Learning Kohana

Hi Everyone,

Tap here from the forums. I registered as a guest author to supplement dlib’s posts so there’s a continuous flow of information for new users, based around helping them get started with Kohana.

I think one of the important things to help you get started is to know WHERE to find the information to look for, and if you can’t find it anywhere, know where to ask.

With that said, here’s 5 tips that will help you find what you’re looking for.

1. The Kohana user guide. http://doc.kohanaphp.com/

This is your central source for all information regarding Kohana. It gives you information about all of the functionality included in the framework. However, this guide covers only the information in release v2.1.1. Many significant changes will be seen in future releases (release v2.2+). An example is the validation library. This library has been rewritten and much of the old functionality will not work when upgrading to the future release.

2. The Kohana forums. http://forum.kohanaphp.com/

Before you ask a question, do a quick search on the forums to see if someone has asked the same question. This will not only save you time from having to write a complete post, but it will also save a lot of other people who have answered the same question from experiencing deja-vu. If you can’t find what you’re looking for after you search, start a new discussion and include detailed information so all the happy people that browse the forum from time to time can answer it quickly without wonder what the heck you’re talking about.

3. Learning Kohana (this blog)! http://learn.kohanaphp.com/

After you’ve read a bit about the framework and its functionality. Hop over here (again), and start reading the tutorials and lessons that have been generously contributed by a few members of the community. There is a plethora of information contained in these 48 posts (and growing!). They will quickly help you understand how to write a simple application using the Kohana framework.

4. IRC. #kohana on irc.freenode.net

IRC may be considered by some a thing of the past, but it’s a great place to ask a quick question when working with Kohana. At times the activity on the channel is slow, but if you remain in it your question is bound to be answered at some point. Again, the community will only grow, and more and more people will gain the knowledge and ability to answer your question.

5. The Module Repository. http://code.google.com/p/kohanamodules/

For now, this is the location of user created modules. It doesn’t contain much, but if you’re looking for something related to Kohana (like an extended Authorization or ACL library, custom CMS, etc..) check here. The community is growing and more information will likely be added in time. Also, once a final module repository is agreed upon, I will come back and edit this post with the correct location.

And finally…

I feel that the tutorials section of the website is a bit lacking. Some of the information contained there is outdated. With some work it could be another great starting point for a new Kohana user. However, I still recommend watching all three video tutorials. They’re good resources for beginners and will teach you how to create a basic website (watch for the use of $this->load->view(), which is deprecated in the upcoming version of Kohana).

Also, read THIS thread on the forums. It contains other resources that will help you on your way to becoming a proficient developer using the framework. It’s also a good place to post any ideas you may have to make the community better. We’re working on centralizing the resources to make getting started less of a headache, so post your suggestions!