Fuel PHP framework) has written up a tutorial for NetTuts.com about creating a basic admin panel for your application based on the framework. This is the second part of a series looking at Fuel, building on the topics from the first.

In the first part of this series, we took a look at the basics of the FuelPHP framework. In this second-part, we'll be stepping it up a gear and move onto some more advanced topics! We'll be creating an admin panel for our application, cover the common uses of the ORM and use the Authentication package to restrict access.

He walks you through setting up Oil (the command-line tool that comes bundled with Fuel) and using it to create a new application. There's a few steps of configuration to connect to a database and setting up a few access groups (like "Banned", "Guests" and "Administrators"). Oil is used again to create users in the database and to auto-generate a lot of the controller/view code you'll need for the admin tool. He then gets into the more technical parts - updating the current code to be able to do things like using the ORM to fetch database results and being able to add comments to posts.

If you missed out on the Future of PEAR/Pyrus webcast event put on by Engine Yard, you're in luck - they've posted a recording of the event.

In this panel discussion, we tackle topics including the direction PEAR and Pyrus will be going in the next few years, obstacles that may be on the horizon, and more.

PEAR is the package library of standardized packages for a variety of common development tasks. Pyrus is a new package manager to make installing and maintaining PEAR packages simpler. Engine Yard's next webcast will cover the Lithium framework with core contributors Nate Abele, Garrett Woodworth, and John Anderson on December 1st.

EngineYard, a company that recently merged with the PHP platform as a service provider Orchestra.io, has a new live panel podcast about the Future of PHP, specifically involving PEAR and Pyrus.

If you are a PHP developer using PEAR and Pyrus, we invite you to join us this week as we explore the future of PEAR and Pyrus. We'll be discussing issues such as where PEAR/Pyrus will be going in the next few years, what obstacles may be on the horizon, and how they're going to get where they're going.

The live panel, hosted by Elizabeth Naramore, will include experts from the two projects: David Coallier (President), Helgi Þormar Þorbjörnsson, Brett Bieber, and Till Klampäckel. There's still time to sign up to attend - the show happens on November 17th. To put your name in to be a part of the event, fill in the info here and you'll be sent more information about attending.

Matt Curry has this recent post looking at the CakePHP Status plugin he's developed and how to add in a custom Ajax-powered panel.

Last time we made a simple panel that showed the last 10 users that signed up for you web app. [...] This time we'll do a panel that shows the number of sign ups based on a time frame. We'll add a drop down that let's you select day, week, month or year and it'll show a breakdown of new users for that period. The updates will use ajax.

He includes the code to create the element, set up the javascript to interface with the backend and the PHP to create the controller for it to interface with. His example grabs the most recent signups from his Users information.

On InfoQ.com there's a recent discussion with three members in a virtual panel discussing a common question among businesses all over the world considering PHP - is it ready for the Enterprise?

Although PHP boasts of being the most widely used environment for web application development, it has been traditionally considered as not suitable for the enterprise. InfoQ has conducted a virtual panel regarding the evolution of the language/platform and its suitability in enterprise environments.

The three members of the panel (Zeev Suraski, Rob Nicholson and Derick Rethans) are asked about PHP's interoperability with other platforms, the trend of scripts moving into a JVM, the transitions from the major versions of the language (ex. PHP4 to PHP5), the role more advanced features might play in PHP and if PHP might be considering a move into more functional programming.

The PHPNW conference has announced which community members will be making up their "State of the Community" panel discussion:

• Steph Fox, editor of php|architect
• Ivo Jansch, CTO at Ibuildings
• Scott MacVicar, contributor to PECL and PHP core
• Felix De Vliegher, PHP Belgium organiser and PHP core contributor

The PHPNW conference happens on November 22nd in Manchester (UK) and is a day-long even packed with great speakers and now a great panel discussion too. You can still register for your tickets on the conference website.

Jamie Hemmett has a few suggestions for local user groups out there on what to do and not to do to help make their group successful. Some of it was gathered from personal experience, other tips from the recent user group panel discussion from this year's ZendCon.

I just listened to the PHP User group Panel discussion from the Unconference session at ZendCon. While I listened I took some notes to try and help our Irish PHP Users Group be awesome like some of the other groups out there. I reckon the podcast and great tips it contains will help other User Groups out there too (not just PHP).

Some of the observations/comments she mentions include:

• Freelancing PHP developers may not feel like attending a group with "the competition"
• Several factors dissuade developers from attending (distance, confusing schedules, timing)
• Some ideas that groups out there could use to attract and keep more members
• Why the groups can make you a better developer
• and some sponsorship/promotion ideas to help grow and better the group

This is a great post packed with some good suggestions and observations. If you're involved at all in your local group (or would like to be) be sure to read it.

In this quick post on the Ibuildings blog Ivo Jansch (CTO of Ibuildings) looks ahead to the upcoming PHPNW conference (Nov 22nd) and their participation in it.

The conference features speakers such as Derick Rethans and Rob Allen (see the schedule for more speakers), and at 50 GBP it's very good value for money for PHP developers. [...] We're also sending a bunch of our developers there, and we have a booth, so if you want to meet us or land a cool job, come talk to us at the conference.

The PHPNW conference will be held November 22nd in Manchester (UK) and has several exciting things going for it - a great list of speakers, a recently announced panel discussion on the state of the PHP community and a free one year subscription to every attendee for php|architect magazine.

The PHPNW conference crew have just announced a newly added session to finish off the conference day - a panel discussion about the current state of the PHP community.

This will be a panel discussion on the topic "State of the Community" and will bring together some of the leading lights of the community to discuss the PHP community as a whole, how people can get involved, and how the community relates to PHP as a day job. If there's a question you'd like to see the panel answer, please post it in the comments below and we'll include as many as we can!

The conference happens on November 22nd in Manchester (UK) and there's still spots open if you'd like to attend.

The Zend Developer Zone has posted a recording (from the Zend/PHP Conference & Expo 2008) of the UnConference session user group panel discussion.

Ben Ramsey, Software Architect at Schematic and PHP community leader, and Keith Casey, founder of CaseySoftware, held an UnCon session at ZendCon this year to discuss PHP User Groups.

You can either listen to it on the page or you can always grab the mp3 and listen at your leisure.