New showcase app and documentation tool: Snipeet
Francois Zaninotto
Is there a better way to learn a new language - or a framework - than by looking at showcase apps? Lots of symfony users got it started by following the 2005 advent calendar, or by copying the code used in askeet to do similar things.
Just like us, you probably don't want to spend hours reading the manual. You prefer to find a code snippet that does something close to what you need, copy it, have it run, and then customize it for your own requirements. You try to understand only what must be adapted, to keep your mind clear and focused on your primary task.
That's why we thought that, in addition to the current documentation (book, API, wiki), the symfony website needed a repository for code snippets - that is to say a place where anybody can post small code chunks, tag them for easy search, and rate others. In a web 2.0 world, this application also needs AJAX interactions and dynamic visual effects.
From that reflection, the idea of the next symfony showcase app struck us. This very code snippet repository would be the perfect candidate. It would contain parts of its own code (isn't it cool to be both object and subject?), reducing the need for a tutorial to learn it. In addition, the version running on the symfony project website would be the best possible demo.
That's why this post is a double announcement.
First, we are proud to announce the new code snippets section of the symfony website. Use it when you don't want to look for an explanation in the book, but just a quick solution to a problem that others may already have met. And also use it to share your solutions to common problems - a bit like what the HowTo section of the wiki did, but in a more structured way.
The second announcement concerns the release of the Snipeet application, a new open-source project with its own website, SVN repository and bug tracking system, built with symfony. Install it if you need a code repository in your website, it is free of charge, and released under the MIT license. Browse its code if you look for good solutions to common problems.
And since this showcase app is a great tutorial about agile development, web 2.0 applications and symfony in general, it is a must see for anybody learning the framework. Dive in right away!
Help the Symfony project!
As with any Open-Source project, contributing code or documentation is the most common way to help, but we also have a wide range of sponsoring opportunities.
Comments
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define('SF_APP', 'snippets');
One thing I can't get working is the code is not displaying as it should ... it's all surrounded by <code></code> tags and looks ugly ... I replaced the css files with the ones used on the sf site with no luck ...
i found it has to look like this:
[code]
your code here
more code
[/code]
the new lines made a difference.
A code snippets system
Powered by Symfony
in addtion to my previous comment this works quite well:
[code yml]
fillin:
activate: on # activate the form repopulation
param:
name: test # name of the form
[/code]
declaring the code style as php, mysql, yml whatever.
It would also be great to have a rss feed for the last comments...
I've recently started a blog focused on development with symfony. First up is the symfony challenge in which I will rewrite an existing customer app using symfony and detail it through blogs then outline the advantages, disadvantages and time savings.
you can read the opening salvo here: http://ruzzonsymfony.lifelogger.com/blog
it's time we rally around symfony and take some mindshare from rails.