php.MVC implements the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, and encourages application design based on the Model 2 paradigm. This design model allows the Web page or other contents (View) to be mostly separated from the internal application code (Controller/Model), making it easier for designers and programmers to focus on their respective areas of expertise.
The framework provides a single entry point Controller. The Controller is responsible for allocating HTTP requests to the appropriate Action handler (Model) based on configuration mappings.
The Model contains the business logic for the application. The Controller then forwards the request to the appropriate View component, which is usually implemented using a combination of HTML with PHP tags in the form of templates. The resulting contents are returned to the client browser, or via another protocol such as SMTP.
php.MVC is a PHP port of Jakarta Struts. It currently supports many features of Struts, including declarative application configuration via the XML digester.
Key Features of php.MVC
• Free OpenSource software: This gives users full control of the software, and the able to modify the source code to suit specific needs.
• Security: php.MVC applications have only one entry point (per application). This makes it easy to protect sensitive application code and data.
• Flexible Installation: Individual php.MVC applications can be installed outside of the main php.MVC library directory tree.
• Multi-applications: There is no limit to the number of applications per php.MVC installation.
• Object Oriented design (OOD). The php.MVC framework is based on OOD principles, making it more extendable and maintainable.
• Database integration: The php.MVC framework ships with the Pear::DB Database Abstraction Layer, and a driver for the MySQL relational database manager (RDBM) is provided.
• Action Chaining: php.MVC allows for passing control to other Actions. This makes it easy to process a sequence of Actions (business logic classes) and static resources (pages).
• XML configuration: php.MVC uses declarative application configurations using Extensible Markup Language (XML) files. Each application has its own XML configuration file.
• MVC Model 2 design: php.MVC implements the Model-View-Controller (MVC) Model 2 design pattern. The Model 2 paradigm allows the separation of the application presentation from the business logic, making it easier for designers and programmers to focus on their respective areas of expertise.
• Form button mapping: php.MVC implements the LookupDispatchAction class to enable HTML form buttons to be mapped to particular business logic methods. For example, a form submit button called "Add to Cart" could be mapped to an Action class method called MyCartAction->addToCart(…).
• Message Resources: php.MVC provides a PropertyMessageResources class that handles messages in text string properties files with parametric replacement. This can provide Locale-sensitive messages for internationalized applications.
• The php.MVC framework is based on Jakarta Struts application framework design. Struts has proven to be reliable, extendable and well supported.
Requirements
• PHP enabled Web server
• PHP v. 4.1.0 or greater
• XML parser (James Clark’s expat is usually included with most PHP versions)
Installation
MS Windows Installation
1) Copy the phpmvc-beta-xxx.zip archive to the Web server (SCP/FTP)
2) Unpack the tarball zip
• SSH to the Web server
• Change to the directory where phpmvc will live. Eg: C:\WWW\
• Backup/move any existing phpmvc directory. Eg: C:\WWW\phpmvc-BAK
• Unzip the phpmvc-beta-xxx.zip archive to the target directory.
Eg: C:\WWW\phpmvc
• Remove the phpmvc-beta-xxx.zip tarball [optional]
3) Setup the Simple Example application
• Move into the main phpmvc directory. Eg: C:\WWW\phpmvc
• Set the Simple Example application root and module directory in Main.php
Note: These paths are absolute file-system paths.
Note: In this case the paths are the same as Simple Example Main.php file is in the php.MVC root directory.
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
// Set php.MVC library root directory
$appServerRootDir = ‘C:/WWW/phpmvc’; // no trailing slash
// Set the application path
$moduleRootDir = ‘C:/WWW/phpmvc’; // no trailing slash
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
• Enable write permission on the WEB-INF/phpmvc-config.data file.
Note: The Web server must have write permission on WEB- INF/phpmvc-config.data file
Note: The WEB-INF/* directory tree should be accessable ONLY by localhost per .htaccess file
Note: If you have admin access to the server, change the phpmvc-config.data file to be writable
by the Web server group for added security.
4) Setup the OOHForms demo module
• Move into the OOHForms demo module directory. Eg: C:\WWW\phpmvc\oohforms
• Set the OOHForms demo application root and module directory in Main.php
Note: These paths are absolute file-system paths.
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
// Set php.MVC library root directory
$appServerRootDir = ‘C:/WWW/phpmvc’; // no trailing slash
// Set the application path
$moduleRootDir = ‘C:/WWW/phpmvc/oohforms’; // no trailing slash
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
• Enable write permission on the WEB-INF/phpmvc-config.data file for this application.
Note: As above
5) Test Web access to WEB-INF/*
• There should be NO access or directory listing to WEB-INF/* in the main or sub application.
6) Test the basic php.MVC framework demos
• The Simple Example:
Browse to your install directory, with the path "do=stdLogon".
Eg: http://myserver.com/phpmvc/Main.php?do=stdLogon
• The OOHForms demo:
Browse to the phpmvc/oohforms/index.php file and follow the links.
7) Troubleshooting
• If all you get is file path errors, please try setting the $osType variable in the Main.php files to the correct server OS.
Eg: $osType = ‘WINDOWS’;
Linux (Redhat) Installation
1) Copy phpmvc-beta-xxx.tgz to the Web server (FTP)
2) Unpack the tarball
• SSH to the Web server
• Change to the directory where phpmvc will live.
bash$ cd www
• Backup/move any existing phpmvc directory
bash$ mv phpmvc phpmvc-BAK
• Create the phmmvc directory and unpack archive
bash$ tar xvzf phpmvc-20021126.tgz
• Remove the phpmvc-beta-xxx.tgz tarball [optional]
bash$ rm phpmvc-beta-xxx.tgz
3) Setup the Simple Example application
• Move into the main phpmvc directory
bash$ cd phpmvc
Check the path to the phpmvc root directory ($appServerRootDir)
bash$ pwd (/home/myhome/www/phpmvc)
• Set the Simple Example application root and module directory in Main.php
Note: These paths are absolute file-system paths.
Note: In this case the paths are the same as Simple Example Main.php file is in the php.MVC root directory.
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
// Set php.MVC library root directory
$appServerRootDir = ‘/home/myhome/www/phpmvc’; // no trailing slash
// Set the application path
$moduleRootDir = ‘/home/myhome/www/phpmvc’; // no trailing slash
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
• Enable write permission on the phpmvc-config.data file.
bash$ chmod o+w WEB-INF/phpmvc-config.data (*** world writable ***)
Note: The Web server must have write permission on WEB- INF/phpmvc-config.data file
Note: The WEB-INF/* directory tree should be accessable ONLY by localhost per .htaccess file
Note: If you have root access to the server, change the phpmvc-config.data file to be writable
by the Web server group for added security.
bash$ chmod g+w WEB-INF/phpmvc-config.data
root# chgrp apachegroup WEB-INF/phpmvc-config.data
4) Setup the OOHForms demo module
• Move into the OOHForms demo module directory
bash$ cd oohforms
• Set the main application root directory in Main.php
bash$ vi Main.php
• Set the OOHForms demo application root and module directory in Main.php
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
// Set php.MVC library root directory
$appServerRootDir = ‘/home/myhome/www/phpmvc’; // no trailing slash
// Set the application path
$moduleRootDir = ‘/home/myhome/www/phpmvc/oohforms’; // no trailing slash
/* ———- Application Paths ———- */
• Enable write permission on the phpmvc-config.data file
bash$ chmod o+w WEB-INF/phpmvc-config.data (*** world writable ***)
Notes: As above
5) Test Web access to WEB-INF/*
• There should be NO access or directory listing to WEB-INF/* in the main or sub application.
6) Test the basic php.MVC framework demos
• The Simple Example:
Browse to your install directory, with the path "do=stdLogon".
Eg: http://myserver.com/phpmvc/Main.php?do=stdLogon
• The OOHForms demo:
Browse to the phpmvc/oohforms/index.php file and follow the links.
7) Troubleshooting
• If all you get is file path errors, please try setting the $osType variable in the Main.php files to the correct server OS.
Eg: $osType = ‘UNIX’;
User Guides can be found here:
http://www.phpmvc.net/docs/guides/guidesIdx.php
You Can download php.MVC from here
http://www.phpmvc.net/download/downloadIdx.php?doc=phpmvc-docs
