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File structure

Dotkernel Light follows the PSR-4 standards.

It is a good practice to standardize the file structure of projects.

When using Dotkernel Light, the following structure is installed by default:

Dotkernel Light File Structure!

Main directories

  • bin - various helper scripts
  • config - various configuration files
  • data - should contain project-related data
  • log - storage of log files generated by dot-error-log library
  • public - publicly visible files. The webserver need to have this folder as www-document root folder.
  • src - should contain the source code files
  • test - should contain the test files

bin directory

This directory contains one file, clear-config-cache.php which removes the config cache file (data/cache/config-cache.php - available only when development mode is enabled).

config directory

This directory contains all application-related config files:

  • config.php: here you will register ConfigProviders after installing packages
  • container.php: main service container, providing access to all registered services
  • development.config.php.dist: gets symlinked as development.config.php when enabling development mode - activates debug mode
  • pipeline.php: contains a list of middlewares, in their order of execution
  • twig-cs-fixer.php: configuration file for Twig code style checker/fixer

autoload directory

This directory contains all service-related local and global config files:

  • app.global.php: sets the application name
  • dependencies.global.php: config file to set global dependencies that should be accessible by all modules
  • development.local.php.dist: gets symlinked as development.local.php when enabling development mode - activates error handlers
  • error-handling.global.php: configures and activates error logs
  • local.php.dist: local config file where you can overwrite application name and URL
  • mezzio.global.php: Mezzio core config file
  • templates.global.php: dotkernel/dot-twigrenderer config file

data directory

This directory is a storage for project data files and service caches. Inside you will find:

  • cache: Twig's cache directory

AVOID storing sensitive data on VCS.

log directory

This directory stores daily log files. When you access the application from the browser, (if not already created) a new log file gets created in the format specified in the config/autoload/error-handling.global.php config file under the stream array key.

public directory

This directory contains all publicly available assets and serves as the entry point of the application:

  • css: contains app.css, a single file containing the entire CSS code collected from all modules, in a minified form
  • fonts: contains app, a directory containing custom font files collected from all modules
  • images: contains app, a directory containing all image files collected from all modules
  • js: contains app.js, a single file containing the entire JavaScript code collected from all modules, in a minified form
  • .htacess: server configuration file used by Apache web server - this file enables the URL rewrite functionality
  • index.php: the application's main entry point
  • robots.txt.dist: a sample robots.txt file, providing settings allow/deny bot access to certain areas of your application - activate it by duplicating the file as robots.txt and comment out the lines that don't match your environment

src directory

This directory contains two directories, called modules:

  • App
  • Page

App directory

This is the App module. It contains all generic functionalities your application depends on.

The assets directory contains all generic assets, reusable across the application.

The src contains ConfigProvider.php, a file that sets template path aliases (getTemplates) but can also provide dependencies (getDependencies).

The templates: contains misc components like the home page, custom error pages, template partials and the default layout template.

Page directory

This is the Page module. It contains page-related components for your application.

The src directory contains the following items:

  • Controller: contains module controllers
  • Factory: contains module factories, which are used to provide ready-to-use instances of certain classes
  • Service: contains module service files, which contain classes that provide custom functionalities
  • ConfigProvider.php - provides module configuration data
  • RoutesDelegator.php - stored main routes found in the module

The templates directory contains the page directory, with template files for various web pages.

Special purpose directories

  • .github - contains workflow files
  • .laminas-ci - contains Laminas Continuous Integration (CI) workflow files