Zend_Date

Using the Zend_Date class:

The following shows how you make a Zend_Date object from a MYSQL timestamp and how to do things with it.

 
$date = new Zend_Date($timestamp);

//Compare with now but first add a week.
$date->add('7', Zend_Date::DAY);
if($date->compare(new Zend_Date()) == -1) {
    //$date has not accoured yet, since now is "smaller" than $date.
} else {
    //$date has accoured, since now is "larger" than $date.
}

//Write it out in a way MYSQL timestamp understands
$sql_date_pattern = 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss';
echo $date->get($sql_date_pattern);

Encoding - UTF8

How to make sure the whole site is in UTF-8.

Send the following header.

header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');

Can be done with Zend Framework the following way in bootstrap:

$response = new Zend_Controller_Response_Http;
$response->setHeader('Content–Type', 'text/html; charset=UTF-8', true);
self::$frontController->setResponse($response);

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />

Setting the option form option:

<form accept-charset="utf-8">

In Zend_Form:

$this->setAttrib('accept-charset', 'UTF-8');

Making sure the database is also using UTF-8.
When setting up use:

$db->query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");

Zend_View can also be set to use UTF-8:

$view = new Zend_View;
$view->setEncoding('UTF-8');

Reference: http://www.phpwact.org/php/i18n/charsets

Form ticket

This makes sure that the submitted form is from the same server.

 
class New_Form extends Zend_Form
{
    public function init() {
        $ticket = $this->_ticket();
        $sessionZendForm = new Zend_Session_Namespace('Zend_Form');
        $sessionZendForm->ticket = $ticket;
        $ticketElement = new Zend_Form_Element_Hidden('Form_Session_Ticket');
        $ticketElement->setValue($ticket);
        $this->addElement($ticketElement);
    }

    public function isValid($data) {
        $ticketElement = $this->getElement('Form_Session_Ticket');
        if ($ticketElement != NULL) {
            $sessionZendForm = new Zend_Session_Namespace('Zend_Form');
            if ($sessionZendForm->ticket != $ticketElement->getValue()) {
                throw new Zend_Form_Exception("Submitted form is not from this server.");
            }
        }
        return parent::isValid($data);
    }

    protected function _ticket() {
        return md5(uniqid(rand(), true));
    }
}

Forms in ZF

This Artikle really discripes the use of forms: http://devzone.zend.com/article/3450-Decorators-with-Zend_Form

How to use Zend_Log

Setup the logger in the Bootstrap file:

 
//initiate the logger - Log to a file
$writer = new Zend_Log_Writer_Stream($root.'\log\test.txt');
$logger = new Zend_Log($writer);
//Log to Database.
$columnMap = array('lvl' => 'priority', 'msg' => 'message', 'timestamp' => 'timestamp', 'lvlName' => 'priorityName');
$dbwriter = new Zend_Log_Writer_Db($db, 'log_table_name', $columnMap);
$logger->addWriter($dbwriter);
//Log to firebug
$writerFirebug = new Zend_Log_Writer_Firebug();
$writerFirebug->setPriorityStyle(6, 'TRACE');
$logger->addWriter($writerFirebug);
$registry->logger = $logger;

Using the logger:

 
$logger = Zend_Registry::get('logger');

Log an exception:

 
$exception = new Zend_Exception('Test exception');
$logger->err($exception);

Log a message:

 
$logger->info('Show Information about something');