Symfony 6: prepare for your migration!

Symfony 6 and 5.4 will be available soon. Their release is scheduled for the end of November 2021. The time has come to prepare your applications for a smooth migration!

Did you know ? Symfony represents +3,000 contributors and +200,000,000 monthly downloads by developers worldwide!

As is the case every two years, Symfony will simultaneously launch the latest version of one branch (X.4) and the first version of the next branch (Y.0). Symfony 6.0 Beta1 and 5.4 Beta1 were presented on November 5th, and Symfony 6.0 Beta2 and 5.4 Beta2, on November 14th ; ahead of the release of their final versions.

At Esokia, we welcome these new versions with enthusiasm, because our digital agency uses Symfony on a daily basis ; to deliver a variety of web development projects. We are also part of the partners of SensioLabs, the publisher of this open-source PHP framework.

Are you thinking of creating a website or a web application with Symfony? Read more about it in this article ; which we have prepared for the recent anniversary of this powerful development tool and the upcoming release of its versions 6 and 5.4.

Symfony 6 and Symfony 5.4

Both versions (6 and 5.4) will have the same functionalities, but Symfony 6 will not include any deprecated features.

Before migrating to version 6, it is necessary to upgrade to version 5.4 first, in order to remove all deprecations in your code.

In addition, these last two editions of Symfony will incorporate another change: the addition of PHP types in all properties, arguments and return values ​​of methods. This could have a significant impact on your applications.

Symfony 5.4

According to experts, new features in Symfony 5.4 will include:

• An improved Console component

This is one of the favorite and most downloaded Symfony components besides Polyfill components. In version 5.4, Symfony Console will be released with the most important and most requested missing feature: autocompletion. When executing a Symfony command, just press the "TAB" key to view a list of contextual suggestions.

Autocompletion will not only increase your productivity, but will also prevent many typos and problems when passing options and arguments to the controls.

• Faster security voters

To check permissions in Symfony applications, it is recommended to use security voters. They allow authorization logic to be centralized, so that you can reuse it from controllers, templates and services.

According to Symfony, increasing the speed of security voters significantly improves performance in processing security authorization.

• Other novelties:
• Symfony 5.4 will support the nested attributes of PHP 8.1 in all of its validation constraints.
• Some controller shortcuts in Symfony 5.4 will be deprecated, in order to encourage better practices.

What are the benefits of new versions of Symfony for the company?

Symfony versions follow the semantic versioning strategy and are released at specific intervals.

There are 3 types of Symfony new versions:

• A new patch version (e.g. 4.4.12, 5.1.9) comes out almost every month. It only contains bug fixes.
• A new minor version (e.g. 4.4, 5.1) is released every 6 months: one in May and one in November. It contains bug fixes and new features, but does not include any significant changes.
• A new major version (e.g. 4.0, 5.0, 6.0) is released every two years. It may contain important modifications.

By integrating corrective or minor versions, the company can fix bugs, integrate new functionalities and thus, update its applications. For major versions, the company must modify its applications before upgrading them on all fronts (security, compliance with current best practices, etc.).

Symfony 6: Why use Symfony?

Symfony is the industry standard in web and business application development.

Some other facts about this framework:

• It is supported by over 600,000 developers from over 120 countries and has a globally recognized stable environment;
• It is made of decoupled and reusable components, used by renowned projects such as Drupal (CMS), Magento, Prestashop (e-commerce) and Laravel (framework).
• It is the leading framework in PHP, the programming language. Over 80% of websites are in PHP, including Yahoo, Wikipedia, Etsy, Mailchimp, and Facebook.
• It is driven by a philosophy of excellence: to promote professionalism, best practices, standardization and interoperability of applications.

(source: Symfony.com)

Symfony 6: What are the technological advantages of Symfony?

Symfony isn't the first PHP framework by accident. Here is a summary of the range of technological advantages it offers:

• Productivity

Like any framework, Symfony is made up of a toolbox and a methodology. In the toolbox, you have access to a set of prefabricated and quickly integratable software components. This means that you will have to write less code, with less risk of error. It also means greater productivity and the ability to devote more time to tasks providing greater added value.

• Efficiency

Regarding the methodology, i.e. an “assembly diagram” for applications, Symfony advocates a structured approach. It may seem overwhelming at first, but in reality, it allows developers to work efficiently on the more complex aspects of a task. In addition, adhering to best practices guarantees the stability, maintainability, and scalability of the applications you develop.

• Continuous improvement

Created in 2005 by web developer SensioLabs, Symfony is made available to everyone under an open-source license. Therefore, it benefits other developers, who also have the opportunity to improve it by adding their own modules, while respecting best practices. Thus, Symfony continues to be perfected by its community. What could be more useful than an application developed by users for their own needs?

•  Flexibility and extensibility

Symfony is adaptable to all your needs: the dependency injection and the Event Dispatcher, make it fully configurable; each of the bricks being completely independent. This makes it a 3-in-1 framework, with the possibility of working full stack or being used as a microframework or even brick by brick. Moreover, thanks to its plug-ins, this framework is modifiable and extensible, from the smallest brick to the core itself, without requiring a complete reconfiguration.

• Ease of use

Symfony's tools greatly facilitate the work of developers, including the Web Debug Toolbar, as well as native support for development environments; detailed error pages and native security. Even beginners quickly feel comfortable with Symfony, as there is abundant documentation, community and professional support, and best practices built into the framework.

• Stability and support

Symfony's release process maintains compatibility between all minor versions and provides 3-year support for major versions. Its stability, relevance and sustainability are thus ensured, not only with the long-term support of SensioLabs, but also, the entire ecosystem that has developed around Symfony since its launch. The community (Slack, GitHub Discussions, etc.) and many other service companies contribute to the fortification of this framework.

(source: Symfony.com)

Symfony 6: an expert's perspective

Associate Manager Symfony at Esokia, Sandeep Kallooa is full of praise for this framework, which he has mastered for 6 years.

“The choice to develop with Symfony, rather than another framework, is strategic. This is a long-term view.

To properly judge its many strengths, you have to compare Symfony to other open-source frameworks. Some frameworks may be completely flexible, imposing no constraints, but the quality of the projects carried out is not necessarily optimal.

Symfony is flexible, although there are rules to follow in terms of structure and best practices. However, this is precisely what makes it possible to obtain high-quality results. Symfony is more solid, reliable, and we are sure of the rendering.

Using a framework such as Symfony ensures that an application is in full compliance with the business rules, well-structured, maintainable and scalable; and it also saves developers time”, he affirms.

Esokia: an innovative digital agency specializing in Symfony!

However, the development of any web project requires technical expertise. If you don't have the skills in-house to adopt Symfony or migrate to future versions of this framework, Esokia can take care of it for you.

Sandeep and our other certified Symfony developers have already implemented a proven process for migrations. We have the know-how and the tools your business needs to update your applications.