Upgrading to Phalcon v4.0.0-alpha1

Read time: 9 minutes

This blog post will help you upgrade your existing Phalcon application to v4-alpha1. We will outline the areas that you need to pay attention to and make necessary alterations so that your code can run as smooth as it has been with v3. Although the changes are significant, it is more of a methodical task than a daunting one.

PHP 7.2

Phalcon v4-alpha1 supports only PHP 7.2 and above. PHP 7.1 has been released 2 years ago and its active support will end in roughly a month from the time of this blog post, so we decided to only support active PHP versions.

PSR

Phalcon requires the PSR extension. The extension can be downloaded and compiled from this GitHub repository. Installation instructions are available on the README of the repository. Once the extension has been compiled and is available in your system, you will need to load it to your php.ini. In order to load this extension before phalcon you can either add

extension=psr.so

before

extension=phalcon.so

Alternatively some distributions number prefix their ini files. If that is the case, choose a high number for Phalcon (e.g. 50-phalcon.ini).

Installation

Download zephir.phar from here. Add it to a folder that can be accessed by your system.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/phalcon/cphalcon

Compile Phalcon

cd cphalcon/
git checkout tags/v4.0.0-alpha1 ./
zephir fullclean
zephir build

Check the module

php -m | grep phalcon

Changes

Now that you have the v4-alpha1 installed, you can start using it with your application. Unless your application is extremely simple and uses only components that somehow were not changed (highly unlikely), your application will work out of the box.

Interfaces

For those that have not worked with PHP 7+, there is support for typed parameters. For instance this code works both on PHP 5 and 7

function hello($name)
{
    echo $name;
}

However with PHP 7+ you can do this:

function hello(string $name)
{
    echo $name;
}

If $name is not a string, you will get an error from PHP. Phalcon utilizes this functionality to ensure that whatever you pass in the methods of components is of the correct type. As a result we have removed a lot of code that was only checking passed parameters, thus making the framework much faster with this change alone. You will definitely need to check the parameters that you pass to relevant methods and perhaps do some sanitization before calling methods in your application.

This particular step could very well be taxing depending on how your input is processed and passed to the relevant Phalcon components.

We went through pretty much all interfaces and classes that implement them and corrected inconsistencies. There have been times where an interface would define a method with a string variable, only to see in the actual class that implements it using a var (any type) as the parameter for the same method. We have aligned all these interfaces and also enriched the interfaces with additional methods for several components. More on that below.

Applications

  • The Phalcon\Mvc\Application, Phalcon\Mvc\Micro and Phalcon\Mvc\Router now must have a URI to process

Cache

xcache, apc and memcache adapters have been deprecated and removed. The first two are not supported for PHP 7.2+. apc has been replaced with apcu and memcache can be replaced with the libmemcached one.

  • Removed Phalcon\Annotations\Adapter\Apc
  • Removed Phalcon\Annotations\Adapter\Xcache
  • Removed Phalcon\Cache\Backend\Apc
  • Removed Phalcon\Cache\Backend\Memcache
  • Removed Phalcon\Cache\Backend\Xcache
  • Removed Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Metadata\Apc
  • Removed Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Metadata\Memcache
  • Removed Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Metadata\Xcache

CLI

  • CLI parameters now work like MVC parameters

Exceptions

  • Changed catch Exception to Throwable

Models

  • You can no longer assign data to models while saving them

Components

Acl

Since resource is a reserved word in PHP, it has been causing serious issues with Phalcon. As a result we had to rename components that use the word resource as their class name or method name. We have renamed the Acl sub classes as follows:

  • Resource is now Subject. This is the focus of your ACL. What are you allowing, what is the subject of your application? : /users/, /login etc.
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Resource to Phalcon\Acl\Subject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\ResourceInterface to Phalcon\Acl\SubjectInterface
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\ResourceAware to Phalcon\Acl\SubjectAware
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::isResource to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::isSubject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::addResource to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::addSubject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::addResourceAccess to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::addSubjectAccess
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::dropResourceAccess to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::dropSubjectAccess
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getActiveResource to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getActiveSubject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getResources to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getSubjects
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter::getActiveResource to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getActiveSubject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::isResource to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::isSubject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::addResource to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::addSubject
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::addResourceAccess to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::addSubjectAccess
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::dropResourceAccess to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::dropSubjectAccess
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::getResources to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::getSubjects
  • Role is now called Operation. This is the group that you wish to bind to subjects. Subjects perform one or more Operations
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Role to Phalcon\Acl\Operation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\RoleInterface to Phalcon\Acl\OperationInterface
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\RoleAware to Phalcon\Acl\OperationAware
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getRoless to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getOperations
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::addRole to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::addOperation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::isRole to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::isOperation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getActiveRole to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getActiveOperation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter::getActiveRole to Phalcon\Acl\AdapterInterface::getActiveOperation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::addRole to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::addOperation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::isRole to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::isOperation
    • Renamed Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::getRoless to Phalcon\Acl\Adapter\Memory::getOperations

Acl\Adapter\Memory

  • Added getActiveKey, activeFunctionCustomArgumentsCount and getActiveFunction to get latest key, number of custom arguments, and function used to acquire access
  • Added addOperation support multiple inherited

Assets

Similar to the Acl component Resource has been renamed to Asset. Specifically:

  • Assets\Resource is now Assets\Asset
    • Renamed Phalcon\Assets\Resource to Phalcon\Assets\Asset
    • Renamed Phalcon\Assets\ResourceInterface to Phalcon\Assets\AssetInterface
    • Renamed Phalcon\Assets\Manager::addResource to Phalcon\Assets\Manager::addAsset
    • Renamed Phalcon\Assets\Manager::addResourceByType to Phalcon\Assets\Manager::addAssetByType
    • Renamed Phalcon\Assets\Manager::collectionResourcesByType to Phalcon\Assets\Manager::collectionAssetsByType

Cache\Backend*

  • Changed get to use only positive numbers for lifetime

Cache\Backend\Redis

  • Made the specialKey (_PHCR) optional
  • By configuring prefix and statsKey the queryKeys no longer returns prefixed keys, now it returns original keys without prefix.

Db

  • Added global setting orm.case_insensitive_column_map to attempt to find value in the column map case-insensitively. Can be also enabled by setting caseInsensitiveColumnMap key in \Phalcon\Mvc\Model::setup().

Cli\Console

  • Removed Phalcon\Cli\Console::addModules in favor of Phalcon\Cli\Console::registerModules

Cli\Router\RouteInterface

  • Added delimiter, getDelimiter

Cli\Dispatcher

  • Added getTaskSuffix(), setTaskSuffix()

Cli\DispatcherInterface

  • Added setOptions, getOptions

Container

  • Added Phalcon\Container, a proxy container class to the Phalcon\DI implementing PSR-11

Debug

  • Removed Phalcon\Debug::getMajorVersion

Db\AdapterInterface

  • Added fetchColumn, insertAsDict, updateAsDict

Db\Adapter\Pdo

  • Added more column types for the Mysql adapter. The adapters support
    • TYPE_BIGINTEGER
    • TYPE_BIT
    • TYPE_BLOB
    • TYPE_BOOLEAN
    • TYPE_CHAR
    • TYPE_DATE
    • TYPE_DATETIME
    • TYPE_DECIMAL
    • TYPE_DOUBLE
    • TYPE_ENUM
    • TYPE_FLOAT
    • TYPE_INTEGER
    • TYPE_JSON
    • TYPE_JSONB
    • TYPE_LONGBLOB
    • TYPE_LONGTEXT
    • TYPE_MEDIUMBLOB
    • TYPE_MEDIUMINTEGER
    • TYPE_MEDIUMTEXT
    • TYPE_SMALLINTEGER
    • TYPE_TEXT
    • TYPE_TIME
    • TYPE_TIMESTAMP
    • TYPE_TINYBLOB
    • TYPE_TINYINTEGER
    • TYPE_TINYTEXT
    • TYPE_VARCHAR Some adapters do not support certain types. For instance JSON is not supported for Sqlite. It will be automatically changed to `VARCHAR.

Db\DialectInterface

  • Added registerCustomFunction, getCustomFunctions, getSqlExpression

Db\Dialect\Postgresql

  • Changed addPrimaryKey to make primary key constraints names unique by prefixing them with the table name.

Di\ServiceInterface

  • Added getParameter, isResolved

Di\Service

  • Changed Phalcon\Di\Service constructor to no longer takes the name of the service.

Dispatcher

  • Removed Phalcon\Dispatcher::setModelBinding in favor of Phalcon\Dispatcher::setModelBinder

Dispatcher

  • Added getHandlerSuffix(), setHandlerSuffix()

Events\ManagerInterface

  • Added hasListeners

Flash

  • Added ability to set a custom template for the Flash Messenger.

Forms\Form

  • Phalcon\Forms\Form::clear will no longer call Phalcon\Forms\Element::clear, instead it will clear/set default value itself, and Phalcon\Forms\Element::clear will now call Phalcon\Forms\Form::clear if it’s assigned to the form, otherwise it will just clear itself.
  • Phalcon\Forms\Form::getValue will now also try to get the value by calling Tag::getValue or element’s getDefault method before returning null, and Phalcon\Forms\Element::getValue calls Tag::getDefault only if it’s not added to the form.

Html\Breadcrumbs

  • Added Phalcon\Html\Breadcrumbs, a component that creates HTML code for breadcrumbs.

Html\Tag

  • Added Phalcon\Html\Tag, a component that creates HTML elements. It will replace Phalcon\Tag in a future version. This component does not use static method calls.

Http\RequestInterface

  • Removed isSecureRequest in favor of isSecure
  • Removed isSoapRequested in favor of isSoap

Http\Response

  • Added hasHeader() method to Phalcon\Http\Response to provide the ability to check if a header exists.
  • Added Phalcon\Http\Response\Cookies::getCookies
  • Changed setHeaders now merges the headers with any pre-existing ones in the internal collection
  • Added two new events response::beforeSendHeaders and response::afterSendHeaders

Logger

  • Removed Phalcon\Logger\Multiple
  • Changed Phalcon\Logger to comply with PSR-3. The component has been rewritten to use adapters that allow logging to different areas. The logger now is a single component that is instantiated and can be used with different adapters. The File adapter has been renamed to Stream. By adding multiple adapters to your logger you can log to multiple places. This is why the Multiple adapter has been removed. If you set up multiple adapters to your logger but want to log a specific message only to one or two, you can use the excludeAdapters([]) method.
use Phalcon\Logger;
use Phalcon\Logger\Adapter\Stream;

$adapter1 = new Stream('/logs/first-log.log');
$adapter2 = new Stream('/remote/second-log.log');
$adapter3 = new Stream('/manager/third-log.log');

$logger = new Logger(
    'messages',
    [
        'local'   => $adapter1,
        'remote'  => $adapter2,
        'manager' => $adapter3,
    ]
);

// Log to all adapters
$logger->error('Something went wrong');

// Log to specific adapters
$logger
    ->excludeAdapters(['manager'])
    ->info('This does not go to the "manager" logger);

Messages

  • Phalcon\Messages\Message and its collection Phalcon\Messages\Messages are new components that handle messages for models and validation. In the past we had two components, one for validation and one for models. We have merged these two, so you should be getting back a MessageInterface[] back when calling save on a model or when retrieving validation messages.
    • Changed Phalcon\Mvc\Model to use the Phalcon\Messages\Message object for its messages
    • Changed Phalcon\Validation\* to use the Phalcon\Messages\Message object for its messages

Mvc\Collection

  • Removed Phalcon\Mvc\Collection::validationHasFailed
  • Removed calling Phalcon\Mvc\Collection::validate with object of type Phalcon\Mvc\Model\ValidatorInterface

Mvc\Micro\Lazyloader

  • Removed __call in favor of callMethod

Mvc\Model

  • Removed Phalcon\Model::reset
  • Added isRelationshipLoaded to check if relationship is loaded

Mvc\Model\Criteria

  • Removed addWhere
  • Removed order
  • Removed order in favor of orderBy

Mvc\Model\CriteriaInterface

  • Added distinct, leftJoin, innerJoin, rightJoin, groupBy, having, cache, getColumns, getGroupBy, getHaving,

Mvc\Model\Manager

  • load no longer reuses already initialized models

Mvc\Model\ManagerInterface

  • Added isVisibleModelProperty, keepSnapshots, isKeepingSnapshots, useDynamicUpdate, isUsingDynamicUpdate, addHasManyToMany, existsHasManyToMany, getRelationRecords, getHasManyToMany, registerNamespaceAlias, getNamespaceAlias

Mvc\Model\MessageInterface

  • Added setModel, getModel, setCode, getCode

Mvc\Model\QueryInterface

  • Added getSingleResult, setBindParams, getBindParams, setBindTypes, setSharedLock, getBindTypes, getSql

Mvc\Model\Query\BuilderInterface

  • Added offset

Mvc\Model\Query\Builder

  • Added bind support. The Query Builder has the same methods as Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Query; getBindParams, setBindParams, getBindTypes and setBindTypes.
  • Changed addFrom to remove third parameter $with

Mvc\Model\Query\BuilderInterface

  • Added distinct, getDistinct, forUpdate, offset, getOffset

Mvc\Model\RelationInterface

  • Added getParams

Mvc\Model\ResultsetInterface

  • Added setHydrateMode, getHydrateMode, getMessages, update, delete, filter

Mvc\Model\Transaction\ManagerInterface

  • Added setDbService, getDbService, setRollbackPendent, getRollbackPendent

Mvc\Model\Validator*

  • Removed Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Validator\* in favor of Phalcon\Validation\Validator\*

Mvc\ModelInterface

  • Added getModelsMetaData

Mvc\RouterInterface

  • Added attach

Mvc\Router\RouteInterface

  • Added convert so that calling add will return an instance that has convert method

Mvc\Router\RouteInterface

  • Added response handler to Phalcon\Mvc\Micro, Phalcon\Mvc\Micro::setResponseHandler, to allow use of a custom response handler.

Mvc\View

  • Removed getParams

Paginator

  • getPaginate not becomes paginate
  • $before is removed and replaced with $previous
  • $total_pages is removed since it contained the same information as $last
  • Added Phalcon\Paginator\RepositoryInterface for repository the current state of paginator and also optional sets the aliases for properties repository

Security

  • Removed hasLibreSsl
  • Removed getSslVersionNumber
  • Added setPadding

Session

  • Phalcon\Session and Phalcon\Session\Bag no longer get loaded by default in Phalcon\DI\FactoryDefault
  • Refactored Phalcon\Session
  • Phalcon\Session\Manager is now the single component offering session manipulation by using adapters.
  • Each adapter implements PHP’s SessionHandlerInterface.
  • Available adapters are Phalcon\Session\Adapter\Files, Phalcon\Session\Adapter\Libmemcached, Phalcon\Session\Adapter\Noop and Phalcon\Session\Adapter\Redis.
  • Developers can now add any adapter that implements the SessionHandlerInterface in the Phalcon\Session\Manager

Security

  • Added a retainer for the current token to be used during the checks, so when getToken is called the token used for checks does not change

Tag

  • Added renderTitle() that renders the title enclosed in <title> tags.
  • Changed getTitle. It returns only the text. It accepts prepend, append booleans to prepend or append the relevant text to the title.
  • Changed textArea to use htmlspecialchars to prevent XSS injection.

Validation\Message

  • Removed Phalcon\Validation\Message and Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Message in favor of Phalcon\Messages\Message
  • Removed Phalcon\Validation\MessageInterface and Phalcon\Mvc\Model\MessageInterface in favor of Phalcon\Messages\MessageInterface
  • Removed Phalcon\Validation\Message and Phalcon\Mvc\Model\Message in favor of Phalcon\Messages\Message
  • Removed Phalcon\Validation\Message\Group in favor of Phalcon\Messages\Messages

Validation\Validator

  • Removed isSetOption

Validation\Validator\Ip

  • Added Phalcon\Validation\Validator\Ip, class used to validate ip address fields. It allows to validate a field selecting IPv4 or IPv6, allowing private or reserved ranges and empty values if necessary.

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