Tools for Better PHP

Presentation covering a few tools that web developers may find useful during development, deployment, and after the application is live. These include gearman and supervisord, static analysis tools, deployment and automation with phing, recommendation for monitoring tools, and some tips about how continuous integration can help you fit it all together. Presented at PHP tek 2013.

Transcript

1. Tools for Better PHP
   Lorna Mitchell, php|tek 2013
   

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2. Tools for Better PHP
   Hi, I'm Lorna and I care about tools
   

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3. Good Tools Matter
   

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4. Today's Tools
   Development Tools
   • Static analysis tools
   • Task automation
   DevOps Tools
   • Continuous integration
   • Monitoring
   • Deployment
   

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5. Source Control is Key
   

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6. Static Analysis
   Looking at code in its own right
   • Evaluate files and structure
   • Tokenise code
   • Don't execute it
   

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7. PHP Code Sniffer (phpcs)
   • Command-line tool, available from PEAR
   • CodeSniffer checks if coding standards are
   followed
   • Bracket location
   • Whitespace
   • Naming conventions
   • PHP doesn't care about whitespace, why
   should we?
   

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8. phpcs Example
   class Cat
   {
   public function purr() {
   return "prrrr";
   }
   public function scratch($thing) {
   return true;
   }
   public function fight(Cat $enemy) {
   $this->scratch($enemy);
   return true;
   }
   

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9. phpcs Example
   FILE: /home/lorna/.../tek13/5-tools/code/Cat.php
   --------------------------------------------------------
   FOUND 8 ERROR(S) AFFECTING 5 LINE(S)
   --------------------------------------------------------
   2 | ERROR | Missing file doc comment
   3 | ERROR | Missing class doc comment
   5 | ERROR | Missing function doc comment
   5 | ERROR | Opening brace should be on a new line
   9 | ERROR | Missing function doc comment
   9 | ERROR | Opening brace should be on a new line
   13 | ERROR | Missing function doc comment
   13 | ERROR | Opening brace should be on a new line
   --------------------------------------------------------
   

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10. phpcs Example
    PHP CODE SNIFFER REPORT SUMMARY
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    FILE ERRORS WARNINGS
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    /home/lorna/.../code/Cat.php 8 0
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    A TOTAL OF 8 ERROR(S) WERE FOUND IN 1 FILE(S)
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    Time: 0 seconds, Memory: 1.50Mb
    

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11. phpcs and Jenkins
    

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12. DIY CodeSniffer Standard
    • Standards are made of sniffs
    • There are lots of ready-defined sniffs
    available
    • You can "pick and mix" to define your own
    standard
    

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13. PHPDocumentor (phpdoc)
    • Command-line tool, available from PEAR
    • PHPDocumentor creates documentation from
    code
    • Useful reference and deliverable
    • What if you have no comments?
    

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14. phpdoc Example
    Generate documentation into the docs directory
    phpdoc -t docs -d .
    

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15. phpdoc Example
    

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16. phpdoc Example
    

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17. phpdoc Example
    class Cat
    {
    public function purr() {
    return "prrrr";
    }
    public function scratch($thing) {
    return true;
    }
    public function fight(Cat $enemy) {
    $this->scratch($enemy);
    return true;
    }
    

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18. phpdoc Example
    

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20. phpdoc Example
    /**
    * The Cat class for all things feline
    *
    * @package Toy Code
    * @author Lorna Mitchell
    */
    class Cat
    {
    

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21. /**
    * The purr function, output can vary between related spec
    *
    * @return string Representation of noise made by happy ca
    */
    public function purr() {
    return "prrrr";
    }
    /**
    * Method for expressing dissatisfaction towards something
    *
    * @param mixed $thing The offending thing
    * @return boolean Whether the thing was suitably rebuffed
    */
    public function scratch($thing) {
    return true;
    

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22. }
    /**
    * Invokes combat with the other Cat
    *
    * @param Cat $enemy The cat to fight with
    * @return boolean Whether $this was victorious
    */
    public function fight(Cat $enemy) {
    $this->scratch($enemy);
    return true;
    }
    }
    

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23. phpdoc Example
    

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24. Adding PHPDoc to your Process
    • Comments also help:
    • IDEs
    • PHP WSDL Generator
    

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25. Other Static Analysis Tools
    • Lint check: php -l
    • PHP Lines of Code (phploc)
    • PHP Mess Detector (phpmd)
    

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26. Build Servers and PHP
    

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27. Build Server
    Many possible uses for a build server:
    • Run quality measure
    • Build docs
    • Deploy (more on this in a moment)
    • Run other phing tasks
    

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28. CI and Jenkins
    Continuous integration: regular build tasks
    • Often in response to commit/merge
    Jenkins: Java-based CI tool
    • Also see: PPW (PHP Project Wizard)
    

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29. Jenkins
    

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30. Phing
    PHing Is Not Gnu Make
    • easy way to run project tasks
    • php specific
    • XML config file can be part of project
    

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31. Example Phing build.xml
    
    
    
    
    
    

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32. Automated Deployment
    

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33. Deployment Steps: 1
    Package application code.
    • tag/export
    • minify CSS, optimise images
    • compress
    

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34. Deployment Steps: 2
    Put code on server.
    • upload
    • uncompress to a new directory
    • link configuration files, upload files, etc
    

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35. Deployment Steps: 3
    (Maintenance mode if necessary)
    Apply database patches.
    • database patching strategy is vital
    • many good tools to help (dbdeploy,
    liquibase, or patch files)
    • code may tolerate multiple database states
    

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36. Deployment Steps: 4
    Make new code live by switching symlink.
    (Remove maintenance mode)
    

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37. Deployment Steps: 5
    Restart long-running processes.
    Sort out caches - clear/warm
    

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38. Supervisord
    A process to care for your long-running
    processes
    • logs output
    • restarts errored scripts
    

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39. Supervisord
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/megandavid/2142156
    

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40. Supervisorctl
    

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41. Using Supervisord
    Useful for:
    • application servers
    • IRC bots
    • workers
    

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42. Gearman
    • Gearman is a job server
    • A job needs doing, add it to the server
    • Workers take and process jobs
    • They need a restart when we deploy new
    code
    

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43. What next?
    

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44. Monitoring
    • Check sites are responding well
    • Don't discover a problem when the client calls
    you
    Uptime Robot: http://uptimerobot.com
    

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45. Uptime Robot
    

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46. Good Tools Mean Good Work
    

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47. Tools Glossary
    PHP Code Sniffer http://lrnja.net/17DaDvD
    PHPDocumentor http://phpdoc.org
    Jenkins http://jenkins-ci.org/
    Phing http://www.phing.info/
    Supervisord http://supervisord.org/
    Gearman http://gearman.org/
    UptimeRobot http://www.uptimerobot.com/
    

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48. Further Reading
    PHP Master from Sitepoint (by @lornajane,
    @Davey and @Elazar)
    

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49. Thanks!
    Feedback: https://joind.in/8151
    • Lorna Mitchell: web development consultant
    • http://lornajane.net
    • @lornajane
    

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