New Zend_Gdata PHP client library design

We're pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Zend_Gdata component of Zend Framework project. This component represents the PHP 5.1.4+ client library for Google data APIs and has been redesigned to enable more object-oriented usage.

The redesign was prompted by the desire to support a variety of different services with the same level of usability as our other client libraries. We aimed to comply with the following requirements when redesigning and implementing the new Zend_Gdata component:

• A developer should be able to perform most functionality by looking only at the PHP documentation of classes, methods and a few examples.



• A developer should not need to know the structure of the XML documents used by the GData services nor the namespaces, etc in order to use the library effectively.


• As much consistency as possible should exist between the PHP client library and other GData client libraries, while still maintaining a PHP feel to the library.


• The library should be usable by both experts and beginners in GData and PHP.

So, what does using the new client library look like? If you've previously used any of the other client libraries, the design should be very familiar. Take a look at the new Spreadsheets data API Developer's Guide for PHP, the updated Calendar data API Developer's Guide or the Reference Guide for more information on usage. The client library currently fully supports Calendar, Spreadsheets and generic Atom Publishing Protocol (App) services. We're also actively working on implementing extensions for the other Google data APIs.

You can download the new client library by visiting the Zend_Gdata download page on the Zend Framework site. The client library is also included as part of the main Zend Framework distribution, but full functionality for Calendar won't be available in the main distribution until the 1.0 RC3 release, scheduled for sometime in the next couple weeks.

If you're interested in the PHP client library or having any questions or problems, please join the mailing list. Zend also welcomes contributions to the Zend Framework and their wiki contains more information about contributing. This site also gives information on how to file bugs and feature requests in the issue tracker.

Please note that, due to the significant changes made in the new version of the Zend_Gdata component, we were not able to maintain backwards compatibility with the version that existed prior to Zend Framework 1.0. The Zend_Gdata 0.9.3 Beta and earlier releases will continue to be available on the download page for the time being in case you prefer the old approach of working more directly with the XML-centric data model. Also, the new version of the client library continues to allow you to work with the raw XML if desired.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the great applications written using the new version of the client library. Please share your project using the Pages feature in the developer forum for your favorite Google data API.

Ryan Boyd - The Google data APIs team