WineHQ Application Database Coding Practice

########
# HTML #
########
- Respect html coding standards. The current doctype is HTML 4.01 transitional (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/)
Try to make your content validate nicely (http://validator.w3.org/)

- Think about upward compatibility. Some day we might choose another doctype like XHTML 1.0
(i.e. <br /> instead of <br>, avoid using styles tag and properties (bgcolor, borders & Co) and use stylesheets instead)


#######
# PHP #
#######
- functions are written this way (that way {}'s are lined up):
<?php
function foo() 
{
    if(isset($var))
    {
        echo "bar";
    }    
}
?>

- indentation is made of 4 spaces (no tabs please)

- line length should be no more than 130 characters, preferably < 80

- comments: Muli line code should look like this.

/**
 * This functions does nothing interesing.
 * More comments to come here...
 */
function bar()
{
    foo();
}

/**
 * If you want to highlight some thing this is permissable. for a single line
 */

if(!isset($appId))
{
    /* a single comment should be like this */
} else
{

    /* Shows a particular version. */
    if($versionId) 
    {
        /* Code comes here */
    }
    
    /* Shows an apps summary */
    else 
    {
       /* Another code comes here */
    }
}

- use long php tags (<?php ?>) instead of short ones (<? ?>) as :
 1) it could be removed from future versions of php
 2) if conflicts with tags like <?xml version=1.0 ?> that are used in xhtml

- do not use vars that require register_globals to be on as:
 1) it is off by default in php 4.1+
 2) it is more secure
 3) it makes it easier to understand where your vars are comming from (forms, session, etc.)

- variables naming
variables that don't come from outside your script (i.e. that arent fetched from superglobals) should be named this way 
(a.k.a hungariant notation):
prefix + var_name

Where prefix is one of:
Scalar types:
i for integers
f for floats
s for strings
b for booleans
Compound types:
a for arrays
o for objects
Special type:
h for handles

the rest of the variable's name is using camel style
examples:
$aUsers
$iTopicId
$hRecordSet 
$sQuery
$hResult