Phalcon Framework

1. What is Phalcon Framework?

PHP C-extension (Phalcon) is a PHP framework built from C. Because it is built using C, the framework is very fast and has high performance, capable of handling about 3000 requests per second.

We only need to know PHP to work with Phalcon easily. Phalcon is very easy to learn and has relatively clear documentation.

The Phalcon library is very lightweight, and the download and installation process is very simple, making it easy for us to access. Additionally, the project folder structure in Phalcon is also simple and easy to understand.

Moreover, Phalcon is very powerful for the functions it provides. It inherits the best features built by previous frameworks. Phalcon provides us with convenient database operations through its ORM Model. Its template engine works well, making the source code look cleaner.

2. Steps to Install Phalcon Framework (Windows)

Guide to installing Phalcon on XAMPP for Windows

Step 1: Go to phpinfo in XAMPP to check the server configuration for Apache2 and PHP, paying attention to the PHP version (5.5.34) in use and Compiler (MSVC11 (Visual C++ 2012)).

Step 2: Go to the Phalcon official website download the appropriate DLL file based on your XAMPP server configuration. As mentioned in the configuration information above, I will select the package phalcon_x86_vc11_php5.5_3.1.2.zip

Step 3: After downloading, extract the files and copy the DLL file to the PHP extensions directory on your system, for example: C:\xampp\php\ext. Then, open the php.ini file (C:\xampp\php\php.ini) and add the following line at the end of the file.

`extension=php_phalcon.dll`

Final Step: Restart XAMPP and go to the PHP info page to check if the Phalcon extension is activated.