zend_db standalone - zend-db

Question

i want to use zend_db standalone cos zend framework is too much for my project but i'm new with it,
is it correct to do this:
$pdoParams = array(PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => 'SET NAMES
UTF8;');
$params = array(
'host' => 'localhost',
'username' => 'ss_fraat',
'password' => 'jos10',
'dbname' => '_a2hDB',
'driver_options' => $pdoParams
);
try {
$db = Zend_Db::factory('PDO_MYSQL', $params);
//set default adapter
Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::setDefaultAdapter($db);
} catch (Exception $e) {
exit($e->getMessage());
}
//save Db in registry for later use
Zend_Registry::set('dbAdapter', $db);
then in any class do this:
$db = Zend_Registry::get('db');
/** quote to avoid sql injection */
$date = $db->quote('1980-01-01');
$sql = 'SELECT * FROM product WHERE name = ' . $date;
$result = $db->query($sql);
$db->query(); //run a query
i really need to do this
Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::setDefaultAdapter($db);
i get this code from a website,
is it necessary to use Zend_Db_Table_Abstract if i'm not using the full zend framework,
or it is better for example to use this:
$db = Zend_Db::factory( ...options... );
$select = new Zend_Db_Select($db);
what i want is to setup a pdo/mysql connexion in my bootstrap php page and be able to get that db instance in any class without starting a new connexion to execute queries but i'm not sure how to do that use Zend_Db_Table_Abstract or Zend_Db_Select use the registry Zend_Registry::set('dbAdapter', $db) or not
thanks a lot

Answer 1

The purpose of Zend_Db_Table_Abstract is so you can create your own model classes based around the Table Data Gateway design pattern. The idea of that pattern is that you have a class that encapsulates all the sql you would need for interfacing with a table. So the assumption is that you will be creating model classes that extend Zend_Db_Table_Abstract for each table. If you are going to do that, then you will want to call Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::setDefaultAdapter($db) in your setup/bootstrap. Recent versions of ZF provide as an alternative a quick way of getting basic functionality without having to create a custom class definition by just instantiating Zend_Db_Table:
$userTable = new Zend_Db_Table('users');
In summary, none of this particularly has to do with the MVC part of the framework, although some people choose to use Zend_db as the basis for db connections and models, instead of using a more fully featured ORM like Doctrine or Propel.
The other code you provided simply illustrates that you do not need to use Zend_Db_Table_Abstract either -- you can simply setup an instance of a Zend_Db_Adapter and use that instance to call query() or its other methods.