About phpCodeGenie

Introduction

Given any database schema, tables within, list of fields and properties, one ought to be able to build any kind of database backed applications in any programming language. The basic operations that a database driven application will have are usually the same - Create Records, Retreive Records, Update Records, Delete Records (CRUD).

phpCodeGenie attempts to generate these CRUD code so that programmers have a base they can work on. The core database access code and scripts are usually the same for most applications. Rather than spending a lot of time doing these common code, we can spend our time on the business logic of our applications and let PCG do the boring code for you. phpCodeGenie can generate simple code for beginners where everything is done in the same PHP script or structure Object Oriented PHP Code that follows the PCG framework.

phpCodeGenie requires you to design your tables and then the genie can generate code for reading and writing to the database, the html forms to enter or edit data in the database, scripts to list data, scripts to delete data, search forms, search scripts among others.

Supported Databases

phpCodeGenie can interact and generate code from many database servers - MySQL, PostgreSQL, Interbase, Firebird, Informix, Oracle, MS SQL, Foxpro, Access, Sybase, FrontBase, DB2, SAP DB, SQLite, Netezza, LDAP, and generic ODBC, ODBTP, through the ADODB Database Abstraction Library.

Overview

Motivation
Object-relational mapping (ORM) is useful in developing web applications.

Many of us in desperate search for good ORM tools for PHP end up finding existing PHP persistence packages are either insufficient to address the problems we face, or unnecessarily complex that demand a steep learning curve that not many of us are able or willing to afford. And most importantly, we don’t see the existing tools providing satisfactory solutions that can work with existing code and/or databases. This is what got us started to work on an alternative.

The goal of this project is to design a lightweight and easy-to-use persistence solution for PHP. This is how the project got its name, Easy PHP Data Objects (EZPDO). Simplicity is the key. Constantly we keep the following requirements in mind when designing EZPDO.

It requires zero SQL knowledge1) and a minumum amount of effort in ORM specification.
It should work with existing classes and does not alter the source code.
It should only introduce overhead to a minimum to guarentee performance.

EZPDO is also a test-driven project with continous integration. More on that in developer’s guide.

Features
Here is a quick look at the features in EZPDO before you delve into any details.

Minimum SQL knowledge required
Requires minimum ORM specification
No Phing! No need of explicit command line compile
Works with existing code and database
Has a small runtime core to guarentee performance
Handles 1:N, and M:N relationships automatically
Provides a simple runtime API
Supports object query (EZOQL)
Auto generates database tables
Test-driven with continuous integration