# sview : tiny PHP web framework
It is inspired by [a similar framework](https://github.com/arnorhs/ShortPHP) written by Arnór Heiðar Sigurðsson.
In the same spirit but more advanced and more complete, see also [nanoc](http://nanoc.ws/) - in Ruby.
sview is designed to organize essentially static websites.
It does not offer the features you would expect from a complete MVC framework -
actually, it has only the "V" part.
If you want a more demanding dynamic website, consider using an appropriate tool,
[Symfony](http://symfony.com/) for example.
## How to use it ?
The file sample-website.tar.xz provides a basic but full website example.
Alternatively, here are some details about sview usage.
## 0. Installation
In the following, I assume your website is located under http\[s\]://domain/topic/
and is named "website" (adapt to your case). For example, in https://github.com/blog/
domain = github.com and topic = blog.
Get the source code either with `git clone` command or using a zip archive.
Copy all folder contents in the website/ folder :
website/
a/
f/
site/
.htaccess
common.php
defaults.php
index.php
s.php
* __a/__ (for "assets") is the folder for CSS files, images and javascript codes.
I like to put them respectively in css/, img/ and js/ folders, but the choice is yours.
* __f/__ (for "files") is the folder for any downloadable (or browsable) file you may upload.
* __site/__ is the main folder containing all your website pages. Three are already there :
* _404.php_ : the 404 error page;
* _dl.php_ : a script to download binary files;
* _home.php_ : the specifications for the welcome page.
* __.htaccess__ : its main job consists in routing everything that is not a resource to the index.php file.
* __common.php__ contains shared variables and functions to be used by at least two different pages.
* __defaults.php__ defines default variables for any web page, like the title or javascripts block.
* __index.php__ contains your website template, which is rendered for any web page
(and filled with specific values defined in pages under site/ folder; anything can be customized).
* __s.php__ consists in the framework code, loaded at the beginning of index.php.
Now (online), in the .htaccess file, change the line `RewriteBase /` to `RewriteBase /topic`.
## 1. Set default contents
Edit the file defaults.php with
* A global title to your website; this title can later be mixed with a more specific page-based title, or be replaced.
* A list of references to CSS stylesheets and pre-rendering javascripts, like ``.
We will see later how to refer to local stylesheets (under a/css).
* Some javascript code which will be loaded by default after every page loads (e.g. [jQuery](http://jquery.com/).
Each variable name is prepended with "b\_" to avoid potential conflicts with your own variables.
## 2. Complete main pages
### index.php
Complete
* The menu (at commented location)
* The banner (near the menu, if you want one)
* The footer (if you don't want one, just drop it).
You can also change the <meta> tags if needed.
### site/home.php
The welcome page. You can choose a title ($s\_title) or use the default one
(by not specifying anything). Stylesheets and javascripts can be customized, ...etc.
Any default variable can be used to define a specific variable (prepended with "s\_").
### site/404.php
Customize it; it is probably viewed more often than you think ;-)
## 3. Write all other pages
All pages are under site/ folder, and you can nest them in any directory tree.
__Hint__ : if you don't want to load the main template, just end any site file with a PHP `exit` directive.
Now we will see how to access pages and resources (images, CSS, files, javascript).
---
## How to view a web page ?
The page at physical location site/some\_folder/mypage.php is viewed in the web browser at the URL
http\[s\]://domain/topic/website/some\_folder/mypage (thanks to URL rewriting defined in the .htaccess file).
Any page can be linked internally using the `r()` PHP function ('r' for "resource"), like in
the following : `