How to use two different databases in the same Zend Framework project?

Sometimes you need to use two different databases in a single project. Using two databases in a single Zend Framework project should be a pretty simple and straight-forward thing. However, this turned out to be a bit of a wild goose chase in order to figure out the Zend Framework specific syntax.

Same host, different database name

If you only need to change the name of the database you connect to, you can specify that when you define your Table object. You can keep your default database connection the same as below:

resources.db.adapter = PDO_MYSQL
resources.db.params.dbname = database1
resources.db.params.username = dbtest
resources.db.params.password = ******
resources.db.params.hostname = localhost
resources.db.isDefaultTableAdapter = true

Now in your Zend_Db_Table class you can specify which database you want to use:

<?php

class Customer extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract
{
    protected $_name   = 'customers';
    protected $_schema = 'database1'; //not necessary because we made this the default
}

class Product extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract
{
    protected $_name   = 'products';
    protected $_schema = 'database2';
}

If you have a different situation than this, you might find this tutorial helpful.