README

The framework files all exist inside the _knot directory. This directory should be higher than the public web directory so that its files are not accessible to the public. The files will be called as needed through the knot.

_knot Directory Structure

_knot
  \_ _templates
       \_ pages
             \_ basic.inc
             \_ error.inc
             \_ footer.inc
             \_ header.inc
             \_ home.inc
       \_ base.inc
       \_ css-includes.inc
       \_ js-includes.inc
  \_ App
       \_ Database.php
       \_ Emailer.php
       \_ Knot.php
       \_ Map.php
       \_ Menu.php
       \_ Page.php
       \_ Session.php
       \_ TaskBar.php
       \_ TaskBarButtonGroup.php
       \_ TaskBarFontAwesome.php
  \_ .editorconfig
  \_ debugger.php
  \_ index.php
  \_ knot.php
  \_ tags.php

The _knot directory contains the inner workings of the framework.

At the start is the index.php file. It will require the knot.php file, which bootstraps the framework. To extend the knot framework for an application, a file with those settings must be created and inluded on the knot.php file. This includes the use of the Database class where configuration settings will need to be added to the Knot container. Read the doc block for the Database container for the specific requirements. Variables defined with a beginning double underscore are declared by and needed by knot. The index.php file will read the site's declared configuration. It will set the user requested path, get the path of the site's page files and set page and navigation data. It will determine if an allowed process is called through a user action and will call files specific to database processing (add, update, and delete). If there is no process to run, it will look for the requested page file and set page content. Then the rendering begins.

The _templates directory contains html rendering template files.

The _templates directory holds files that contain layered html structured elements that will build the final output of the page. The base.inc file includes the basic outer layer of the html page including the html, head, and body. It will include into the head the header-includes.inc file. The body will call the template that is defined for the selected page.

The App directory contains classes used by knot.

The Database class manages a singleton database connection for all instances of the class while individual Database objects will have separate property values.

The Knot class is a container for the application where specific configurations of the application will be held. Functions can also be stored for later use.

The Map class is a getter/setter class for an associative array. This allows for only name/value pairs.

The Menu class is responsible for rendering the menu and storing the current page information, such as template and page title.

The Page class will hold properties specific to elements of a page.

The Session class is currently not used. Once instantiated in the knot.php bootstrap file, it will manage starting sessions for all pages called in the knot.

Public Web Directory

docroot
  \_ _config
       \_ config.ssi
       \_ menu.ssi
  \_ _pages
       \_ home.inc
       \_ ... other pages for site
  \_ _process
       \_ ... process files match route using .ssi
  \_ assets
       \_ css
       \_ js
       \_ img
       \_ ... other public asset files

A symbolic link in the public web directory should point to this file. It will expect in the web directory a _config directory with config.ssi and menu.ssi files.

The config.ssi file must add content_path, site_name, and default_page to the Knot container. A $route variable is optional, but be sure to use the var_define function to set an array of validated route calls.

The menu.ssi file must contain the site's navigation and any page that will be rendered by knot and should be an array containing an associated array with these settings: path (the path name that will be added to the href - it should not contain any / characters), label (the name displayed in the output of the menu), title (the title of the page displayed in the title element and html head), menu (a boolean for weather to render in the menu), icon (value for the menu display), style (additional classes). Children of the page can be added to the menu array under children with the same structure. The parent paths are automatically built and do not need to be included in the path value.

At the root of the _pages directory should be a file for each of your pages with the name of the file matching the path in the menu and must have an .inc file extension. Any additional includes should be placed in an includes directory to get the _pages directory clean. For sites with depth greater than 1, files should be in successive directories matching the parent path name.

The _process directory is for files to run processes that match a $route request. These must have .ssi extension.

The assets directory should include any publicly served files such as css files, javascript files, or images.

shelane / knot-project

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