RE: [PEAR-DEV] DB.php phpInfo() suggestion and questions

Stig, > If you want to generate enthusiasm here to integrate PEAR with > Ultradev, it would be helpful if you could sketch in more detail out > what you think would be required. People usually don't catch on > immediately to vague and abstract ideas, I think you'll get better > response if the "project" is a bit more well-defined. Let me know if > you need any help. Well... in detail I can say that someone has already created something like what I am talking about using another database abstraction layer and licesnsed it as GPL (or lesser GPL I think). I am simply talking about possibly tweaking that to use the PEAR DB abstraction layer insead of the one it is currently using. Beyond that there are many questions and thoughts... I have been spending some time looking at both the Ultradev API documentation as well as the PHakt extension (the current extenstion which uses ADODB). I still need to look at this more in figuring out just what would be required. I did fire an email off to the developers of PHakt to see what their thoughts are. However, I can say that their Ultradev extension automates many common tasks such as grabbing result sets, looping through those results, paging, and even an authentication system among other things. It may be so tightly integrated with its current database abstraction layer, a complete rewrite using it only as a base of reference to draw from may be in order. As for the Ultradev extension itself, it is a matter of writing a series of XML, javascript and regular html files in addition to the functions and scripts that use current PEAR components and then using a utility from Macromedia to create the distributed "package." The distribution process is simular to what I see happening with the PEAR web now. In the end, what I can see with such a project is an Ultradev extension available for download on the main pear.php.net along with varous other PEAR extensions for Ultradev such as Auth, and others. Maybe there could be room made for these extensions if they were to exist in the current web stuff you guys are doing right now so if there was an extension, information about it could be included with the package??? The functions and scripts behind the extensions that actually use PEAR classes should be written to the same kind of standards that PEAR itself adheres to, and for that I would propose some kind of collaborative effort in the PEAR CVS. Perhaps... ULTRADEV_PEAR, ULTRADEV_PEAR/DB, ULTRADEV/AUTH etc... of course I am just thinking out loud here. The main thing I guess would be to develop a framework for creating Ultradev extensions out of PEAR packages, modules or whatever, and then hammering out the DB layer. That would be the primary goal, providing database access through PEAR from Ultradev via a visual interface. Once that interface was in place, other extensions that might take advantage of other classes like Auth and IT[X] would be fairly easy to create. Many web developers who are stuck using ASP and JSP might find the thought of PEAR and PHP extremely attractive if they could use it with the same relative ease and functionality as they currently can with ASP and JSP, and that may in turn create a lot of interest in not only creating more Ultradev extensions based on PEAR extensions, but interest in creating new PEAR classes as well. Suffice it to say, in the end I think it could do a lot for PEAR. Comments??? Alan