In the huge set of library, Zend Framework have no options for manipulating image. There is a proposal for Zend_Image which aimed to provides easier image manipulation using GD. But the proposal was not considered. Bill Karwin of ZF said,

Proposal not being considered

This proposal has been reviewed. The proposal describes functionality that is very similar to the existing PHP interfaces for ImageMagick or GD.

We are not considering this for inclusion in the Zend Framework at this time.

So, what to do when we need to make image thumbnail, resizeing or cropping image etc in Zend Framework?

The Solution

Zend Framework has the extensive power of integrating any library. So, we can use ImageMagick or GD library or any wrapper class using this libraries for manipulating image.

Here, I am explaining creating image thumbnail using PHP Thumbnailer Class v2.0 in 2 easy steps. I am assuming that, you are using Zend’s MVC with common directory structure and you’ve GD library with your PHP installation.

Step 1 - Create a Model for image manipulation :

Download the PHP5 version of PHP Thumbnailer Class v2.0 and put the class file “thumbnail.inc.php” in your model directory. Now change the file name to “Thumbnail.php” as it’s class name. Now your model is ready for action.

Step 2 - Use this model in Controller :

In your Controller, write a function to make thumbnails using this model. For example, you can use this function below:

   1: /**

   2:  * Create thumbnail of an image

   3:  * 

   4:  * @author    Anis uddin Ahmad (http://www.ajaxray.com)

   5:  * @param     string    Path of source image

   6:  * @param     string    Destination path of thumbnail

   7:  * @param     number    Width of thumbnail

   8:  * @param     number    Height of thumbnail

   9:  * @param     number    (optional) thumbnail image quality 

  10:  */

  11: private function _createThumbnail($sourcePath, $destPath, $w, $h, $q = 100)

  12:  {

  13:     $thumb = new Thumbnail($sourcePath);

  14:     $thumb->resize($w, $h);

  15:     $thumb->save($destPath, $q);

  16:  }

Done. Now you can use this function to resize/make thumbnail of an image. To resize an image with keeping it’s original name, pass the $sourcePath again in $destPath parameter. Then it will overwrite the existing image.

So, was it so though to manipulate image in ZF?

Zend_Paginator is one of the newest members of Zend framework family. It’s surely a rich addition with Zend’s power. Moreover, It’s handling the main data of pagination, not only pagination links. Which I didn’t found in any other pagination library.

But, when I (and many other developers) start to working with this library, found many problems/bugs. The matter is, they are being solved very fast and hope to get a bullet-proof pagination library soon. For example, here is tow important fixings about Zend_Paginator and Zend_Db_Table_Select.

I had to face a problem with Zend_Paginator when using Join in Zend_Db_Select object. I am explaining here how the problem arises and how to solve it.

The Problem

One of the 4 Adapters for Zend_Paginator is DbSelect which uses a Zend_Db_Select instance. Now, the problem occurred if I need to have some calculative data from other tables and use join with the Zend_Db_Select object for them. For example, I am retrieving data from `deals` table and collecting number of comments from `comments` table and total votes from `votes` table. So, with other conditions, I had to add this lines with select object:

   1: $select->joinLeft(array('c' => 'comments'), 'deals.id = c.deal_id', array('total_comments'=> 'count(c.id)') );

   2: $select->joinLeft(array('v' => 'votes'),    'delas.id = v.deal_id', array('total_votes'   => 'count(v.id)') );

   3: $select->group($this->_name . '.id');

Now, the Zend_Paginator will always calculate the TotalRows as 1. That means, $this->totalItemCount; will always print 1 in “view partial“.

Why it happens?

Let’s take a look to the count function of DbSelect Adaptor of Zend_Paginator:

   1: public function count()

   2: {

   3:     if ($this->_rowCount === null) {

   4:         $expression = new Zend_Db_Expr('COUNT(*) AS ' . self::ROW_COUNT_COLUMN);

   5:         

   6:         $rowCount   = clone $this->_select;

   7:         $rowCount->reset(Zend_Db_Select::COLUMNS)

   8:                  ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::ORDER)

   9:                  ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::LIMIT_OFFSET)

  10:                  ->columns($expression);

  11:                  

  12:         $this->setRowCount($rowCount);

  13:     }

  14:  

  15:     return $this->_rowCount;

  16: }

Here, at line 7, the column list is being removed. But we have a `Group By` clause in our select object which is not cleared by this function and the result is always 1. At this point, if we add “->reset(Zend_Db_Select::GROUP)” after line 9, the calculation will get rid from always being 1. But there will arise another problem. That is, joined tables are still remaining in `From` clause. You can see them by adding “die(print_r($rowCount->getPart(Zend_Db_Select::FROM)));” after line 10. This join tables will make the calculation inconsistence because there is no expression columns now to summarize their result.

The Solution

Just alter this function as following to prevent this problem:

   1: public function count()

   2: {

   3:     if ($this->_rowCount === null) {

   4:         $expression = new Zend_Db_Expr('COUNT(*) AS ' . self::ROW_COUNT_COLUMN);

   5:        

   6:         $rowCount   = clone $this->_select;

   7:         $rowCount->reset(Zend_Db_Select::FROM);

   8:         

   9:         foreach($this->_select->getPart(Zend_Db_Select::FROM) as $name => $table)

  10:         {

  11:             if(empty($table['joinCondition']))        

  12:             {

  13:                 $rowCount->from(array($name => $table['tableName']));

  14:             }

  15:             elseif($table['joinType'] == 'inner join')        

  16:             {

  17:                 $rowCount->join(array($name => $table['tableName']), $table['joinCondition']);

  18:             }

  19:         }

  20:         

  21:         $rowCount->reset(Zend_Db_Select::COLUMNS)

  22:                  ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::ORDER)

  23:                  ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::GROUP)

  24:                  ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::LIMIT_OFFSET)

  25:                  ->columns($expression);

  26:  

  27:         $this->setRowCount($rowCount);

  28:     }

  29:  

  30:     return $this->_rowCount;

  31: }

At line 9, I am running a foreach which will remove the `from` clause and again assign only the main table and inner join tables. And, at line 23, just removing the `Group By` clause from query. Now, this function will provide right calculation even when there is some joins like this. But, if you use inner join in your Zend_Db_Select object (which is very rare for pagination), this function may not serve properly.

If there is any mistake in this alternation or any other way can make it better, please let me know. And… let’s meet power with simplicity.

UPDATE [26/08/08] : The function is updated and hopefully it will work fine for inner joins too.

UPDATE [24/09/08] : This issue is solved in ZF 1.6. Jurrien Stutterheim has reported about this post in Zend Framework Issue tracker and worked on it. After the release of 1.6, he requested me to check if this issue still exist. I’ve checked and found it solved. Thanks to Jurriën Stutterheim.