Symfony Station Communiqué - 22 April 2022. A look at Symfony, PHP, and Cybersecurity News!
Tags: symfony, php, drupal, cybersecurity
Published: 2022-04-22 14:15:01

[This article originally appeared on Symfony Station](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-22-April-2022), your source for cutting-edge Symfony and PHP news.

Welcome to this week's Symfony Station Communiqué. It's your weekly review of the essential news in the Symfony and PHP development communities.

PHP news was slow this week, so we added coverage to our Other section, including the tech aspects of the war crimes in Ukraine.

Take your time and enjoy the items most valuable to you.

Thanks to Javier Eguiluz and Symfony for sharing [our last communiqué](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-15-April-2022) in [their Week of Symfony](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-798-11-17-april-2022).

**Please note that links will open in a new browser window. My opinions will be in bold.**

## Symfony

As always, we will start with the official news from Symfony.

Highlight -> “This week, the first beta of Symfony 6.1 was released in preparation for its final release in 6 weeks. Meanwhile, we published some blog posts about new Symfony 6.1 features, such as improved ExpressionLanguage syntax and the Locale Switcher. Lastly, the SymfonyWorld Online conference (June 16-17, 2022) announced its first speakers.”

[A Week of Symfony #798 (11-17 April 2022)](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-798-11-17-april-2022)

They also announced the following:

[Last days of Call for Papers for SymfonyCon Disneyland Paris 2022](https://symfony.com/blog/last-days-of-call-for-papers-for-symfonycon-disneyland-paris-2022)

SymfonyCasts finish their free look at Symfony 6.

[This week on SymfonyCasts](https://5hy9x.r.ag.d.sendibm3.com/mk/mr/EHLQQW74uuO7tEKmBiHGVHoK35GxSRxf_3i9Ed6EMOudu7yZTBJzfnJqhaTlLCE7kDObbAYPKPpSfypD0zYyPU17eTQHClHjTt22IveCBoU6rlXQUPzMtFvuLa3_vruoP1hppQGfBA)

Platform.sh announced that “Each of your applications can define custom operations, aka Source Operations, which can be triggered manually or via an automation process (for example, a cron).

When those custom operations run, they can change your codebase (for example, apply a security patch, update a dependency or install a specific extension), and push those changes live.”

[Automated code updates](https://platform.sh/blog/2022/automated-code-updates/)

## Featured Item

![https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Featured-Item_1_0.png](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Featured-Item_1_0.png)

SymfonyCasts’ free Symfony 6 tutorial is now fully released!

Be sure to take it or watch the individual chapters relevant to you.

### **[Harmonious Development with Symfony 6](https://symfonycasts.com/screencast/symfony)**

### This Week

Wouter de Jong writes, “Symfony has a very rigid release schedule since Symfony 3.0. Predictable releases are often mentioned as a major advantage. Did you know that this schedule also includes a 2-month “stabilization phase”? This phase gives time to all libraries and bundles to catch up. Testing pre-releases is one of the best and least time-consuming contributions you can make to Symfony. Let’s see how you can help Symfony by reserving 30 minutes during these two months!

[Stabilizing Symfony: Testing out the pre-release](https://wouterj.nl/2021/06/stabilizing-symfony-test-out-pre-releases)

Coding 010 says, “Today I saw the Symfony 6.1.0-BETA1 released a blog post and quickly scanned for updates regarding Enum support. And yes, a new feature was listed: [HttpKernel] Add a controller argument resolver for backed enums. I quickly set up a testing project to play around with this.”

[Symfony 6.1, routing and PHP 8.1 Enums](https://medium.com/@zbirac010/symfony-6-1-routing-and-php-8-1-enums-8812a08fd25d)

Marco Pfeiffer asks, “You have a working project, and you need to add a full-text search. But most databases (SQL, Document) do not contain reasonable fuzzy searches, so you need to bring a specialized database (like Elasticsearch) into your project.

But how?”

[3 Ways on How To Use ElasticSearch in a Symfony Project with ApiPlatform](https://betterprogramming.pub/3-ways-on-how-to-use-elasticsearch-in-a-symfony-project-with-apiplatform-689674f6059e)

The Codest writes, “This article was created to show you the most useful and retrieving tips and tricks about Symfony Console Development.”

[PHP Development. Symfony Console Component - Tips Tricks](https://thecodest.co/blog/php-development-symfony-console-component-tips-tricks)

Krzysztof Lobermajer notes, “Legacy code is something I do not want to deal with. It is always not well written, hard to read, and very complicated.

The first thing we want to do when starting to work with a new legacy project is to rewrite everything from scratch.

A better approach is to rewrite step by step, one module at a time. Let legacy live with a new codebase, arm in arm. It can be achieved by using a strangler pattern. Unfortunately, such an approach is also not always possible.

Taming involves reducing refactoring activities and focusing more on introducing new features to make something improvements visible to the customers.

[Legacy code - strangle or tame?](https://dev.to/accesto/legacy-code-strangle-or-tame-691)

The API Platform Conference is the only event dedicated to the API Platform and its ecosystem.

[API Platform Conference 2022](https://api-platform.com/con/2022/)

Code Bilby has many short posts on the topic of the Twig templating engine. Check them out.

[TWIG - Code Bilby](https://www.codebilby.com/tag/Twig/page/1)

We covered CakePHP in our article, [Exploring the 7 PHP Frameworks using Symfony Components](https://www.symfonystation.com/PHP-Platforms-Symfony). In this article, Stephen Pearl compares it to CodeIgniter.

[The Most Significant Differences Between CakePHP and CodeIgniter](https://www.bookmyessay.co.uk/blog/the-most-significant-differences-between-cakephp-and-codeigniter/)

Bounteous has a look at:

[Drupal 10: Uncovering New Features and Benefits](https://www.bounteous.com/insights/2022/04/19/drupal-10-uncovering-new-features-and-benefits/)

### Last Week

Redfin Solutions explains its role in:

[Leading Drupal’s Project Browser Strategic Initiative](https://redfinsolutions.com/blog/leading-drupals-project-browser-strategic-initiative/)

Meanwhile, ImageX looks at:

[The Easy Out of the Box Initiative for Drupal: even more user-friendliness!](https://imagexmedia.com/blog/drupal-easy-out-of-the-box-initiative/)

See all [the strategic initiatives](https://www.drupal.org/about/core/strategic-initiatives).

Wim Leers covers the changes made in the CKEditor5 for Drupal 10 during Dev Days Ghent.

[Drupal Dev Days Ghent 2022: sprints FTW!](https://wimleers.com/blog/ddd-ghent-2022)

Alain Schlesser says, “Bento is a relatively new high-performance web components library that makes it easy to optimize your web properties for an excellent page experience. It was initially conceived to make the AMP project's performance insights and engineering expertise available to more people and with fewer strings attached. Bento components are self-contained and can be used in a gradual mix-and-match approach.

Bento components are packaged as React or Preact components for seamless integration into any framework using such a stack. However, they are also provided as standardized Web Components so that they can be used anywhere else where (P)React might not be available.”

**This could include the Gutenberg Module in Drupal.**

[Using Bento Components in Gutenberg Blocks](https://www.alainschlesser.com/using-bento-components-in-gutenberg-blocks/)

![https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/php-logo_4.png](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/php-logo_4.png)

## PHP

### This week

Simply Stef is starting a series of articles called [PHP 101 Fundamentals](https://medium.com/@simply_stef/php-101-fundamentals-ba1b59ebe703). It includes this helpful one.

[PHP 101: Understanding Functions](https://medium.com/@simply_stef/php-101-understanding-functions-e993b854e6b4)

Kinsta has this extensive and insightful comparison article for us.

[Node.js vs. PHP: A Head-to-Head Comparison](https://kinsta.com/blog/node-js-vs-php/)

Jordi Bassaganas writes, “I’ll be sharing a series of posts that show how similar PHP and TypeScript are — they’re probably more similar than you’d initially think. I will explain helpful tips on how to do object-oriented programming (OOP) in both of them. More specifically, I’m transcribing a statically-typed, object-oriented PHP codebase into TypeScript from scratch.”

[Why TypeScript and PHP Are Good Friends](https://programarivm.medium.com/why-typescript-and-php-are-good-friends-964360fb75f6)

Fig announced that “that starting in version 1.0.57, it now supports over a dozen new terminals and IDEs including PhpStorm.

[Fig now supports JetBrains IDEs](https://fig.io/blog/post/jetbrains-support)

On a related note, JetBrains shows us how to:

[Create PHP Courses Inside PhpStorm With EduTools](https://blog.jetbrains.com/education/2022/04/21/create-php-courses-inside-phpstorm-with-edutools/)

### Last Week

Ahmet Özışık looks at:

[PHPUnit failing with exit code 255](https://swiftmade.co/blog/2022-04-05-phpunit-failing-with-exit-code-255/)

![https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/code-logo_3.jpeg](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/code-logo_3.jpeg)

## Other

[Please visit our Support Ukraine page](https://www.symfonystation.com/Support-Ukraine) to learn how you can help kick Russia out of Ukraine (eventually).

### The cyber response to Russia’s War Crimes

TechCrunch has:

[An inside look at a Ukrainian fintech startup adapting to life during wartime](https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/15/an-inside-look-at-a-ukrainian-fintech-startup-adapting-to-life-during-wartime/)

Politico Pro reports that:

[Russia’s propaganda machine takes another hit](https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-splinternet-google-facebook/amp/)

The Next Web covers:

[How Russia and Ukraine are using social media as the war drags on](https://thenextweb.com/news/how-russia-and-ukraine-are-using-social-media-as-the-war-drags-on)

PCMag notes that the:

[Pentagon is Impressed by Starlink's Fast Signal-Jamming Workaround in Ukraine](https://www.pcmag.com/news/pentagon-impressed-by-starlinks-fast-signal-jamming-workaround-in-ukraine)

MSN reports, “Cybersecurity experts representing 30 NATO members are fighting a digital war this week to defend a fictional island country in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Though “Berylia” is fake, experts involved hope the lessons learned from the staged attack will better prepare them for the possibility of a Russian attack as war ravages Ukraine.”

[NATO Plays Cyberwar to Prep for a Real Russian Attack](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nato-plays-cyberwar-to-prep-for-a-real-russian-attack/ar-AAWl8w8?rt=0&ocid=Win10NewsApp&item=flights:prg-mobileappview)

### The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Reuters have an exclusive:

[Senior EU officials were targeted with Israeli spyware](https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-senior-eu-officials-were-targeted-with-israeli-spyware-sources-2022-04-11/)

Tech Monitor reports, “Critical national infrastructure is at “increased risk of malicious cyber activity” perpetrated by Russia, according to a warning by the UK and its allies in the ‘Five Eyes’ security alliance. A rare joint advisory from the Five Eyes nations states that the war in Ukraine and the 
sanctions imposed on Russia mean the threat to infrastructure has increased in recent days.

[’A storm on the horizon’: Five Eyes issue Russian cyberattack warning](https://techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/russia-critical-infrastructure-cyberattack-five-eyes)

Gizmondo reports that:

[FBI Says North Korea Behind Biggest Crypto Theft in History Against Axie Infinity](https://gizmodo.com/fbi-says-north-korea-behind-biggest-crypto-theft-in-his-1848797691)

The Guardian has this depressing story.

[Facebook posts disputing Bucha atrocities were shared 208,000 times in a week](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/facebook-posts-disputing-bucha-atrocities-shared-208000-times-in-a-week)

### Cybersecurity

[Explore our article on Symfony Security](https://www.symfonystation.com/Flexibility-Extensibility-Symfony-Security) 

VentureBeat reports that:

[Ransomware targeting virtualization platforms is on the rise, Mandiant says](https://venturebeat.com/2022/04/19/ransomware-targeting-virtualization-platforms-is-on-the-rise-mandiant-says/)

Tech.co reports, “Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) group BlackCat, has already compromised 60 entities worldwide, according to a FLASH warning issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this week.

The report confirms that the recently established BlackCat group are typically requesting ransom payments of several million dollars, and are carrying out their attacks using Rust, a highly advanced coding language.”

[FBI Warning as BlackCat Ransomware Breaches at Least 60 Organizations](https://tech.co/news/fbi-warning-ransomware-breach-organizations)

### More

Make Use Of shows us:

[How to Use Flex to Align HTML Elements](https://www.makeuseof.com/css-flex-align-html-elements/)

Dave Rupert shares:

[7 Web Component Tricks](https://daverupert.com/2022/04/7-web-component-tricks/)

TechRepublic covers why:

[Why Web3’s promises of decentralization fall flat](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-web3s-promises-decentralization-fall-flat/)

MSN opines:

[Obama’s plans to fight disinformation are better than most](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/obama-s-plans-to-fight-disinformation-are-better-than-most/ar-AAWt0su?rt=0&ocid=Win10NewsApp&item=flights:prg-mobileappview)

The NewStack provides:

[An Introduction to JSON](https://thenewstack.io/an-introduction-to-json/)

InfoWorld reports on:

[The steady march of general-purpose databases](https://www.infoworld.com/article/3657613/the-steady-march-of-general-purpose-databases.html)

Muhammed Hilmi Koca writes, “In this short series of 2 or 3 articles, I will try to talk about the most useful, interesting, and fun “sentinel” feature of Redis.”

[Distributed Cache Systems and High Availability on Redis: vol. 1](https://logiwa.tech/distributed-cache-systems-and-high-availability-on-redis-vol-1-b55d6ff34d30)

Vladimir Khorikov looks at:

[Modeling Relationships in a DDD Way](https://enterprisecraftsmanship.com/posts/modeling-relationships-in-ddd-way/)

Tomasz Dobrowolski has a good What and Why look at TDD.

[Test-Driven Development: What Is It And Why You Should Be Using It as a Developer to Reduce Your Bugs](https://tomdob1.medium.com/test-driven-development-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-be-using-it-as-a-developer-to-reduce-your-f48c98c799bb)

VentureBeat also reports that:

[Postman API platform hits 20M users, helps drive the ‘API economy’](https://venturebeat.com/2022/04/19/postman-api-platform-hits-20m-users-helps-drive-the-api-economy/)

That's it for this week. Thanks for making it to the end of another edition. I look forward to sharing next week's Symfony and PHP news with you on Friday.

Please share this post. :) Also, be sure to [join our newsletter list at the bottom of our site’s pages](https://www.symfonystation.com/contact). Joining gets you each week's communiqué in your inbox (a day early). And [follow us on Twitter at @symfonfystation](https://twitter.com/symfonystation).

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More importantly, if you are a Ukrainian company with coding-related products, we can offer free promotion on [our Support Ukraine page](https://www.symfonystation.com/Support-Ukraine). Or, if you know of one, get in touch.

Keep going Symfonistas!

## Author

![https://www.symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Reuben-Blur.jpg](https://www.symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Reuben-Blur.jpg)

### Reuben Walker

Founder
Symfony Station