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1# sview : tiny PHP web framework
2
3It is inspired by [a similar framework](https://github.com/arnorhs/ShortPHP) written by Arnór Heiðar Sigurðsson.
4In the same spirit but more advanced and more complete, see also [nanoc](http://nanoc.ws/) - in Ruby.
5
6sview is designed to organize essentially static websites.
7It does not offer the features you would expect from a complete MVC framework -
8actually, it has only the "V" part.
9If you want a more demanding dynamic website, consider using an appropriate tool,
10[Symfony](http://symfony.com/) for example.
11
12## How to use it ?
13
14The file sample-website.tar.xz provides a basic but full website example.
15Alternatively, here are some details about sview usage.
16
17## 0. Installation
18
19In the following, I assume your website is located under http\[s\]://domain/topic/
20and is named "website" (adapt to your case). For example, in https://github.com/blog/
21domain = github.com and topic = blog.
22
23Get the source code either with `git clone` command or using a zip archive.
24Copy all folder contents in the website/ folder :
25
26 website/
27 a/
28 f/
29 site/
30 .htaccess
31 common.php
32 defaults.php
33 index.php
34 s.php</pre>
35
36* __a/__ (for "assets") is the folder for CSS files, images and javascript codes.
37 I like to put them respectively in css/, img/ and js/ folders, but the choice is yours.
38* __f/__ (for "files") is the folder for any downloadable (or browsable) file you may upload.
39* __site/__ is the main folder containing all your website pages. Three are already there :
40 * _404.php_ : the 404 error page;
41 * _dl.php_ : a script to download binary files;
42 * _home.php_ : the specifications for the welcome page.
43* __.htaccess__ : its main job consists in routing everything that is not a resource to the index.php file.
44* __common.php__ contains shared variables and functions to be used by at least two different pages.
45* __defaults.php__ defines default variables for any web page, like the title or javascripts block.
46* __index.php__ contains your website template, which is rendered for any web page
47 (and filled with specific values defined in pages under site/ folder; anything can be customized).
48* __s.php__ consists in the framework code, loaded at the beginning of index.php.
49
50Now (online), in the .htaccess file, change the line `RewriteBase /` to `RewriteBase /topic`.
51
52## 1. Set default contents
53
54Edit the file defaults.php with
55* A global title to your website; this title can later be mixed with a more specific page-based title, or be replaced.
56* A list of references to CSS style sheets and pre-rendering javascripts, like `<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cran.r-project.org/R.css"/>`.
57 We will see later how to refer to local style sheets (under a/css).
58* Some javascript code which will be loaded by default after every page loads (e.g. [jQuery](http://jquery.com/).
59
60Each variable name is prepended with "b\_" to avoid potential conflicts with your own variables.
61
62## 2. Complete main pages
63
64### index.php
65
66Complete
67* The menu (at commented location)
68* The banner (near the menu, if you want one)
69* The footer (if you don't want one, just drop it).
70
71You can also change the &lt;meta&gt; tags if needed.
72
73### site/home.php
74
75The welcome page. You can choose a title ($s\_title) or use the default one
76(by not specifying anything). Style sheets and javascripts can be customized, ...etc.
77Any default variable can be used to define a specific variable (prepended with "s\_").
78
79### site/404.php
80
81Customize it; it is probably viewed more often than you think ;-)
82
83## 3. Write all other pages
84
85All pages are under site/ folder, and you can nest them in any directory tree.
86
87__Hint__ : if you don't want to load the main template, just end any site file with a PHP `exit` directive.
88
89Now we will see how to access pages and resources (images, CSS, files, javascript).
90
91---
92
93## How to view a web page ?
94
95The page at physical location site/some\_folder/mypage.php is viewed in the web browser at the URL
96http\[s\]://domain/topic/website/some\_folder/mypage (thanks to URL rewriting defined in the .htaccess file).
97
98Any page can be linked internally using the `r()` PHP function ('r' for "resource"), like in
99the following : `<a href="<?php echo r('some_folder/mypage'); >>`. This function determines
100the nesting level and output the appropriate path.
101
102## How to access...
103
104_A CSS style sheet_ : its path is given by the following PHP function call
105`r('a/css/name_of_the_file.css')` from within any site file (assuming you place all CSS files
106under a/css/. They may be inside a nested folder structure).
107
108_An image_ : same as above, with `r('a/img/name_of_the_image.xxx')`.
109
110_A javascript file_ : same as above, with `r('a/js/name_of_the_file.js')`.
111
112## How to give a download link ?
113
114Just use a regular link pointing to `r('dl/?f=name_of_the_file.xxx')`, anywhere you want.
115
116---
117
118## Usual workflow
119
120Just add pages under site/ folder, and potential resources and files under a/ and f/.
121All other files will not change a lot.