Checklist of points while migrating to PHP

“In software language, migration refers to improvement. With every newer version, you will get more user access for better customization and improved user experience. So you must consider the migration process for your PHP website to make it a smart site on the fly over the latest platform. But, there are many potential threats in the migration process and we can’t ignore them at any situation. You must go through some considerations before you jump into the migration process.”

What you get from migration to latest PHP version? Migration means improvement. With the latest version of PHP, you will get enough scope for advanced web application development with many new and enhanced features. Features include support for namespace, Late Static Binding, native Closures, Jump levels, Nowdoc syntax etc. Along with that, a garbage collector is also added for developing advanced web applications on the fly. It is always recommended to remain up-to-date with the latest version of any technology to deal with the ever changing demands of the user.

Back-Up- the term has the highest priority for any Migration process: When you decide to migrate to PHP i.e. the latest version of PHP, the first thing that you should do is to keep a backup of all your previous resources at a secure place. It is recommended to keep those data in a new drive or a different machine drive so that, even by mistake you are not going to lose it during the migration process. The migration process doesn’t take few seconds or minutes rather it may take as long as few hours. So, there is a potential threat of unsuccessful migration process and hence chance of data loss in between. To avoid this issue, there must be a backup of all your resources including the database. Many times the database gets altered during the process so it is necessary to keep the database in a more secure place so that if any data loss occurs we can get it back without much hassle.

Consistency is must: During the migration process due to the change in platform, there is a high chance of inconsistency after the process is completed. It is very common and obvious to find inconsistency between two different versions of any platform. Usually many existing method names, class names and libraries source code get changed in order to provide better quality services with the latest version; but, this affects the behavior of our old PHP application significantly. To avoid this, you must go through each and every modification in the technology and then study the source code of those functions from the documentation and accordingly you should change your previous codes to work with the new platform. In this manner you can avoid the inconsistency issue caused by the migration process.

Compatibility should be well tested: Just like the inconsistency issue, there will be a sure shot compatibility issue when you evolve to the newer version of PHP due to the modified source code. Moreover it also affects the existing plug-ins severely. Most of the plug-ins will not work properly with the latest version and they should be replaced by the corresponding update versions in order to compatible with the latest PHP version. Usually most plug-ins releases their updated versions for the latest PHP version to avoid compatibility issue; but there might be few plug-ins or components that don’t have any compatible updates for the latest version. In that scenario, the developer has to take the responsibility of the plug-ins or components to make them alive in the new platform without mismanaging the application. It can either be done by removing the entire plug-in and its dependencies and then substituting it with another plug-in that may work what the existing was doing previously. Another way is to modify the existing plug-in codebase to make it compatible with the new platform.

Database migration needs full attention from the developer: During the migration if anything is highly unstable then it’s none other than the database. There is a high chance of data loss during the transition and hence you must take preventive steps before you start the migration process. As we have already discussed, the previous database should be kept in a safe and secure environment just like in an isolated drive of the same system or in a different machine. If any data loss occurs we can roll back the database from the backup folder.

Always perform the migration process with a SVN or RTC: SVN or RTC are used for keeping track of any codebase change in the application server. These are highly impactful when we are performing the migration process followed by code modification to make our application fit with the new environment. Usually we find errors and bugs in the new application after the migration process and hence it can be avoided by using an enterprise standard SVN or RTC for versioning purpose. It is like a life saver for the developers during any critical situations; because it enables the application to roll back to its previous version without zero hassle.

Make sure, your application can be roll back if needed: As discussed above versioning tools like SVN or RTC can be used for roll back of modified codebase but what about if the migration process is absolutely unsuccessful? In that case, we have to check if there is any migration tool available for PHP to migrate to a newer version and whether it provides the roll back option if the process is unsuccessful. As a tech savvy, we will not recommend you to rely over a software tool for the migration process and putting all your effort and risk on the same rather we would say it would be an unwise decision to rely on a manmade migration tool. To avoid this you should keep all your existing resource as backup in an isolated location or machine so that in case of unsuccessful migration you can restore your application from the backup.

Finally, Extensive testing is must: Once the migration process is completed there must be many compatibility issue, inconsistency and unreliability in your application. Hence it must be under go severe testing approaches i.e., both manual testing as well as automation testing to find out if any loop hole is still present in the application after iterative testing processes. Never compromise on the quality of testing at any cost because this will seriously hamper your end product or application.

Mindfire Solutions provides expert offshore PHP development services from India, gaining its expertise from years of experience in PHP web development and PHP application development. We have been working in PHP for the last 10+ years and have gained expertise on various PHP application development frameworks and PHP services. We offer expert PHP web design and programming services for global clients. Our Zend certified PHP programmers are proficient in PHP Porting and Migration services, PHP website development and PHP web development.

Review of PHP CodeIgniter Framework

“The new era web service applications are designed on a modern platform for better accessibility and code integration: It is known as Model- View- Design pattern or simply MVC. The same, we can find from PHP CodeIgniter platform. As the name suggests, there are 3 components and they are separated from each other by a virtual yet effective screen. It keeps the View i.e. the user interface absolutely isolated from the core logic. The View and the logic are controlled by an intermediate Controller. The Model consist of the core logic, database and rules of the application and it provides the relevant contents to the View i.e. Browser after the instruction of the Controller. By this process, the MVC architecture helps in keeping every aspect of the application safe and secured and most importantly in a systematic manner. Let’s have a glance over the CodeIgniter framework”. 

Complete documentation for the user: Since, CodeIgniter is a framework developed on the MVC architecture; there are many components, libraries and functions available inside. In fact, the Model designs itself cumbersome. So, it becomes difficult for a developer to start writing code on the platform without any prior knowledge or in-depth knowledge of its components. To make the things easier CodeIgniter provides a complete documentation for all its components and features. As a smart web developer, you should go through each and every page of the documentation so as to make the best use of the framework. The documentation works like a user guide and hence it is extremely useful from the developer’s point of view. It has various indexes like MVC basics, Routing basics, Form validation, Performance improvement etc and these are extremely important in developing an enterprise standard web solution. It is always recommended to learn the documentation along with a corporate training for improved productivity of the developer. 

Installation will not take more time or effort: CodeIgniter is a web application framework developed in PHP and enables PHP web developers in building reliable yet faster web solutions without much hassle. To getting started with CodeIgniter, one needs to install the framework on the server. For the same, you need to download the software and unzip the package from internet. Now you have to upload all the folders and files to the server on which you are suppose to work on. You can also use encryption or sessions by setting encryption key. The process is very simple and it doesn’t require any hard effort from the developer. Once you configure CodeIgniter you can start coding from the index.php page. 

Advanced features have made it to sustain in the industry for years: There are many advanced and effective features that CodeIgniter possesses for designing high quality web applications. The most important feature of CodeIgniter is its MVC Architecture, which is extremely helpful in creating complex web applications in less time and with more accuracy. CodeIgniter is extremely light weight and hence it can help you in building light weight web applications that will definitely load faster on the browser especially when we are considering modern browsers for smart phones and tablets etc. CodeIgniter has an inbuilt form and data validation feature that eliminates the unnecessary effort that is being given by the developer in other platforms. It has FTP class and File Uploading class for manipulation of files in the application server. The enhanced full page caching features can definitely help in improving the performance of the application and hence user experience. It has other features like Active Record Database Support, Session Management, Error logging and Calendaring class etc. 

SEO with CodeIgniter: Search engine optimisation is the most important feature of any web framework and it is now a must for every framework. Just like other PHP frameworks i.e., WordPress, Joomla etc, CodeIgniter also possess a search engine optimisation tool to make the PHP website well visible on Google. The search engine optimisation process starts with the title of the page and the search engine friendly URL. CodeIgniter has support for creating search engine friendly URLs along with other SEO features like key word density calculation, URL routing and SEO analysis etc. The URL routing or rewriting technique helps in improving page ranking in the search engine for better visibility of your website. 

Ease of Use for CI developers: A framework can’t sustain for a decade in the industry without any potential. CodeIgniter has already proved its potential with awesome features and of course easy to use developer interface. The developer interface of CodeIgniter is extremely easy to understand i.e. a beginner can start coding on the platform without much hassle. Different components of the framework can easily be integrated to the application for enhanced productivity. It has many templates available for the CodeIgniter developer so that he can start developing web pages easily with the templates that are already made available for the developers. 

Migration process is not a headache for you: Migration is something used for the improvement of your application with more optimised classes and data query. In web application development process it is extremely important for any business to be up to date with time in order to provide better customer support for your service or product. In CodeIgniter, the developer is allowed to manage his database schema for different environments and platform. The developer needn’t to manually run the MySQL queries for this process rather it can be done from within the platform itself. The best part is that it also provides scope for the CodeIgniter developer to reverse or role back of the migration process if found any issues during the migration. With CodeIgniter you can track all the versions of your database changes just like versioning of files as we use git i.e., we can go back or forward easily to a different DB version as per our requirement and as when we need it. 

Flexibility and customization is really a wonderful feature: A framework is usually having some optional features that can be achieved for your application with the integration of plug-ins, themes etc. CodeIgniter developers are allowed to integrate various open source plug-ins developed in PHP or jQuery to make the website more feature loaded and attractive. A PHP developer can customise his web application through different plug-ins and components for enhanced user experience. On the other hand, it also helps in extending the functionality of the application without any high effort due to availability of source code from CodeIgniter expert community. 

Nevertheless to say, CodeIgniter has an amazing track record of more than a decade and how this is possible we can easily guess from above discussions. 

At Mindfire Solutions, we have dedicated developer teams for almost all major PHP Frameworks. We have been providing expert PHP development services to our clients for more than 10 years now and have executed over 100 projects in various PHP and PHP Frameworks. Please feel free to contact us if you have any custom application development requirement, our senior CakePHP, zend, CodeIgniter, Symfony developers will love to assist you in your requirement.

Top Reasons - Why small business owners use PHP to develop applications?

PHP a true web language in the web era: In 21^st century if anything has seen a tremendous growth that is none other than internet and hence the web development. So if we say this is the web era of 21^st century then it will not be a wrong statement. Internet is everywhere with mobile networks like 2G, 3G and 4G, wifi and through broadband connections as well. Before a decade it was limited to wired internet services. But now it is wireless and hence it can be reach to any remote place without much effort. People in remote places are also browsing internet web applications using wireless mobile networks. At the same time, we have seen a tremendous market growth of smart phones and mobile devices due to their extensive use in the internet connectivity. All these favourable situations create a heavy demand for web developers and web languages in the industry. PHP is one such web language which is totally dedicated for web development process only; It has nothing to do with desktop applications or hardware applications and it can do everything in web applications and modern smart phone web apps.

PHP is Open Source and hence having a low cost of ownership: For any start-up software firm, the initial investment matters a lot. They want better product at an affordable cost to sustain in the market. For them, PHP works like a boon due to its open source in nature. Any start-up can afford PHP to develop its initial web applications within his budget. Moreover, there are many open source and free frameworks are available for PHP which helps the web developers in developing enterprise standard web solutions in less effort. This really improves the productivity of the organisation as a whole.

We can hire low wage PHP developers: Due to its simple in nature fresher and beginners are more interested to learn PHP in order to kick start their career in web development in the industry. As a result, software farms get an opportunity to hire efficient PHP developers as fresher for their next web application. Well, it is not to mention that any start-up can hire PHP developers at comparatively low wages. So this is a win-win situation for both the PHP developer and the software farm.

PHP has a huge size of new modules in web: Due to open source, we can find millions of PHP modules in web and fortunately almost all are free to use. So a web developer can customize those modules as per his requirement and can integrate it to his application project. This makes a lot of mean when we think about faster web development with efficiency and accuracy without much effort.

All modern amenities under PHP: Web development process is not complete until and unless we think about web apps for modern devices like smart phones and tablets. Fortunately PHP has all necessary features to develop enterprise standard responsive web applications using modern technology like JQuery, HTML5 and CSS3. Moreover, web developers can develop different interactive and attractive mobile apps and web apps using PHP for the modern era web browsing.

After all, Support matters a lot: PHP has one of the largest developer communities in the IT industry. So we can expect an immediate, quick and effective solution to our issue while dealing with complex situations in web development process. We can get the help of both online and offline support community to develop flawless modern web applications for our client.

Mindfire Solutions provides expert PHP development services from India, gaining its expertise from years of experience in PHP web development and PHP application development.If you want to Outsource PHP Development or hire PHP Developers, you are at the right place. Please write to us at sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com and we will be sending a free quotation in one business day.

Symfony - A Weapon for PHP Developers

As a server-side scripting language, PHP is used widely by developers for creating a wide variety of websites and web applications. Some programmers prefer mixing PHP code with HTML code, whereas others combine PHP code with different web development frameworks and templating engines. But most web developers use Symfony to rapidly create large and complex PHP applications. As a leading PHP framework, Symfony makes it easier for developers to curtail the both development time and efforts. At the same time, the innovative features of Symfony make it a powerful weapon for PHP developers.

Features that Make Symfony a Powerful Weapon for PHP Developers

Easy to Use and Configure

Symfony is compatible with most platforms, infrastructures and business libraries. So it can be used for creating PHP applications for clients belonging to different sectors. However, the framework is still easy to use and configure. The programmers have option to start development simply by configuring certain things in the application. Unlike other PHP frameworks, Symfony can be configured without requiring any extra time and efforts.

Fast and Saves Memory

Symfony2 is designed with strong emphasis on performance and speed. So it is much faster than other frameworks like Zend Framework 1.10 and Symfony 1.4. At the same time, Symfony can work efficiently without taking much memory. So the programmers can use the PHP framework without investing in expensive hardware and memory devices.

Expandable

Symfony enables developers to add new bundles to the framework through bundles. They also have option to present all aspects of the application as bundles. Thus, the system of bundles allows all aspects of Symfony modifiable. Also, the bundles can be reused for multiple projects, and be shared with the Symfony community. The bundles make it easier for programmers to control the framework’s behavior without complete reconfiguration.

Extensive Cache System

Symfony2 also comes with an extensive cache system. The cache system can be used to optimize the performance of websites and internet applications. The extensive cache further makes it easier for developers to easily optimize the performance of large applications.

Supports MVC Architecture

Despite being a powerful scripting language, PHP cannot be used exclusively for creating complex web applications. But Symfony makes it easier for programmers to create large and complex application by using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. The MVC patterns enables programmers to keep the business logic, presentation and controls separate. So the large projects can be developed in a distributed environment. The MVC architecture further makes it easier for developers to maintain and modify their code.

Generates Reusable and Testable Code

Unlike other PHP frameworks, Symfony is effective in producing reusable and testable code. The developers can simply create plug-ins and use them to add new functionalities to the application. The plug-ins can also be reused from several projects. Likewise, Symfony improves the application’s performance by delivering testable code. Symfony also provides built-in unit and functional testing framework to facilitate test-driven development.

Command-Line Interface and Tools

Symfony also allows programmers to use a command-line interface. The command-line interface makes it easier for developers to automate the deployment of applications between two web servers. Symfony also allows programmers to access a wide range of command line tools to effectuate project management and administration. For instance, they can use the in-built form generator to automate the repopulation and validation of forms. Likewise, the administrator can track the application’s activities by using the logging features provided by the PHP framework.

Despite being a leading custom PHP development framework, Symfony is open source and free. So the programmers can use the web application development framework without incurring any additional expenses. Further, they can avail the assistance of huge community of Symfony fans to easily enhance the application’s functionality and performance.

We provide PHP development services. If you would like to hire PHP programmer for your web development needs, please contact Mindfire Solutions.