libheart - PHP Web Application Framework

What is libheart?

libheart is a collection of leading PHP solutions for the common things that a web application may require, such as database access and templating, glued together into a coherent framework. libheart also extends the third party tools to allow them to assist one another to provide unique features.

I still don't quite get it...

Here's an example. Say you're given the task of creating an application, or perhaps you want to create a database-driven website. What might you normally do? Perhaps you setup PEAR so you can use PEAR::DB for database access and PEAR::Log for logging. Perhaps you download the latest smarty and set that up as well. What about other common things like authentication, form building, e-mailing...

Obviously, setting that stuff up gets tedious after a while. You'd rather be coding the meat of your application, right? That's what libheart comes in.

libheart changes this process from being a two-hour slog to find all the "parts" you need into a five minute configuration job. The steps involved are as follows:

1. Download libheart: currently, just do an anonymous checkout from CVS, though in future downloads will be available.
2. Add to your include path: If you are able to edit your configuration somehow, just add libheart to your include_path. Failing that, you can use the htdocs/libheart.php to set the absolute path to your libheart installation.
3. Write a libheart config file: You simply write a configuration file to hook in only the modules you need. An example file might look like:

   $lhc['core']['posthook'] = 'setup.php';
   
   // DB configuration
   $lhc['db']['enabled'] = true;
   $lhc['db']['phptype']  = 'pgsql';
   $lhc['db']['username'] = 'myuser';
   $lhc['db']['password'] = 'mypasswd';
   $lhc['db']['database'] = 'mydb';
   $lhc['db']['fetchmode'] = DB_FETCHMODE_ASSOC;
   
   // Smarty configuration
   $lhc['smarty']['enabled'] = true;
   $basedir = '/your/project/include/dir/';
   $lhc['smarty']['template_dir'] = $basedir . 'templates';
   $lhc['smarty']['compile_dir'] = $basedir . 'templates_c';
   
   // Logging configuration
   $lhc['log']['enabled'] = true;
   $lhc['log']['handler'] = 'file';
   $lhc['log']['name']    = '/var/log/apache/my.log';
   $lhc['log']['ident']   = 'projname';
   $lhc['log']['level']   = PEAR_LOG_DEBUG;
   
   // Quickform configuration
   $lhc['quickform']['enabled'] = true;
   $lhc['quickform']['defaulttracksubmit'] = true;
   
   // Message Handler configuration
   $lhc['messagehandler']['enabled'] = true;
   
   // Auth configuration
   $lhc['auth']['enabled']   = true;
   $lhc['auth']['loginfunction'] = 'login';
   $lhc['auth']['showlogin'] = true;

   Notice how all you have to do for a module is define it as enabled, then define some extra things for your application.
4. Include libheart.php in your scripts: If you put libheart in your include_path, simply require_once the libheart.php file, otherwise require_once the libheart file you moved to your project's directory.

And instantly, you have database access, logging, templating...

There's more to it than that, but I haven't got time now. I will put more here later, or if you ask me: nigel.mcnie@gmail.com.