The symfony team is happy to announce the immediate availability of symfony 1.3 beta 1! We have made a number of enhancements since 1.3 alpha 2 went out, just two weeks ago, which are described below.

Along with designating the 1.3 branch with beta status, we are now shifting our focus from enhancing the framework to shoring up its stability. This means the API is locked and you should feel free to begin testing your existing projects against the 1.3 codebase (we encourage you to do so!). Instructions for upgrading a symfony 1.2 project can be found in the upgrade tutorial.

Cascading Plugin Schemas

You can now modify schemas defined in Doctrine plugins using the same principle of a configuration cascade used throughout symfony. No need to create a specially named file or designate a particular package, just add the model you want to modify to your schema file and your definition will be merged into the plugin's. As an added benefit, this cascade also allows one plugin to extend the schema from another.

Is your markup valid?

Wait, let us answer that for you. We've added a new method to the functional test framework that will make sure you are sending a well-formed response. You can even ask symfony to validate your response against its document type.

You say builders, I say behaviors

The custom builders that symfony has relied on to extend Propel since the beginning have been ported to Propel 1.4's new native behaviors system. This means you now have full access to the power of Propel behaviors without any interference from symfony's builders.

IDE-Friendly

Generated form and Doctrine model classes are now marked up with type-hinting comments to help your IDE of choice provide more powerful code-completion. Lazy fingers rejoice!

Colorful Windows

If you've installed ANSICON on your Windows box, symfony now colorizes its CLI output for your visual pleasure.

These are just the major enhancements added since 1.3 alpha 2 was released two weeks ago. A complete description of what symfony 1.3 brings can be found in the What's New documentation.

What's Next?

Like I mentioned above, the core team is now focusing its attention on the stability of the 1.3 branch. This means that now is the optimial time for you to upgrade one of your projects and submit any issues you find to Trac. The first Release Candidate will be out in another two weeks, which will be here before you can say "backslash," so please test your code against symfony 1.3 beta 1 sooner than later.

Published in #Releases