5 Tips for Writing Cleaner PHP Code
There are many benefits to writing clean code for any project, no matter how small. The most obvious benefit is that it is easier for you to read and edit, especially when you come back after a long break. This is even more important when someone else comes in to modify your code. The importance of clean code becomes most apparent when you need to find an error, especially a syntax error. In the end, cleaner code means less time reading and more time coding!
These are 5 tips that I use and recommend. I know there are plenty of lists like this, but I hope you learn at least one new trick...
Snippet: Converting Seconds to Readable Time (PHP & JS)
Sometimes, you might need to convert an integer representing seconds into a format that is easier to read. These functions can be used to turn a number of seconds into a simple format of HH:MM:SS, with leading zeros (ex. 15272 = 04:14:32). This can be used for countdown scripts, which is why I also include both a PHP and a JavaScript version.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | function formatTime($secs) { $times = array(3600, 60, 1); $time = ''; $tmp = ''; for($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++) { $tmp = floor($secs / $times[$i]); if($tmp < 1) { $tmp = '00'; } elseif($tmp < 10) { $tmp = '0' . $tmp; } $time .= $tmp; if($i < 2) { $time .= ':'; } $secs = $secs % $times[$i]; } return $time; } |
Snippet: Autoloading Objects (PHP 5)
When writing the PHP that powers TempServers, I wrote the core functions into classes for better organization and efficiency. To make things further organized, each class is stored in individual source files, no matter how small. The problem here is keeping track of which classes are used where, in order to include the appropriate source files. Fortunately, PHP 5 offers a solution: autoloading.
This comes in the form of the __autoload function which automatically gets called if a class is called that does not exist. Here's what it looks like:
function __autoload($class) { require_once(strtolower($class) . '.class.php'); }
Usage
- Place each PHP class in individual files named after the class followed by .class.php (Example: class MyClass goes in a file named myclass.class.php).
- Include the code snipped above into any file that might use one of your classes.
For more details, check out the PHP manual: http://www.php.net/manual/language.oop5.autoload.php
Working With Time Zones in PHP
Let's say you are developing an online application that involves users selecting or viewing times. One problem that you'll need to address is time zones. If your application is going to be used by users all over the world, you'll want to adjust the times to be in their local time zone to prevent confusion. Fortunately, PHP 5.2.0+ greatly simplifies this process with the DateTime and DateTimeZone classes.
The DateTime class provides all the date and time handling functionality, while the DateTimeZone provides DateTime objects with all the time zone information. We just need to provide DateTimeZone with the time zone in the Area/Location format (for example, the time zone in which this server is located is America/Los_Angeles), and it will return an object representing that time zone. We can pass this to a DateTime object to convert any time into this time zone.
Here is an overview of the steps required to accomplish this:
- Collect the time zone from the user and store in Area/Location format
- Create a DateTimeZone object using the provided time zone
- Create a DateTime object, providing it the time in the local time zone
- Convert the DateTime object to the time zone created in step 1
- Output the time from the DateTime object
Creating a BBCode Parser
Have you ever wanted to implement BBCode, the special formatting codes used by forums, into your own PHP scripts? Well, it's actually pretty easy to accomplish using some simple regular expressions and the preg_replace PHP function. This mini-tutorial will show you how to create a function that you can use on any string to convert BBCode into its XHTML equivalent.
The advantage to using BBCode instead of allowing XHTML in user input is that it allows users to safely format their content without the risk of invalid code breaking the page formatting. It also tends to be easier to understand BBCode over XHTML due to its simplified syntax.
Easy Text Validation Without Regular Expressions
Filtering data from user input and other external sources is the most important part of writing secure code, but it's also handy to make sure users supply the correct type of info to a registration form for example. Sometimes it's simply making sure something is a number or of a certain length, but other times it's something that follows a specific pattern (like an email address). This used to be a job for complex regular expressions, but fortunately, there is an easier and more reliable solution.
PHP 5.2.0 and up comes with a very convenient set of data filtering functions. These functions allow you to easily validate common things such as emails and URLs, that would otherwise require complex regular expressions that don't always work. This tutorial will focus on the simplest function filter_var().
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