Mastering Symfony & Doctrine

From a « flat » PHP file to MVC design architecture

• Understanding the layers architecture
• Understanding the MVC pattern theory
• Moving the business logic into separated classes
• Using the alternative PHP syntax to generate templates
• Splitting the projet in several levels : application, modules and actions
• Browsing into the symfony project's files
• Using a decorator to share the repeated view's elements
• Creating links thanks to helpers
• Managing a navigation bar

Templating with symfony

• Reading request's parameters and passing them to the view
• Exploiting helpers to generate reusable templates
• Building modular templates with partials and slots
• Managing the webdesign appreance thanks to the layout
• Exploiting CSS
• Building a reusable component to share with several modules
• Exploring symfony's available helpers (text, number, date)
• Using the view.yml file and response's methods to modify the view
• Templating best practices

Framework installation

• Installing symfony from a sandbox, PEAR or SVN
• Understanding the symfony's SVN repository organization
• Bootstrapping a project and module
• Bootstrapping a version control management
• Upgrading symfony
• Installing symfony on a production server

Symfony developpment environment

• Using the symfony's command line tools
• Using several developpment environments
• Understanding how a request is performed thanks to the webdebug toolbar
• Understanding the cascading configuration principle
• Learning the YAML syntax
• Understanding the configuration's caching and the symfony's cache:clear task
• Exploring configuration files (settings.yml, app.yml, projectConfiguration.class.php)
• Debugging a symfony application (traces, log_message)
• Installing plugins : pros and cons

Routing and HTTP Protocol

• Understanding what is an URL
• Distinguishing the difference between a GET and a POST request
• Using Apache and its URL rewriting module for incoming requests
• Understanding the bidirectionnal routing
• Writing a routing.yml file (order, tokens, default values, requirements...)
• Distinguishing a redirect and a forward statement
• Adding a custom extension to a page
• Using the name routing rules
• Using the routing to generate a navigation tree

Best practices

• Security: saving the application from XSS and CSRF attacks
• Refactoring the code and benefit from the ORM power
• Exploiting the command line and tasks
• Respecting coding conventions

Object Relational Mapping Abstraction

• Describing the database schema with a YAML syntax for Doctrine
• Configuring symfony to use Doctrine
• Connecting an application to a database (databases.yml)
• Manipulating business objects
• Generating a model object thanks to Doctrine
• Abstracting SQL queries in order to switch to an another database
• Writing DQL (Doctrine Query Language) queries
• Using the Doctrine generated classes (accessors, mutators, magic methods)
• Using DQL to manage objects' relations
• Refactoring the action code into the model

Admin Generator

• Generating and bootstraping a module
• Understanding the difference between a scaffolding and an administration
• Bootstrapping an administration interface
• Exploring the generated code
• Using the generator.yml file to edit the generated code
• Editing the list view (displayed fields, pagination, filters, tooltips, actions, virtual columns)
• Editing the edit view (admin tags, actions)
• Using themes

ACL, credentials and sessions

• Managing alert and error messages (flashes)
• Storing data in the user's session and access to the values
• Managing users authentification
• Disconnecting a user
• Testing the credentials
• Setup the ACLs thanks to the credentials system

Sending e-mails

• Discovering Swift Mailer
• Sending e-mails from your application
• Understanding how the queue works

Automated tests

• Validating a piece of code thanks to a unit test
• Using Lime and the symfony command line to launch tests
• Feeding a test database with fixtures
• Validating a feature with a functional test
• Using the sfTestBrowser object to simulate a navigation between pages
• Check if an un element exists in the page thanks to the DOM CSS selectors
• Automating tests