Good PHP ORM Library?

Answer 1

Another great open source PHP ORM that we use is PHPSmartDb. It is stable and makes your code more secure and clean. The database functionality within it is hands down the easiest I have ever used with PHP 5.3.

Answer 2

I've been developing Pork.dbObject on my own. (A simple PHP ORM and Active Record implementation) The main reason is that I find most ORMs too heavy.

The main thought of Pork.dbObejct is to be light-weight and simple to set up. No bunch of XML files, just one function call in the constructor to bind it, and an addRelation or addCustomRelation to define a relation to another dbObject.

Give it a look: Pork.dbObject

Answer 3

You can check out Repose if you are feeling adventurous. Like Outlet, it is modeled after Hibernate.

It is still very early in its development, but so far the only restrictions on the domain model are that the classes are not marked final and properties are not marked private. Once I get into the land of PHP >= 5.3, I'll try to implement support for private properties as well.

Answer 4

Doctrine is probably your best bet. Prior to Doctrine, DB_DataObject was essentially the only other utility that was open sourced.

Answer 5

Axon ORM is part of the Fat-Free Framework - it features an on-the-fly mapper. No code generators. No stupid XML/YAML configuration files. It reads the database schema directly from the backend, so in most CRUD operations you don't even have to extend a base model. It works with all major PDO-supported database engines: MySQL, SQLite, SQL Server/Sybase, Oracle, PostgreSQL, etc.

/* SQL */
CREATE TABLE products (
    product_id INTEGER,
    description VARCHAR(128),
    PRIMARY KEY (product_id)
);

/* PHP */
// Create
$product=new Axon('products'); // Automatically reads the above schema
$product->product_id=123;
$product->description='Sofa bed';
$product->save(); // ORM knows it's a new record

// Retrieve
$product->load('product_id=123');
echo $product->description;

// Update
$product->description='A better sofa bed';
$product->save(); // ORM knows it's an existing record

// Delete
$product->erase();

Most of all, the plug-in and accompanying SQL data access layer are just as lightweight as the framework: 14 KB (Axon) + 6 KB (SQLdb). Fat-Free is just 55 KB.

Answer 6

Try Doctrine2. It's probably the most powerful ORM tool for PHP. I'm mentioning it separately from Doctrine 1, because it's a completely different piece of software. It's been rewritten from scratch, is still in beta phase, but it's usable now and developed.

It's a very complex ORM, but well designed. Lot of magic from original Doctrine 1 disappeared. It provides a complete solution, and you can write your own ORM on top of Doctrine2 or use just one of its layers.