I just read about OLAP4ALL's Materialized Views for MySQL software that "offers the functionality of Materialized Views in MySQL that are not natively supported in the MySQL database.".

What nags me about this is the fact that it is "implemented as a separate Java program running on the server where MySQL is installed".

The server-side of this should be doable using Stored Procedures and/or Triggers. For the client-side a bit of convenience functionality for query rewriting would be needed.

Sounds like an interesting project that I would like to pursue when I find the time.

Update: Marcel Oelke has ported this Materialized Views for PostgreSQL implementation to MySQL (see here and here).

... everyone, it seems!

Those with some years of experience in the software business know: the implementation or decision upon a template engine is always good for flame wars.

Why? Templates are such a basic technology of a CMS, a must-have and not really something sexy. Those who hoped to make templates sexy, invented XSLT.

So why? Because it is a basic technology!

These are the flame war factors:

You can't get Tempates out of Your Way

Every developer or Web designer building a Web site on top of a CMS, has to cope with the integrated template system, sooner or later. You will have a love-and-hate-relationship, because on the one side they help you, on the other side, every implementation has its pros and cons.

Love-and-hate-relationships are not really something that makes the involved parties calm and relaxed.

Who Takes Over the Bridge?

Templates are supposed to build a bridge between the programmers, who care about the business logic of a solution, and the designers who care about the user experience aka GUI. Thus, there are two groups with diverging interests affected by templates: programmers and Web designers. Every experienced how different their thinking can be? OK, then you clearly see the potential for conflict.

Love, Peace - and Common Sense

The discussion about the new template language for eZ publish, implemented as a library in the realm of the eZ components, has of course been long, and is still ongoing - but there's light.

It was interesting to observe, how the eZ components team will fight the fight and I must say, they did a good job.

So, what was it that created love and peace in eZ templates land? It was pragmatism: whenever a discussion becomes lengthy and and unfocused, bring it down to the facts, for example with a summary of past input and suggestions for solutions.

Doesn't sound sexy? No, it doesn't. Tempates are not sexy, they are basic technology, so let's be pragmatic and treat it like that, so let's cool down discussions and go back to work.

Sounds simple? It does, but is hard work, because you need to focus on the result!

You love such discussions? Jump in, you got time until Monday, 12:00.

PS: Did you find any irony in this text? Let me know :)

… everyone, it seems! Those with some years of experience in the software business know: the implementation or decision upon a template engine is always good for flame wars. Why? Templates are such a basic technology of a CMS, a must-have and not really something sexy. Those who hoped to make templates sexy, invented XSLT. So why? Because [...]

… everyone, it seems! Those with some years of experience in the software business know: the implementation or decision upon a template engine is always good for flame wars. Why? Templates are such a basic technology of a CMS, a must-have and not really something sexy. Those who hoped to make templates sexy, invented XSLT. So why? Because [...]

This week we, bring to you news about the next eZ publish sub-releases, the eZ components documentation, the eZ publish Portuguese Community, a new article section on ez.no and the list of new and modified bugs of this week.

When do PHP security and sausages come together? Only in this post from the ThinkPHP blog that takes a look at their security application being developed specifically for finding issues with web applications - Chorizo.

Let's be honest - the guys over at bugtraq, full-disclosure and others make fun of us PHP people. Chorizo ScreenshotNot only do we provide the dramatis personae - be it phpBB, the Nuke family or XMLRPC, we also deliver remote code execution, XSS or SQL injections right to the security peoples' doorstep. Why does this happen? Are we all dumbnuts? That's not the explanation - at least not all of it.

In the history of PHP, users and ISPs have always been nice and friendly like our grandma. Their continued support even in rough times ensures PHP's ongoing success, so we shouldn't let them down and ignore everything they say (like we do with our grandmas).

Enter Chorizo, an easy-to-use, speedy little proxying bit of software that looks at the data coming through and finds whatever issues it can. It looks at where "web applications get interactive" instead of just spidering the sites, and checks multiple kinds of attacks including: XSS, SQL injections, code inclusions, code executions, HTTP response splitting, and many more. It's not open to the public just yet, but you can preregister to have an active account just as soon as it goes live.

With an excerpt from the Packt Publishing book "PHPEclipse: A User Guide" (Shu-Wai Chow), DevArticles has posted this first of a two part series looking at the use of phpEclipse to help with the deployment of your site.

Eclipse simplifies the process of deploying your site to a web server. You can even use Ant, traditionally thought of as a Java tool, to help you in the deployment.

Once again, Eclipse simplifies our work by including several tools that aid us in this process.

The key to deployment in Eclipse is the export function. Eclipse gives us many options in exporting our site. First, we will look at FTP, an old and common method of moving files.

They cover how to set up an FTP site inside the editor, making it a simple process to upload any chnages you've made instantly. They also discuss other methods like SFTP, WebDAV, and Ant support the client can adapt itself to. There are screenshots along the way to help you through each step, including some from other operating systems where the setup might be a bit different.

If you are close, check out this two-days workshop Free and Open Source Software in South-Eastern Europe from March 24-25 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

From this post on the Ajax Developer's Journal site we learn that there has been an update to the Zend Core for Oracle - the addition of enhanced PL/SQL support and validation functionality for Oracle Database XE.

Zend Technologies, Inc., the PHP company, has announced an updated version of Zend Core for Oracle, which supports businesses using PHP for mission-critical Web applications by delivering a reliable, high performance, easy-to-install PHP development and production environment fully integrated with the Oracle Database 10g.The new release is validated with Oracle Database 10g Release 2, including the Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE).

In addition to validation of Oracle Database 10g Release 2, the update to Zend Core for Oracle has enhanced support for Oracle Procedural Language for SQL (PL/SQL) collection types, giving significantly improved performance. Developers can access PL/SQL directly from PHP in a single, fully integrated environment.

You can download this latest update directly from the Zend site

From now on, Portuguese-speaking eZ publish users can share their information on a new community site: www.ezbrasil.com.br. They will find a main tutorial teaching how to set up an eZ publish site and will have the opportunity to contribute on the forums, to write articles and much more.