Developing with Symfony 4

Is Symfony 4 the framework that you want to use for your next project? Since its release back in 2005, Symfony has been continuously evolving and improving. With every new version the framework has pushed forward, helping us writing better code faster. But there are many different types of projects and developers out there, and it is always good to get some insight in a technology before jumping into it. In this talk we will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the framework, checking them against other alternatives, and learning the type of projects and developers that can benefit from it to a larger extent. We will also review the most important changes introduced in the last version of Symfony, understanding the motivations behind them, evaluating the current state of the framework in the web development environment, and trying to foresee the future of this technology.

Transcript

1. Developing with Symfony 4
   Victoria Quirante
   

   View Slide

2. I work at Limenius
   We build tailor-made projects with
   Symfony and React
   We have been working with Symfony
   since 2008
   Symfony 4 has been a significant
   evolution
   Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   

   View Slide

3. SYMFONY EVOLUTION
   A brief history of time
   https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/14411386334
   

   View Slide

4. Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   Symfony evolution
   

   View Slide

5. Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   Symfony evolution
   SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
   A different FW A new, better approach
   Monolithic
   

   View Slide

6. Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   Symfony 2 was two things
   1. A full stack framework
   1. A full stack framework
   2. A set of independent
   components
   

   View Slide

7. Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   Symfony Components
   

   View Slide

8. Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   Doctrine
   

   View Slide

9. Victoria Quirante
   @vicqr
   victoria@limenius.com
   Propel
   

   View Slide

10. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Silex
    

    View Slide

11. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Drupal
    

    View Slide

12. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Laravel
    

    View Slide

13. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony evolution
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A new, better approach
    Symfony Components
    Dependency Injection
    

    View Slide

14. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Dependency Injection
    Some code
    Some
    dependency
    created right
    here
    Coupled services Services decoupled with DI
    Some
    code
    Some
    dependency
    The dependency gets
    injected
    

    View Slide

15. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony evolution
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A step in between
    A new, better approach
    Symfony Components
    Dependency Injection
    More modular
    More flexible
    More decoupled
    

    View Slide

16. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony evolution
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A step in between
    What has changed between
    these two and why?
    Many dependencies
    High configuration times
    Steep learning curve
    

    View Slide

17. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony evolution
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A step in between
    They have tried to keep/enhance
    the good and improve the bad
    Many dependencies
    High configuration times
    Steep learning curve
    

    View Slide

18. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony evolution
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A step in between
    Many dependencies
    High configuration times
    Steep learning curve
    And adapt to the challenges of the current
    web development environment
    

    View Slide

19. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Recent evolution of the web development environment
    Our favourite
    framework
    Some jQuery
    {
    {
    Back-end
    Front-end
    

    View Slide

20. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Recent evolution of the web development environment
    Our favourite
    framework
    Some jQuery
    {
    {
    Back-end
    Front-end
    Backbone.js Ember.js Angular.js
    Gulp Grunt
    Vue.js Webpack React.js
    chats notifications immediate
    validations
    page reloads
    

    View Slide

21. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Our favourite
    framework
    Some jQuery
    Recent evolution of the web development environment
    {
    {
    Back-end
    Front-end
    Our favourite
    front-end
    framework
    Our favourite
    back-end
    framework
    API
    Backbone.js Ember.js Angular.js
    Gulp Grunt
    Vue.js Webpack React.js
    chats notifications immediate
    validations
    page reloads
    

    View Slide

22. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Our favourite
    framework
    Some jQuery
    Recent evolution of the web development environment
    {
    {
    Back-end
    Front-end
    Our favourite
    front-end
    framework
    Our favourite
    back-end
    framework
    API
    Our favourite
    front-end
    framework
    API
    

    View Slide

23. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Our favourite
    framework
    Some jQuery
    Recent evolution of the web development environment
    {
    {
    Back-end
    Front-end
    Our favourite
    front-end
    framework
    Our favourite
    back-end
    framework
    API
    Our favourite
    front-end
    framework
    API
    API
    API
    API
    API
    

    View Slide

24. Then, what is expected
    from a back-end
    framework nowadays?
    

    View Slide

25. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    What is expected from a back-end framework nowadays?
    - To be a great solution for APIs
    - To make easy to build some functionalities (admin panels, etc.)
    - To be efficient creating small apps and microservices
    - ...
    To take good care of the back-end
    And, ideally, to play well with the front-end
    

    View Slide

26. How does Symfony 4
    provide this?
    

    View Slide

27. SYMFONY 4 PHILOSOPHY
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/68532869@N08/16357411958
    How are things now
    

    View Slide

28. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony 2 was two things
    1. A full stack framework
    1. A full stack framework
    2. A set of independent
    components
    

    View Slide

29. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony 2 was two things
    1. A full stack framework
    But “developing in Symfony 2” generally meant
    “using the full framework”
    

    View Slide

30. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony 2 VS Symfony 4 graphically
    SF 2
    web app
    SF 2
    API
    SF 2
    microservice
    

    View Slide

31. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony 2 VS Symfony 4 graphically
    SF 2
    web app
    SF 2
    API
    SF 2
    microservice
    SF 4
    web app
    SF 4
    API
    SF 4
    microservice
    

    View Slide

32. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Working with SF 4
    SF 4
    web app
    SF 4
    API
    SF 4
    microservice
    SF 4
    

    View Slide

33. «As a developer, I want to start small, without too many dependencies. But I also
    want to be able to grow my application as I see fit. From a micro-framework style app
    to a gigantic monolith. Your choice. The framework should not get in the way.»
    Fabien Potencier
    

    View Slide

34. SF4 is not a new FW, it is
    a new mindset behind
    the same FW
    

    View Slide

35. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony 4 - Compose your application
    Make easy to create projects with lots or few dependencies
    For that, they wanted automate bundle installation/configuration
    

    View Slide

36. It is key that we can
    make our project grow
    or shrink very easily
    

    View Slide

37. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Working with SF 4
    SF 4
    web app
    SF 4
    API
    SF 4
    microservice
    SF 4
    We need something to smooth
    out this transformations
    

    View Slide

38. SYMFONY FLEX
    What exactly is it
    

    View Slide

39. SF FLEX is not a version of
    SF, it is a tool to implement
    SF4’s philosophy
    

    View Slide

40. «Symfony Flex is all about making it simple and easy to create any Symfony applications, from
    the most simple micro-style project to the more complex ones with dozens of dependencies. It
    automates adding and removing bundles. It takes care of giving you sensible defaults. It helps
    discovering good bundles.»
    Fabien Potencier
    

    View Slide

41. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Symfony Flex - Automation to the max
    It is a composer plugin that comes with Symfony 4
    Moving towards zero configuration time
    

    View Slide

42. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Internals
    Modifies the behaviour of the require, update and remove commands
    Allows Symfony to perform tasks before or after the Composer commands
    

    View Slide

43. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    How does it work
    composer req mailer
    It installs and enables
    SwiftmailerBundle
    composer require mailer
    

    View Slide

44. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    How does it work
    Your application with
    Symfony Flex
    composer require mailer
    Is there information
    about this package?
    Going for regular
    installation via Composer
    Nope
    Symfony Flex
    server
    

    View Slide

45. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    How does it work
    Your application with
    Symfony Flex
    composer require mailer
    Is there information
    about this package?
    Asking Composer to
    install them
    Yes, sending recipe
    Cool, following recipe
    instructions!
    Deciding which packages to install
    Running any required tasks
    Symfony Flex
    server
    

    View Slide

46. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Creating a new Symfony app with Symfony Flex
    composer create-project symfony/skeleton my-project
    "require": {
    "php": "^7.1.3",
    "ext-iconv": "*",
    "symfony/console": "^4.0",
    "symfony/flex": "^1.0",
    "symfony/framework-bundle": "^4.0",
    "symfony/lts": "^4@dev",
    "symfony/yaml": "^4.0"
    },
    Downloads the Symfony skeleton
    (just one composer.json)
    composer install
    And runs
    As soon as Symfony Flex is installed,
    it hooks into the process
    

    View Slide

47. Any other big news in
    Symfony 4?
    

    View Slide

48. A great solution for
    the assets
    

    View Slide

49. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Webpack Encore
    It simplifies the integration of our Symfony project with Webpack
    Webpack is a great tool to process the assets
    Configuring Webpack is not easy
    But Webpack Encore solves that
    Working together with the front-end, not fighting against it
    

    View Slide

50. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Keeping/enhancing the good and improving the bad
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A step in between
    What has changed between
    these two?
    

    View Slide

51. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Solid
    Powerful
    Flexible
    Good for large long-term projects
    Keeping/enhancing the good and improving the bad
    Steep learning curve
    High configuration times
    Many dependencies
    A bit too much for small/quick projects
    A bit too much for small/quick projects -> Good for small/quick projects
    Many dependencies -> Only the dependencies you need
    High configuration times -> Low configuration times (if you want)
    Steep learning curve -> You can start “easy”
    

    View Slide

52. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Keeping/enhancing the good and improving the bad
    SF 1 SF 2 SF 3 SF 4
    A different FW A step in between Equally powerful
    More flexible
    Easier to start with
    Lower configuration times
    Better integration with the front-end
    Moved further towards standardization
    A new, better approach
    

    View Slide

53. STRENGTHS
    Andreas Fidler - https://unsplash.com/@speckfechta
    What is Symfony
    very good at
    

    View Slide

54. Good for large and small
    projects
    

    View Slide

55. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Good for large and small projects
    You don’t have to carry unneeded dependencies
    The feeling of “SF is too much for this project” is not there anymore
    

    View Slide

56. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Good for large and small projects
    APIs
    Admin panels Mobile backends
    Enterprise
    software
    Complex web
    apps
    Prototypes MVPs Side projects
    Simple web
    apps
    Presentation
    sites
    

    View Slide

57. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    "require": {
    "php": "^7.1.3",
    "ext-iconv": "*",
    "symfony/console": "^4.0",
    "symfony/flex": "^1.0",
    "symfony/framework-bundle": "^4.0",
    "symfony/lts": "^4@dev",
    "symfony/yaml": "^4.0"
    }
    "require": {
    "php": "^7.1.3",
    "ext-iconv": "*",
    "sensio/framework-extra-bundle": "^5.1",
    "symfony/asset": "^4.0",
    "symfony/console": "^4.0",
    "symfony/expression-language": "^4.0",
    "symfony/flex": "^1.0",
    "symfony/form": "^4.0",
    "symfony/framework-bundle": "^4.0",
    "symfony/lts": "^4@dev",
    "symfony/monolog-bundle": "^3.1",
    "symfony/orm-pack": "*",
    "symfony/process": "^4.0",
    "symfony/security-bundle": "^4.0",
    "symfony/serializer-pack": "*",
    "symfony/swiftmailer-bundle": "^3.1",
    "symfony/twig-bundle": "^4.0",
    "symfony/validator": "^4.0",
    "symfony/web-link": "^4.0",
    "symfony/webpack-encore-pack": "*",
    "symfony/yaml": "^4.0"
    }
    "A minimal Symfony
    project recommended to
    create bare bones
    applications"
    "A skeleton to start a
    new Symfony
    website"
    symfony/skeleton symfony/website-skeleton
    

    View Slide

58. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Good for large and small projects
    

    View Slide

59. Good if you know a lot or
    a little
    

    View Slide

60. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Good if you know a lot or a little
    You can start using SF without a deep understanding of the FW
    Understanding the FW will allow you to master it
    

    View Slide

61. Good to develop “fast”
    and “slow”
    

    View Slide

62. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Good to develop fast and slow
    With Symfony you can go for RAD
    SF makes your life easier, but the decisions are yours
    Emphasizing working software and
    user feedback over strict planning
    and requirements recording
    But you can also go for DDD/CQRS if you want
    

    View Slide

63. Whatever the case, it is
    going to help developing
    better code faster
    

    View Slide

64. It pushes you to write
    good code
    

    View Slide

65. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    It pushes you to write good code
    Decoupled services
    Thin controllers
    Clean templates
    ...
    Code that is easy to test, read, maintain and refactor
    

    View Slide

66. It makes easy to grow
    

    View Slide

67. It doesn’t matter how
    simple a project looks at
    the beginning...
    Andhrastea Pipperly - https://unsplash.com/@thepipperly
    

    View Slide

68. Complexity will find its way
    

    View Slide

69. It makes easy to grow
    

    View Slide

70. It makes easy to grow in
    a right way
    

    View Slide

71. “WEAKNESSES”...
    Or what is Symfony
    not suited for
    

    View Slide

72. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Not the coolest newest thing
    Symfony is a mature technology
    It helps you writing better code faster
    Helping you looking cool is not part of its work
    

    View Slide

73. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Not a front-end framework!
    Rich front-ends require a front-end framework
    Don’t try to build a rich front-end with a back-end framework
    

    View Slide

74. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Not if there is nothing custom in your software
    Symfony helps a lot building custom software
    If you want to build something very standard, SF won’t save time
    

    View Slide

75. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Not if you want everything done for you
    Symfony makes life easier, but it needs you to work and take decisions
    If you want everything done out-of-the-box, pick something else
    

    View Slide

76. The learning curve is not
    so steep, but there are
    easier things out there if
    you want
    

    View Slide

77. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Some other solutions are...
    Easier to start with
    Perhaps not as flexible / powerful, but it depends on what you look for
    

    View Slide

78. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Typing less saves time… Or not. It depends.
    difficulty to build
    sth simple
    difficulty to
    build sth
    complex
    

    View Slide

79. What the best
    tool is depends
    on your goals,
    your team, your
    resources
    Don’t be a hooligan
    

    View Slide

80. DEMO TIME
    Let’s create a project
    with Symfony Flex
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/callmewhatever/30708918322
    

    View Slide

81. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Let’s create a project with Symfony Flex
    We are going to create a project with API Platform and EasyAdmin
    Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    

    View Slide

82. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    API Platform
    Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    

    View Slide

83. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    EasyAdmin
    Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    

    View Slide

84. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    composer create-project symfony/skeleton apiadmin-project
    cd apiadmin-project
    composer req api
    composer req admin
    composer req webserver
    - Create Entity
    - Config database
    bin/console doctrine:schema:update
    - Tell API Platform and EasyAdmin about our Entity
    bin/console server:run
    Demo time
    Let’s do it
    Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    

    View Slide

85. WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE
    Can we predict what
    will happen?
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/imagesnewman/33023955620
    

    View Slide

86. How does it feel
    developing in SF once
    you are comfortable with
    it?
    

    View Slide

87. Robert Szaskowski - https://unsplash.com/@robert_szadkowski
    As it should
    Boring
    

    View Slide

88. Blake Lipthratt - https://unsplash.com/@blake_lipthratt
    As it should
    Boring
    

    View Slide

89. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    How does it feel developing with Symfony?
    Boring =
    Solid
    Consistent
    Predictable
    Tidy
    

    View Slide

90. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    We cannot predict but...
    SF has proven to be a powerful and solid solution for backends
    Companies like mature technologies
    Many have been/are changing their spaghetti code to SF
    The FW is successfully adapting the new challenges
    We are going to need APIs, admin panels, etc. for a long time
    Imho, SF is going to be around for a good while
    

    View Slide

91. FINAL THOUGHTS
    What to remember
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dewalick/15842170328
    

    View Slide

92. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Summarizing
    SF4 has been a significant evolution
    On top of a mature, powerful, flexible framework
    It is possible to start easy
    And make something as complex as you need
    While following best practices and keeping your code nice and clean
    That makes it for me a very good choice for the back-end
    

    View Slide

93. Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    Summarizing
    It is a mature, powerful, flexible framework
    It is not the one with the easiest learning curve
    But it is possible to start easy
    And make something as complex as you need
    While following best practices and keeping your code nice and clean
    That makes it for me a very good choice for the back-end
    It may be also for
    you (or not) :)
    

    View Slide

94. Thanks!
    Victoria Quirante
    @vicqr
    victoria@limenius.com
    

    View Slide