Introduction | Zend_Tool_Framework Programmer's Reference Guide | Architecture

# Using the CLI Tool

The CLI, or command line tool (internally known as the console tool), is currently the primary interface for dispatching Zend_Tool requests. With the CLI tool, developers can issue tooling requests inside the "command line windows", also commonly known as a "terminal" window. This environment is predominant in the *nix environment, but also has a common implementation in windows with the cmd.exe, console2 and also with the Cygwin project.

# Setting up the CLI tool

To issue tooling requests via the command line client, you first need to set up the client so that your system can handle the "zf" command. The command line client, for all intents and purposes, is the .sh or .bat file that is provided with your Zend Framework distribution. In trunk, it can be found here: » http://framework.zend.com/svn/framework/standard/trunk/bin/.

As you can see, there are 3 files in the /bin/ directory: a zf.php, zf.sh, and zf.bat. The zf.sh and the zf.bat are the operating system specific client wrappers: zf.sh for the *nix environment, and zf.bat for the Win32 environment. These client wrappers are responsible for finding the proper php.exe, finding the zf.php, and passing on the client request. The zf.php is the responsible for handling understanding your environment, constructing the proper include_path, and passing what is provided on the command line to the proper library component for dispatching.

Ultimately, you want to ensure two things to make everything work regardless of the operating system you are on:

1. zf.sh/zf.bat is reachable from your system path. This is the ability to call zf from anywhere on your command line, regardless of what your current working directory is.

2. ZendFramework/library is in your include_path.

> Note: Note: while the above are the most ideal requirements, you can simply download Zend Framework and expect it to work as ./path/to/zf.php some command.

# Setting up the CLI tool on Unix-like Systems

The most common setup in the *nix environment, is to copy the zf.sh and zf.php into the same directory as your PHP binary. This can generally be found in one of the following places:

1. /usr/bin
2. /usr/local/bin
3. /usr/local/ZendServer/bin/
4. /Applications/ZendServer/bin/

To find out the location of your PHP binary, you can execute 'which php' on the command line. This will return the location of the PHP binary you will be using to run PHP scripts in this environment.

The next order of business is to ensure that Zend Framework library is set up correctly inside of the system PHP include_path. To find out where your include_path is located, you can execute php -i and look for the include_path variable, or more succinctly, execute php -i | grep include_path. Once you have found where your include_path is located (this will generally be something like /usr/lib/php, /usr/share/php, /usr/local/lib/php, or similar), ensure that the contents of the /library/ directory are put inside your include_path specified directory.

Once you have done those two things, you should be able to issue a command and get back the proper response like this:

If you do not see this type of output, go back and check your setup to ensure you have all of the necessary pieces in the proper place.

There are a couple of alternative setups you might want to employ depending on your servers configuration, your level of access, or for other reasons.

Alternative Setup involves keeping the Zend Framework download together as is, and creating a link from a `PATH` location to the zf.sh. What this means is you can place the contents of the ZendFramework download into a location such as /usr/local/share/ZendFramework, or more locally like /home/username/lib/ZendFramework, and creating a symbolic link to the zf.sh.

Assuming you want to put the link inside /usr/local/bin (this could also work for placing the link inside /home/username/bin/ for example) you would issue a command similar to this:

1. ln -s /usr/local/share/ZendFramework/bin/zf.sh /usr/local/bin/zf
3. # OR (for example)
4. ln -s /home/username/lib/ZendFramework/bin/zf.sh /home/username/bin/zf

This will create a link which you should be able to access globally on the command line.

# Setting up the CLI tool on Windows

The most common setup in the Windows Win32 environment, is to copy the zf.bat and zf.php into the same directory as your PHP binary. This can generally be found in one of the following places:

1. C:\PHP
2. C:\Program Files\ZendServer\bin\
3. C:\WAMP\PHP\bin

You should be able to run php.exe on the command line. If you are not able to, first check the documentation that came with your PHP distribution, or ensure that the path to php.exe is in your Windows `PATH` environment variable.

The next order of business is to ensure that Zend Framework library is set up correctly inside of the system PHP include_path. To find out where your include_path is located, you can type php -i and look for the include_path variable, or more succinctly execute php -i | grep include_path if you have Cygwin setup with grep available. Once you have found where your include_path is located (this will generally be something like C:\PHP\pear, C:\PHP\share, C:\Program%20Files\ZendServer\share or similar), ensure that the contents of the library/ directory are put inside your include_path specified directory.

Once you have done those two things, you should be able to issue a command and get back the proper response like this:

If you do not see this type of output, go back and check your setup to ensure you have all of the necessary pieces in the proper place.

There are a couple of alternative setups you might want to employ depending on your server's configuration, your level of access, or for other reasons.

Alternative Setup involves keeping the Zend Framework download together as is, and altering both your system `PATH` as well as the php.ini file. In your user's environment, make sure to add C:\Path\To\ZendFramework\bin, so that your zf.bat file is executable. Also, alter the php.ini file to ensure that C:\Path\To\ZendFramework\library is in your include_path.

# Other Setup Considerations

If for some reason you do not want Zend Framework library inside your include_path, there is another option. There are two special environment variables that zf.php will utilize to determine the location of your Zend Framework installation.

The first is `ZEND_TOOL_INCLUDE_PATH_PREPEND`, which will prepend the value of this environment variable to the system (php.ini) include_path before loading the client.

Alternatively, you might want to use `ZEND_TOOL_INCLUDE_PATH` to completely replace the system include_path for one that makes sense specifically for the zf command line tool.

# Where To Go Next?

At this point, you should be set up to start initiating some more "interesting" commands. To get going, you can issue the zf --help command to see what is available to you.

Continue on to the Zend_Tool_Project "Create Project" section to understand how to use the zf script for project creation.

Introduction | Zend_Tool_Framework Programmer's Reference Guide | Architecture