The quickest way to start using Zend_Application is to use Zend_Tool to generate your project. This will also create your Bootstrap class and file.

To create a project, execute the zf command (on *nix systems):

% zf create project newproject

Or the Windows zf.bat command:

C:> zf.bat create project newproject

Both will create a project structure that looks like the following:

newproject
|-- application
|   |-- Bootstrap.php
|   |-- configs
|   |   `-- application.ini
|   |-- controllers
|   |   |-- ErrorController.php
|   |   `-- IndexController.php
|   |-- models
|   `-- views
|       |-- helpers
|       `-- scripts
|           |-- error
|           |   `-- error.phtml
|           `-- index
|               `-- index.phtml
|-- library
|-- public
|   `-- index.php
`-- tests
    |-- application
    |   `-- bootstrap.php
    |-- library
    |   `-- bootstrap.php
    `-- phpunit.xml

In the above diagram, your bootstrap is in newproject/application/Bootstrap.php, and looks like the following at first:

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
{
}

You'll also note that a configuration file, newproject/application/configs/application.ini, is created. It has the following contents:

[production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
phpSettings.display_errors = 0
includePaths.library = APPLICATION_PATH "/../library"
bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"

[staging : production]

[testing : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1

[development : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1

All settings in this configuration file are for use with Zend_Application and your bootstrap.

Another file of interest is the newproject/public/index.php file, which invokes Zend_Application and dispatches it.

// Define path to application directory
defined('APPLICATION_PATH')
    || define('APPLICATION_PATH',
              realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application'));

// Define application environment
defined('APPLICATION_ENV')
    || define('APPLICATION_ENV',
              (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV')
                                         : 'production'));

/** Zend_Application */
require_once 'Zend/Application.php';

// Create application, bootstrap, and run
$application = new Zend_Application(
    APPLICATION_ENV,
    APPLICATION_PATH . '/configs/application.ini'
);
$application->bootstrap()
            ->run();

To continue the quick start, please skip to the Resources section.

The basics of Zend_Application are fairly simple:

First, create your Bootstrap class. Create a file, application/Bootstrap.php, with the following contents:

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
{
}

Now, create your configuration. For this tutorial, we will use an INI style configuration; you may, of course, use an XML, JSON, YAML, or PHP configuration file as well. Create the file application/configs/application.ini, and provide the following contents:

[production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
phpSettings.display_errors = 0
includePaths.library = APPLICATION_PATH "/../library"
bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"

[staging : production]

[testing : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1

[development : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1

Now, let's modify your gateway script, public/index.php. If the file does not exist, create it; otherwise, replace it with the following contents:

// Define path to application directory
defined('APPLICATION_PATH')
    || define('APPLICATION_PATH',
              realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application'));

// Define application environment
defined('APPLICATION_ENV')
    || define('APPLICATION_ENV',
              (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV')
                                         : 'production'));

// Typically, you will also want to add your library/ directory
// to the include_path, particularly if it contains your ZF installed
set_include_path(implode(PATH_SEPARATOR, array(
    dirname(dirname(__FILE__)) . '/library',
    get_include_path(),
)));

/** Zend_Application */
require_once 'Zend/Application.php';

// Create application, bootstrap, and run
$application = new Zend_Application(
    APPLICATION_ENV,
    APPLICATION_PATH . '/configs/application.ini'
);
$application->bootstrap()
            ->run();

You may note that the application environment constant value looks for an environment variable "APPLICATION_ENV". We recommend setting this in your web server environment. In Apache, you can set this either in your vhost definition, or in your .htaccess file. We recommend the following contents for your public/.htaccess file:

SetEnv APPLICATION_ENV development

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L]

At this point, you're all set to start taking advantage of Zend_Application.

If you followed the directions above, then your bootstrap class will be utilizing a front controller, and when it is run, it will dispatch the front controller. However, in all likelihood, you'll need a little more configuration than this.

In this section, we'll look at adding two resources to your application. First, we'll set up your layouts, and then we'll customize your view object.

One of the standard resources provided with Zend_Application is the "layout" resource. This resource expects you to define configuration values which it will then use to configure your Zend_Layout instance.

To use it, all we need to do is update the configuration file.

[production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 0
phpSettings.display_errors = 0
bootstrap.path = APPLICATION_PATH "/Bootstrap.php"
bootstrap.class = "Bootstrap"
resources.frontController.controllerDirectory = APPLICATION_PATH "/controllers"
; ADD THE FOLLOWING LINES
resources.layout.layout = "layout"
resources.layout.layoutPath = APPLICATION_PATH "/layouts/scripts"

[staging : production]

[testing : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1

[development : production]
phpSettings.display_startup_errors = 1
phpSettings.display_errors = 1

If you haven't already, create the directory application/layouts/scripts/, and the file layout.phtml within that directory. A good starting layout is as follows (and ties in with the view resource covered next):

<?php echo $this->doctype() ?>
<html>
<head>
    <?php echo $this->headTitle() ?>
    <?php echo $this->headLink() ?>
    <?php echo $this->headStyle() ?>
    <?php echo $this->headScript() ?>
</head>
<body>
    <?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>
</body>
</html>

At this point, you will now have a working layout.

Now, we'll add a custom view resource. When initializing the view, we'll want to set the HTML DocType and a default value for the title to use in the HTML head. This can be accomplished by editing your Bootstrap class to add a method:

class Bootstrap extends Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap
{
    protected function _initView()
    {
        // Initialize view
        $view = new Zend_View();
        $view->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT');
        $view->headTitle('My First Zend Framework Application');

        // Add it to the ViewRenderer
        $viewRenderer = Zend_Controller_Action_HelperBroker::getStaticHelper(
            'ViewRenderer'
        );
        $viewRenderer->setView($view);

        // Return it, so that it can be stored by the bootstrap
        return $view;
    }
}

This method will be automatically executed when you bootstrap the application, and will ensure your view is initialized according to your application needs.

The above should get you started with Zend_Application and creating your application bootstrap. From here, you should start creating resource methods, or, for maximum re-usability, resource plugin classes. Continue reading to learn more!