Tridion and PHP Don’t Mix…or Do They?

Abstract

• Using PHP and Dynamic Publishing, the considerations and the limitations of using PHP via OData v.s. .NET or Java.

• I will show some sample code and discuss the kind of TCDL handlers that need to be developed, and the difficulty/ease of doing so.

About Us

• A lot of credit goes to Jon Primmer for getting much of the technical detail

• Feel free to reach out:– Jon Primmer: @jonnybeemud ; j.primmer@contentbloom.com– Nick Roussakov: @nroussakov ; nick@contentbloom.com

Why PHP, all of a sudden?

• We recently had a few customers request Tridion integrations with their PHP front-end applications.

• PHP is free and has a plethora of open-source products starting to seep into the enterprise. For example:– Magento e-comm platform– Drupal– Wordpress– SugarCRM– Silverstripe– CodeIgniter MVC framework– Has frameworks to do just about everything (even LINQ - http://phplinq.codeplex.com/)

• PHP version 5.3 has very robust OOP capability• Coding PHP doesn’t suck any more.• Eclipse with IntelliSense works great• Xdebug

So how do you integrate a PHP solution with SDL Tridion?

• Our first thought: “Static Publishing”– Render any kind of text file and place it on the host server.– Get creative with “include” files.

• For example, a Page in Tridion with a set of Component Presentations published as an “include” file gives another level for nesting Component Presentations.

• What if we need to have the ability to target content based on, say, taxonomy (keywords or custom metadata)?– Have taxonomy-driven navigation– Quicker (more efficient) way to update and publish content– Share published content from a single source

• … and so we explore Tridion’s Dynamic Content Delivery

Dynamic Content Delivery Options for non-Java/.NET Web Apps

• Traditionally, Tridion’s Dynamic Delivery was available for Java and .NET -based applications

• This meant having to create a custom wrapper around the Java or .NET APIs

• With SDL Tridion 2011 a new Content Delivery Web service is available (a.k.a. Tridion Odata)

• (There is also REL)

"You mean I finally have frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams

attached to their frickin' heads?"

Odata Sample Output

Consuming the Dynamic Content

• In our page template we frequently use this code:

• When the output format and delivery target language are set to REL, we get the following on our php page:

Consuming the Dynamic Content (cont.)

• All we need now is a Tridion Building Block that will catch this during publishing and replace it with PHP code to call oData

Optimizing oData Calls

• Odata querying just the right amount of data:– Does filtering via LINQ require sending too much across the wire (e.g.

/ComponentPresentations returns all the CPs from the Broker and filtering on application side)?• No. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee622463.aspx

• What about with Java or PHP?– Need to fine-tune our Odata queries using $filter, $expand– E.g. Get Component Presentations where CustomMeta key = “foo”, such that the fewest

number of HTTP Requests go out.

• The answer: caching– Tridion’s Cache Channel Service on top of oData– A caching appliance– Application-level caching, e.g. CodeIgniter Cache (https://

github.com/philsturgeon/codeigniter-cache)

Make the Odata Query as Drilled Down as Possible

QueryOne: ComponentPresentations based on component custom meta field------------------http://localhost:82/odata.svc/CustomMetas?$filter=StringValueeq%20%27Golf%27&$expand=Component/ComponentPresentations

QueryTwo: All custom meta of componet presentations based on a specific template------------------localhost:82/odata.svc/ComponentPresentations?$filter=TemplateId eq 666 and publicationId eq 8&$expand=Component/CustomMetas

Sample Output

What About Add-on Modules and Products?

• Tridion Experience Manager (the new SiteEdit)• Profiling and Personalization• Fredhopper

Tridion Experience Manager

• The staging site runs in an iFrame, so technically it can be on any language platform (PHP, python, whatever)

• The caveat is Session Preview, which requires the staging site to be able to run Java (Content Delivery API and Ambient Data Framework jars).– Possible to run PHP on a Java App server, e.g.:– Tomcat AJP Connector: http://

tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-3.2-doc/tomcat-apache-howto.html– or PHP to Java Bridge: http://

php-java-bridge.sourceforge.net/doc/tomcat6.php – This is still in experimental stages

Profiling and Personalization

• Tridion offers the ability to set up Target Groups based on keyword tracking and other criteria

• Unfortunately this requires storing cookies on the client machine. The Contenet Delivery Web Service can’t do that.

• Good news: we can build our own…

Profiling and Personalization

• A custom TCDL handler can be created to translate the target group syntax into PHP code, which talks to the Broker

Fredhopper

• SmartTarget is the product that integrates Fredhopper with Tridion.

• The Ambient Data Framework is used in between• For PHP integration, a custom solution can be

built on top of Fredhopper’s web service APIs.• Probably can’t make it as good as SDL’s ADF, but

possible to make it good-enough for the immediate functionality required.

Thanks

• Questions?

About Content Bloom

• Offices in Toronto, Brussels and UK• Certified SDL Tridion consultancy and partner• Strong knowledge and deep roots within the

SDL Tridion product suite