en:tutorials:minitutorial:1.3.x

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====== Mini Tutorial ======

The goal of this tutorial is to quickly show how you can develop an application with Jelix 1.3. 


===== Download and installation =====

First, [[en:download:stable:1.3#developer-edition|download the "developer" edition of Jelix]]. Jelix requires at least PHP 5.2 (See [[http://docs.jelix.org/en/manual-1.3/installation/requirements|here a detailed list of requirements]])

Unpack the archive file you have downloaded, with your archiver software companion. For example, with tar (replace x with you'r version):

<code bash>
  tar xzf jelix-1.3.x.x-dev.tar.gz
</code>

After this, you have a directory @@F@jelix-1.3.x.x-dev/lib/@@ in which you'll find all libraries used by jelix, and jelix itself.

For the purpose of this tutorial, rename the jelix-1.3.x.x-dev folder to jelix and move it in a directory of your web site. So that it will be accessible with a browser, at this URL for example: @@http://localhost/jelix/@@.

===== Jelix scripts =====

A script for command line, @@F@createapp.php@@, is available in the @@F@lib/jelix-scripts/@@ directory. This script allows you to create quickly an application. Open a console and go into this directory :

<code bash>
   cd jelix/lib/jelix-scripts/        # under linux
</code>

To invoke the command, run the script @@createapp.php@@ with the php binary (php.exe under windows), and give it the path of the new application 
<code bash>
php createapp.php path/to/the/new/application
</code>

After creating the application, you will saw a @@cmd.php@@ script into it, which will allow to execute other commands on your application.

===== Application creation =====

Let's create the tree structure of your application using @@createapp@@ command. Suppose your application will be named "example":

<code bash>
php createapp.php ../../example
</code>

As a result, you'll get an @@F@example/@@ directory, at the same level as the @@F@lib/@@ directory. Its content will be :

<code>
  example/
     application.init.php   the file to initialize the jelix environment and the application
     cmd.php                 the script to launch some commands to develop
     modules/       the modules of your application
     plugins/       the plugins of your application
     var/config/    the configuration files of your application
     var/log/       the log files
     var/themes/    the different possible themes in your application
     var/overloads/  will contain the different files that you will redefine, from modules. 
     www/           the root of the site
</code>

An other directory @@F@temp/example/@@ is created. It contains all cache and temporary file generated by jelix.

===== Module creation =====

A module gathers a whole set of actions dispatched in controllers. At least one is necessary in an application. This is why a module is created automatically when you run @@createapp@@ command.

Here is the directory which has been created:

   example/modules/
              example/                the directory of the module
                module.xml          file describing the identity of the module
                controllers/       the classes processing the actions
                   default.classic.php   a default controller
                classes/            your business classes and services
                daos/               the object-relational mapping files
                forms/              forms files
                locales/            locales files ("properties files")
                    en_EN/
                    fr_FR/
                templates/          templates of the module
                zones/              objects processing specific zones in a page


If you want to create other modules later, use @@createmodule@@ command with the @@F@cmd.php@@ script:

<code bash>
php cmd.php createmodule cms
</code>

It will create a module named "cms".


===== First display =====

Before displaying the start page of your new application, you have to be sure your web server has write access to directories @@F@temp/example@@ and @@F@example/var/log@@ : 

For example, on linux (ubuntu or debian) :

<code bash>
   sudo chown www-data:www-data ../../temp/example ../../example/var/log
   sudo chmod 755 ../../temp/example ../../example/var/log
</code>

You are now ready for prime. Your application is accessible at this URL: @@http://localhost/jelix/example/www/@@. Enter this URL in your browser. you should see:

{{en:tutorials:minitutorial:start_page_white_en.png}}

Noticed this message saying that a CSS file is missing ? Copy the @@F@jelix/lib/jelix-www@@  directory into @@F@jelix/example/www@@  by renaming it to "jelix" (on a dedicated apache server, it is better to create an alias). This directory is important because it contains some files needed by jForms or other components.

Now you should see:

{{:en:tutorials:minitutorial:start_page_en-1.3.png?500}}

If there are some error messages in the "installation check" section, fix them.


===== Implementing an action =====

Let's implement a default action. An action is a process which generates a page. It is implemented as a method in a class called a "controller". A controller can implement several actions. 

Open @@F@example/modules/example/controllers/default.classic.php@@ file:

<code php>
/**
* @package   example
* @subpackage example
* @author    yourname
* @copyright 2012 yourname
* @link      http://www.yourwebsite.undefined
* @license    All right reserved
*/

class defaultCtrl extends jController {
   /**
   *
   */
   function index () {
       $rep = $this->getResponse('html');

       // this is a call for the 'welcome' zone after creating a new application
       // remove this line !
       $rep->body->assignZone('MAIN', 'jelix~check_install');

       return $rep;
   }
}
</code>

What this code means is that **index** action of **default** controller retrieves a @@C@jResponseHtml@@ object through the @@M@getResponse()@@ method by passing "html" as argument. After processing, the action returns this response thus indicating that its content must be returned to the browser.


@@C@jResponseHtml@@ has a @@P@body@@ property, which is a @@C@jTpl@@ object. jTpl is a template engine provided by Jelix. 

In the action code above, you see a call to @@C@assignZone()@@ method. This means : get the content of the 'check_install' zone which is stored in the 'jelix' module, and assign this content to the template variable named @@V@MAIN@@ (You will see what is a zone in details later). 'Check_install' is a zone which shows results of install checkings. If those results are ok, you don't need it anymore. delete this line so you will have this in your controller:

<code php>

class defaultCtrl extends jController {
   /**
   *
   */
   function index () {
       $rep = $this->getResponse('html');

       return $rep;
   }
}
</code>

==== Response object ====

a @@C@jResponseHtml@@ object generates an HTML response (an HTML page). It automatically generates the @@<head>@@ part of HTML, from some of its properties. 

Let's define the title of the page. Add this in the @@M@index()@@ method, just before returning the response object:

<code php>
   $rep->title = 'Hello World !';
</code>

Reload the page. The page title should now display accordingly in your browser title bar. But still your page contains this:

{{en:tutorials:minitutorial:minituto_1_en.png}}

How is this possible whereas we don't define any content in our controller?

We have seen before that @@M@getResponse('html')@@ returns a @@C@jResponseHtml@@ object. However, it could return another object for the "html" type. It could be an instance of a class inheriting from @@C@jResponseHtml@@ and which set common things for all 'html' actions. Think about defining common CSS style sheets and JS scripts, your application main template etc. This  class is very useful as you don't need to repeat this settings through all your actions. And because this is very useful, the @@createapp@@ command creates such a class and a default template. it is stored in the @@F@responses/@@ directory of your application, and is declared in the configuration file.

Let's see the content of @@F@example/responses/myHtmlResponse.class.php@@ created by @@createapp@@:

<code php>
require_once (JELIX_LIB_CORE_PATH.'response/jResponseHtml.class.php');

class myHtmlResponse extends jResponseHtml {

    public $bodyTpl = 'example~main';

    function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();

        // Include your common CSS and JS files here
    }

    protected function doAfterActions() {
        // Include all process in common for all actions, like the settings of the
        // main template, the settings of the response etc..

        $this->body->assignIfNone('MAIN','<p>no content</p>');
    }
}
</code>

This "customized" response assigns to its @@P@bodyTpl@@ member the default template which will be used to generate the @@<body>@@ content of all pages : "example~main". This is the @@F@main.tpl@@ file in the example module. "example~main" is called a selector. A [[http://docs.jelix.org/en/manual-1.3/selectors|Jelix selector]] is a shortcut to refer to a resource of a module. Here is the content of @@F@example/module/example/templates/main.tpl@@:

<code html>
   <h1 class="apptitle">Title for example<br/><span class="welcome">{@jelix~jelix.newapp.h1@}</span></h1>
   {$MAIN}
</code>

@@{$MAIN}@@ is an instruction which says: display the content of the template variable named @@V@MAIN@@. {@jelix~jelix.newapp.h1@} is an instruction which says: display the localized string (a string which value depends on the lang) identified by the "jelix.newapp.h1" key and stored in the "jelix" module.

@@M@doAfterActions@@ method is called after each action. In the example, it assigns @@"<p>no content</p>"@@ to the MAIN template variable if this variable doesn't exist yet  (so, if it is not set by the action).

Now you know why there is a content displaying on the start page. Now let's modify the template with this content:

<code html>
<h1 class="apptitle">My web site</h1>

<div id="page">
{$MAIN}
</div>
</code>

And in the constructor of the @@M@doAfterActions@@ method, we add an instruction to setup a CSS style sheet:

<code php>
require_once (JELIX_LIB_CORE_PATH.'response/jResponseHtml.class.php');
 
class myHtmlResponse extends jResponseHtml {
 
    public $bodyTpl = 'example~main';
 
    function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
        global $gJConfig;
        $this->addCSSLink($gJConfig->urlengine['jelixWWWPath'].'design/jelix.css'); 
        // Include your common CSS and JS files here
    }
 
    protected function doAfterActions() {
        // Include all process in common for all actions, like the settings of the
        // main template, the settings of the response etc..
 
        $this->body->assignIfNone('MAIN','<p>no content</p>');
    }
}
</code>

Now you see:

{{:en:tutorials:minitutorial:minituto_2_en-1.3.png|}}

==== Your first content ====

Let's define the content of our start page (in @@F@example/modules/example/controllers/default.classic.php@@):

<code php>
class defaultCtrl extends jController {

   function index () {
      $rep = $this->getResponse('html');
      $rep->title = 'Hello World !';
      
      $rep->body->assign('MAIN',"<p>Hello !</p>");
    
      return $rep;
   }
}
</code>

So here, we put "<p>Hello !</p>" in the "MAIN" template variable. We now see:

{{:en:tutorials:minitutorial:minituto_3_en-1.3.png|}}


==== Template of an action ====

It should be more practical to put the content in a new template, dedicated to your action, for example in @@F@example/modules/example/templates/hello.tpl@@. So we have two templates: @@F@main.tpl@@ which contains the main structure of the web site, and @@F@hello.tpl@@ which specific to the action.

Let's create the @@F@hello.tpl@@ in the templates directory:

<code xml>
<div class="monbloc">
<h2>Message</h2>

<div class="blockcontent">Hello {$name} !</div>
</div>
</code>

@@"{$name}"@@ is a variable template. Now modify the controller:

<code php>
   function index () {
      $rep = $this->getResponse('html');
      $rep->title = 'Hello World !';

      $tpl = new jTpl();
      $tpl->assign('name','Me');
      $rep->body->assign('MAIN', $tpl->fetch('hello'));
    
      return $rep;
   }
</code>


Notice the use of the @@$tpl@@ object. The "fetch" method generate the content of the given template. The 'hello' string is a selector of course.

You see now:

{{:en:tutorials:minitutorial:minituto_4_en-1.3.png|}}

===== Retrieving parameters =====

It would be interesting to be able to indicate the name to display in the template, as a parameter of the url. We get a parameter value with @@M@param()@@ method:

<code php>
   $name = $this->param('name');
   $tpl->assign('name', $name);
</code>

Now type:
    http://localhost/jelix/example/www/index.php?name=Max

You will see:

{{:en:tutorials:minitutorial:minituto_5_en-1.3.png|}}


===== URLs =====

To execute a specific action, you should add in the url the module name, the controller name, and the method name of the action. For our example, we can type:

   http://localhost/jelix/example/www/index.php/example/default/index

(If it doesn't work, verify that your server is configured to accept pathinfo).

In our example, the url indicates the default action of the application. which is specified in the @@F@example/var/config/index/config.ini.php@@ file, in @@V@startModule@@ and @@V@startAction@@ options:

<code ini>
startModule="example"
startAction="default:index"
</code>

You can change it later if you want.

You can also define your own URL by using an other URL engine provided by Jelix. And finally, you can change the "DocumentRoot" of the web site and to set it to the  @@F@jelix/exemple/www@@ directory, or move the content of the @@F@example/www@@ to the root of your web site.

===== Conclusion =====


This were the first concepts of Jelix. You can continue to discover it by following the [[en:tutorials:main|main tutorial]].

-----
   * Go back to the [[en:documentation|documentation]]
   * Continue to discover Jelix with the [[en:tutorials:main|main tutorial]]
en/tutorials/minitutorial/1.3.x.txt · Last modified: 2012/12/06 21:45 by laurent