I’ve spent a good deal of time this week working on a little project using the Code Igniter framework. This is a liberally licensed PHP framework that does some of the same MVC stuff that Rails does for Ruby and CakePHP also does for PHP, but it’s a bit less rigid – which I like.
I tried setting up a project in CakePHP last year, but got rather frustrated by the difficulty I had linking up a rather involved database schema that I ended up putting the project on hold.
Code Igniter is a bit different. It automates a fair amount, but not everything (which I like). To me it’s a lot more clear where things go and how to go about doing what you want to do. I’ve also found it fairly easy to add in my own little frameworks here and there.
I think most developers fall into two categories, those who want to use a framework and those that want to build their own framework. Since I’ve been using my own psuedo-framework for years, I’m much more in the DIY camp. I’m trying hard to work within Code Igniter, and feel like it still gives me enough room to stretch my legs a bit.
At the moment, I plan to use this with two projects I’m working on. If you’re a PHP developer, it’s worth taking a look at.
I’ve been using Code Igniter for about the last 6 months and am in love with it. It’s easy to learn and the conventions are clear. And it’s fantastically easy to drop your own functions/classes into.
I’ve been using Code Igniter since just after it was first publicly released. It has been continually improved since then and a very enthusiastic community has grown up around it. It’s very powerful, very lightweight, very fast, and very flexible.
What’s not to love?
I agree with all you say Alex. I try Rails then Cake and in some blog i found a link to codeigniter website. I try it and there’s no return. It’s impossible to think to create a new project in PHP without codeigniter.
You will love it!
I’ve been using Code Igniter for almost a year now. It’s extensible, light-weight and doesn’t get in your way.
Seems extremely cool. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve used my psuedo-framework for years too, but after ther first project made with CI.. I’ve rebuild all my work/classes as CI libraries..
CI gives me the opportunity to be a better programmer, really.
I can recommend the Symfony Framework. I’ve made several smaller projects with it and don’t want to miss it anymore. Simple intranet applications with three or four entities can be done within a few hours including a full administration panel which can be easily customized. The documentation of the framework is very well done too and also available as a printed book if you don’t like to read it on the web.
The one thing it does that I think is completely stupid: its $_GET handling. It not only doesn’t give access to it from the Input Class, it actually completely disables it, and in the name of “security”. That means your search forms won’t work, folks, unless you use $_POST – which is a terrible idea. If you search the CI forums you can find a patch for that, but I hope the developer(s) will see the light and fix this obstruction.
http://www.codeignit[...]s/input.html
http://www.codeignit[...]ecurity.html
It’s not that hard to go into the config.php and change:
$config['enable_query_strings'] = FALSE;
to:
$config['enable_query_strings'] = TRUE;
is it?
Or to use the URL handler…
Completely messy urls just so you can have a search form that works? Rather rediculous, don’t you think? Especially when there is no legitimate reason to ever disable GET in the first place.
Matt: Would you care to elaborate on just how the routing (which is what I assume you are referring to) would allow it?
I just do my GET searches through a standard controller:
example.com/search/terms+go+here
Just like I do on this site.
It’s really easy to change that behavior in CI if you want to. Don’t use it if you don’t like it though, there are lots of alternatives.
URL Helper was the wrong direction for me to send you in, URI Class is what I meant:
http://www.codeignit[...]ies/uri.html
i’ve been searching a framework fit for my web application, which required fast performance for handled about 2 million requests/day. and finally found CI after read some guys done benchmarking several php frameworks. go CI, keep it light-fast
[…] February – I get to release a plugin to the public that was built for a client (yay!), share some thoughts on comments and blog posts, continue talking about the alexking.org redesign and start talking about browser tab usage. I also was interviewed and decided I like Code Igniter. […]
Hi alex, I’ve been using Code Igniter for about the last 2 months and am in love with it.
Seems extremely easy than CakePHP.
How to get like this?
example.com/search/terms+go+here
if using get always be ?s=terms+go+here
Thumbs up to CodeIgniter!
So far I’m impressed with CodeIgniter. Reminds me some of my own mini-framework I’ve been using. Hopefully I will start picking up the framework a little more and start getting standardized.