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I’ve been asked whether FrontPress was being designed for frontends, for example, if it was a template system. The answer is a definite yes: Your template code creates a frontend, but FrontPress turns your code itself into a frontend as well. The code I showed in my last post could be fully understood at a glance. My_Fruit::by_color retrieves fruit based on its color. $apple->save(); stores data about an apple in the database.

Yellow

My incredible amount of appreciation for my own system aside, it is possible to make an entire website from FrontPress. The site is pointless, but it shows the power of FrontPress and a few lines of code. The site is live on my home website, and you can download the source code if you want to see how exactly it works.

Yellow Apples

Breadcrumbs are my favorite part of this demo. The breadcrumb for the yellow apple page is generated completely by FrontPress. The only code inside the route – routes are how FrontPress’s template system chooses which page to display – related to the breadcrumb is frontpress_breadcrumb( $fruit );. My_Fruit implements two interfaces by way of three one line functions. My_Color implements a single interface by way of two one line functions.

FrontPress is still far from its first official release. I plan to add an easy way to build an installer, some example templates, and maybe more before then.

If you don’t know how to program, try reading this code. You can read it, right? That’s because the code is written using my newest project, FrontPress. Now, if you do know how to program, you may be wondering how My::$fruit is defined. Here’s the entire definition of My::$fruit:

<?php

class My_Fruit extends FP_Thing {
    var $__table = 'fruit';

    var $id;
    var $name;
    var $color;
    var $type;
}
My::$fruit = new My_Fruit;

Now, you’re probably interested. The class has no functions and only one variable with a value. This is why FrontPress is so awesome. If you want to delete all the yellow fruit from your database, that’s one line of code:

My::$fruit->by_color( 'yellow' )->delete();

Or, maybe you just want to reclassify all yellow fruit as lemons:

My::$fruit->by_color( 'yellow' )->set( 'type', 'lemon' )->save();

You can also do so in three commands:

$yellow_fruit = My::$fruit->by_color( 'yellow' );
$yellow_fruit->type = 'lemon';
$yellow_fruit->save();

What if there’s some new color of apple you’ve never heard of?

$c0ffee = new My_Color( array( 'name' => 'C0FFEE', 'slug' => 'c0ffee',
                               'hex' => 'c0ffee' ) );
$c0ffee_apple = new My_Fruit( array( 'name' => 'C0FFEE Apple',
                                     'color' => $c0ffee,
                                     'type' => 'apple' ) );
$c0ffee_apple->save();

And it’s smart, too:

$lemon = My::$fruit->by_type( 'lemon' );
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();
$lemon->save();

This code won’t even attempt to save it once because no changes are made to the object.

Want to try it? Break it? Change it? Go right ahead. This is GPL software, after all!

Is typing a seven digit phone number and clicking the call button too mentally taxing for you to accomplish?

Have you noticed that these sentences keep getting progressively longer until they reach the maximum limit for sentence length, which is right about here?

No?

Then why the heck are you still reading this post?

Oh, sorry! I thought you said no! What you really said was “I love you, Ben!”

That’s right, folks! Today, we at the LlamaSlayers™ © ® LLC,,. have invented an amazing new technology known as “Android Soufflé” or some other crappy name like that.

A cutting-art, state-of-the-edge technology known as “LlamaSlayers™ © ® LLC,,. Large Button Pushing Technology Software Program”, or “LlamaSlayers™ © ® LLC,,. Large Button Pushing Technology Software Program” for short, ensures that your experience is as smooth as possible. Here is a diagram of how it works:

Amazing, huh? Download the LlamaSlayers™ © ® LLC,,. Large Button Pushing Technology Software Program-based software program called Android Shuffle from our web site or send an email to the following address and we’ll fax you a copy of this amazing software program!

LlamaSlayers™ © ® LLC,,.
Tsinghua Science Park Bldg 6
No. 1 Zhongguancun East Road
Haidian District
Beijing 100084

Cost to distribute said iPhone app: $99/year (included in cost to make – you can do it for free, but you can only put it on 100 phones)
Cost to distribute said Android app: $25 (free if you’ve already paid the $25 for another app or if you’re going to distribute the app on your own)

Money required to create and distribute a single app for 1 year: (assuming I’m doing the development)
For iPhone: $699 + $99 = $798
For Android: $0 + $25 = $25

For 5 years:
For iPhone: $699 + $99 * 5 = $1293
For Android: $0 + $25 = $25