I'm new here, so feel free to point me to URLs if I'm revisiting familiar territory -- my own searching hasn't been too successful.
I'm the lead developer on VuFind (http://vufind.org/), an open source project used by libraries. The software has outgrown its original ad-hoc MVC architecture, so I have been working for the past view months to port it to Zend Framework. I'm extremely happy with the results, but now I'm in an awkward situation: I don't want to release a new version of my software based on a soon-to-be-deprecated architecture (ZF1), nor do I want to use a beta with an unstable API (ZF2). I want to make sure the upgrade process is as painless as possible so it's worthwhile for the (very large) installed base to move forward -- a key piece of that is getting my 2.0 architecture right the first time. I was hoping that a feature-complete ZF 2.0 beta would arrive before I was quite so deep into VuFind 2.0 -- but at this point, my ZF1 prototype is about 95% complete, so I need to start thinking about next steps. A few specific questions: 1.) Working with ZF1 has imprinted its MVC model pretty solidly on my brain. I gather that ZF2 will require some mental adjustments. The ZF2 docs I've seen make me feel like I have to learn ZF2 from the bottom up in order to compare its model against ZF1. Is there (or will there be) a "ZF2 for ZF1 developers" type of guide to help make the learning curve shallower for developers already familiar with ZF1 concepts? 2.) Question 1 is about the high-level mental model, but I'm also interested in the gritty details. VuFind uses many features that will probably change in ZF2: unit tests, plug-ins, helpers, routers, a custom theme system, complex search paths, etc. A breakdown of core ZF1 features showing how they translate to ZF2 would be useful. Perhaps a "recommended migration checklist" would be a good approach, taking a developer step by step from starting with getting the app up using the migration layer, moving on to simple naming convention adjustments, then going into areas where more significant refactoring might be needed, and ending up with a result that fully embraces ZF2 principles. 3.) Is the timeline in the FAQ (spring - complete beta, summer - final release) still accurate? Is the migration layer due with the complete beta or with the final release? Either way, is there anything more I should do to start preparing my code (and my brain) in the meantime? Thanks for your help (and the Framework)! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to make myself useful (i.e. help test/improve documentation). - Demian
