README

Table of contents:

About
Configuration
Binding Points
Execution
Installation
Running Requests
Unit Tests
Reference Guide
Specifications

About

This API is a skeleton (requires binding by developers) created to efficiently handle console requests into server responses using a MVC version where views and models are expected to be independent while controllers mediate between the two based on user request. Designed with modularity, efficiency and simplicity at its foundation, API is both object and event oriented: similar to JavaScript, it allows developers to bind logic that will be executed when predefined events are reached while handling.

API does nothing more than standard MVC logic, so it may need a framework to be built on top to add further features (eg: DB connectivity). In order to use it, following steps are required from developers:

configuration: setting up an XML file where this API is configured
binding points: binding user-defined components defined in XML/code to API prototypes in order to gain necessary abilities
initialization: instancing FrontController, a Runnable able to handle requests into responses later on based on above two
binding events: setting up Runnable classes that will be instanced and run when predefined events are reached during handling process
configuring shared variables: extend Attributes class to encapsulate variables specific to your project, to be shared between event listeners and controllers
handling: calling run method @ FrontController to finally handle requests into responses, triggering events above (if any)

API is fully PSR-4 compliant, only requiring Abstract MVC API for basic MVC logic, PHP7.1+ interpreter and SimpleXML extension. To quickly see how it works, check:

installation: describes how to install API on your computer, in light of steps above
running requests: describes how to use installed and configured API to run console requests
reference guide: describes all API classes, methods and fields relevant to developers
unit tests: API has 100% Unit Test coverage, using UnitTest API instead of PHPUnit for greater flexibility
example: shows a deep example of API functionality based on FrontController unit test

All classes inside belong to Lucinda\ConsoleSTDOUT namespace!

Configuration

To configure this API you must have a XML with following tags inside:

application: (mandatory) configures your application on a general basis
resolvers: (mandatory) configures formats in which your application is able to resolve responses to
routes: (mandatory) configures routes that bind requested resources to controllers and views

Application

Tag documentation is completely covered by inherited Abstract MVC API specification! Since STDIN for this API is made of HTTP(s) requests, value of default_route attribute must point to index (homepage) for requests that come with no route.

Resolvers

Tag documentation is completely covered by inherited Abstract MVC API specification!

Routes

Maximal syntax of this tag is:

<routes>
    <route id="..." controller="..." view="..." format="..."/>
    ...
</routes>

Most tag logic is already covered by Abstract MVC API specification. Following extra observations need to be made:

id: (mandatory) requested route identified by first console argument when running API!
controller: (optional) name of user-defined PS-4 autoload compliant class (including namespace) that will mitigate requests and responses based on models.
Class must be a Controller instance!

Tag example:

<routes>
    <route id="users" controller="Lucinda\Project\Controllers\UsersSynchronization" view="users"/>
    <route id="groups" controller="Lucinda\Project\Controllers\GroupsSynchronization" view="groups">
</routes>

^ It is mandatory to define a route for that defined by default_route attribute @ application XML tag!

If request came without route, default route is used. If, however, request came with a route that matches no id, a RouteNotFoundException is thrown!

Binding Points

In order to remain flexible and achieve highest performance, API takes no more assumptions than those absolutely required! It offers developers instead an ability to bind to its prototypes in order to gain certain functionality.

Declarative Binding

It offers developers an ability to bind declaratively to its prototype classes/interfaces via XML:

XML Attribute @ Tag	Class Prototype	Ability Gained
controller @ route	Controller	MVC controller for any request URI
class @ resolver	\Lucinda\MVC\ViewResolver	Resolving response in a particular format (eg: html)

Programmatic Binding

It offers developers an ability to bind programmatically to its prototypes via FrontController constructor:

Class Prototype	Ability Gained
Attributes	(mandatory) Collects data (via setters and getters) to be made available throughout request-response cycle

and addEventListener method (see: Binding Events section)!

Execution

Initialization

Now that developers have finished setting up XML that configures the API, they are finally able to initialize it by instantiating FrontController.

Apart from method run required by Runnable interface it implements, class comes with following public methods:

Method	Arguments	Returns	Description
__construct	string $documentDescriptor, Attributes $attributes	void	Records user defined XML and attributes for later handling
addEventListener	EventType $type, string $className	void	Binds a listener to an event type

Where:

$documentDescriptor: relative location of XML configuration file. Example: "configuration.xml"
$attributes: see configuring shared variables.
$type: event type (see binding-events below) encapsulated by enum EventType
$className: listener class name, including namespace and subfolder, found in folder defined when Attributes was instanced.

Example:

$handler = new FrontController("configuration.xml", new MyCustomAttributes("application/event_listeners");
$handler->run();

Binding Events

As mentioned above, API allows developers to bind listeners to handling lifecycle events via addEventListener method above. Each event type corresponds to an abstract Runnable class:

Type	Class	Description
EventType::START	EventListeners\Start	Ran before configuration XML is read
EventType::APPLICATION	EventListeners\Application	Ran after configuration XML is read into Lucinda\MVC\Application
EventType::REQUEST	EventListeners\Request	Ran after user request is read into Request object
EventType::RESPONSE	EventListeners\Response	Ran after Lucinda\MVC\Response body is compiled but before it's rendered
EventType::END	EventListeners\End	Ran after Lucinda\MVC\Response was rendered back to caller

Listeners must extend matching event class and implement required run method holding the logic that will execute when event is triggered. It is required for them to be registered BEFORE run method is ran:

$handler = new FrontController("stdout.xml", new FrameworkAttributes();
$handler->addEventListener(EventType::APPLICATION, Lucinda\Project\EventListeners\Logging::class);
$handler->run();

To understand how event listeners are located, check specifications!

Configuring Shared Variables

API allows event listeners to set variables that are going to be made available to subsequent event listeners and controllers. For each variable there is a:

setter: to be ran once by a event listener
getter: to be ran by subsequent event listeners and controllers

API comes with Attributes, which holds the foundation every site must extend in order to set up its own variables. Unless your site is extremely simple, it will require developers to extend this class and add further variables, for whom setters and getters must be defined!

Handling

Once above steps are done, developers are finally able to handle requests into responses via run method of FrontController, which:

detects EventListeners\Start listeners and executes them in order they were registered
encapsulates configuration XML file into Lucinda\MVC\Application object
detects EventListeners\Application listeners and executes them in order they were registered
encapsulates request information (environment info, machine info, request info) into Request object
detects EventListeners\Request listeners and executes them in order they were registered
initializes empty Lucinda\MVC\Response based on information detected above from request or XML
locates Controller based on information already detected and, if found, executes it in order to bind models to views
locates Lucinda\MVC\ViewResolver based on information already detected and executes it in order to feed response body based on view
detects EventListeners\Response listeners and executes them in order they were registered
sends Lucinda\MVC\Response back to caller, containing headers and body
detects EventListeners\End listeners and executes them in order they were registered

All components that are in developers' responsibility (Controller, Lucinda\MVC\ViewResolver, along with event listeners themselves, implement Runnable interface.

Installation

First choose a folder, then write this command there using console:

composer require lucinda/console-mvc

Rename folder above to DESTINATION_FOLDER then create a configuration.xml file holding configuration settings (see configuration above) and a index.php file (see initialization above) in project root with following code:

$controller = new Lucinda\ConsoleSTDOUT\FrontController("configuration.xml", new Attributes("application/events"));
// TODO: add event listeners here
$controller->run();

Running Requests

Now that you have installed project on your machine, go to DESTINATION_FOLDER, open console/terminal and write:

php index.php ROUTE PARAM1 PARAM2 ...

Where:

ROUTE: route to be handled (must be matched with a route XML subtag)
PARAM1, ...: parameters to send to route, accessible in controllers/listeners as: $this->request->parameters

Unit Tests

For tests and examples, check following files/folders in API sources:

test.php: runs unit tests in console
unit-tests.xml: sets up unit tests and mocks "loggers" tag
tests: unit tests for classes from src folder

Reference Guide

These classes are fully implemented by API:

Request: encapsulates request information (route, parameters, user info, etc.)
- Request\UserInfo: encapsulates information about console user that made request

Apart of classes mentioned in binding events, following abstract classes require to be extended by developers in order to gain an ability:

Controller: encapsulates binding Request to Lucinda\MVC\Response based on user request and XML info

Class Request

Class Request encapsulates information detected about user request based on superglobals ($_SERVER, $_GET, $_POST, $_FILES) and defines following public methods relevant to developers:

Method	Arguments	Returns	Description
getRoute	void	string	Gets first console argument received by API. See execution above!
getInputStream	void	string	Gets access to input stream for binary requests.
parameters	void	array	Gets all console arguments received by API, minus first (route). See execution above!
parameters	int $position	mixed	Gets value of console arguments by position.
getOperatingSystem	void	string	Gets operating system name API is running into.
getUserInfo	void	Request\UserInfo	Gets information about user that made request.

Class Request UserInfo

Class Request\UserInfo encapsulates information detected about user that made request and defines following public methods relevant to developers:

Method	Arguments	Returns	Description
getName	void	string	Gets requester user name
isSuper	void	bool	Gets whether or not requester is a superuser/root