Does using a PHP framework (CodeIgniter, Zend) require special server side setup? And if yes, is there a PHP framework which doesn’t require that?
The intention would be to use a hosting server which supports plain PHP only (no framework installed – if that makes sense), and use the mentioned framework on the development machine only, which would then be preprocessed (“compiled”) into plain PHP.
[Edit]
To all you guys: sorry for the newbie question, I guess I got it wrong. I have only worked in .NET so far, and I haven’t done anything from scratch in PHP yet. For this small project I am supposed to do, I wanted to learn and use CodeIgniter, as it seems like a light MVC framework where I can get results quickly.
Before starting, I wanted to check with the hosting provider (from which my customer has already bought a year of hosting) said they only support Zend. So, I guess that’s nonsense then?
[Edit 2]
To make my question complete, here is what their hosting package provides:
- PHP 5 or PHP 4
- Perl
- CGI
- Python
- Tomcat / JSP Tomcat 5.5.9 / Servlet 2.4 / JSP 2.0
- FrontPage extensions
- Ruby On Rails
- PHP / Zend optimizer
- PHP / IonCube
- Fantastico
- DB: MySQL Server 5, PostgreSQL Server 8
To be precise, my question was (since I am a newbie after all):
Q: Which PHP frameworks do you support (Zend, CodeIgniter…)?
A: We support Zend, but not CodeIgniter
Now I am aware that the question itself is a bit dumb, so I might contact them again.
No php framework I know of needs any special server side setup. PHP frameworks are just that: plain PHP only, as you call it. PHP frameworks are nothing more than already written PHP code for you to build your further code on. Nothing special about it.
People sometimes ask question on ‘how to install’ this or that framework which derives from the same missconception that frameworks are some kind of bundled software that need complicated distributed installation routines. None of that. Just code you didnt’ write yourself. And as that you just need to upload (or download) to server. Done.
[EDIT] after your edit:
I slightly doubt the competence of your hosting company. You might have a missunderstanding with them as ‘Zend’ often means Zend Optimizer or Zend Guard or such. As to PHP frameworks your host doesn’t need to support or not support them. It is entirely up to you what PHP code you upload to that host and who has written that code.
Some hosting companies offer framework support in a way that the frameworks are already available on their servers and are updated by your host. And surely there are a few things that can be optimized like php.ini settings. But in general it will work also without these optimized settings.
I almost never accept hostings that a client has already purchased. When I write an offer I attach the strings that the hosting is chosen by me. If I’m satisfied with what the client already has, the better for him.