PHP framework gets enterprise features
PHP specialist Zend has released a new version of Zend Framework, its open-source web application framework, with support for PHP 5.3 and directory services from Microsoft and Novell.
A web application framework is used to simplify programming web applications by providing reusable building blocks of code, along with an application programming interface (API).
The updates found in Zend Framework 1.9 are intended to reflect the growing use of PHP in the enterprise, according to the company. The framework made its debut two years ago and version 1.9, available on Friday, is its fifth release.
Zend announced the new framework on Wednesday, along with the release of the Zend Studio 7.0 integrated development environment (IDE), which includes tight integration with Zend Framework and Zend Server.
Support for the LDAP database access protocol has been extended to support Microsoft Active Directory and Novell's eDirectory for provisioning and managing systems and authenticating users. Other new LDAP features include searching, filtering and tree features, according to Zend.
The framework includes support for PHP 5.3, as well as 5.2, so users will be able to take advantage of the newest PHP language features in Framework-based applications.
Message-queuing support has been added for cross-platform communication, such as connecting to Java and .Net servers and online services.
The new framework also adds a common API for RSS and Atom feeds, as well as support for DBUnit's application testing technology.