TrailLamp

Introduction

TrailLamp is a lightweight, easy-to-use Php MVC framework that can be used to build web applications and REST APIs.

ALert

Traillamp v1.1.0 is out 🤩 Check out the release

Installation

Clone this directory and rename and place in your project directory

.env Parameters

APP_KEY: A unique application identifier

APP_URL: Main server url of your application with no ending slash example http://TrailLamp.test or https://yoursite.com

APP_ENC_KEY: A string used for encryption and decryption purposes

APP_NAME: Your application/API name

APP_VERSION: Your application or API version

MYSQLI_HOST: Your SQL host example localhost

MYSQLI_USER: Your SQL username, default is root

MYSQLI_PASSWORD: Your SQL password

MYSQLI_DATABASE: The database name

Usage

First set environment variables in .env file. Then point to the appropriate url on your browser or on your cmd or terminal, run the following command

  php index.php

TrailLamp needs a virtual host to run. For local development, Laragon can be used to develop applications with TrailLamp

Routing

All routes are set in the routes.php file. A simple route can be written as follows.

  $router->get("/", "Controller@Main");

Here the request method is specified (TrailLamp currently supports only GET and POST requests)

The first parameter is the relative route path or url

The second parameter is the Controller name and the controller method separated by an @ sign Routes can also be called with functions. Eg

  $router->get("/", function(){
       echo "ok";
  });

All request values(like form values whose action was set to a specified route) can be gotten via your controller $request std class as follows

  $name = $this->request->name

All uploaded files can be accessed via controller using

  $file = $this->files

Remember to use the appropriate request method in your routes file

Parameterized routes

Routes with parameters are called with the parameter names in curly brackets example

  $router->get("/about/{name}", "Controller@Main");

Thus visiting url/about/Etorojah will call the Main method in the Controller class.

Multiple parameters are supported. To get the values of the parameters in the controller method, simply use

  $this->params[string param-name]

  echo $this->params["name"];

will return Etorojah and can be used to perform any necessary action.

Parameter values can also be accessed in views

<?php
  echo $this->params["name"];
 ?>

Parameters cannot be passed to a function. Always use controllers

Models

Models relate with the database directly. Every model created inherits the parent class TrailModel.

Creating Models

To create a model, run the following command on the TrailLamp console

  create model Modelname

Model names should start with a capital letter and the filename must be the same as the class name

By default, four model methods are created(create, read, update and delete). These methods can be deleted if not needed and your own defined methods called.

Performing queries with a model

Call the query method from your model method eg getprod() with the query string as a parameter

  $q = $this->query("SELECT * FROM products" );

You can then manipulate your results as seen fit eg

 while($r= mysqli_fetch_array($q)){
    //your code
     return result;
 }

Remember to always validate and sanitize your inputs before making queries

In your controller class method, reference the model using the include() method

  include("path/Model.php");

create a new instance of the model

  $prod = new ProductModel();

And call the model method to get the results

  $prod->getprod();

Deleting a model

Simply run the following command on your TrailLamp console

  delete model ModelName

Controllers

Controller perform majority of the app functions.

To create a controller, run the following command on the TrailLamp console

  create controller ControllerName

Controller file name and class name must be the same. All controllers inherit the default TrailLamp controller class

Views can be called via the controller using $this->view(string file name);

  $this->view('welcome');

Do not include the file extension

Redirects can also be performed via controller using $this->redirect(relative_url)

 $this->redirect('/about');

Remember to reference this route in your routes.php file

Views

All files in the view folder are views.

To create a view simply run the following on the TrailLamp console

  create view ViewName

Models can be called within views for example when displaying data from database

First reference the model file

Create an instance of the class

And call the class method from the view

Just three lines suffice in views

     include("Model.php");
     $prod = new Model();
     $prod->get-products();

In your model method the query and result can be echoed

  $q = $this->query("SELECT * FROM products" );
  while($r= mysqli_fetch_array($q)){
    echo '<h1>'.$r["name"].'</h1> ';
  }

Console

The console helps your easily run TrailLamp commands

Console commands

Create model

  create model Modelname

Create controller

create controller ControllerName

Create view

create view ViewName

View error log

view error log

Clear error log

clear error log

Delete model

delete model ModelName

Delete view

delete view ViewName

Delete controller

delete controller ControllerName

Migrations

To perform migrations simply rename your migration file to migrations.sql and then place in the migrations directory

Then point to https://url-path/migrations/migrations.php on your browser example

https://traillamp.test/migrations/migrations.php

Requests

All Ajax and fetch requests are to be routed to requests.php file in the TrailLamp request folder In your request, simply call the controller name and method separated by an @ using

$req->attachController($callback, $method)

where callback is the controller name and method separated by an @ and the method is the request type

Encryptions

To encrypt a text or url, first include the utility/Encryption.php file

Create a new instance of the class Encryption()

And call the appropriate method encrypt() or decrypt() with the string/hash as parameter

include("utility/Encryption.php");
$enc = new Encryption();
$enc->encrypt("Hi"); or 
$enc->decrypt("hdhwkugehh48u38y38r88div3");

Errors

Any error while developing is shown on the screen. The error is also logged into the error_log file for reference purposes The error log file can be cleared with the clear error log command

Contributions

Any issues found, please create an issue.

To contribute to this project, send an email to etorojahokon100@gmail.com or call +234 803 264 5840

EtorojahOkon/TrailLamp