5 PHP Classes You Can’t Code Without

Posted by hts | February 21, 2008 .

You probably know the old saying: “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel”, and probably you know the meaning too.
Also, as you can say from the “Tips of the Day” series on my blog, which present you quick short tips to improve PHP applications, I am an adept of clean PHP code, optimized and non-repetitive.
This is why even though I like to code my own stuff, I also think that if someone wrote a great piece of code or a great PHP class, there’s no point in writing from scratch a different variant of that code, to accomplish the same purpose. Using these classes are not a shame or whatnot - even for those who consider themselves php professionals (I do not - just to mention it). In fact, these classes speed up the development process - sometimes by a considerable amount.
But, enough blabbering, lets get to the point of it. Today I’ll present you with 5 GREAT PHP classes, which will ease your everyday work as a PHP coder and which you’ll most likely use in one of your projects. Without further ado, here they are:

This is actually a full-blown script, not only a class. Anyway, it is damn useful: you’re going to need this one sooner or later. Any “big” site needs a user base, which of course has to be easily administered - and that’s what this script accomplishes at its best. Full tutorial at evolt.org

Download #1

FPDF

Use this class to generate PDF’s on the fly from PHP. Again, not only a single class, instead a complete script, but extremely useful and easy to use. Great documentation included.

Download #2

Pagination Class

This class is used to interrogate a MySQL database and then present the results in a paginated format. Useful in multiple situations: listing news, users, search results etc.

Download #3

Code Highlighting

If your site resides in the tech / development industry, then you’ll certainly need this one. Present PHP code in a more human-readable manner, highlighting as in an editor.

Download #4

Google Maps Mashup

This one is a basic Google Maps Mashup. You can generate maps based on address, change the style and colors of icon, customise links and more. Read the documentation. You’ll need a Google Maps API key

Download #5

Bonus: solve Sudokus
If you’re into Sudoku solving and you’re stuck with one puzzle, then you’ll love this Sudoku solving class. Easily input the known numbers, then solve that “unbreakable” puzzle.

Download #6

Happy coding!

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