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I've recently started working at a company whose main product is a Zend Framework based application consisting of several modules. The plan is to use a content management system with the frontend (default) module, so that the marketing folks can manage the public web site.

I'm currently evaluating possible solutions and I've been wondering if one of the Zend Framework based CMS's (namely pimcore, concrete5, TomatoCMS) could be incorporated into the existing application. Has anybody done this and achieved a (more or less) seamless integration of one of those systems into an existing Zend Framework application?

I might have to add that the frontend module is not "empty". There is a rather extensive signup process (based on Zend forms) already in place and I guess the CMS should be able to "flow around" that or something.

I guess another option would be to roll our own (perhaps based on Digitalus), but I'd rather not do that if there are better solutions.

Has anybody any experience with integrating a CMS into an existing Zend Framework application as described above? Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

jgxvx
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2 Answers2

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I'm not familiar with pimcore or TomatoCMS, but I do know Concrete5 fairly well. Although it does leverage several Zend Framework libraries (i.e. caching, localization), I wouldn't consider it a "Zend Framework-based CMS" for the purposes you stated. It has its own architecture and integrating your existing application in it would basically mean either setting up the CMS portion of the site as an isolated separate system (with very basic integration like displaying the contents of your custom app pages inside the CMS's theme or sharing logins), or rebuilding your application in the "Concrete5 way" (which, depending on how complex your app is, might not even make sense as the "Concrete5 way" is centered around informational content pages, not so much user interactivity other than content editing).

Concrete5 is a great system, but it was not really designed as a platform to build very custom applications on top of. If your site is 75% informational pages and managing that content is the primary purpose of the site then it might make sense to go the Concrete5 route, but if it's primarily about the custom functionality you've already created with just a smattering of content-managed informational pages on the side, you're probably best off using a very lightweight CMS library as opposed to rebuilding your app on top of a CMS itself.

Jordan Lev
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  • Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. The application is fairly large (the colleagues have been working on it for the last two years), so rebuilding it is not an option. We've agreed that we'll keep the sites entirely separate for the time being and work with custom layouts to make the public part of the application look the same as the CMS based site. – jgxvx May 05 '11 at 13:01
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I have the same exact scenario. I manage a rather large and complex website built using the Zend Framework and need to layer on top a CMS to allow marketing folks to make updates on the website, manage navigation, header/footer, etc. However, starting fresh on the CMS is not an option given we'd have to re-factor all of the Zend Framework code into the CMS language. We're also under a tight timeline so need to move the site as is (if possible) into a CMS.

I'm leaning towards Expression Engine, but I'm not sure if what I'm trying to do is even possible. Goal is to have a CMS running a Zend Framework app/website.

Did you ever come to a resolution on your end?

scottystang
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  • Yes, we have been separating applications and websites ever since. Use a full-featured CMS for the website at www.example.com and let the application run at, say, app.example.com. There are drawbacks (One regular SSL certificate won't do; Duplication of layout/theme code), but the good outweighs the bad, imho. – jgxvx Apr 14 '16 at 20:44
  • Awesome, thanks for the validation. My plan is to leave our Zend Framework powered web application in tact and build a CMS alongside it to enable marketing folks to make edits to our top 50 pages. We use Akamai Dynamic Site Delivery to handle all page requests for caching, so maybe we could leverage Akamai to route web app requests to something like jobs.example.com and the "rest" of the requests go to the CMS at www.example.com. Does that sound do-able? How have you handled the traffic inspection and routing on your end? – scottystang Apr 25 '16 at 16:57