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Elemental

Please Note: This repository contains the code of the Elemental framework suited for installation via Composer. If you prefer to clone the application and run it without dependencies like Composer, please visit the main Elemental repository.

Elemental is a PHP framework developed from scratch for dynamic, user-friendly coding experiences. It incorporates features such as Dependency Injection and follows the MVC architecture to streamline web development and improve code organization. Engineered with a passion for simplicity and flexibility, it invites developers into a realm where they can wield unparalleled control and gain a profound understanding of the tools at their disposal.

Features:

• Powerful Dependency Injection Container
• Fast Routing Engine
• Route Model Binding
• Inbuilt Object Relational Mapper (ORM)
• Command Line Engine - Candle
• View Composition with Components and Layouts
• Middlewares
• Custom Exception Handling
• MVC Architecture
• Facades
• No External Dependency

Demo - Inkwell

To showcase the capabilities of Elemental, a fully working platform called Inkwell has been developed using Elemental. Inkwell is a unique space dedicated to the pure essence of storytelling. In line with Elemental's goal of having no external dependencies, Inkwell has been crafted using plain HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP only.

• Explore the demo: Inkwell
• GitHub Repository: Inkwell GitHub

Feel free to delve into both the live platform and the corresponding codebase. Explore Inkwell's features to understand how Elemental can be harnessed for your own projects.

See the inspiration behind the creation of Elemental.

Why Choose Elemental?

Elemental has been designed with the aim of having no strings attached. There are no dependencies on external libraries or frameworks. The aim is to give the developers a genuine sense of control—an open door to independently explore and understand the magical stuff that powers the framework.

The overarching goal? Let developers fully embrace and leverage the elegance of powerful abstractions like DI containers, ORMs, Middlewares, and more. But here's the kicker—Elemental is not just pointing the way. It is handing you the keys to unravel the mysteries, empowering you to explore how these abstractions are laid out in the code.

In fact, you are encouraged not just to follow the path but to venture off the beaten track. Dive into the codebase, dissect the abstractions, and understand their inner workings. Feel free to tweak and experiment, for Elemental is not just a framework—it's an open invitation to shape and mold the tools at your disposal. Because coding shouldn't be a maze; it should be a journey. Let's make that journey together. 🚀

Documentation

1. Getting Started
2. Dependency Injection Container
3. Routing
4. Controllers
5. Request
6. Responses
7. Middleware
8. Views, Layouts and Components
9. Database
10. Models (ORM)
11. Candle
12. Helpers
13. Exception Handler
14. Configuration
15. Facades

Getting Started

Creating Your First Elemental App

Unlike other frameworks, Elemental doesn't rely on Composer or external libraries. It's as simple as cloning the repository and getting started with good ol' PHP installed on your system.

Cloning the Repository

Open your terminal and execute the following command:

No worries about package managers or dependencies – Elemental is built from scratch to free you from such concerns.

Alternatively, via Composer

For those who prefer the Composer route, creating a new Elemental app is just a command away:

This will generate a project with a composer.json file.

Once your project is ready, kickstart the Elemental local development server with the ignite command using our command line engine, Candle:

Voila! Your application is now accessible at http://127.0.0.1:8000.

We've taken care of the basic setup so you can focus on the magic.

Let the enchantment begin!

Dependency Injection Container

The most important feature of the Elemental is it's Dependency Injection Container which it uses for managing class dependencies and performing dependency injection.

Dependency Injection is a design pattern in software development that deals with how components get hold of their dependencies. In a traditional system, a class is responsible for creating its own dependencies. With DI, the responsibility of creating and providing dependencies is moved outside the class. Instead of a class creating its dependencies, they are "injected" into the class from an external source.

DI helps in achieving loosely coupled and more maintainable code. It promotes the separation of concerns by allowing each class to focus on its specific functionality without worrying about how to create or obtain its dependencies.

Dependency Injection is a specific implementation of the broader concept known as Inversion of Control (IoC). IoC represents a design paradigm where the control flow of a program is inverted or handed over to an external entity, container or framework.

Automatic Dependency Resolution

In Elemental, when you're using dependency injection (DI), if a class doesn't rely on any other classes or only relies on concrete classes (not abstract interfaces), you don't need to explicitly tell the DI container how to create an instance of that class. The DI container will automatically figure it out.

The container will attempt to create an instance of the class, and if that class has dependencies on other classes, the container will recursively try to resolve those dependencies as well. This process continues until all the necessary classes are successfully resolved. So, you don't have to manually specify how to create each class – the DI container takes care of it for you.

Here, by type-hinting the MailService inside the method argument, Elemental was able to resolve the class and create an instance of this class and pass it to the sendMail so that you can use it without worrying about what dependencies are required by the MailService class. As you can see, the MailService itself depends upon some other class MailerAgent , however, Elemental took care of resolving the MailerAgent class behind the scenes, passed that to the MailService while creating it's instance and provided that instance for your use.

"So, where will this sort of injecting dependencies just by type-hinting the class name work in Elemental?" All the class constructor functions, all the controller methods, and the handle method of the command creation class.

Binding

Behind the scenes, Elemental resolves a class or interface into a concrete instance by looking at any bindings that have been registered. In other words, in order to explicitly tell the framework as to how to resolve the instance of a particular class or interface, you would need to register a binding of that class or interface using the bind method on the Application instance, passing the class or interface name that we wish to register along with a closure that returns an instance of the class:

Note that you will typically need to bind a class only when you need to run some additional logic for resolving a class, or you need to bind an interface to a concrete implementation. Otherwise, Elemental will resolve the class without explicitly requiring you to bind it.

Binding a Singleton

The singleton method binds a class or interface with the container, ensuring that it is resolved only once. After the initial resolution, any subsequent calls to the container for the same binding will return the same object instance.

App Service Provider

While it's perfectly fine to register a binding anywhere in the app, it's often required to bind it while the application is bootstrapping, so that other components of the app can start using it. Elemental provides a special place to register all the bindings of the app and perform any other bootstrapping logic required by your application. This is App\Bootstrap\AppServiceProvider. The App Service Provider contain a register and a boot method.

Register Method

Within the register method, you should bind things into the Dependency Injection Container. However, you should not try to resolve any binding. routes, or run any other piece of functionality within the register method. Otherwise, you may accidentally use a service inside a container which has not loaded yet.

Boot Method

This method is called after all other service providers have been registered, granting access to all services registered by the framework. Any initialization logic you wish to execute should be placed here.

Resolving a class

You may use the make method to resolve a class instance from the DI container. The make method on the application instance accepts the name of the class or interface you wish to resolve:

You may also get the application instance using the static method instance directly on the Application class.

The make method is particularly useful when attempting to resolve a class from within a code component where it's impractical to inject a dependency using type-hinting. In such scenarios, you can explicitly request the application's Dependency Injection Container to resolve an instance for you.

Routing

Routes are defined in the app\routes.php file, allowing developers to easily register various routes to handle different HTTP requests.

Route Registration

Routes are registered by invoking the relevant method on the Route Facade, such as Route::get(), and involve specifying a URI pattern as the first argument. The second argument can either be a closure or an array that defines the controller and method responsible for handling the request.

For instance:

Whenever a request URI is matched, the corresponding closure or controller method is executed, and a response is generated and sent back to the browser.

Available Router Methods

You can register routes that respond to any HTTP verb using the following methods:

• Route::get($uri, $callback);
• Route::post($uri, $callback);
• Route::put($uri, $callback);
• Route::patch($uri, $callback);
• Route::delete($uri, $callback);
• Route::options($uri, $callback);

Route Parameters

Sometimes you will need to capture segments of the URI within your route. For example, you may need to capture a user's ID from the URL. You may do so by defining route parameters:

You may define as many route parameters as required by your route:

These will be passed into the controller method as well.

Dependency Injection

Elemental seamlessly handles the injection of necessary dependencies for your controller methods. This allows you to specify any dependencies required by your route in the callback signature using type-hinting. Elemental takes care of automatically resolving and injecting the declared dependencies into the callback.

For instance, if you type-hint Core\Request\Request within the callback, Elemental ensures that the current HTTP request is automatically injected into your route callback:

You can put the typed dependencies and route parameters in any order.

Route Model Binding

When you pass a model ID as a parameter to a route or controller action, the typical approach involves querying the database to fetch the corresponding model based on that ID. Elemental simplifies this process through route model binding, offering a convenient way to automatically inject model instances directly into your routes.

For instance, instead of injecting just the ID of a user into your route, you have the option to inject the entire User model instance that corresponds to the given ID.

In the context of routes or controller actions, models are defined using type-hinted variable names that match a specific segment in the route. For example:

Customizing the Key

Sometimes you may wish to resolve models using a column other than id. To do so, you may specify the column in the route parameter definition:

In this scenario, Elemental will seamlessly inject the model instance that possesses an email matching the corresponding value from the request URI.

Of course, route-model-binding also works with controller methods.

Model Not Found

If a matching model instance is not found in the database, a ModelNotFoundException will be thrown by the app. You can handle such exceptions and control the behavior of any such and other exceptions thrown by the app in the ExceptionsHandler class. More on that later.

Fallback Routes

Using the Route::fallback method, you may define a route that will be executed when no other route matches the incoming request.

Route List

The route:list Candle command will provide the list of all the routes defined in the application:

Controllers

Rather than consolidating all request handling logic within closures in your route files, consider structuring this behavior through "controller" classes. Controllers allow you to organize related request handling logic into a cohesive class. For instance, a UserController class could manage various incoming requests related to users, such as displaying, creating, updating, and deleting users. These controller classes are conventionally stored in the app/Controllers directory.

Basic Controllers

To generate a new controller, you may run the build:controller Candle command.

This will generate a new file named "UserController.php" inside the app/Controllers directory.

A controller may have any number of public methods which will respond to incoming HTTP requests:

After creating a controller class and its methods, you can define a route to the controller method as follows:

When a received request matches with the designated route URI, the showRegister method within the App\Controllers\UserController class will be called, and the method will receive the corresponding route parameters.

Dependency Injection and Controllers

Constructor Injection

The Elemental service container is responsible for resolve instances of all controllers. Consequently, you can use type-hinting in the constructor of your controller to specify any dependencies it may require. The stated dependencies will be automatically resolved and injected into the controller instance

Method Injection

Apart from injecting dependencies through the constructor, you can also use type-hinting for dependencies in your controller's methods. A common use-case for method injection is injecting the Core\Request\Request or any service instance into your controller methods:

Create and manage controllers to handle requests effectively.

f your controller method anticipates input from a route parameter, you have the flexibility to list your arguments in any order. For instance, consider the following route definition:

You may still type-hint the Core\Request\Request and access your id parameter by defining your controller method as follows:

Request

The Core\Request\Request class in Elemental offers an object-oriented approach for engaging with the present HTTP request managed by your application. It facilitates the retrieval of input, cookies, and files submitted along with the request.

Accessing the Request

To acquire the current HTTP request instance through dependency injection, you can utilize type-hinting for the Core\Request\Request class in your route closure or controller method. The service container will automatically inject the incoming request instance.

The service container will automatically inject the incoming request into the route closure as well.

Dependency Injection and Route Parameters

If your controller method anticipates input from a route parameter, you have the flexibility to list your arguments in any order. For instance, consider the following route definition:

You may still type-hint the Core\Request\Request and access your id parameter by defining your controller method as follows:

Request Data

You may obtain all of the incoming request's input data as an array using the data() method. This method may be used regardless of whether the incoming request is from an HTML form or is an XHR request:

Retrieving an Input Value

You may access all of the user input from your Request instance without worrying about which HTTP verb was used for the request. Regardless of the HTTP verb, the data method may be used to retrieve user input:

Request URI, Method and Headers

The Core\Request\Request instance provides a variety of methods for examining the incoming HTTP request. Let's discuss a few of the most important methods below.

Request Headers

You may retrieve the request headers from the Core\Request\Request instance using the headers method.

Request Method

You may retrieve the request method by calling method on Core\Request\Request instance.

Request URI

You may retrieve the request uri from the Core\Request\Request instance using the uri method.

Request Cookies

You may retrieve the request cookies from the Core\Request\Request instance using the cookies method.

Raw Content

You may retrieve the raw content from the Core\Request\Request instance using the rawContent method.

Be careful when dealing with the raw content of a request.

Files

You may retrieve the files from the Core\Request\Request instance using the files method.

Request IP Address

The ip method may be used to retrieve the IP address of the client that made the request to your application:

Port Address

The port method may be used to retrieve the Port address of the client that made the request to your application:

Content Type

You may retrieve the content-type from the Core\Request\Request instance using the contentType method.

Query String

You may retrieve the query string of the request using the queryString method.

Specific Content Types

Text

You may retrieve the text content of the request using the text method provided the content-type is set to text/plain

Javascript

You may retrieve the JS content of the request using the js method provided the content-type is set to application/javascript

HTML

You may retrieve the HTML content of the request using the html method provided the content-type is set to text/html

JSON

You may retrieve the JSON content of the request using the json method provided the content-type is set to application/json The $request->data() returns all the JSON data passed to the request. However,

The $request->data() contains all the JSON data along with the inputs passed through the query params in the request. However, $request->json() can be used to retrieve only the JSON content.

XML

You may retrieve the XML content of the request using the xml method provided the content-type is set to application/json

Responses

Every route and controller is expected to produce a response for delivery to the user's browser. Elemental offers various methods for generating responses. The simplest form of response involves returning a string directly from a route or controller. The framework will seamlessly convert this string into a complete HTTP response.

In addition to returning strings from your routes and controllers, you may also return arrays or objects. The framework will automatically convert them into a JSON response:

Response Objects

Usually, you won't merely return straightforward strings or arrays from your route actions. Instead, you'll often return complete instances of Core\Response\Response or views.

Returning a full Response instance allows you to customize the response's HTTP status code and headers. You can inject the Response instance by type-hinting the Response instance inside your controller or route closure.

You can ofcourse return a view from a controller. However, If you need control over the response's status and headers but also need to return a view as the response's content, you can do that as following:

This will automatically set the header on the view response that will be sent to the browser.

Response Content

Keep in mind that most response methods are chainable, allowing for the fluent construction of response instances.

You may set the content of the response by using setContent method on the response instance.

However, if you want to append to the content of the response, you can do so by using appendContent method on the response instance.

Response Header

You may set a header on the response instance by using setHeader method

However, if you want to set several headers simultaneously, you can do so by using setHeaders method and passing an array of headers.

Response Status Code

You may directly set the status code of the response by using setHeader method on the response instance.

A status text will be set by default for the common status codes.

Redirects

You can generate a redirect response that contains the proper headers needed to redirect the user to another URL by invoking static method redirect on the Core\Response\Response class.

However, for simplicity a helper method redirect() is also available globally to achieve the same functionality.

JSON Response

You can also generate a JSON response by calling the static method JSON on the Core\Response\Response class. The data passed to the method will be converted to proper JSON. You can also optionally pass the status code and headers array as the second and third argument to the function.

Middleware

Middleware offers a convenient mechanism to examine and filter incoming HTTP requests to your application. For instance, you can develop middleware to validate the authentication status of your application's user. If the user is not authenticated, the middleware will redirect them to the login screen. Conversely, if the user is authenticated, the middleware will permit the request to advance deeper into the application.

You have the flexibility to create additional middleware to execute diverse tasks beyond authentication. As an illustration, a logging middleware could record all incoming requests to your application. These middleware components are housed within the app/middlewares directory.

Creating Middleware

To create a new middleware, use the build:middleware Candle command:

Executing this command will generate a fresh middleware class named "IsAuthenticated" in the app/middlewares directory. Within this class, a method named handle is created where you can articulate the logic for the middleware.

Here, we will only allow access to the route if the user is authenticated, otherwise, we will redirect the users back to the login URI:

To pass the request deeper into the application, you should call the $next callback with the $request.

Consider middleware as a sequence of "layers" that HTTP requests traverse before reaching your application. Each layer has the capability to scrutinize the request and potentially reject it.

Of course, a middleware can perform tasks before or after passing the request deeper into the application. For example, this middleware would perform its task after the request is handled by the application:

Assigning Middleware to Routes

If you would like to assign middleware to specific routes, you may invoke the middleware method when defining the route:

You may assign multiple middleware to the route by passing an array of middleware names to the middleware method:

Assigning Middleware to Route Groups

You may assign middlewares to a route group by passing an array of middleware names to the attribute middlewares when defining the group:

You can use nested route groups to combine middlewares with their parent group. In the subsequent example, the "HasSession" middleware is applied to the "/" and "/story/{story}" routes, whereas "HasSession," "IsAuth," and "Log" middlewares get applied to the rest of the routes:

Views, Layouts, and Components

Views

In Elemental PHP framework, it is not practical to return entire HTML document strings directly from routes and controllers. Views provide a convenient way to place all HTML in separate files.

Views play a crucial role in separating controller/application logic from presentation concerns and are stored in the app/views directory. These view files, written in PHP, encapsulate the markup. Consider a basic example of a view:

If this view is stored at app/views/Welcome.php, it can be returned using the global view helper in a route:

The first argument passed to the view helper corresponds to the name of the view file in the resources/views directory. The second argument can be an array of key-value pairs passed to the view. For example, in the above code, $name will be directly accessible and contain the value 'Ahmed'.

Views can also be returned using the static method make on the Core\View\View class:

Nested View Directories

Views may be nested within subdirectories of the app/views directory. "Dot" notation may be used to reference nested views. For example, if your view is stored at app/views/layouts/MainLayout.php, you may return it from a route/controller like so:

Layouts

Elemental provides a convenient way to maintain the same layout across multiple views, reducing code duplication. A layout is itself a view file containing a placeholder {{ content }}. When a view is returned with the layout, the final view is compiled by putting the view inside the layout's content.

Elemental provides a convenient way to maintain the same layout across multiple views, reducing code duplication. A layout is a view file that incorporates a designated placeholder, denoted by {{ content }}. When a view is returned using a specific layout, the composition is achieved by embedding the content of the view within the designated placeholder in the layout. This approach streamlines the organization of views and enhances code maintainability by centralizing common layout elements.

Below is a basic example:

A view can be returned with a layout like this:

Components

Elemental offers a powerful approach to crafting views. Every view is essentially a component, and any view can be assembled from other components. It's a symphony of composition, where each piece contributes to the creation of a harmonious and dynamic whole.

Example component file (views/components/Logo.php):

This component can be used inside any other view file. For example, in views/Login.php:

Thus, Elemental empowers you with both layout and component constructs, allowing you to compose your views with the finesse of both top-down and bottom-up approaches. This flexibility enables a seamless fusion, where you can effortlessly mix and combine elements to craft an elegant and sophisticated user interface for your application.

Database

In the modern web applications, database interaction is a fundamental aspect. Elemental has been designed to streamline this interaction seamlessly across a diverse range of supported databases, leveraging the inherent capabilities of PHP PDO. With Elemental, you have the flexibility to execute any complex query or transaction using the Core\Database\Database class.

Elemental offers a robust Object-Relational Mapper (ORM) that effectively abstracts away many intricacies, proving invaluable for the majority of database queries. However, the Core\Database\Database can be used to run more advanced SQL queries.

All the configurations for your Elemental App are located in your application's app/config/config.php configuration file. Here you may define all of your database connections, as well as specify which connection should be used by default. Most of the configuration options within this file are driven by the values of your application's environment variables.

Database Configuration

All the configurations for your Elemental App are located in your application's app/config/config.php configuration file. Here you may define all of your database connections, as well as specify which connection should be used by default. Most of the configuration options within this file are driven by the values of your application's environment variables.

Elemental uses PDO as the underlying database handling class. All PDO functions are directly available on the Core\Database\Database class. You can inject an instance of Core\Database\Database into any constructor or controller method to call PDO methods. The default configuration for Elemental is set up for MySQL databases, but you can change the driver inside the config file.

Running a Query

Here's an example of running a query through the Database instance:

For more information on PDO, you can refer to [PHP's PDO documentation]()

Object Relational Mapper (Model)

Elemental includes a custom-made object-relational mapper (ORM) that makes it enjoyable to interact with the database. When using the ORM, each database table has a corresponding "Model" that is used to interact with that table. In addition to retrieving records from the database table, models allow you to insert, update, and delete records from the table as well.

Creating Models

Models are present in the app/models directory and extend the Core\Model\Model class. You can generate a new model by using the build:model Candle command.

Conventions:

Models generated by the build:model command will be placed in the app/Models directory. A very basic model has the following structure:

Table Name: By convention, the "snake case," plural name of the class will be used as the table name unless another name is explicitly specified. So, in this case, Elemental will assume the Post model stores records in the posts table.

You may manually specify the model's table name by defining a tableName property on the model:

Primary Key:

Elemental will also assume that each model's corresponding database table has a primary key column named id. If necessary, you may define a protected $primaryKey property on your model to specify a different column that serves as your model's primary key:

Model Operations

You can think of each model as a powerful query builder allowing you to fluently query the database table associated with the model.

All

The model's all method will retrieve all of the records from the model's associated database table:

By default, the records that are fetched are represented as an array. However, you can pass a mode argument which controls how each record is represented. The mode argument takes any of PDO Fetch modes. For instance,

All Where

The allWhere method is a powerful abstraction in the model that allows executing complex queries. This method takes three arguments: conditions, options, and fetchMode.

Method Signature

Conditions: The conditions parameter is an array of clauses that the record must satisfy to be fetched. Each condition can be either a [key => value] pair or a [key => [operator, value]] pair.

• The key corresponds to a specific column in the table.
• If the condition is in the form of [key => value], the default operator is = and the value is the data inside that column for the record.
• If the condition is in the form of [key => [operator, value]], you can specify the operator for each condition. The supported operators are:
  • ['=', '!=', '<', '>', '<=', '>=', 'LIKE', 'IS NULL', 'IS NOT NULL'].

Options: The options parameter is an array that determines additional query arguments, such as order by, limit, etc. Supported constructs in the options argument include:

• "orderBy"
• "limit"
• "offset"
• "sortDir"

FetchMode: The fetchMode parameter controls how each fetched record is represented. The mode argument takes any of the PDO Fetch modes:

• PDO::FETCH_ASSOC
• PDO::FETCH_NUM
• PDO::FETCH_BOTH
• PDO::FETCH_OBJ
• PDO::FETCH_CLASS
• PDO::FETCH_INTO
• PDO::FETCH_LAZY
• PDO::FETCH_KEY_PAIR

An example will make it more clear:

Fetching Single Record

In addition to retrieving all of the records matching a given query, you may also retrieve single records using the find and where method. Instead of returning an array of records, these methods return a single model instance:

Find: This will fetch the first record that matches the Primary key of the table.

Where: The where method takes an array of conditions that the record must satisfy to be fetched. Each condition can be either a [key => value] pair or a [key => [operator, value]] pair.

• The key corresponds to a specific column in the table.
• If the condition is in the form of [key => value], the default operator is = and the value is the data inside that column for the record.
• If the condition is in the form of [key => [operator, value]], you can specify the operator for each condition. The supported operators are:
  • ['=', '!=', '<', '>', '<=', '>=', 'LIKE', 'IS NULL', 'IS NOT NULL'].

For Example

Create

To insert a new record into the database, you can instantiate a new model instance and set attributes on the model. Then, call the save method on the model instance:

In this example, we assign the name field from the incoming HTTP request to the name attribute of the App\Models\Story model instance. When we call the save method, a record will be inserted into the database. The model's created_at timestamp will automatically be set when the save method is called, so there is no need to set it manually.

Alternatively, you may use the static create method to "save" a new model using a single PHP statement. The inserted model instance will be returned to you by the create method:

Update

The save method may also be used to update models that already exist in the database. To update a model, you should retrieve it and set any attributes you wish to update. Then, you should call the model's save method.

Alternatively, you may use the static update method to update a model instance. The first argument is the id of the model, and the second argument needs to be the array of column value pair.

Delete

To delete a model, you may call the destroy method on the model instance:

However, if you know the primary key of the model, you may delete the model without explicitly retrieving it by calling the delete method. The id of the deleted record is returned.

Data

You may call the data method on the model to retrieve all the attributes of a modal instance in an array form.

Candle (Command Line Engine)

Candle is the command line engine of the Elemental. Candle exists at the root of your application as the candle script and provides a number of helpful commands designed to aid you in the development process of your application. To view a list of all available Candle commands, you may use the help command:

This will also display the custom commands that you may have created yourself.

Development Server

By now, you must have already ignited the the Elemental's candle to run your app. This ignite command serves the app at the IP Address 127.0.0.1, searching for a free port starting from 8000. If Port 8000 is occupied, Elemental automatically attempts to bind to the next available port (e.g., 8001) and so forth.

You have the flexibility to customize the server setup according to your requirements.

Custom Host Specify a specific IP address using the --host argument. For instance:

Custom Port If you prefer binding to a specific port, use the --port argument:

To serve your application at a custom IP and port simultaneously, provide both the --host and --port arguments:

The --host and --port arguments can be placed in any order.

List all Routes

To obtain a comprehensive view of all registered routes within your application, utilize the route:list command provided by Candle:

bash

Generating Files

You can use the Candle build command to generate files for your models, controllers, middleware and commands.

Generate a Model

To create a model, execute the following command:

This command will generate a file named Story.php within the app\models directory, containing the Story class.

Generate a Controller

For generating a controller, the build command is similarly employed:

Executing this command will generate a file named StoryController.php in the app\controllers directory, featuring the MyController class.

Generate Middleware

To generate a middleware, utilize the build command as follows:

This will create a file named HasSession.php within the app\middleware directory, housing the handle method.

Generate Command

For command generation, execute the build command with the appropriate arguments:

Executing this command will generate a file named Migration.php in the app\commands directory, containing the Migration class and the handle method.

Custom Commands in Candle

Generating custom commands is where the Candle's power can be experienced. Commands are stored in the app/commands directory, and it's essential to load them inside the array returned in app\commands\Commands.php for proper registration within the app.

Command Structure

After generating a command, define values for the key and description properties of the class. The key is used as the argument for the command, while description will be displayed in the help screen. The handle method will be called when the command is executed, and you can place your command logic in this method.

You can type-hint any dependencies required for your command handling. Elemental's DI Container will automatically inject all dependencies type-hinted in the handle method's signature.

Let's take a look at an example command:

To execute the command in the command line:

Retrieving Input Args

You can use Elemental's Core\Console\Commander to retrieve any inputs passed through the command line. The Core\Console\Commander provides a method named getArgs that returns an array of inputs passed from the command line. The Commander instance can be type-hinted through the handler method and used as required.

A concrete example will make it clear:

It is recommended to type-hint dependencies inside the handle method as opposed to inside the constructor of the command class.

To execute these migration commands in the command line:

As you can see, generating commands are very powerful and can be helpful to achieve a variety of functionalities. Here, a custom migration handler has been built. You can expand and organize the above structure or create a custom Migration Service that can handle your migration logic.

Commands can also be used for handling task scheduling. You may create a command that executes some logic, and then pass the command to your operating systems CRON handler.

Helpers

Elemental includes a variety of global "helper" PHP functions. You can use these functions in any way that is convenient to you.

app()

The app function returns the Application instance:

This is pretty useful when you want to register your own services as well as resolve any framework or custom service.

dump()

The dump function dumps the variable passed as the first argument. You can also pass an additional second argument that can serve as the identifier on screen:

dd()

The dd function dumps the given variable and ends the execution of the script:

console_log()

The console_log function serves as a unique tool for logging variables, distinct from the dump function. Notably, it doesn't return output to the browser; instead, it directs information to the console initiated by the script. You can pass any variable number of arguments to the console_log function.

router()

The router function returns the returns the Router instance.

view()

The view function is used to return a view from the controller method:

component()

The component function is used to return a view as a component to be used inside another view:

redirect()

The redirect function returns a redirect HTTP response and is used to redirect to any other route.

Exception Handler

Elemental provides a convenient way to handle all the exceptions thrown by the app.

The handle method of App\Exceptions\Handler class is where all exceptions thrown by your application pass through before being rendered to the user. By default, exceptions thrown by the app will be formatted, and a structured response will be sent back to the browser. However, inside the handle method, you can intercept any exception and perform custom logic before the response is sent back.

You can even send back a custom view or a response.

Handler Class

Handling Specific Exceptions

Elemental has defined some specific exception classes by default:

• AppException
• ModelNotFoundException
• RouteNotFoundException
• RouterException
• ViewNotFoundException

If you need to handle different types of exceptions in different ways, you can modify the handle method accordingly:

You are free to create your own exception classes by extending from the base Exception class, which can then be handled as required.

Feel free to customize the handle method based on your application's specific needs.

Configuration

All configuration settings for the application are centralized in the app\config\config.php file. These configurations cover various aspects such as database connection information and other core settings essential for your app.

Environment-specific Configuration

To cater to different environments where the application might run, a .env.example file is provided in the root directory. This file outlines common environment variables that can be configured. If you are working in a team, it's recommended to include the .env.example file with placeholder values. This makes it clear to other developers which environment variables are required to run the application.

When your application receives a request, all the variables listed in the .env file will be loaded into the $_ENV PHP super-global. You can then use the getenv function to retrieve values from these variables in your configuration files.

Accessing Configuration Values

To access configuration values, you can use type-hinting and inject the Core\Config\Config class into your constructors, controller methods, or route closures.

By doing this, you have a clean and organized way to retrieve configuration values within your application.

This approach keeps your configuration centralized and allows for easy changes based on the environment. It also promotes a clean and maintainable codebase.

Facades

Elemental introduces a Facade system inspired by Laravel, providing a convenient and expressive static interface to classes within the application's Dependency Injection (DI) container. Facades act as static proxies to classes in the service container, offering a balance between a concise syntax and the testability and flexibility of traditional static methods.

In Elemental, the Core\Facade\Route serves as a Facade, offering a static interface to the application's Router instance enabling you to use it like this in the routes.php file:

Creating Your Own Facade

To create a custom Facade for any class, follow these steps:

1. Create a FacadeClass that extends the Core\Facade\Facade class.
2. Inside this class, implement a static method named getFacadeAccessor, returning the class string for the associated instance in the DI container.

Here's an example of creating a PaymentGateway Facade:

Now, you can access the instance methods of your custom class by calling static methods on the corresponding FacadeClass.

Inspiration

LARAVEL is Magic. Like any unsuspecting Muggle, it's enchantments terrify you. Until one fine day, you dare to pick up the wand and start waving it. Then, you fall in love with it.

License

The Elemental framework is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT License.

Contributing

All contributions are welcome. Please create an issue first for any feature request or bug. Then fork the repository, create a branch and make any changes to fix the bug or add the feature and create a pull request. That's it! Thanks!

Support

For bug reports, feature requests, or general questions, please use the issue tracker.