Download the PHP package rad/rad-framework without Composer

RAD Framework

RAD Framework

RAD (Rapid Application Development) Framework is a lightweight and user-friendly PHP framework designed for quick and efficient web application development. The primary motivation behind creating this framework was to provide a simple and easy-to-use tool for developers who value speed and efficiency.

The goal of RAD Framework is to offer a solid foundation for building web applications while keeping the learning curve minimal. It aims to provide essential features and functionalities commonly required during web development without unnecessary complexities. By focusing on simplicity and flexibility, RAD Framework empowers developers to concentrate on their specific application logic, rather than getting bogged down in intricate framework details.

Developers are encouraged to utilize RAD Framework to expedite their application development process significantly. Whether you are building a small project or a more substantial web application, RAD Framework's modular structure and adherence to PHP standards (such as PSR-3, PSR-4, PSR-7, and others) ensure smooth and maintainable development.

This framework is open-source, meaning you can freely use, modify, and extend it according to your specific project requirements. Feedback and contributions from the community are highly valued, as they help to improve the framework and adapt it to diverse use cases. With RAD Framework, developers have a reliable and lightweight solution to accelerate their web application development, without sacrificing performance or flexibility.

PSR Standards

The RAD framework is a PHP framework aimed at streamlining web development processes.

It adheres to various PHP Standards Recommendations (PSRs) to ensure code interoperability and maintainability.

Here is an overview of the PSRs followed by the RAD framework:

• PSR-3 Logger Interface: The framework utilizes PSR-3 for logging, providing a standardized approach for logging messages.
• PSR-4 Autoloader: The PSR-4 autoloading standard is employed, allowing efficient class autoloading based on namespaces.
• PSR-7 Http Message: RAD manipulates HTTP messages through the PSR-7 interfaces; the concrete implementation (Guzzle) sits behind a single swappable PSR-17 factory.
• PSR-11 Container: The framework ships a container with constructor autowiring for dependency injection, resolving controllers and their dependencies automatically.
• PSR-14 EventDispatcher: RAD uses PSR-14 for event dispatching, which replaces the framework's former home-made observer pattern.
• PSR-15 Middleware: Requests flow through a PSR-15 pipeline (Rad\Middleware\Dispatcher) of Psr\Http\Server\MiddlewareInterface layers ending in the controller dispatcher. Legacy Rad middlewares are adapted transparently.
• PSR-16 Caching: RAD adheres to PSR-16 for caching, allowing developers to implement caching mechanisms efficiently.
• PSR-17 Http Factory: The framework creates all HTTP messages through PSR-17 factories (Rad\Http\HttpFactory), so the concrete PSR-7 implementation (Guzzle) is confined to a single, swappable place. Responses are sent to the client by Rad\Http\Emitter.
• PSR-18 Http Client: Outbound requests go through a PSR-18 client (Rad\Http\CurlClient), injectable as Psr\Http\Client\ClientInterface.

By following these PSR standards, the RAD framework ensures code consistency, improves code reuse, and promotes collaboration within the PHP development community.

With its focus on performance, optimized object instantiation, simplified dependency injection, the RAD framework provides developers with a robust and efficient environment for building high-performance web applications.

Installation

To use RAD Framework, you need to have PHP 8.2 or higher and Composer installed on your system.

Make sure you have PHP 8.2 or a later version installed. You can check your PHP version by running the following command in your terminal:

If PHP is not installed or you have an older version, you can download and install the latest version from the official PHP website: php.net.

Install Composer if you don't have it already. Composer is a dependency management tool for PHP. You can download and install it by following the instructions on the Composer website: getcomposer.org.

Once PHP and Composer are set up, you can add RAD Framework to your project by including it in the require block of your composer.json file. Add the following line for the stable version:

For the latest development version, you can use the following line:

After adding the line, run the following command to install RAD Framework and its dependencies:

Composer will fetch the appropriate version of RAD Framework based on the version specified in your composer.json file and set up the necessary files in your project.

With RAD Framework successfully installed, you can now start building your web applications with ease and speed, thanks to its streamlined features and flexible architecture.

Development / QA

Install the dev dependencies then use the Composer scripts:

No local PHP? A Docker dev stack is provided:

CI (GitHub Actions) runs the same checks on PHP 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4.

The codebase is clean at PHPStan level 5 (no baseline) and fully formatted with php-cs-fixer; both checks are blocking in CI, so any regression fails the build.

Usage

Init New Rad Object :

Create new Controller :

Routes are declared with PHP 8 attributes (namespace Rad\Route\Attribute) :

Available attributes :

Legacy @get / @produce docblock annotations are still parsed automatically for controllers that have not been migrated yet.

Add controller to the Rad API :

Run the Rad API :

You can add Closure to the run method :

Dependency Injection

RAD ships a lightweight PSR-11 container with constructor autowiring (Rad\Container\Container). Controllers are resolved through it, so you can type-hint services directly in a controller constructor:

Register bindings on the application container:

• get($id) resolves with singleton semantics (built once, then cached).
• make($id, ['param' => $value]) returns a fresh instance, overriding constructor arguments by name (this is how the current Route is injected into controllers).
• call($callable, $params) invokes any callable with autowired arguments.

The current request (ServerRequestInterface), router (RouterInterface) and the container itself are pre-registered and injectable out of the box.

The legacy service facades are also bridged into the container, so their interfaces can be type-hinted directly (each resolves to the handler configured for that service, exactly like calling the facade):

Bridged interfaces: Psr\Log\LoggerInterface, Rad\Cache\CacheInterface, Rad\Database\DatabaseAdapter, Rad\Session\SessionInterface, Rad\Cookie\CookieInterface, Rad\Encryption\EncryptionInterface, Rad\Template\TemplateInterface, Rad\Language\LanguageInterface, Rad\Codec\CodecInterface, Rad\Build\BuildInterface, Rad\ClientApi\ClientApiInterface, Rad\Mail\MailInterface and Psr\EventDispatcher\EventDispatcherInterface (when configured).

Middleware (PSR-15)

Write a standard PSR-15 middleware and attach it to a route/controller with the #[Middleware(...)] attribute:

The matched Route is available on the request as an attribute ($request->getAttribute(\Rad\Route\Route::class)). Middlewares can be ordered by declaring public static int $priority (lower runs first). Middlewares still written against the old Rad\Middleware\MiddlewareInterface keep working through an adapter.

Events (PSR-14)

The legacy Observer/Observable classes have been removed in favour of a PSR-14 event dispatcher (Rad\Event\EventHandler). Define events by extending Rad\Event\AbstractEvent (which supports stopPropagation()), and listeners by implementing Rad\Event\EventListenerInterface:

Register listeners and dispatch:

The dispatcher is also injectable as Psr\EventDispatcher\EventDispatcherInterface.

HTTP client (PSR-18)

Outbound HTTP calls use a PSR-18 client. Build requests with the PSR-17 factory and send them through the injectable Psr\Http\Client\ClientInterface:

PSR Support

• psr-3 Logger Interface
• psr-4 Autoloader
• psr-7 Http Message (Guzzle behind a swappable factory)
• psr-11 Container
• psr-14 EventDispatcher (replaces the old Observer pattern)
• psr-15 Middleware (Dispatcher + RequestHandler)
• psr-16 Caching
• psr-17 Http Factory (single swappable factory over Guzzle)
• psr-18 Http Client (cURL-based CurlClient)