The primary bottleneck in modern Magento headless builds isn’t the React frontend; it is GraphQL query latency. While Magento’s schema offers immense flexibility, the default implementation often triggers a cascade of database requests that kill mobile performance. To achieve the sub-second interactions expected by US and UK shoppers, we must move beyond the “out-of-the-box” setup and re-engineer the data orchestration layer.

The N+1 Problem: Why Your Mobile Storefront Feels Laggy

If your product listing pages (PLPs) take more than 500ms to respond, you are likely hitting the N+1 query trap. In a standard Magento resolver, fetching a list of 20 products can trigger 21 separate database queries—one for the collection and twenty for individual attributes like “special_price” or “stock_status.”

At Macronimous, we solve this by implementing PHP DataLoaders. By batching these requests, we ensure the backend executes a single, optimized SELECT statement with an IN clause, reducing SQL execution time by up to 70%.

Infrastructure Acceleration with the Vinyl Cache Project

Traditional GraphQL requests are sent via POST, making them invisible to standard edge caches. To solve this, we leverage The Vinyl Cache Project (formerly Varnish Cache) alongside GraphQL Persisted Queries.

• Query Hashing: We map complex GraphQL strings to short, unique hashes.
• GET-based Fetching: By sending these hashes via GET, we make the responses cacheable at the edge.
• Vinyl Cache 8.0+ Integration: We utilize Vinyl’s high-speed memory storage to serve JSON payloads in under 30ms, effectively offloading 90% of the traffic from your Adobe Commerce origin server.

Optimizing the Apollo Client for High-Latency Networks

Mobile-first commerce requires resilience. We don’t just optimize the server; we tune the Apollo Client in the React frontend to handle “jittery” 4G/5G connections:

• Field-Level Fragments: We use colocation to ensure the client only requests the exact data points needed for the immediate viewport.
• Bypassing Hydration Bottlenecks: We utilize useSuspenseQuery to ensure the UI remains interactive while data streams in, preventing the “blank screen” effect during peak traffic.

Technical FAQ: Headless Magento Engineering

Is your headless infrastructure scaling with your traffic? At Macronimous, we specialize in React Magento integration and high-concurrency API tuning. Consult with our senior architects to audit your GraphQL performance.

The post Headless Magento GraphQL Performance Optimization first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

As a Laravel developer, you’re constantly seeking ways to enhance your workflow and productivity. Laravel simplifies PHP web apps. But, You want a development environment that’s seamless, efficient, and easily accessible. That’s where GitPod comes into play. In this blog post, we’ll explore Laravel Development with GitPod –  the powerful combination!, and how it can revolutionize your development experience. Get ready to discover a game-changing tool that will take your Laravel projects to new heights!

Why Consider GitPod?

Laravel developers often face challenges when setting up and configuring their development environments. It can be time-consuming, error-prone, and frustrating. GitPod addresses these pain points and offers an incredibly smooth and effortless solution. Also, GitPod can significantly enhance collaboration among PHP developers who use Laravel framework. Here’s why Laravel developers should seriously consider GitPod:

1. Instant and Reproducible Environments: GitPod provides a cloud-based development environment that spins up within seconds. With a single click, you can have a fully configured Laravel environment up and running. No more wasting time on tedious setup or troubleshooting compatibility issues.
2. Zero Installation, Zero Maintenance: Say goodbye to the hassle of installing and managing multiple dependencies on your local machine. GitPod handles all the infrastructure for you, ensuring that every developer on your team has a consistent environment. Plus, automatic updates and maintenance mean you can focus solely on coding.
3. Collaboration Made Easy: GitPod simplifies collaboration by allowing multiple developers to work simultaneously on the same Laravel project. You can easily share your GitPod workspace with team members or stakeholders, enabling seamless collaboration and real-time code reviews.
4. Built-in Version Control: GitPod integrates seamlessly with popular version control systems like Git. You can clone, branch, commit, and push your Laravel project directly within the GitPod IDE, streamlining your development workflow.
5. Powerful IDE Features: GitPod offers a feature-rich, browser-based IDE with all the tools Laravel developers need. Benefit from code highlighting, autocompletion, debugging capabilities, terminal access, and more. The intuitive interface ensures a smooth coding experience, even for complex Laravel applications.
6. Testing and Deployment: GitPod empowers developers to run tests and deploy their Laravel applications directly from the integrated terminal. Seamlessly switch between development, testing, and deployment environments within a single workspace.

Using GitPod for Laravel Web App Development: Step-by-Step Guide

Set up a Git repository: Make sure your Laravel web app is stored in a Git repository. You can create a new repository on a hosting platform like GitHub or GitLab, or use an existing one.

Install the GitPod browser extension: GitPod provides a browser extension that integrates with your Git hosting platform. Install the GitPod extension for your preferred browser.

Open your Git repository in GitPod: Once the extension is installed, navigate to your Laravel web app repository on the Git hosting platform. You should see a “GitPod” button or an icon indicating that GitPod integration is available. Click on it to open the repository in GitPod.

Configure your GitPod environment: GitPod will open a new workspace for your Laravel web app. It may take a few moments to set up the environment. GitPod provides a pre-configured development environment with tools like Git, PHP, Composer, and Node.js already installed.

Set up Laravel dependencies: Once the workspace is ready, open the integrated terminal in GitPod. In the terminal, run the following commands to set up the Laravel.

composer install
npm install

This will install the PHP and JavaScript dependencies required by Laravel.

Set up your environment variables: If your Laravel app uses environment variables, create a .env file in the project’s root directory and set the necessary variables. You can use the .env.example file as a template.

Generate an application key: Laravel requires an application key for secure sessions and other encrypted data. Generate the application key by running the following command in the terminal:

php artisan key:generate

Start the Laravel development server: Launch the Laravel development server by running the following command:

php artisan serve --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8080

This command starts the server on port 8080, making it accessible within GitPod.

Access your Laravel app: GitPod provides a fully functional browser-based IDE. To access your Laravel app, click on the “Open Ports” button in the GitPod interface. This will open a new browser tab with your Laravel app running.

Start coding: With your Laravel app running, you can start coding within the GitPod environment. Utilize the integrated IDE features, such as code editing, debugging, and terminal access, to work on your Laravel web app.

Remember to commit and push your changes to the Git repository regularly to track your progress and collaborate effectively with others.

GitPod offers Laravel developers an exceptional development environment that streamlines the process of building Laravel web applications. If you plan your Laravel Development with GitPod, with its instant and reproducible environments, effortless collaboration, powerful IDE features, and built-in version control, GitPod becomes a developer’s dream come true. Say goodbye to time-consuming setup and maintenance tasks and embrace a seamless Laravel development experience. Give GitPod a try today and unlock a new level of productivity and efficiency for your Laravel projects.

BTW, What is Gitpodify?

“Gitpodify” is a term used by some developers to refer to the process of integrating and utilizing GitPod for their development workflow. It is a play on words, combining “GitPod” (the name of the development environment) with “simplify” or “modify,” emphasizing the act of adapting or transforming their workflow using GitPod.

By using “Gitpodify,” developers express their intention to leverage GitPod’s features and capabilities to streamline their development process, enhance collaboration, and simplify environment setup and maintenance. It’s a catchy term that encapsulates the idea of embracing GitPod as a transformative tool for their development workflow.

The post Simplify Laravel Development with GitPod: A Seamless Workflow for PHP Developers first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

The ecommerce sector racked up $2.3 trillion in sales worldwide in 2017 and is projected to reach a whopping $4.5 trillion by 2021. This shows the phoneme business traction gained by this sector. A key reason for this development is the fact that several online tools make ecommerce extremely easy to manage and provide a stellar user experience.

Ecommerce content management systems (CMS) have a major role to play in ensuring that the online retail stores meet the stated objective of delivering a secure marketplace for online shoppers. For budding entrepreneurs, using a client-side framework like AngularJS can speed up delivery of secure, dynamic, and robust UI for ecommerce users. With its MVC architecture and security against injection attacks or cross-site scripting, it has become the base technology for many ecommerce solutions.

Here are the top 4 off-the-shelf ecommerce solutions that use AngularJS.

Snipcart

It allows any website to be converted to a full-fledged ecommerce portal in a matter of minutes. Developers can work in any CMS or programming language and use a few lines of code to transform a website to a transactional platform. In addition to that, the tool will essentially enable ecommerce on WordPress platforms and other similar assets. With APIs, they can sync multiple functions like email marketing, inventory management, and shipping fulfillment.

AngularCommerce

This CMS tool is designed efficiently for both developers and entrepreneurs as well. From the perspective of a developer, the Angular technology would make the entire process easier, time effective and fun to perform.
In terms of the advantages, the developer gets to do the following:

• Pick the essential components that the developer needs at a particular time instead of having to go through the whole stack.
• Make easy installation and configuration of the components that he/she may have made the use of.
• Easily trace bugs using the “TypeScript AutoComplete” feature before the entire project has been initialized for complete launch.

From the point of an entrepreneur, the advantages are as follows:

• Provides them with multiple professionals that can work on the existing project from any particular point of time.
• Independent payment plans that have been designed to ensure that you pay for what you get. In easier terms, the payment is only made for the services that you have received.
• You can add an array of tools and new features to your ecommerce project based on your needs.

SpurtCommerce
This solution developed using Node JS and Angular JS will help to architect an aesthetically pleasing ecommerce website complete with easy navigation and seamless surfing experience.
The admin panel is extensively easy to use, which ensures that the entrepreneur has complete access to all the integrals and essentials of the website. Therefore, he/she can add an unlimited number of pages, images of products, product categories, catalogs, content and much more very easily.

ShopNX

This is yet another CMS, which has been designed using Angular JS technology to make your ecommerce expedition better, easier and much more beneficial. This architecture allows the person to integrate essential elements to their ecommerce website, which will allow them to sell instantly and without hassle.
The advantages of the system include:

• Reduced load on the server.
• Enhanced performance and visual aesthetics.
• Enhanced user experience in terms of seamless surfing and fast loading.

Are you looking for an Angular or ECommerce Expert?

We at Macronimous can help you with our expert AngularJS team support.

Feel free to inquire us today for a no-obligation Quote.

contact now

The post Build Ecommerce stores with AngularJS – 4 solutions compared first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

4 CSS Preprocessors for Your Web Development

A big advantage of a CSS pre-processor is the value you can add to your client during the web development project. :

1. Sass

As a mature, highly stable, dynamic, and powerful CSS extension, Sass plays a significant role in web development projects. You can work with all the CSS libraries as Sass is compatible with every CSS version.

2. Less

Apart from its powerful interface, Less comes with a stunning feature. The preprocessor is compatible as well as backward-compatible with CSS. Quite naturally, web developers won’t find it difficult to learn ‘Less’ and can always fall back on Vanilla CSS for reference. The fact that differentiates ‘Less’ from the rest of the preprocessors is the presence of unique features. Since it makes CSS more extendable, themeable, and maintainable by integrating features that allow functions, mixins, and variables, ‘Less’ is one of the most popular CSS extensions used by numerous web developers. Installing ‘Less’ is a cakewalk and you can do it quite easily.

3. Stylus

The preprocessor supports both – regular CSS development style along with indented syntax, and that is what makes it special! You just need Node.Js to install Stylus. Yes, it’s that easy! It is clean, minimal syntax makes coding a breeze. Its own coding framework, Nib provides developers access for crossing browser support mixins for Stylus.

4. Crush

Inspired by standards and equipped with a range of powerful features, Crush is a unique aid for web development. The preprocessor comes with auto-prefixing features which help you make the most of the CSS platform. From properties, functions, rules, and vendor prefixes, every component undergoes an auto-generation process. That ensures three crucial benefits for web developers. Firstly, they can achieve clean coding. Secondly, they can achieve cross-browser support, and thirdly, code maintenance becomes easier than ever! So, it’s high time to have a crush on ‘Crush’!

These preprocessors will prepare the ground for a successful web development project for you.

The post 4 CSS Preprocessors for Your Web Development first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Developers need to factor in a lot of third party dependencies when building a web application.  A Package Manager helps to streamline the latest versions of assets like plugins, libraries, frameworks, and utilities so that the development is quicker and in line with expected outcomes. The top 4 package managers for web app development that add immense value to a developer’s life include –

1 – Grunt – The JavaScript task runner is a great tool to automate routine and repetitive tasks that take up much of the efforts of the developer. Some examples would be minification (shortening the code for improving the responsiveness of the app), linting (checking code for potential issues or errors), or unit testing (checking and validation of smallest testable part of a software). Since these require a lot of efforts and time, the Grunt package manager can improve development time and enhance accuracy.

2 – Webpack – This module bundler converts all modules with dependencies into static assets that denote these modules. It ensures quicker load time with the help of features like code splitting (loading only the necessary code required at a specific time or trigger), extensive plugin library, and smart parsing (can process almost any 3^rd party library). The on-demand loading also reduces calls to serve and loads the page quicker, thus improving the user experience on the web app.

3 – Gulp – This toolkit allows you to streamline your workflow, make the development process faster, and ensure quicker delivery of the product. It removes the need to repeatedly compile stylesheet and JavaScript with every update made to the code. The master gulpfile.js ensures that almost any routine task during development can be automated. By programming a ‘watch’ for specific triggers like changes to style sheets, gulp can automatically re-compile the code.

4 – npm – Touted as the world’s largest software registry with 450,000 packages of reusable and free codes, this package manager for javascript ensures multiple advantages.  You can now easily re-use node.js  libraries to implement specific functionality in your web app with the help of npm (node package manager). You can not only install code, you can also share and distribute code to elevate the cross-team productivity within your organization.

Stay tuned as we bring to your inbox more such popular tools and software development resources that can ease your work and ace your customer service delivery experience.

Are you looking for a web app developer who can join hands with you and work collaboratively? Write us to know about the cost and time benefits.

The post Top 4 Package Managers for Web App development first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

MEAN

As developers, we know the importance of full stack of development technology putting our lives at ease. While LAMP stack started this trend many years back, we now see another trend fast catching up in the development universe- the MEAN stack

Simply put, this technology bundle consists of 4 components

1. MongoDB – The database

MongoDB is a widely popular schema-less open source NoSQL database system. Its design makes it easy to pass data to and fro from the server to the client.

2. ExpressJS – The development framework

This agile framework lets developers build single and multipage web application easily and quickly.

3. AngularJS – The front end solution

AngularJS is an open source JavaScript framework ensures quick time front end development. Angular has become popular after Google started backing it. It is used to create RICH Internet Applications (RIA), especially single-page web applications. Which means, With lesser lines of codes, developers can build applications that are running functionally rich applications.

4. Nodejs – The server side environment

The JavaScript-based execution environment helps to build concurrent network applications that are robust and scalable. It’s  built on Google’s Chrome V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js has an event-driven framework and has non-blocking Input/Output model, hence making the applications run efficiently.

The benefits of learning this stack are obvious: a developer with skills in these 4 technologies under his belt can bring about enormous value added than 2-3 different programmers with various expertise adding substantial HR cost overheads to the company. The immense ROI presented by this talent makes MEAN developers highly in demand in the market.

MEAN stack provides amazing facilities with these 4 technologies. Utilizing the combined prowess of these technologies, developers can easily build enterprise grade web apps. What’s more, the stack also has multiple utilities like Passport and Mongoose pre-built into the stack. The brains behind MEAN have strived to tackle the key problem of bringing together multiple popular environments and frameworks and solving integration issues.

Downloading the components

1. MongoDB can be downloaded here and there is a very good Installation tutorial which you can find here.
2. Express can be installed post Node.js download. This has Express as one of the Node.js Package Manager with the command – $ npm install express
3. Steps for installing AngularJS can be found here
4. Nodejs can be downloaded here and there is another good tutorial on npm (nodejs package manager) installation.

Tried your hand at MEAN stack? Let us know your thoughts on your experience on this versatile technology stack.

Like to have solutions developed with MEAN? Contact us!

The post Be MEAN and Lean in Web App Development – Build Apps with MEAN Stack first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

As all PHP developers would vouch, a development project is replete with multiple areas to focus on – at the same time! With a constant eye on quality, we also need to put efforts to see that the project is being executed smoothly, is on track amongst all team members, and is following all the deadlines set up with the client company. This makes the life of a PHP developer a tough one.

However, not all is lost!

With the advent of seamless collaboration across developers and technological advancements, the online community today provides a lot of tools and techniques to bring down the efforts put on mundane yet critical tasks and instead let you focus on what you love doing best – i.e. programming. Today we present a roundup of some essential tools that PHP developers like you and me would hate to ignore.

Here we go…

1. Pivotal Tracker (for Project Management) – The agile project management tool has remained a perennial favorite with PHP developers for an end to end project management. Ever since its debut in 2008, it has added various exciting features to make the life of a developer easier. It allows seamless micromanagement, prioritization and workflow management of a project, minus the hassles associated with collaboration and scheduling across teams. From the all-encompassing project view to ‘stories’ that form the building block of the project, it has all this and more.
2. Eclipse (for development) – All developers need a base workspace in the form of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and what better IDE than the leaders themselves?

Yes, we are talking about Eclipse

While the IDE can help in development using a wide variety of programming languages, with the right set of plug-ins, PHP development can turn to a breeze. With amazing extensibility, developing web applications in PHP is simpler and much more fun.

3. Laravel (Framework for PHP) – A truly modern framework, Laravel has quickly emerged as the favorite framework for PHP developers worldwide

It makes PHP fun to code and easy to work!

Along with Composer Package that is standard with Laravel version 4 onwards, dependency management becomes silk smooth. No need to install an entire framework to use just one of its offerings. Even user authentication becomes easier with Laravel providing a simple, effective and easy to use interface for validating user credentials.

Like to read more about Laravel and more about how we use it in our own development? Check those links you have already come across.

4. Git (for Version Control) – Trust me, having a team brings up its own set of problems with collaboration and integration. For projects across scale, size and team strength, Git’s open source distributed version control system makes changes across different batches easier to maintain. With Git, distributed, collaborative development of PHP source code. No matter if your team is across different locations or in the same office, your QA and due diligence are now more transparent and secure.

5. Mantis (for Bug Tracking) – The open source issue tracker is a godsend for developers who focus on the quality of the programming code. New developers can get going within minutes of exploring the full-featured bug tracking system. In spite of its simplicity, it offers amazing versatility and tremendous power. Written in PHP, it supports a range of databases such as MS SQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. It not only eliminates bugs, but also provides a collaboration and project tracking feature.

The above tools are few, which we use in Macronimous. Find any other tools in your arsenal that makes your life simpler each day with PHP? Do write  to us your comments and let us know.

The post 5 Every day Tools to Power up Your PHP development life cycle first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

HealthKit:

iOS 8 SDK has frameworks that include powerful HealthKit APIs that provide the ability for health and fitness apps that would communicate with each other. Can’t wait to see how the code would look like? Here is the sample from Apple a simple app called Fit.

HomeKit:

Next to Healthkit is Home Automation APIs that comes with HomeKit. With Siri and Philips you can control lighting in a home. Love to start with HomeKit? Here is your framework reference. PhotoKit: Developers use the robust framework to start developing high-performance Photo processing applications. With the new Camera API, your app can add  focus, while balance and exposure too. For developers here is the API documentation to check.

CloudKit:

This is not a whole new API set if you had already used how to use Core Data with iCloud in your iOS7 apps. You need not worry about writing server code and maintaining servers, instead, you can unleash the power of cloud hosting them. You can start with the released documentation which is available here.

SpriteKit:

For Game Developers you get SpriteKit, you can develop 2D games with force fields, detect collisions, and you can also create new lighting effects to make the games fun.

SceneKit:

This is for 3D game developers. Along with SpriteKit, SceneKit comes with a physics engine, a particle generator, and 3D objects development.

Metal:

This is another new feature for console game developers that supports multi-threading. Metal is a framework that supports GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) with advanced 3D graphics rendering and data-parallel computation.

Swift – The new programming language:

Along with Objective-C, now iOS developers can learn a new addition for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch called Swift.  The introduction of this new programming language is to make developers write code with a clean syntax which is easier to read and maintain. Developers can download new Swift programming language guide from iTunes for a quick start.  After this major release, developers and users can now access your iOS device from Mac easily and there is a better Notification system with interactivity. After all this new set of APIs, the OS becomes more flexible like Android. Looking forward to your comments on these new OS.

With the new sets of APIs,  developers can create a new paradigm of Apps such as healthcare apps. Also, With the frameworks like HomeKit, the so-called “Internet of Things” is also coming close to reality.  So, as Apple says, this is certainly “Huge for Developers”.

The post A superfast intro to iOS8 Developer SDK and How to start? first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Tablet browser view

Flat design:

Design trends change over the years. Now, people like to get rid of curved edges, gradients, reflections or shadow effects. Sharp edges become a favorite, along with minimalism.

If you like to start, you must first get inspired by some designs, take them as inspirations and practice yourself. You can see a lot of Flat UI designs at Flat Design. Also, I recommend Flat UI Colors to choose your colors and for more inspirations take a look at Dribbble’s Flat collections.

Less framework:

We have written couple of blogs on Responsive Web Design months ago when it was catching, one was about the CSS frameworks that we liked and used. But, recently with few projects we got an opportunity to explore Less framework. It’s quite impressive

The layout will be made to 992pixels and add CSS media queries within the child layouts. Child layouts will be 768pixels, 480 pixels, and 320 pixels to make it ready for different browsers.

If the browser isn’t supporting CSS media queries such as Internet Ex­plorer 6–8 and most old mobile devices, the default layout will be served and for other browsers which support media queries, child layouts will be served based on the screen resolutions.

Less Framework is MIT licensed, so we can even modify it. However, the learning curve is little steep, a designer who is strong in HTML5 and CSS3 will require at least a weeks’ time to learn and master it.

Mobile browser view

WordPress:

Finally, we decided to retain our blog with WordPress, through the new blogging platform Ghost looks promising. Maybe we should try that in for coming years.

We used WP Touch WordPress plugin for years. Thanks to this wonderful plugin by Bravenewcode.

In order to see our new RWD, we had to disable WP Touch.

Now the final design is ready for different browsers and Feel free to give our feedback on our new design.

The post Flat design + Less framework + WordPress = Our new responsive Blog design first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Yii Framework

Released in December 2008, Yii Framework is one of the newest open-source PHP frameworks. However, given its age, it has seen tremendous growth in a short span of time. Since it is released under the BSD License, a Yii developer can build both open-source and proprietary software. The current stable version is Yii 1.1 and can be safely used to create web applications. Due to the robust features, it is appropriate for high traffic applications such as social networking forums, portal, ECommerce sites, and Content Management Systems (CMS) sites.

Yii adheres to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern of web 2.0 development. With a host of powerful and functionality enhancing features such as DAO, I18N/L10N standards, and adherence to OOP principles, Yii is now counted as one of the top 5 MVC open source PHP framework tools in the market today. Even with its boatloads of features, the development process is faster in Yii because Yii loads only those features that you need to use at a specific stage rather than the complete library together. You need to have a web server set up and a PHP installation done to work on Yii explained as below:

Setting up Yii development environment

A custom App Backend using Yii

1.      The most basic requirement to start with Yii is, a web server supporting PHP 5.1.0.

2.      Select an appropriate database. Most of the stable databases such as SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MySQL can be easily used for Yii application development

3.      Once the framework is downloaded from the official site, you can get the server’s configuration to match the framework’s technical requirements.

4.      Now you need to get the main.php file configured to set up your development environment. This file contains most of the Yii’s testing and programming components and links. This main.php file contains the definition of the website layout. Both these files are critical to the entire project and hence should be configured properly before moving ahead.

5.      Once the index.php file sets the ‘config’ path and ‘require’ path is set up correctly, the skeleton web app is ready to be installed.

Using Yii NetBeans plugin 

For many developers, the NetBeans IDE is a preferred development environment for Yii development. Along with Eclipse, the NetBeans IDE is very widely used, as it offers a host of benefits that speed up the development process and facilitates the complete incorporation of prevalent web standards. Some of the feature-rich traits offered by NetBeans coding environment are:

1.      Code templates: NetBeans provides smart code templates or snippets commonly used by developers. This helps to avoid recreating the wheel and can use the same code in other development projects. Commands such as ‘class’, ‘echo’, ‘elseif’  that take up multiple lines of code to manually type can now be easily pasted within your main code, thus helping developers save valuable time and boost the overall development process.

3.      Code generators: Using the code generation dialog box in Java editor, a developer can easily create different types of constructs. Simply select ‘Constructor’ from the Code Generation box that opens up on pressing ‘alt-insert’, and construct blocks of code.

4.      On-typing hints and completion: One of the most powerful features is undoubtedly the code completion module that not only speeds up coding but also helps you avoid typing and syntax errors. You can invoke code completion by pressing ‘Ctrl+space’ after typing the first few words. Additionally, this completion popup can be invoked as needed or automatically, thus make the coding process much simpler and intuitive.

Yii Bootstrap plugin and its uses

Many elements of the hugely popular Yii-Bootstrap library have spawned a whole new open-source collection of widgets that helps Yii Developers boost development rate, shorten the coding time and increase productivity. This collection is available as the Yii Bootstrap and provides multiple options that improve the way web applications are developed using Yii. The key benefits provided by Yii Bootstrap are:

1.      It integrates beautifully without disturbing the existing Yii structure

2.      High performance and fast loading feature provide better flexibility in custom coding

3.      Useful widgets that simplify working and provides better access methods. For instance, the TbExtendedFilter allows the developers to save filters in a common database rather of keeping track of the different filters (Cookies, DB or session variables)

4.      The different features enhance the aesthetics of the application. For example, the basic box component wraps up the elements with good window effects

Yii and RWD using Bootstrap

The Bootstrap extension provided by Twitter is a powerful and comprehensive suite of tools that ensure smooth integration of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS into the Yii framework. The extension complies completely with Yii programming conventions and the jQuery plugins. It is a rich source of forms, buttons, typography, and navigation that helps enables fluid layout which resizes itself according to the device on which it is being viewed. By including a small bootstrap-responsive.css file, a developer can instantly enable flexible layout. Bootstrap comes packed with useful features such as jQuery UI Bootstrap theme, FontAwesome, BootBox and hero units that provide a consistent viewing and navigation experience across different screen sizes.

For any reason, if you want a fixed layout instead of responsive web design, then simply turn off ‘responsive.css’ parameter to ‘false’

Is Yii better than other popular MVCs?

Yii dashboard of a custom CRM app

While many may argue that there are other older MVC based framework alternatives such as CakePHP and CodeIgniter. However, Yii has generated quite a lot of buzz in recent times owing to its unique on-demand loading of resources, its strong security that enables efficient data validation, cross-site scripting preventions measures, SQL injection, and input sanitation and its capability to create clean and reusable programming codes through the proficient MVC model. The feature-rich framework has now come to be recognized as one of the top 5 widely used MVC PHP framework, bearing ample testimony to its global popularity.

The post Build custom PHP applications with Yii PHP Framework (2020 updated) first appeared on Macronimous Blog.