I am planning a large-scale project. I have a very large inventory/warehouse management system - web application - that is old and no longer meets my needs. I am planning to basically start from scratch. The current system is written in PHP with a few Javascript features (such as charts). The application is not using any framework and very minimal library use. It is mostly hard-coded. The data is coming from both mssql and mysql. Some of the current features and features want in the new system are: barcode scanning, inventory tracking and locating, order and shipment tracking and managing, user management, and basic statistics on things such as customers and vendors. I also want the interface to feel desktop-like, although eventually I may add functionality for tablets that would be located in the warehouse for the warehouse employees to use.
I have done a lot of research and am in need of some help. I see many options and do not know what is best. I am also sure that there are some options that I have not even considered. I want to work mostly with frameworks and libraries. Most javascript frameworks do not get along with PHP frameworks. I could use a Javascript framework with a PHP library, or a PHP framework with a Javascript library, or use one framework and do the rest by hand. As far as javascript frameworks and libraries go, I want to get a desktop-like feel. So that gives me things like extJS, DHTMLX, maybe kendoui, YUI, JQuery UI, and many more options. For PHP I think Zend and Yii are really looking good. I definitely want an MVC structure, however I do not know if I want that handled by PHP or Javascript. What seems to make the most sense? What other options are there? Any help here would be great!
Zend Framework 2 with Dojo is a proven combination. Mailchimp seemingly uses this combination for example. Also Dojo seems having specific ZF2 Zend_Dojo modules.
For a full JavaScript MVC, you should consider AngularJS by Google. Using such frameworks you barely bake HTML codes with PHP, using PHP should be more just an interface for the database. View management, controllers, HTML building will be done by JS. Same goes for EmberJS.
I'd definitely start by picking a live product that is similar to what you are planning, and get know the underlying structure.
If you view the source of BitDeli for example, you barely found any pre-baked HTML there, but a huge app.js file built with varying tooklits.
A nice JS framework collection can help you at JavaScript - The Right Way.