Directory Structure

The structure is based of the MVC design pattern, with an app folder containing the backend side of your application (config, core, middleware, controllers, models, views etc...). The public folder is the frontend side of your structure with an public/index.php file that runs the appplication and where you define your routes and endpoints.

All classes are namespaced and autoloaded with composer with the PSR-4 autoloading standart.

StackSync comes included with a SASS architecture based on the 7-1 architecture and make use of JavaScripts native ES6 modules. If you're only a backend developer and don't intend on using or learning these methods, and wish to either work normally or with a CSS framework, you can safely delete the scss folder (and clear the js folder if necessary) and use the css folder for your styling normally as it does not interfere with how the framework works and is optional.

The Root Directory

Your root directory will contain an Application.php file that initializes your app and gets called in public/index.php to run.

The .htaccess file redirects any request to the public folder.

A .env file with all your environement variables configured. If not refer to the Configuration section.

The composer.json file contains various informations about the mini-framework and all the available scripts/commands. Under the config section, the `process-timeout` setting is by default at `3600` (which means scripts will timeout after one hour). It can be safely modified to `0` if one wishes no interruptions when the local server is running for example.

The App Directory

Config:

• The app/config folder contains all your configuration files such as the app/config/Dbh.php short for Database Handler that manage the connection to your database.
• app/config/constants.php contains all the defined constants mostly for errors and responses handling.
• The app/config/Middleware.php is the heart of the custom API system, it handles everything from requests, content-type, authorization header and token. Validates and sanitizes the data, processes methods and parameters for the controllers with the help of the app/config/Process.php class.
• app/config/Scripts.php file provides information when certain commands are run in the terminal.
• app/config/Status.php manages the state of the error handling and request responses.

Core:

• The app/core folder contains all essential files and it is advisable to not modify its contents.
• The app/core/templates folder contains all templates that the class app/core/Make.php will base off to create migration files, seeder classes, controllers and models with the help of custom script commands.
• app/core/Router.php with the help of app/core/Request.php, app/core/Response.php and app/core/Views.php handle any request made to Web side of your application and resolve it to render a view depending on your views setup (layouts and components for each page).
• app/core/Components.php handles the inclusion of all components automatically (static or dynamic) in a specific view with a specific layout.
• app/core/Migrations.php handles the database and table migrations depending on the migrations files generated in your app/migrations.
• app/core/Seeders.php handles any data set to be seeded in app/seeders. Useful to have some data to work with when testing your application.

Controllers:

• The app/controllers folder contains all the Web and API controllers, any generated controller through the command composer make:controller will end up here.
• By default, an app/controllers/AuthApiController and an app/controllers/UserApiController are included and should not be removed or modified (unless some columns where added in the `user` table, then some changes could be made reguarding the data sent and the MySQL statements in the model). For each `ApiController`, a route must be defined (which is an endpoint in this case) in public/index.php, with it's respective processMethod in app/config/Process.php.
• The app/controllers/WebController is the only and main controller for handling the Web side of your application, it contains the methods for rendering a view under a certain layout. Any new method added for a view must have a defined route in public/index.php.

Models:

• The app/models folder contains all the models, any generated model through the command composer make:controller will end up here (models are created at the same time of a controlled since they rely on each other).
• As it is with the app/controllers folders, it already contains an app/controllers/AuthModel and an app/controllers/UserModel.

Migrations:

• The app/migrations folder contains all the generated migrations through the command composer make:migration.
• Currently there's two types of migrations: create a table and update a table. All migrations file begin with a prefix and an id (ex: m0001, m0002) that determines their order of execution through the command composer migrate:apply
• You can drop your currently applied migrations anytime with the command composer migrate:drop. Keep in mind that this command will drop all tables generated through migrations, but any table created normally will not be affected.

Seeders:

• The app/seeders folder contains all the generated seeders through the command composer make:seeder.
• Any newly created seeder should have it's respective method added in the app/seeders/DatabaseSeeder.php `seedDatabase` method to be able to run all seeders with the command composer seed:all.
• A command to seed to the `user` table is already setup composer seed:user. To run other seeders separately, a command for it must be added under the `scripts` section in composer.json.

Views:

• The app/views folder is where all your elements that will render a view depending on different factors.
• Each requested view through a defined route will have a layout attached to it. You can modify the base layout or create others under the app/views/layouts.
• Layouts are considered the base architecture of the view and can contain static components app/views/components/static that will be present in all views under the specified layout.
• Static components are wrapped inside double brackets [[ static ]].
• A head tag static component is essential and already exists in app/views/components/static/head.php. It should be customized and included in all layouts between the head tags.
• A views content will be different depending on which route is requested, it is advisable to name your route and view method with the same name of your view content file under app/views.
• The view content is defined inside the layout as a string wrapped inside double parentheses (( content )).
• Each view content can have dynamic components app/views/components/dynamic attached to them and are not part of the layout. That means they are not going to be present in all pages unless they are defined in all views with a certain layout.
• Dynamic components are wrapped inside double curly braces {{ dynamic }}.

The Public Directory

• The public folder's root is where requests are redirected to the public/index.php file and where all your frontend folders and files reside, any frontend library (jQuery, Bootstrap etc...) needed should be installed under this directory.
• Your favicons should also be under the root of the public folder

CSS:

• The css folder will contain all your stylesheets (or compiled stylesheets from SASS/SCSS if used).

Fonts:

• The fonts folder will contain all your fonts if hosted on the server to be used with the `@font-face` rule.

Icons:

• The icons folder will contain all your icons.

Images:

• The images folder will contain all your image assets.
• *You can use one folder for both your icons and images and structure it however fit.

JS:

• The js folder will contain all your JavaScript files. By default you will find a structure made for the use of JavaScript's native ES6 modules that can be deleted if planning on using normal JavaScript or some libraries like jQuery or other.

SCSS:

• The scss folder will contain a SASS/SCSS Architecture based on the 7-1 architecture. The use of SASS/SCSS is optional and this folder can be deleted safely.