posscon 2011 - developing easily deployable php applications

Developing Easily Deployable PHP Applications

John Mertic

@2011 SugarCRM Inc. All rights reserved.

Who Am I?

John MerticContact Info

http://jmertic.wordpress.comTwitter: @[email protected] ( Sugar )[email protected] ( PHP )

I am the Community Manager for SugarCRM

http://www.sugarcrm.comhttp://developers.sugarcrm.com

Learn more about working with the SugarCRM platform during tomorrow’s session “SugarCRM: Your Next Business Application”

3/24/2011 @2011 SugarCRM Inc. All rights reserved. 2

Buy my book!http://amzn.to/enioPV

http://jmertic.wordpress.com/

http://jmertic.wordpress.com/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.sugarcrm.com/

http://developers.sugarcrm.com/

http://developers.sugarcrm.com/

http://amzn.to/enioPV




Why deployable apps still matter


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarchi/220539933

@2011 SugarCRM Inc. All rights reserved.

What I’ll cover

Writing portable code ( or at least trying to )Enabling configuration and customization ( for users and developers )Strategies for testing and QAMaking your code perform (reasonably) well

3/24/2011 4

Writing portable code


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25339258@N05/2389910825/

Define your support matrix

Operating SystemAny Linux, UNIX, OS XWindows

Web ServerApache 1.3, 2.0, 2.2IIS 6/7 using FastCGI

DatabaseMySQL 5.xSQL Server 2005, 2008Oracle 10g, 11g

PHP

5.2.x, 5.3.xSupport most common configurations options

mbstring.func_overload error_reporting = E_ALL

Require only the most mainline extensions, plus

Mbstrings ( i18n support )Imap ( mail support )Specific database extension ( mysql, mysqli, oci8, mssql, sqlsrv )


Design code that works for these platforms

Avoid writing code directly talking to the bare metal; Abstract like mad!

Use a DB abstraction layer or ORMMake sure PHP features you are using are supported across support matrix or provide an alternate implementation.Detect what else the server has for you to use, have abstraction layer to talk to them.

Example: User cache ( APC, Memcache, Wincache, etc )

Assume very little about the underlying systemExample: Treat file system as case-sensitive, and file writes are only in one area.


Example of what we have to work around

Fetching a record from a databaseMysql - mysql_fetch_assoc()Mysqli - mysqli_fetch_assoc()Mssql - mssql_fetch_assoc()Oci8 - oci_fetch_array()Sqlsrv - sqlsrv_fetch_array()

Problems we run intoEach has different input parametersWhat gets returned if no rows available?

Mysql – bool falseMysqli - nullMssql – bool falseOci8 – bool falseSqlsrv – null ( bool false if error )


Build and deploy!

We build all 3 editions of SugarCRM from 1 codebase

We add code tags around sections specific to a certain version.To test under each different edition, developers can run the build locally

We also can tag in or out features on a per edition basis.


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastcapital/4554220770/

Enabling configuration and customization


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miskypig/400004362/

Making it simple yet powerful for end users

Expose configuration options thru multiple channels

Remember, not everyone has source access

Allow users to customize their UI interface easilyMake what should be simple, simple


Making it simple yet powerful for developers

Create a safe place to make customizations

Avoid painful upgradesCreate an easy to use API

Well defined and documented.Don’t break it!

Create easy to use hooks for modifying / adding functionality

Examples from SugarCRM include:Metadata driven viewsLogic Hooks

Allow for internationalization and localization


Strategies for testing and QA


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cglock/386033158/

Automated Testing Tools

Jenkins (http://jenkins-ci.org/) – Extensible CI ServerRunning on every checkin

PHP lint ( php –l ) – Syntax checking for PHP source filesPHPUnit (http://www.phpunit.de/) – Unit testing framework

Runs once a daySODA – functional testing framework that leverages Watir

– SodaMachine – GUI tool for building SODA testsJMeter (http://jakarta.apache.org/jmeter/) - tool for testing a website under high load

– MeterMaid – XML language to write JMeter tests in▪ SugarMMM (MeterMaid Maker) - utility to automate

writing MeterMaid tests for SugarCRM– TidBit – tool to make huge datasets for testing

Learn more about SugarCRM’s open source tools at http://developers.sugarcrm.com/opensource


http://hudson-ci.org/

http://www.phpunit.de/

http://jakarta.apache.org/jmeter/

http://developers.sugarcrm.com/opensource

Non-automated testing

You need to actually have people use your app.We do all of the following:

Code reviewsDesign reviewsPartner and customer demosCommunity previews

Earlier the feedback, the better


Making your code perform well


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tech1987/501427718/

What we do to help performance

Try to do the basic stuffAvoid writing slow codeCaching where appropriateCombine, minify, and version JS / CSS / imagesKeep SQL queries as simple as possible

Leave the rest to the Sys AdminProvide configuration options to turn off heavy featuresEnable the application to take advantage of it’s environment

Example: Using APC, memcache, Zend_Cache, wincache with little to no configuration

Provide best practices for various environments


How we gauge performance

Formal testingUse Jmeter (http://jakarta.apache.org/jmeter/) on a load test cluster to test raw response speed.Instance analysis

Monitor web server logs to look for non-cached itemsTrack slow queries

Ad-hoc testingProfile PHP execution with XDebugUse Firebug to measure CSS / JS / image payload


http://jakarta.apache.org/jmeter/

What are the lessons we have learned?

Define what you will support and to what extentWrite your code to be as flexible as possibleMake customizing, configuring, and extending your application not painful for users or developersTest across your support matrix, using automation when it makes senseFocus more on best practices and general performance, let admins handle it from there.


Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlanod/126386070/

Questions?

Slides available on SlideShare


posscon 2011 - developing easily deployable php applications

Technology