Leap ORM for the Kohana PHP Framework

The Leap ORM is a powerful new module for Kohana 3.3.X, 3.2.X, and 3.1.X. Designed around both the builder and active record design patterns, this ORM makes working with SQL databases easy. The Spadefoot Team has worked extensively on making sure that certain components within the module itself are decoupled from each other as much as possible and that new SQL database plugins can be easily added, while maintaining a consistent interface between the core code and the user’s implementation.

Leap is NOT just another database ORM. It is provides a number of features that other ORMs do not. Leap also provides a way to cleanly add new SQL database drivers and offers a database connection pool to manage its resources. Moreover, Leap addresses a number of dependency issues persisting in other ORMs by following a loosely coupled and tightly integrated programming methodology. Leap is a full-fledge data access layer with loads of database tools.

Features

• Works with all major database.
  Has plugins for DB2, Drizzle, Firebird, MariaDB, MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
• Standardizes how SQL statements are built.
  Builder classes remove the differences between the various SQL dialects.
• Enforces the data types of fields.
  Takes PHP to the next level by encouraging strong data types.
• Easily extensible.
  Utilizes dependency injection to allow codebase to be extended.
• Well documented.
  Plenty of examples and tutorials, and has an easy-to-read API.

Comparison

	LEAP	K3 ORM	Jelly	Sprig
Documentation	YES	YES	YES	LIMITED
Consistent API	YES	MOSTLY	MOSTLY	YES
Easily Extensible	YES	MOSTLY	MOSTLY	MOSTLY
Supports Multiple SQL Dialects	YES	KIND OF	KIND OF	KIND OF
Database Connection Pool	YES	NO	NO	NO
Query Caching	YES	YES	YES	YES
Query Builder	YES	YES	YES	YES
Strongly Typed	YES	NO	MOSTLY	MOSTLY
Non-Integer Primary Keys	YES	NO	NO	YES
Composite Keys	YES	NO	NO	PARTIALLY
Field Aliases	YES	NO	YES	NO
Field Adaptors	YES	NO	NO	NO
Field Relations	YES	YES	YES	YES
Read-Only Models	YES	NO	NO	NO
Auto-Generates HTML Form Labels/Controls	YES	NO	NO	YES
Auth Classes	YES	YES	YES	YES
Modified Preorder Tree Traversal (MPTT)	YES	YES	YES	YES

* Please report any discrepancies with this comparison in LEAP's issue tracker on github and, someone will address the correction as soon as possible.