Components¶

The SlaxWeb Framework is composed with many different components. A Framework component is basically a small part of the Framework. Some components are essentials for the Framework to function, like a Router, while it can function just fine without some of the components, like a Session component. The clean installation of the Framework already includes the following uninstallable components:

Bootstrap
Config
Logger
Hooks
Router
Slaxer

While this is enough to get started with application development, there are other components available to simplify tasks, like handling sessions, database operations, templating, and so on. The Framework is broken down into components to allow for a cleaner environment, and to provide maximum flexibility to the developer in allowing him/her the freedom to use whatever they see fit.

All components are installable by hand, or through the Slaxer command line tool. However, installation by hand is not covered in this documentation.

Sub-components¶

A component may also require or permit installation of sub components. A sub-component is only an extension of the main component, in order for a component to provide different type of similar functionality and eliminate the need to keep all of the sub components and its dependencies installed if not used. One such example is a View component. The View component by itself provides all that you need to write templates and views for your application. But it also provides a sub component for the Twig Templating Engine, which of course installs it as a dependency.

Component configuration file¶

In order for a library to be a valid component for the SlaxWeb Framework, it needs to be obtainable through Composer, and it also needs to provide a valid composer.json configuration file. A valid configuration file:

{
    "name": "component_name",
    "description": "Component description",
    "type": "main",
    "providers": {
        "app": [],
        "commands": [],
        "hooks": []
    },
    "configFiles": [],
    "subcomponents": {
        "list": {},
        "required": false,
        "multi": false
    },
    "scripts": {}
}

Type¶

There are only two type of component types at the moment, main and sub. main is the main component, and sub is the sub component. The main component may define sub-components, while the sub must define a parent in its configuration, and the subcomponents configuration is completely ignored even if present, as the sub component may not have further sub components.

Providers¶

The providers configuration option provides 3 arrays that define different providers that will be registered with the application when the component is installed. The arrays must contain full class names of the providers for:

app - Application Service Providers
commands - Slaxer Custom Commands
hooks - Hooks

Configuration files¶

If a component provides a configuration file, it must be added to the config directory in the component root directory, and the configuration file name, must be added to the configFiles component configuration file.

Sub-components¶

The subcomponents section defines a list of subcomponents from which the user can choose from when the component is being installed. The required option states if a sub-component is required. If the value is false, then the user may choose not to install any sub-component. multi permits the user to install multiple sub-components for this component.

Scripts¶

The scripts configuration defines scripts that are executed during various stages of component installation. At the moment, only postConfigure stage is available. The script must be a valid PHP script, and it must reside in the scripts directory in the root directory of the component. An entry in the component configuration file must also be made, where the key is the stage at which the script is to be executed, and the value is the name of the script:

// ...
"scripts": {
    "postConfigure": "scriptName.php"
}
//...