Recent releases from the Packagist:

• mjohnson/decoda (6.0.2)
  A lightweight lexical string parser for BBCode styled markup.

• paulredmond/chosen-cakephp (2.0.9, 2.1.4)
  Chosen CakePHP plugin for CakePHP 2

• rah/danpu (2.0.1, 1.0.0)
  MySQL database dump and restoration tool implemented in PHP

• mparaiso/simpleuserserviceprovider (0.0.14, 0.0.13)
  Simple User management for Silex intended to mimic FOSUserBundle features, work in progress , not production ready yet !

• sammaye/mongoyii (1.2.35, 1.2.3)
  A Yii MongoDB ORM

• mjohnson/uploader (4.0.14)
  File uploader and validation plugin for CakePHP.

• mparaiso/doctrineodmserviceprovider (0.0.11, 0.0.10)
  Doctrine ODM service provider for Silex

• mparaiso/crudserviceprovider (0.0.12)
  CRUD helper Silex framework

• kdyby/autowired (v0.9.1, v0.9)
  Syntax sugar for working with services in Nette Framework

• pixel418/markdownify (v2.1.3)
  The HTML to Markdown converter for PHP

• tfox/mpdf-port-bundle (1.1.0)
  A wrapper for mPDF class which allows to use mPDF in Symfony2 projects

• alchemy/binary-driver (1.4.0)
  A set of tools to build binary drivers

• zweifisch/zf (v0.2.2, v0.2.1, v0.2.0)
  a micro php web/cli framework/router

• toddish/verify (v2.0.1, v2.0.0)
  A simple authentication bundle for Laravel 4. It features roles, permissions, password salting and is fully extendable.

• ajt/guzzle-asana (0.9.2)
  Asana API client written on top of Guzzle PHP.

• doctrine/dbal (2.4.0-BETA2, 2.3.4)
  Database Abstraction Layer

• hiraku/xml_builder (1.0.11)
  Simple DSL for building XML

• doctrine/orm (2.3.4)
  Object-Relational-Mapper for PHP

Recent releases from the Packagist:

• league/oauth2server (2.1)
  A lightweight and powerful OAuth 2.0 authorization and resource server library with support for all the core specification grants. This library will allow you to secure your API with OAuth and allow your applications users to approve apps that want to access their data from your API.

• pixel418/markdownify (v2.1.2)
  The HTML to Markdown converter for PHP

• primal/routing (2.0)
  A file based url routing engine

• ali/datatable (v1.4.0)
  Symfony2 Ajax Datagrid Bundle for doctrine2 entities

• filp/damnit (1.0.6, 1.0.5)
  php error handling for cool kids

• filp/whoops (1.0.6, 1.0.5)
  php error handling for cool kids

• mandrill/mandrill (1.0.27)
  API client library for the Mandrill email as a service platform

• php-ffmpeg/php-ffmpeg (0.2.4)
  FFMpeg PHP, an Object Oriented library to communicate with AVconv / ffmpeg

• zf-commons/zfc-rbac (0.2.0)
  Zend Framework 2 Module that provides a layer of features of ZendPermissionsRbac

• pixel418/staq (v0.6.0)
  Staq is a small PHP framework for an enjoyable web development

• symfony/symfony (v2.3.0-BETA2)
  The Symfony PHP framework

• mparaiso/crudserviceprovider (0.0.10, 0.0.9, 0.0.8)
  CRUD helper Silex framework

• kvdh/symfony-jquery-file-upload (v8.1.0)
  jQuery File Upload vendor package for Symfony 2.x

• sauce/sausage (v0.8.3)
  PHP version of the Sauce Labs API

• dmishh/recaptcher (1.0.0-beta4)
  Yet another reCAPTCHA PHP implementation

• tecnick.com/tcpdf (6.0.013)
  TCPDF is a PHP class for generating PDF documents.

• puddin/data (1.0.0)
  A data access layer built on top of the Doctrine DBAL

• pugx/extravalidator-bundle (v2.2.1)
  Add extra validators for forms

• pixel418/iniliq (v0.3.2)
  An ini parser for inherited values through multiple configuration files

• pixel418/ubiq (v0.4.6)
  Functions for readable treatment of string, array & object

• sensio/framework-extra-bundle (v2.3.0-BETA2)
  This bundle provides a way to configure your controllers with annotations

• marcj/php-rest-service (0.1.1)
  PHPRestService is a simple and fast PHP class for server side RESTful APIs.

• twig/twig (v1.13.0)
  Twig, the flexible, fast, and secure template language for PHP

• kenkataiwa/gatekeeper (0.1.3)
  Open Authentiation Abstration

• stomping/stomping (0.1.3)
  STOMP 1.x Library for PHP

• puddin/mvc (1.0.0)
  A lightweight MVC architecture

• puddin/rest (1.0.0, 1.0)
  A lightweight RESTful web service architecture

• leaseweb/doctrine-pdo-dblib (1.0.0)
  Library for support of the pdo_dblib (MSSQL) driver in Doctrine

• mparaiso/doctrineodmserviceprovider (0.0.9, 0.0.8, 0.0.7, 0.0.6, 0.0.5)
  Doctrine ODM service provider for Silex

• mparaiso/simpleuserserviceprovider (0.0.12, 0.0.11, 0.0.10)
  Simple User management for Silex intended to mimic FOSUserBundle features, work in progress , not production ready yet !

• onemightyroar/predis-toolkit (1.1.0)
  Additional classes and functionality to extend Predis

• phormium/phormium (0.2)
  A minimalist ORM for PHP.

• rampage-php/framework (1.0.0-alpha4)
  Rampage PHP Framework based on Zend Framework 2

• garoevans/php-enum (v1.1.1, v1.1.0)
  Convenient way to always have an Enum object available and utilise Spl Types if available.

• doctrine/phpcr-bundle (1.0.0-alpha3)
  Symfony DoctrinePHPCRBundle

• law909/altorouter (1.0.0)
  A lightning fast router for PHP

• fsi/datasource (v1.0.6)
  FSi DataSource Component

• sammaye/mongoyii (1.2.25)
  A Yii MongoDB ORM

• stefanotorresi/my-i18n (0.1.1)
  A ZF2 locale detection module based on Matt Cockayne’s ZucchiLocale

• studiobonito/silverstripe-imagefunctions (3.1.0, 3.0.1)
  Image Functions Module primarily adds more image functions to the Image object but it also adds some useful SiteConfig settings.

• opauth/opauth (0.4.4)
  Multi-provider authentication framework for PHP

• gabriel403/g403-session-db (1.0.1, 1.0)
  Extension to ZF2 to allow sessions to be stored in the database.

• nelmio/api-doc-bundle (2.2.3)
  Generates documentation for your REST API from annotations

• trismegiste/mondrian (1.1.0)
  Mondrian is a set of static analysis and refactoring tools for more abstraction

• puddin/core (1.0.0)
  Additional architecture built over top the Slim micro framework

• icecave/chrono (0.1.1)
  PHP date and time abstractions that are decoupled from the system clock.

• rgou/bootstrap-bundle (v0.7.3)
  Twitter Bootstrap Symfony2 bundle with generator for Doctrine ORM and ODM

Recent releases from the Packagist:

• league/oauth2server (2.1)
  A lightweight and powerful OAuth 2.0 authorization and resource server library with support for all the core specification grants. This library will allow you to secure your API with OAuth and allow your applications users to approve apps that want to access their data from your API.

• pixel418/markdownify (v2.1.2)
  The HTML to Markdown converter for PHP

• primal/routing (2.0)
  A file based url routing engine

• ali/datatable (v1.4.0)
  Symfony2 Ajax Datagrid Bundle for doctrine2 entities

• filp/damnit (1.0.6, 1.0.5)
  php error handling for cool kids

• filp/whoops (1.0.6, 1.0.5)
  php error handling for cool kids

• mandrill/mandrill (1.0.27)
  API client library for the Mandrill email as a service platform

• php-ffmpeg/php-ffmpeg (0.2.4)
  FFMpeg PHP, an Object Oriented library to communicate with AVconv / ffmpeg

• zf-commons/zfc-rbac (0.2.0)
  Zend Framework 2 Module that provides a layer of features of ZendPermissionsRbac

• pixel418/staq (v0.6.0)
  Staq is a small PHP framework for an enjoyable web development

• symfony/symfony (v2.3.0-BETA2)
  The Symfony PHP framework

• mparaiso/crudserviceprovider (0.0.10, 0.0.9, 0.0.8)
  CRUD helper Silex framework

• kvdh/symfony-jquery-file-upload (v8.1.0)
  jQuery File Upload vendor package for Symfony 2.x

• sauce/sausage (v0.8.3)
  PHP version of the Sauce Labs API

• dmishh/recaptcher (1.0.0-beta4)
  Yet another reCAPTCHA PHP implementation

• tecnick.com/tcpdf (6.0.013)
  TCPDF is a PHP class for generating PDF documents.

• puddin/data (1.0.0)
  A data access layer built on top of the Doctrine DBAL

• pugx/extravalidator-bundle (v2.2.1)
  Add extra validators for forms

• pixel418/iniliq (v0.3.2)
  An ini parser for inherited values through multiple configuration files

• pixel418/ubiq (v0.4.6)
  Functions for readable treatment of string, array & object

• sensio/framework-extra-bundle (v2.3.0-BETA2)
  This bundle provides a way to configure your controllers with annotations

• marcj/php-rest-service (0.1.1)
  PHPRestService is a simple and fast PHP class for server side RESTful APIs.

• twig/twig (v1.13.0)
  Twig, the flexible, fast, and secure template language for PHP

• kenkataiwa/gatekeeper (0.1.3)
  Open Authentiation Abstration

• stomping/stomping (0.1.3)
  STOMP 1.x Library for PHP

• puddin/mvc (1.0.0)
  A lightweight MVC architecture

• puddin/rest (1.0.0, 1.0)
  A lightweight RESTful web service architecture

• leaseweb/doctrine-pdo-dblib (1.0.0)
  Library for support of the pdo_dblib (MSSQL) driver in Doctrine

• mparaiso/doctrineodmserviceprovider (0.0.9, 0.0.8, 0.0.7, 0.0.6, 0.0.5)
  Doctrine ODM service provider for Silex

• mparaiso/simpleuserserviceprovider (0.0.12, 0.0.11, 0.0.10)
  Simple User management for Silex intended to mimic FOSUserBundle features, work in progress , not production ready yet !

• onemightyroar/predis-toolkit (1.1.0)
  Additional classes and functionality to extend Predis

• phormium/phormium (0.2)
  A minimalist ORM for PHP.

• rampage-php/framework (1.0.0-alpha4)
  Rampage PHP Framework based on Zend Framework 2

• garoevans/php-enum (v1.1.1, v1.1.0)
  Convenient way to always have an Enum object available and utilise Spl Types if available.

• doctrine/phpcr-bundle (1.0.0-alpha3)
  Symfony DoctrinePHPCRBundle

• law909/altorouter (1.0.0)
  A lightning fast router for PHP

• fsi/datasource (v1.0.6)
  FSi DataSource Component

• sammaye/mongoyii (1.2.25)
  A Yii MongoDB ORM

• stefanotorresi/my-i18n (0.1.1)
  A ZF2 locale detection module based on Matt Cockayne’s ZucchiLocale

• studiobonito/silverstripe-imagefunctions (3.1.0, 3.0.1)
  Image Functions Module primarily adds more image functions to the Image object but it also adds some useful SiteConfig settings.

• opauth/opauth (0.4.4)
  Multi-provider authentication framework for PHP

• gabriel403/g403-session-db (1.0.1, 1.0)
  Extension to ZF2 to allow sessions to be stored in the database.

• nelmio/api-doc-bundle (2.2.3)
  Generates documentation for your REST API from annotations

• trismegiste/mondrian (1.1.0)
  Mondrian is a set of static analysis and refactoring tools for more abstraction

• puddin/core (1.0.0)
  Additional architecture built over top the Slim micro framework

• icecave/chrono (0.1.1)
  PHP date and time abstractions that are decoupled from the system clock.

• rgou/bootstrap-bundle (v0.7.3)
  Twitter Bootstrap Symfony2 bundle with generator for Doctrine ORM and ODM

On NetTuts.com today they’ve posted a list of tips they think will help you learn a new technology faster. They’ve broken it up into ten different steps, some which could be done at any time but some have a bit more of an order.

We live in a very exciting time. Never before has education been so cheaply available to the masses (if not free). The medium, itself, has made tectonic shifts from a classroom setting, to blogs, screencasts and complete university classes, as a set of videos and interactive forums. Given these resources, there’s absolutely no excuse not to dive in and learn. However, with such a wealth of resources, filtering through the options can often become overwhelming. In this article, I will outline a simple process to kick-start your education.

Among the items in their list there’s things like:

• “Let the Information Flow Begin”
• “Listen and Watch”
• “Blogging”
• “Feel the Pulse”
• “Meetups and Conferences”

Each tip comes with a bit of description and some links to other resources and tools that can help you along your way.

Link: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/general/10-tips-for-learning-a-new-technology

The Web & PHP Magazine has officially released their latest issue – the May 2013 edition, “Time Travel“.

You may already be familiar with Git, but did you know that it can rewrite time itself? GitHubber Ben Straub explains all in this month’s issue, which also features tutorials on extracting XML data from RSS, using Composer to manage project dependencies and using the PHP Content Repository. If you’ve ever thought about starting a PHP user group, Atlanta PHP User Group co-organiser Kevin Roberts shares his secrets – plus, there’s our regular columns on agile, big data and testing.

Articles included in this latest issue include:

• “Change the Past” (Ben Straub)
• “Why do User Groups?” (Kevin Roberts)
• “Sprint Retrospective Primer” (Steffan Surdek)
• “Urban Legends and Error Handling” (Stefan Priebsch)
• “Managing your project’s dependencies with Composer” (Jefersson Nathan de O. Chaves)

As always, this issue is available free of charge and can be downloaded directly from their site.

Link: http://webandphp.com/May2013

The 7PHP.com site, in collaboration with the Nomand PHP user group is giving away two free tickets to attend this month’s user group event (happening May 22nd).

NomadPHP is like a virtual PHP User Group mainly for people who do not have the chance to avail of a local PHP user group. But it is open to ANYONE around the world. NomadPHP is an initiative brought forward by the icon of The PHP Community, namely ‘His Awesomeness’ Mr Cal Evans. It will kick-start its first group talk session on the Wednesday 22nd May 2013 (i.e in some 16 days as from the date of this post). The speaker is the PRO PHP Guy / PRO Zend Framework Evangelist and author of the book Zend Framework in action, Rob Allen. Rob will be introducing and talking about Zend Framework 2 – it is a must for anyone willing to learn ZF 2.

The Nomad PHP user group is designed to be a “user group for those that don’t have one”. It’s a virtual group meeting once a month that you can attend anywhere in the world. You do have to purchase tickets, however. This post shows you how you can enter to win one of the two free tickets, though – either via email or by writing a PHP article for 7PHP.com.

Link: http://7php.com/nomadphp-may-2013-free-tickets

New on PHPMaster.com is the first part of their series about indexing in MongoDB, a method for optimizing your collections to make querying them even faster. They cover the five main types of indexes and situations where they can help.

Indexing is one of the more important concepts of working with MongoDB. A proper understanding is critical because indexing can dramatically increase performance and throughput by reducing the number of full documents to be read, thereby increasing the performance of our application. Because indexes can be bit difficult to understand, this two-part series will take a closer look at them.

They look at the default “_id” index, secondary, compound, multikey and multikey compound indexes. Example documents and results are included as well as some of the options that can be set on the index types to tweak performance. They finish up the article with a look at some of the limitations and considerations to think about when using indexing, including that they cannot be used with regex queries.

Link: http://phpmaster.com/mongodb-indexing-1

Recent releases from the Packagist:

• jpiasetz/postmark (1.0.0)
  Postmark PHP wrapper for PHP 5.4+

• soup/paginator (1.1)
  Paginator is a simple class that allows you to create pagination. It doesn’t require any database connection. It is compatible with Twitter’s Bootstrap Framework, by using the CSS class pagination that is also attached.

• voodoophp/paginator (1.1)
  Paginator is a simple class that allows you to create pagination. It doesn’t require any database connection. It is compatible with Twitter’s Bootstrap Framework, by using the CSS class pagination that is also attached.

• ner0tic/php-geopoint-api (1.0.3, 1.0.2)
  GeoPoint API v1 client

• ner0tic/php-api-core (2.0.3, 2.0.2)
  core elements of a REST styled api walker

• mparaiso/crudserviceprovider (0.0.7)
  CRUD helper Silex framework

• manhim/cervo (2.0.0)
  A lightweight and highly modular structure framework for PHP.

• textpattern/installer (1.0.0-alpha.5)
  Textpattern plugin and theme installer

• arron/testit (1.1.0)
  Addon for PHPUnit to easily mocking dependencies and testing calling them.

• typo3-ci/typo3cms (0.0.6)
  This package contains a selection of sniffs which implements the Coding Guidelines for TYPO3CMS which was former known as TYPO3.

• typo3-ci/typo3flow (0.0.3)
  This package contains a selection of sniffs which implements the Coding Guidelines for TYPO3Flow which was former known as FLOW3.

• typo3-ci/typo3sniffpool (0.0.6)
  This repository contains custom sniffs which are compatible with the PHP_CodeSniffer. Understand this package as a sniff pool. It contains all custom sniffs for the TYPO3 project.

• sunra/php-simple-html-dom-parser (v1.5.0)
  Composer adaptation of: A HTML DOM parser written in PHP5+ let you manipulate HTML in a very easy way! Require PHP 5+. Supports invalid HTML. Find tags on an HTML page with selectors just like jQuery. Extract contents from HTML in a single line.

• intahwebz/flickrguzzle (0.5.1, 0.2.1)
  A Flickr wrapper to allow you to call the Flickr api with Guzzle as the backend.
  Goal is to have 100% Flickr api coverage rather than just upload/display photos (currently at 23%).

• zweifisch/zf (v0.1.0)
  a micro php web/cli framework/router

• baum/baum (1.0.0)
  Baum is an implementation of the Nested Set pattern for Eloquent models.

• widop/github-hook-provider (1.0.0)
  Github WebHook job with Silex

• lyrixx/silex-kitchen-edition (v1.1.0)
  A Silex Edition. This project is a base for your silex applications.

• mesa/lisi (0.0.4)
  Markdown based Blog

• composer/composer (1.0.0-alpha7)
  Dependency Manager

• satooshi/php-coveralls (v0.6.1)
  PHP client library for Coveralls API

Recent releases from the Packagist:

• zweifisch/zf (v0.0.5)
  a micro php web/cli framework/router

• ner0tic/php-geopoint-api (1.0.1)
  GeoPoint API v1 client

• mf2/mf2 (v0.1.13)
  A pure (generic) microformats-2 parser

• sankynet/lib-php (1.0.0)
  SankyNet PHP Libraries

• axsy/transactional-bundle (1.0.0)
  Provides transactional wrapper for the controllers and services

• mandrill/mandrill (1.0.26)
  API client library for the Mandrill email as a service platform

• mach/piwik-proxy-service-provider (v1.0)
  PiwikProxy ServiceProvider for Silex

• toin0u/geotools-laravel (0.1.4)
  Geo-related tools PHP 5.3 library for Laravel 4

• neutron/silex-imagine-provider (0.1.2)
  A Silex service provider for Imagine Image Processing Library

• jackalope/jackalope-jackrabbit (1.0.0-beta1)
  Jackalope Transport library

• jackalope/jackalope (1.0.0-beta1)
  Jackalope PHPCR library

• rpnzl/arrch (v1.1.0)
  Array queries for PHP 5.3

• phpcr/phpcr-utils (1.0.0-beta9)
  PHP Content Repository implementation independant utilities

• silex/silex (v1.0.0)
  The PHP micro-framework based on the Symfony2 Components

• n98/magerun (1.65.0)
  Tools for managing Magento projects and installations

• phpcr/phpcr (2.1.0-beta10)
  PHP Content Repository interfaces

• mike_php_net/pq-gateway (v1.0.0)
  Table/row gateway for ext-pq

• satooshi/php-coveralls (v0.6.0)
  PHP client library for Coveralls API

• tabernicola/mv-blog-bundle (v1.2.2.1-beta, v1.2.2-beta)
  Symfony2 Blog Bundle

• richardsjoqvist/silverstripe-news (1.0.0)
  A simple news module for SilverStripe

• richardsjoqvist/silverstripe-optionaltreedropdownfield (1.0.0)
  This module extends TreeDropdownField to allow clearing a selection

• richardsjoqvist/silverstripe-embedder (1.0.0)
  Embedder enables embedding media in content fields area similar to how embeds work in WordPress

• richardsjoqvist/silverstripe-localdate (1.0.0)
  Translates formatted date strings to the locale set with i18n::set_locale() if there is a matching language file.

• richardsjoqvist/silverstripe-siteaddress (1.0.0)
  Adds a set of extra fields to the main settings page in order to configure a site-wide company address that can be displayed on all pages of the site

• pagon/eventemitter (0.4.1)
  Event Emitter for PHP

• nelmio/solarium-bundle (v2.0.2)
  Integration with solarium solr client.

• codeblanche/entitymarshal (1.0.0)
  A marshal for your entity

• richardsjoqvist/silverstripe-blocks (1.0.0)
  Blocks is a generic class which can be used to build small content blocks which can be associated globally or with a specific page.

• toin0u/geotools (0.2.4)
  Geo-related tools PHP 5.3 library

• willdurand/geocoder (1.5.0)
  The almost missing Geocoder PHP 5.3 library.

• evernote/evernote (1.24.0)
  Evernote PHP SDK

• pinoco/pinoco (0.8.0)
  Web site development framework using PHP and (mainly) PHPTAL

On Reddit.com there’s a discussion happening comparing two popular and prominent PHP frameworks – Zend Framework 2 and Symfony 2.

For those that have used both frameworks, what one do you feel is a better overall framework? I tried ZF2 in beta and it seemed overly complicated to symfony but I don’t know if its gotten better since then.

Opinions shared in the comments of the post include things like:

• “So if you are learning for job prospects, go Zend. I love Symfony 2 though, its a joy to work with.”
• “It doesn’t matter. Each has a strength and a weakness, and neither will go away. Pick one and use it, you’ll be fine.”
• “I don’t think there is such thing as a best framework as you should use the best tool for the job. I don’t think MVC is the solution to all problems.”
• “Both are quite bloated but they have to be considering their target markets.”

On the whole, the views are of the “best tool for the job” mentality – a good sign for the community and these two frameworks.

Link: http://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/1dcqst/zend2_vs_symfony2