PHP Application Frameworks

[blasto333]

Hi,

I have been developing PHP applications for almost 5 years, and have realized I keep doing a lot of the same things over and over again.

While I have a pretty large set of common functions, I still end up writing a lot of manual SQL statements, html, css...It just seems like I am always doing a lot of extra work.

What are the BEST frameworks to dig myself into? Some of my requirements are:

* PHP 4 + 5 compatible
* Aids with Server + Client side validation
* FREE and allowed to be used with commercial applications
* Stable
* Database Independent
* Not terrible difficult to learn

I want some recommendations based on experiance using a particular framework.

Thanks!

[Steerpike]

My personal preference is for Code Igniter

[phparion]

did you check Zend and Cake PHP?

[Cups]

I think CodeIgniter is what you are looking for. They are committed to supporting PHP4, but the PHP5 features are kinda automatic.

There is a very good ActiveRecord-like db abstraction, but you dont need to use it.

There is a simple templater, but you dont need to use it.

The best thing is the documentation which gets you up and using it quick. BUT like all frameworks you will benefit if you understand some OOP and have a grasp of what MVC is .