Interview Questions and Answers

In software development, a framework is a defined support structure in which another software project can be organized and developed.
=> An abstract design
=> Set of common functionality
=> Developed for a particular domain

Framework is a structured system
=> Source codes become more manageable
=> Easy to extend features
=> Rapid application development

Configuration can be done in application.ini file in Zend framework. This file in the path application/configs/application.ini.

No. Zend Framework was built to use all of the sophisticated object oriented features of PHP 5 and take advantage of significant performance and security enhancements.

Many PHP applications funnel server requests into a single (or few) PHP source file that sets up the environment and configuration for the application, manages sessions and caching, and invokes the dispatcher for their MVC framework. They can do more, but their main job is to take care of the consistent needs of every page of a web application.
In our Blueprint for PHP Applications, we will have a core bootstrapper that receives all dynamic requests for an application and applies a template for application behavior that we can later extend. It will allow us to later customize the functionality for each unique application.

Zend Engine is used internally by PHP as a complier and runtime engine. PHP Scripts are loaded into memory and compiled into Zend opcodes.

Zend engine is like a virtual machine and is an open source, and is known for its role in automating the web using PHP. Zend is named after its developers Zeev and Aandi. Its reliability, performance and extensibility has a significant role in increasing the PHP’s popularity. The Zend Engine II is the heart of PHP 5. It is an open source project and freely available under BSD style license.

Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite is the standard framework router. Routing is the process of taking a URI endpoint (that part of the URI which comes after the base URL) and decomposing it into parameters to determine which module, controller, and action of that controller should receive the request. This values of the module, controller, action and other parameters are packaged into a Zend_Controller_Request_Http object which is then processed by Zend_Controller_Dispatcher_Standard. Routing occurs only once: when the request is initially received and before the first controller is dispatched.

Zend_Controller_Router_Rewrite is designed to allow for mod_rewrite-like functionality using pure PHP structures. It is very loosely based on Ruby on Rails routing and does not require any prior knowledge of webserver URL rewriting. It is designed to work with a single Apache mod_rewrite rule.

• Triggered by front controller events
• Events bookend each major process of the front controller
• Allow automating actions that apply globally
Creating Plugins:
• Extend Zend_Controller_Plugin_Abstract
• Extend one or more of the event methods

Caching in Zend Framework is operated by frontends while cache records are stored through backend adapters (File, Sqlite,Memcache...) through a flexible system of IDs and tags. Using those, it is easy to delete specific types of records afterwards (for example: "delete all cache records marked with a given tag").
The core of the module (Zend_Cache_Core) is generic, flexible and configurable. Yet, for your specific needs there are cache frontends that extend Zend_Cache_Core for convenience: Output, File, Function and Class.

=> Model-View-Controller development pattern.
=> MVC is a software approach that separates application logic from presentation.

It used Front Controller pattern. zend also use singleton pattern.
=> routeStartup: This function is called before Zend_Controller_Front calls on the router to evaluate the request.
=> routeShutdown: This function is called after the router finishes routing the request.
=> dispatchLoopStartup: This is called before Zend_Controller_Front enters its dispatch loop.
=> preDispatch: called before an action is dispatched by the dispatcher.
=> postDispatch: is called after an action is dispatched by the dispatcher.