Build a Website with the Zend Framework

Creating Your First Zend Framework-Driven Web Site

Its a fair bet that even a very simple example will leave you utterly convinced that frameworks are a development tool you won't be able to live without.

Create the Directory Structure

By default, the Zend Framework relies upon a highly organized application directory structure known as the conventional modular directory structure. In its most basic form, this structure looks like this:

Web server document root/
    index.php
    application/
        modules/
            default/
                controllers/
                views/
                    scripts/

This structure opens up the possibility to manage multiple hosted MVC applications within the same location. In a situation where multiple MVC applications exist, you would add additional module directories under the modules directory. However, for the purposes of the examples in this chapter, we'll just stick with a single (default) application.

Therefore, a simple Web application might be structured as follows. Note how there are three controllers and each of those controllers matches up to a corresponding view directory:

Web server document root/
    index.php
    application/
        modules/
            default/
                controllers/
                    IndexController.php
                    BookController.php
                    AboutController.php
                views/
                    footer.phtml
                    header.phtml
                    scripts/
                        about/
                            contact.phtml
                            index.phtml
                        book/
                            index.phtml
                            toc.phtml
                        index/
                            index.phtml

Don't worry about the oddly named files and structure too much at this point. Just understand that based on the provided controllers and views and a typical configuration, the following URLs would work:

http://www.example.com/ http://www.example.com/about/ http://www.example.com/about/contact/ http://www.example.com/book/ http://www.example.com/book/toc/

Because this directory structure won't suit every developer, it's possible to change the default settings; however, coverage of this feature is out of the scope of this chapter.