Zend Form — validate an array of data

Updated Zend SubForm usage

Darrin's Tech Ramblings

Using Zend Framework v 1.12, we can validate an array of data using a subForm.
In this example, we want to validate up to 10 transaction_ids passed in an array.
The validation for each will used Zend_Validate_Db_RecordExists to make sure the transaction_id exists in the database and is for the currently logged in seller_id.

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Zend Form — validate an array of data

Using Zend Framework v 1.12, we can validate an array of data using a subForm.
In this example, we want to validate up to 10 transaction_ids passed in an array.
The validation for each will used Zend_Validate_Db_RecordExists to make sure the transaction_id exists in the database and is for the currently logged in seller_id.

    $form = new Zend_Form();

    // add validations for the 'simple', non Array elements
    $form->addElement( ................. ); 
    $form->addElement( ................. ); 
    $form->addElement( ................. ); 

    // add validations for the 'transaction_id' input field
    // Input: transaction_id[0] = 'value'
    //        transaction_id[1] = 'value'
    //               ...
    //        transaction_id[9] = 'value'
    $this->createTransactionIdSubForm($form, 10);
 
    /**
     * createTransactionIdSubForm creates a form element that handles an array of
     * transaction_ids.  Each will be validated to exist in the database and be
     * valid for our current seller_id.
     *
     * @param  Zend_Form $form
     * @param  integer $nbr_of_ids defines the number of subForm element to build
     */
    public function createTransactionIdSubForm($form, $nbr_of_ids)
    {
        $subForm = new Zend_Form_SubForm();

        // Create a validator for each array element of the transaction_id array
        for($i=0; $i < $nbr_of_ids; $i++) {
            $subForm->addElement('text', (string) $i, array(
                'required'   => false,
                'filters'    => array('Digits'),
                'validators' => array(
                    array('Db_RecordExists', true, array(
                        'transaction',
                        'transaction_id',
                        '(select seller_id 
                          from activity 
                          where activity_id = transaction.activity_id
                         ) = '.$this->getSellerId()
                        ))
            )));
        }
        $form->addSubForm($subForm, 'transaction_id');
    }

Add color to your ssh sessions – Mac OSX

NOTE: This solution only works on a Mac!  It requires AppleScript and the Terminal application.

I am constantly ssh’ing into different machines and then forgetting which window is which machine.  
My solution is to use different color settings for different environments.  For example, when I ssh into a production machine I want the Mac Terminal Profile to change to “Red Sands”.  And, when I close ssh I want it to revert back to the Profile that was in use originally.  This is not a new problem and there are 100’s of similar looking solutions out there.  However all the solutions I could find suffer from the same flaw — when a ssh session running in a background Window+Tab times out or gets disconnected, that window is not ‘reset’. In most cases the currently active window is reset, which is not at all what we want.

There are 2 files.  Put both in /usr/local/bin and do ‘chmod +x’ on them.  The code assumes that your current ssh program is in /usr/bin/ssh.  If it’s somewhere else, change the 2nd to last line in the ssh file.

In the following file, modify the case statement to include any servers you have. For each server provide a Terminal Profile Name to use.

File: /usr/local/bin/ssh

#!/bin/sh
## 
## Author: Darrin Skinner -- skinner@skinner.com
##
## This changes the terminal color depending on the ssh target environment
## and it changes it back to the original color when ssh exits
##
## In the case statement below, provide a search pattern 
## and a Terminal Profile Name to use for each server.
##

HOSTNAME=$@

case $HOSTNAME  in
    dev.*)      COLOR="Homebrew" ;; ## All development servers
    qa.*)       COLOR="Man Page" ;; ## All QA servers
    train*)     COLOR="Novel"    ;; ## Training server
    prod.*)     COLOR="Red Sands";; ## All Production servers
    *)          COLOR="Pro"      ;; ## Everything else
esac

ORIG_COLOR=`set_term_color "$COLOR"`
/usr/bin/ssh $@
ORIG_COLOR=`set_term_color "$ORIG_COLOR"`

File: /usr/local/bin/set_term_color

#!/bin/bash
## 
## Author: Darrin Skinner -- skinner@skinner.com
##
## This script will change the Mac Terminal setting (i.e. the 
## Terminal colors) to the requisted Profile.
## The old/original Profile name is returned.
##
## It will search through all the Terminal windows+tabs until it 
## finds the one the script is running from and execute the 
## new settings in that window+tab.
##
## Usage:
##     set_term_color Novel
##     set_term_color "Red Sands"
##
## The argument to pass is:
##     The Terminal "color theme" Profile desired 
##         -> Ocean, Novel, Homebrew, etc
##

mySettingName=$1
myTTY=`tty`

osascript <<EOD
    set mySettingName to "$mySettingName"
    set myTTY         to "$myTTY"
    tell application "Terminal"
        set allWindows to number of windows
        repeat with thisWindow from 1 to allWindows
            set allTabs to number of tabs of window thisWindow
            repeat with thisTab from 1 to allTabs
                if tty of tab thisTab of window thisWindow is myTTY then
                    set thisSettings to name of current settings of tab thisTab of window thisWindow
                    set current settings of tab thisTab of window thisWindow to settings set mySettingName
                    return thisSettings
                end if
            end repeat
        end repeat
    end tell
EOD

Using Zend Cache to save the results of a function

The Zend_Cache is a great way to save (i.e. cache) the results of a function. Using ->call() it will automatically handle building a unique key for each cache based on the arguments passed to the function. So, all you have to do is ->call() the function and use the results as you normally would.

The following example caches the results of calling the getData function in the CustomStats class. The cache automatically expires after 120 seconds which results in the getData function being run only once every other minute.

$class_name    = 'CustomStats';
$function_name = 'getData';

try {
    $cache = Zend_Cache::factory('Function', 'File', array(
        'caching'                 => true,
        'lifetime'                => 120,   // 120 seconds
        'cache_id_prefix'         => $function_name,
        'automatic_serialization' => true
    ), array(
        'cache_dir'               => APPLICATION_PATH."/cache/",
        'hashed_directory_level'  => 2,
        'hashed_directory_perm'   => '0755',
        'cache_file_perm'         => '0644'
    ));

    if ($class_name) {
        $results = $cache->call(array($class_name,$function_name), 
                                array($param1,$param2,$etc));
    } else {
        $results = $cache->call($function_name, 
                                array($param1,$param2,$etc));
    }

} catch(Zend_Cache_Exception $e) {

    // Don't blowup if Zend_Cache fails ... 
    // ... just put a message in the log and continue.
    trigger_error($e->getMessage(), E_USER_NOTICE);

    $results = false;
}

print $results;