Project Documentation: Destination PHP MVC Framework

This project is build on top of pure PHP, no existed PHP framework such as CI/Laravel is used. The project is still follow the MVC architecture but implemented from zero, any other developers could refer the following guide which describe the request->response lifecycle:

System requirements: PHP 5.6 or above; MySqli extension; URL rewrite module must be ON
Entry point: index.php (No rewrite rule request in .htaccess, all will be into index.php)
Routes: Support HTTP/RestFul request. Just add your route in the index.php file.
Controllers: app/controller folder, all business logic should be in this folder
Model: app/models folder. All database's operations should be in this folder
View: app/views folder. All frontend templates files are in this folder; Template engine: Twig
Core: app/core folder. The system core lib, no need to modify.
Helpers: app/helpers folder. All helper functions should be in here, add more if you need.
Application environment file: app/helpers/.env file. In this file, all env variables for runtime are stored here, you can append as many as you want to. At anywhere in you application, simply call evn($key) to retrieve the env variable.
Cache: app/cache folder. For better performance, no need to modify. But this folder must be writable by PHP user.

Dependency management and PHP class autoload

Install all dependencies: composer install
Update dependencies: composer update
All classes in app/ folder will be autoload by composer, no require/include statement needed anymore
app/helpers/general.php will be autoload by composer, add your own helper functions there

For frontend developers

All frontend related view files are located in app/views folder.
Using Twig as the template engine, so no PHP knowledge is required at the frontend development
Layouts: app/views/layout folder, the place to store reusable layout templates; Any layout file is highly recommend add 3 parts: header + content + footer AT LEAST
To generate an URL for a/form tag, please use {{ url('place-to-go') }}. This url() helper function will make sure to generate the correct absolute URL instead of using related URL.
To generate an URL for img/video tag, please use {{ asset('where-it-is') }}. This asset() helper function will make sure to generate the correct absolute URL instead of using relate path.
Please make sure that all CSS resources are load in between head tag, and all js resources tags are at the bottom of the page.
Please don't insert <script></script> code pieces in any view

For Database operations

Try not to write any SQL statement but use a PHP model class to do the dirty work.
To access the database, just create a model class which extends the BaseModel.
To get database connection, in any BaseModel child class, use self::DB()
CRUD has been implemented in BaseModel, please use self::save(), self::update(), self::delete(). Don't rewrite these functions, focus on the specific database query requirements.
Please build SQL statement by using Medoo's reference. https://medoo.in/doc
No need to set up the database schema mapping for each model. Some magic functions have been created, you can use the following way to manipulate database:

$product = new Product();

$product->find( $id = 1, ['name',['price']]);

echo $product->name; // will be output product's name

echo $product->price; // will be output product's price

$product = new Product(10); // Create product model instance which the ID = 10

echo $product->name .': ' . $product->price; // will out put: Product name: price

$products = new Product()->all();

foreach($product as $idx => $product){

    // Do what you need to to
    
}

For business logic

For best practice, no database interactions in controller's class, but the business logic only
To get the request instance, use $this->request; To get the response instance, use $this->response
Put all variables into $this->dataForView array, this array's items will be injected into view automatically, any variable can be accessed by using the item's key
To render the view, $this->render( 'path/to/view' );
To retrieve the current logged in user's data from session, in any controller, do:

$userDataArray = session_get( 'user_data_array', true );

$user = new User( $userDataArray['id'] ); // Get the user instance by user's id

Testing

Use PHPUnit as the testing framework
Run all test cases: composer test
Run a specific test case: ./vendor/bin/phpunit --bootstrap vendor/autoload.php tests/MyTest

Further Jobs:

Responsible design for mobile devices such as iPad, phone