Category: Dlayer

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Dlayer, vNext

This is a cross post from the Dlayer.com blog, it is relevant here because their is a good chance I will be releasing new open source libraries related to the tools development.

Development work on Dlayer vNext is deliberately slow; I’m attempting to ensure that any and all of the core architecture issues I noticed developing version 1 get resolved.

I spent a considerable amount of time on the UI and UX for version 1 of Dlayer, very little of that will change for vNext. My issues with version 1 can be summed up in one word, modular, as in, the app wasn’t.

There are two parts to the problem; the designers were not modular, in Zend Framework 1 (modules were a bit of a hack), and two, the tools were not plug-and-play.

Modules

This one is easy, by switching to Zend Framework 3, and being careful as I develop, the modules can behave as real modules, turn them on or off, transfer to different apps, all possible

Plug-and-play

The tools in version 1 of Dlayer had too many hooks into the system; they could be disabled dynamically, but you could not drop a tool into another module or quickly remove the code for a disabled tool.

On paper, I have a new plan; and I am in the middle of prototyping to see if it solves the core issues.

The solution is complicated; it will take time to develop examples of each tool type. However, as soon as I am sure the design is right, it simplifies the rest of the app.

Simpler app

The tools in version 1 were solely data management within the designers, in vNext, this changes.

The tools in vNext are responsible for everything relating to the content item, including, how the content is displayed in the WYSIWYG designer. The app at this point is merely a vehicle to provide access to the tools.

 

 

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Dlayer, ZF3 and Composer libraries

I’m cross posting this post on two of my blogs because it is relevant to both sites, my blog and Dlayer.

I started development of the second rewrite of Dlayer using version 1 of the Zend Framework, in the following years I concentrated on building Dlayer rather than the underlying framework. With the EOL of Zend Framework 1, I can’t honestly continue on this path.

I started to move Dlayer over to Zend Framework 2 early last year but never got anywhere; I’m am now in the process of moving it to Zend Framework 3.

What does that mean for Dlayer?

I am in the process of developing v1.17, which will be released, and I will probably release another version of two, however, from this point forward I will focus the majority of my time on the migration.

I am migrating Dlayer; I am not undertaking another rewrite, sure, I will improve a few things along the way, but my goal is to migrate to Zend Framework 3 as quickly as possible,

Composer

While I migrate my code, I am taking the time to review it. If I see a tool or group of functions that is not unique to Dlayer, I will try to pull them out and turn them into a composer package.

So far I have four composer packages in progress, a PHP Quill renderer, Bootstrap 3/4 Zend Framework view helpers, Zend Framework view helper code completion and a random grab bag.

You can check out my composer packages at packagist. I’m going to have a website to showcase all the packages, so far I have only purchased the domain, as soon as the first version of the grab bag is release I will work on the website.