Geolocation handling library for PHP. Supports distance and direction calculations, and geocoding using multiple web services. When used with Midgard MVC there are additional tools for dealing with user and object geolocation.

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I've been writing a book about the Zend Framework recently - I'm sure some of you have noticed :-). A while back I finished a draft of two chapters called "The Architecture of Zend Framework Applications" and "Understanding The Zend Framework". The first chapter is an exploration of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern and why it has become the defacto standard for adoption in web applications. The second explores how the MVC architecture relates to the Zend Framework's components, their design and interactions.

By the time I'd finished both chapters I realised I had spent a lot of space explaining the Model, most of it discussing how the Zend Framework does not actually give you one. In fact, no web application framework offers a complete Model (for reasons I'll explain later). However nearly all frameworks manage to avoid making that perfectly obvious. Instead they continually link the concept of a Model to the related, but not identical, concept of data access. This is quite misleading.

This side of frameworks never gets a lot of attention. Yet it is a massive contributor to a whole class of problems in applications which attempt to utilise MVC by adopting web application frameworks. Further, I've always found myself better entertained by banging my head against brick walls than by trying to get the idea of a Model across to other developers. I'm not saying all developers are stupid or dumb, or that they don't get the concept in general, but all developers (PHP or not) don't quite link Models to the area of practice which justifies them - Object Oriented Programming principles.

In this entry I explore Models in terms of how developers relate them to Controllers and Views in applications and note a few strategies you can employ when using proper Models.

This tutorial is an introduction to the Hierarchical Model View Controller(HMVC) pattern, and how it applies to web application development. For this tutorial, I will use examples provided from the CodeIgniter from Scratch series and demonstrate how HMVC can be a valuable modification to your development process. This introduction assumes you have an understanding of the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern. We suggest you read our introduction to MVC to get acquainted with the topic before tackling this tutorial.