Show HN: I made a Ruby on Rails-like framework in PHP (Still in progress)

3 months ago 2

A Ruby on Rails-like PHP framework that follows Rails principles and conventions.

MVC Architecture: Clean separation of concerns with Models, Views, and Controllers
ActiveRecord Pattern: Elegant database interactions with an ORM that feels like Rails
RESTful Routing: Rails-style routing with resource-based conventions
Database Migrations: Version control for your database schema
Scaffolding: Quick generation of models, controllers, and views
Interactive Console: REPL environment for testing and debugging
Convention over Configuration: Sensible defaults that just work

PHP 8.0 or higher
Composer
SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL

# Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/yourusername/tracks.git cd tracks # Install dependencies composer install # Copy environment file cp .env.example .env # Start the development server php tracks server

Generate a Blog Application

# Generate a Post scaffold with title and content php tracks generate:scaffold post title:string content:text # Run migrations to create the database tables php tracks db:migrate # Start the server php tracks server # Visit http://localhost:3000/posts

# Start development server (default port 3000) php tracks server # Start on custom port php tracks server --port=8080

# Generate a model php tracks generate:model user name:string email:string # Generate a controller php tracks generate:controller users # Generate a complete scaffold php tracks generate:scaffold product name:string price:decimal description:text

# Run pending migrations php tracks db:migrate # Rollback last migration php tracks db:rollback # Rollback specific number of migrations php tracks db:rollback --steps=3 # Check migration status php tracks db:status

# Start interactive console php tracks console # Display all routes php tracks routes

tracks/ ├── app/ │ ├── controllers/ # Application controllers │ ├── models/ # Application models │ └── views/ # View templates │ └── layouts/ # Layout templates ├── config/ │ ├── application.php # Application configuration │ ├── database.php # Database configuration │ └── routes.php # Route definitions ├── db/ │ ├── migrate/ # Database migrations │ └── seeds/ # Database seeds ├── lib/ │ └── tracks/ # Framework core ├── public/ # Web root │ ├── css/ # Stylesheets │ ├── js/ # JavaScript files │ └── images/ # Images ├── test/ # Test files ├── log/ # Application logs └── tmp/ # Temporary files

Define routes in config/routes.php:

// Root route $router->root('HomeController#index'); // RESTful resources $router->resources('posts'); $router->resource('profile'); // Custom routes $router->get('/about', 'PagesController#about'); $router->post('/contact', 'ContactController#create'); // Nested routes $router->scope('/admin', function($router) { $router->resources('users'); $router->resources('posts'); }, ['module' => 'Admin']);

Models inherit from Tracks\ActiveRecord\Base:

<?php namespace App\Models; use Tracks\ActiveRecord\Base; class Post extends Base { protected static array $validations = [ 'title' => ['presence' => true, 'length' => ['minimum' => 3]], 'content' => ['presence' => true], ]; protected static array $callbacks = [ 'beforeSave' => ['generateSlug'], ]; protected function generateSlug(): void { if (empty($this->slug) && !empty($this->title)) { $this->slug = strtolower(str_replace(' ', '-', $this->title)); } } }

Controllers inherit from Tracks\ActionController\Base:

<?php namespace App\Controllers; use Tracks\ActionController\Base; use App\Models\Post; class PostsController extends Base { protected function beforeAction(string $method, array $options = []): void { $this->authenticate(); } public function index(): void { $this->set('posts', Post::all()); } public function show(): void { $post = Post::find($this->param('id')); $this->set('post', $post); } public function create(): void { $post = new Post($this->requireParams('post', ['title', 'content'])); if ($post->save()) { $this->redirectTo('/posts/' . $post->id, ['notice' => 'Post created!']); } else { $this->set('post', $post); $this->render('new'); } } }

Views use PHP templates with helpers:

<h1><?= $post->title ?></h1> <div class="content"> <?= nl2br(htmlspecialchars($post->content)) ?> </div> <?= $linkTo('Edit', "/posts/{$post->id}/edit", ['class' => 'btn']) ?> <?= $formFor($post, '/posts', ['method' => 'post']) ?> <div class="field"> <label>Title</label> <input type="text" name="post[title]" value="<?= $post->title ?>"> </div> <button type="submit">Save</button> <?= $formEnd() ?>

Create migrations to manage database schema:

<?php use Tracks\ActiveRecord\Migration; class CreatePosts extends Migration { public function up(): void { $this->createTable('posts', function($t) { $t->string('title'); $t->text('content'); $t->string('slug')->index(); $t->references('user'); $t->timestamps(); }); } public function down(): void { $this->dropTable('posts'); } }

// Find records $post = Post::find(1); $post = Post::findBy(['slug' => 'hello-world']); $posts = Post::all(); $posts = Post::where(['published' => true])->orderBy('created_at', 'DESC')->limit(10)->get(); // Create records $post = Post::create(['title' => 'New Post', 'content' => 'Content here']); // Update records $post->title = 'Updated Title'; $post->save(); // Delete records $post->destroy(); Post::destroy(1); // Query builder $posts = Post::where(['status' => 'published']) ->orderBy('created_at', 'DESC') ->limit(10) ->get(); // Associations (coming soon) $user->posts(); $post->comments()->where(['approved' => true])->get();

Configure the application in config/application.php: